Landscape painting

 

Tres Sombreros Coneflowers 

Acrylic on canvas, 12x16" $100 plus shipping. Email me SOLD

This summer I decided to tackle painting landscapes. I wanted to paint from my imagination rather than copy a photo or sit outside in the heat (ugh) and paint what I saw. Most of what I painted were small studies, about 8" square which really doesn't support the vastness of the landscape imagery. I was shooting myself in the foot with this approach. I did about 10 paintings and then kept just this one. The rest went to Goodwill, without regret. 

Painted edges make it ready to hang.

These Coneflowers are from my garden, their second summer. The start out pinky red, then turn red and later brick red. They stay in bloom for a month at least. Just a great plant. I'm saving seeds so I can have them all over my garden. 

Sweet Tweet

Sweet Tweet. Hand dyed cottons and silks, commercial cotton, fused, machine quilted, mounted on painted wood panel. 11x14". $100 plus shipping. Email me. SOLD

 Gosh it has been so looooooong since I have made a finished piece, and it feels so good. I managed to find all the necessary supplies and it came together so neatly, that my innermost self is beaming.

Machine quilted signature.

How is this mounted, you may ask? I use Velcro sticky dots which have recently come out with a thin version which I really like. They hold the quilt flat on the wood panel, just the way I want it to be. I think the panels I use came either from Michaels, or Dick Blick. Needless to say I have a collection of them, just ready to display new pieces.

My plan for making this little quilt worked just as I had hoped. I closed the door on my studio, confident that our new nurse was in charge of Dave for the afternoon and then putting on my earbuds, I slid into the 'zone'. 

 Ah birdie! Ah garbage can...o dear. I recently put up a bird feeder in the flower bed directly in front of our living room window, so I can watch the birds swoop down and have a seedy breakfast. I bought cracked sunflower seeds so they won't sprout, which made this all doable in my garden. Our visitors are mostly purple finches, goldfinches and sparrows, with the occasional cardinal who was too big to fit on the original feeder, so I got a tray feeder for them. However the dozen or so neighborhood mourning doves call that tray their personal dish.  

Note the missing parts of the garden bed. I had to pull out all the tall zinnias after the flood made them fall over. O well.  The new birdbath was a gift from my sister Brooke and her husband John, who also is the genius who made my new front porch. I am so thrilled to have this beautiful entrance to my house which has brought glamour and safety to all who visit. He constructed it over the concrete steps and landing which were imperfectly designed, or shall I say designed to trip you up if you weren't aware that they were too shallow and too high to be safe. A lawsuit waiting to happen. 

I've since brought out some chairs and a bench and I regularly enjoy bird watching up close. Having this pretty new porch has inspired me towards bringing the rest of the house up to its standards. Could new furniture be in the picture? I have to get rid of some stuff first. That's doable. We'll see.

Woman at Work

As predicted, Studio Immaculata didn't last long. Getting all the fabric at my fingertips makes a confusing pile. This will be addressed today, me thinks. During the night, which offers me a couple of hours of insomnia beginning at 1am, I did some switching around of things, like removing a boombox, a Walkman, a speaker box and all their accompanying wires. I realised all I needed was my phone and earbuds for tunes or audio books. I also brought in a chair at the appropriate height, which probably won't be used for seating, but for my cuppa and my ruler which gets lost often in the fabric mess. I actually got started working yesterday while Dave was napping in the afternoon. I am halfway to a first finish.

 I do have this alternate table at the ready for the fabric and that will be my solution this morning. I am going to weed out the scraps in the bin and remove the bin entirely for better organization. It only encourages keeping garbage, that is, fabric that is just too ugly to use, yet never gets tossed. Bad economy.

 I've set up a tea bar, so I can keep motivated and hydrated. I had a cup of real coffee yesterday, and it was a big mistake. I was jittery and impatient all day. Tea does not do this to me, and I find a tea break in the afternoon can often lead to a really nice nap. The Brits have such a great system of getting the most out of the day with tea breaks, and then of course heavy drinking later in the evening. I no longer drink but wish I could sometimes. But then I risk the after effects which are a lot worse than missing the booze. 

Speaking of the Brits, we have been watching Escape to the Country on Youtube. It's a House Hunters kind of show for the UK. The countryside, mountains, seaside and ancient historic sites are so wonderful and are satisfying me for my longed for trip to the British Isles. I won't be going, of course, but it's nice to visit on TV.

OK back to work!

