Beautiful Outside

I came down and shot this pic and within a few minutes the bottom fell out of the clouds. This is my mini quilt for another F.A.T. trade. I've named this "Wishing". I know my cats sit and look out the windows quite often. I'm glad to get this finished and can move on to some other things. My room is still a mess and I had intended on cleaning it and my office today. As usual, when I came home from church, DH decided he needed my opinion in the yard. Then one thing led to another and I ended up spending most of the day outside instead of upstairs and in my office where I'd planned to be. Funny how he does that most every Sunday afternoon. We had a beautiful Carolina Blue sky all day; temperature hovering around 75, nice breeze, and now the much needed rain shower. Perfect ending to an almost perfect day. Hope you all had a wonderul weekend.

Chilling Vibes....

As I was taking a stroll through my favorite blogs this morning, Fannie posted a wonderful little ACEO yesterday that she'd made and referenced the difference between a "House" and a "Home". She's always so inspirational and challenges one to really stop and think. When I got up from the computer and decided to take a look out of my big bathroom window, I saw this little nest lying in the driveway. I suppose the winds we've had the past couple of days, blew it down from one of the trees. As I stood and watched a while longer, a little sparrow landed and start pecking frantically trying to move and pick up the nest, I'm assuming to take it back to its original place. Poor little Bird fought a hard battle, but eventually gave up and flew off. How weird this would happen immediately after reading Fannie's definitions of "House" vs. "Home". I certainly stopped to think about all the people around the world with neither house or home. I thank the Lord every day for the blessings He's given me, including my dear friends, and for the challenges He puts before me.

Off to work and back in bed early again tonight. This ravaging cold is kicking my tail.

Cleaning, Planting, & Rebelling

I've spent the past two afternoons cleaning, doing laundry, and planting bushes. All really needed to be done even though I'd rather be doing other things. Wasn't feeling too spunky yesterday and woke up this morning with a full blown cold. I despise getting those summer colds as they seem to last forever. My body is rebelling.

Anyway, we have 5 pine trees in the back yard that we roped off and killed what little grass was trying to grow around them. We decided to make a natural area with a walkway and sitting area or small waterfall and pond in the middle. We planted 21 Azaleas on both sides of the path and spread pine needles. I would like to add some Hosta, but I'm afraid the deer love them and they will most likely eat every single one I plant. Not sure yet what we are going to put down for the path. I'd like to use some flagstone, but hubby just wants pea gravel. I guess that will depend on how soon we start on the small waterfall and pond that will eventually go there. The pond may be a fall project.

I then decided we needed to do something around the deck even though the grass was thick and beautiful there. So again, we roped it off, killed the grass, and planted two Azaleas, two Knockout Roses, and on the end, one Mexican Morning Glory. I did place two Hosta there on the end with the Mexican Morning Glory. That will be my deer test. I can't wait to see all of those in bloom at the same time, but will probably be next spring.

Mother's Day

This Sunday began with a wonderful Mother's Day card from my three fur balls, Smokey, Suki, and Sophie. I got the biggest kick out of this. Of course I'm sure their daddy helped a little.

A Mother's Day Haiku from the Cat

Nice lady pets me

Scoops the poop out of my box

I call her mommy.

I spent the day at my Mom's. She's doing well after the knee surgery. Still moving a little slow, but time heals. We run a few errands, she cooked lunch, then I decided to get out the pencil and paint brushes. I haven't drawn or painted in about 15 years. I'm a little rusty, a little heavy handed, and I tried watercolors for the very first time. When I was painting years ago, I was into oils and dabbled in the acrylics. I think I'll keep the brushes out now and work on the skills that I seem to have lost or buried.
I hope everyone had a very Happy Mother's Day!

Graduation Day

Today, my brother will be graduating from NC State University. He'll be receiving his BA in Political Science. When I visited him two weeks ago, he informed me that he had been accepted at NC Central University - School of Law. Little brother is going to be a lawyer! I'm so proud of him. CONGRATULATIONS GRANT!

We love you!!

Party Hat

F.A.T. will be celebrating its 3rd anniversary on May 23. We're doing a trade of Mini Party Hats with "goodies". Here's the one I put together for the trade. Very simple hat embellished with just some fancy yarn and fibers. I also included some crystals for the flower centers. The goodies that I will be sending with the hat are, Blue Butterfly Angelina, Saris Silk, and a fairy charm.

I'm hoping to work more on my Mixed Media Journal Covers today. I need to add the signatures and embellish a little more. However, my friend called and asked me over this afternoon and evening for a 24 hour Bocce Ball Marathon. Sounds like fun, but still not sure if I'll go. DH will be there playing golf with the guys. Decisions, decisions? I'm really tired of making decisions this week and feel like I've been away from home way too much the past couple of weeks. Will think on it more as the day progresses.

Back to Playing

Last night and this afternoon I had a chance to start on the Mixed Media Surface Class taught by Sue Bleiweiss and let me tell you....I am lovin' the Misty Fuse!!!! Don't know why I haven't used it before now. Here is the cover of my first book/journal. I still need to put in all the pages. This has to be my favorite creation of all the things I've done thus far in my fiber art journey. (I know, it don't take much to amuse me.) I reversed a couple of steps in error, but it came out okay and I'll know better the next time.

This next item is the cover of another book I'm making in the class. I didn't get as far along on this one. I'll get back to both on Thursday evening. Can't wait to see what we do next week.