Studio Immaculata

Tada! I am so happy to once again have a dedicated space in which to make new work. My new table arrived and I managed to assemble it 80% of the way and then my brother-in-law (aka Second Husband) John did the heavy lifting and it was up and running. I cut down my previous ironing pad cover to fit this surface and am dinkin' around deciding how to keep it secured to the top. At the moment I have elastic straps pinned to the edges in two places, and running underneath, which is temporary or permanent if I can't decide on a better way. I used to secure it on my other table with ties, but there are moving parts under this table that sorta make that idea a dubious fix. I have cutting mats hanging on the shelf supports and rulers hanging too. I am ready.

 It has an hydrolic lift mechanism which I just love. I will use it as a standing work table for making quilts and then with the press of the button I'll lower it to desk level for painting and drawing.  

 On the other side of the room is the machine, my music speaker and boom box, thread cart, tools chest and and Alex chest from IKEA which holds everything else I might need. I get a kick out of seeing other people's studio set ups, and I would love to have this room decorated with pretty things, but honestly, this is a work space and it will get messy in no time, so fussing it up just isn't the point. 

Here is my fused fabric stash, which I intend to use up before I die, or find someone who will want to use it sooner. Ha! I do have a person in mind, but (at this time) she feels that fused quilts are just not real quilts. O I have heard that so many times before, that it no longer hurts my feelings.  I don't care if my work isn't 'real quilts'. Whatever it is, I need to be doing it and having it in my house. I wanna make again some of the things that I have sold to support my habit. I should have examples of it on my walls, doncha think? And now I will have the time and space to do it. The new nurse starts today (yay!!!) and I will begin the process of trying to remember what I used to do. Luckily I saved a box of scraps with which to begin. I still find it difficult to cut into large pieces of fabric, but I'll get over that again, soon.

Some of my previous work that I might want to make again, or aim at making.  

 

Real Life vs Social Media

Most people who post on FB or IG or relics like me who have a blog, only talk about the good and the great things that happen. Who wants to read about tragedy or wade through a bunch of complaining/whining/moaning? Not me. 

But last month we were evacuated from our home because the rain was serious and an actual flood was happening! I wasn't paying attention and was watching TV in my room when there was a pounding on the front door (note to Mel: buy a doorbell). It was the fire department telling me we had to go! Whoa Nelly. The kind fireman came in and carried Dave to the car, and brought his wheel chair too. Then we drove at a snail pace to my sister's house, usually 18 minutes away, but on this day it took over an hour. There were many streets closed and lots of traffic diverted, so it was a wet mess. 

The next day all the water was gone and we could return home to see what happened to us. 

This is our porch where debris reached almost to the front door. No water got into the house itself, thank God!

Our big flower pots got lifted by the water and floated into the neighboring yard. 

So of course I was feeling quite relieved. 

But then thinking the worst was over, I noticed that our AC was not producing cold air and it was getting hot in the house. Hmmm. I called my HVAC guys and they looked in the crawl space and saw that it had flooded and the ductwork was full of water which is why it was stinking like a sewer in the house. O dear.

So I just sat there for a day and did nothing. Delayed reaction I guess. 

Then I followed the advice they gave me and called the Fire and Flood pros. for a complete cleanup. Out went the ductwork, insulation and vapor barrier and lots of money. No flood insurance. 

Those bags are full of what was in my crawlspace. Notice the flower pots are back in place. 

So we had no AC and it was in the 90's, but my friend Ashleigh brought over a floor unit which kept us from total misery while we waited for part two of the recovery, the new ductwork and vapor barrier. We had fans going day and night for almost two weeks, with the front and back doors open for fresh air when it was cool at night. This invited in lots of flies, which I finally triumphed over, this week. 

Yes we now have AC and it is blissful. 

An offshoot of flooding was the boost the water gave my garden. As you can imagine the deep drink was just great for my viburnum, lilac bushes and lots of perennials. However the zinnias which were already about 5 feet tall, all fell down and some even broke, so I ended up pulling them out and now have lots of bare spots in the garden. O well. 

 Dead zinnias.

But there are other things that happened that turned out to be great. When the AC unit was in the living room I moved the tv in there (against all my decor beliefs) and the two big red recliners. And that meant finding room in the old studio space for the rest of the living room furniture. 

Turns out I really like having this be the living room. It feels like my sanctuary and I'm keeping it this way. It's where I am blogging from this very minute. Since that footage was taken, I have also moved the dining room table in and now I am considering new things for the former living room. Heehee. 

Now that the flood is over, the idea of having another one gives me the 'moves' again. My sister thoughtfully gave me permission to look at Zillow, which is so dangerous, as long time readers will attest.  But nothing spoke to me, as I love my little house,  and when given the options of ductwork from my HVAC guys, I chose the most sturdy and dependable setup which is guaranteed for ten years, and my goodness, I'll by 87 by then and you can just cart me off if it floods again.

Update and RETURN to Blogging

It has been a year since I blogged, whew! And I guess I thought it was over for good, but there seems to be a reason to come back and I will explain.

I have been busy caring for Dave and watching him disappear. 

He now has dementia big time, is wheelchair bound, and is incontinent. I had a night nurse for a while and a daytime one for three days a week but that all fizzled and I was caring for Dave on my own. Finally I bit the bullet and went with an agency, rather than finding replacement carers by word of mouth, and this new person will be here five days a week for five hours a day. This plan makes it easier on me and allows me to get back into being creative again.  

So in the meantime I have made lots of incremental changes in the way we live, adjusting to the needs that develop. But other things that have nothing to do with caregiving have happened too. One thing that really brought me peace, happiness and satisfaction was starting a knitting group at my church. I was able to do that when I had a consistent care person, and now I have three fabulous participants who bring me so much joy.

Ashleigh, Charlotte, Pamela and Joan who is not in the group but is modeling a vest I made.

I am the 'teacher' and have actually taught a crocheter to knit! We laugh and talk and sometimes eat, and make stuff. I am unloading lots of yarn ( and garments) in their direction which is so good for my overloaded yarn room. 

Which brings me to downsizing things...for a while I fantasized about building a Tiny House on my double lot here in Chattanooga, but eventually, having told everyone I was thinking of doing it, I realized that I already live in a tiny house and I just need to use it to work out my simplified living ideas. One thing I did was purchase a big super duper does everything toaster oven. Wha? It turns out that this jim dandy thing has really been a game changer. You know I love to bake but heating up the big gas oven for a couple of bisquits just seemed wasteful. With this puppy, I can do that as well as make a huge pizza without heating up the whole kitchen.  I use this every day and never use my regular oven at all.

I have also stopped using my dishwasher. Again, wha? One day I realized that I kept loading multiple cups and bowls into the dishwasher and then running a load which took forever to finish. Why not just wash and rinse the bowl and cup and reuse them an hour later. Duh. The offshoot of this is that I now habitually wipe down the counter and stove whenever I wash a few items. My kitchen is a lot cleaner than it was when I used to run the dishwasher. Who knew?

And then I looked at my yarn room and thought, could I use that space for a studio? It has a door, which I need, so I can close off the goings on in the rest of the house while I work, so I got right to it. 

I reorganized all that hanging yarn into the bins on the shelf above and voila! I have room for my fused fabric again. (some yarn got given away to my knitters, heehee). What had been in Rubbermaid bins is now up and accessible without having to rifle though those bins. Ten bins were emptied and donated to Goodwill. Phew! The space they took up! I moved my sewing stuff into this room and ordered a new work table which raises and lowers itself for specific tasks. I am ready to make stuff. 

Which brings me back to the blog. I keep seeing my old work on Pinterest and wishing I was still doing this fun stuff. Now I think and hope I can. Watch this space!

How I spent my summer

The garden was half a success and half a dismal failure. Mostly due to the fact that I expected the compost I bought to be really fertile and I didn't add any fertilizer which turned out to be a big mistake. The success part was the zinnias and other flowers, but the veggies were pitiful, with the exception of the sweet potatoes. We're having some today with our dinner.

Next year, I will not have a backyard garden and will stick to just the front yard, where I only have to deal with one hose and not that much in the way of bugs, and other critters.

  

It was a difficult time dealing with Dave as he has declined, even with the help from Hospice, but now things have evened out a bit and I have new strategies as well as better drugs for him and I am coping much better. 

These are the handles to the stove which I have to hide so he can't turn on the burners, and then forget to turn them off. Mostly I have to pre-empt him from being in the kitchen, and that saves a lot of mess and dangers.

My neighbor's cat, Luna, comes to visit and I love having her. But I am sticking to my guns about no more pets after Chumley goes. 

I busied myself with church and lots of clothes sewing, and recently just got back to knitting. 

 

This is Potzblitz #5 and it is all made from scrap yarns. Most of which were my hand dyed sock yarn. 

After that I became interested in watching Youtube knitters and got the itch to do some fancy stitches. 

I was inspired by a small shawl called the Turtle Dove Shawl, which I loved but found it too small to be useful. So as is my wont, I devised a way to make it bigger and added a bunch of new stitch patterns to fill in the space. I learned a lot while making this shawl ... mostly how to read a chart. I have been knitting for 51 years and managed never to learn this important knitting 'language'. It was a struggle at first, but I was determined not to let it get the best of me. Eventually I actually bought some graph paper and wrote out the symbols for the stitches I would be using on a chart. Now I feel like I graduated!

Next I wanted to conquer another area that has been too scary to try. Lace stitches. There are lots of YouTube videos and written instructions to follow, as well as the charts, but nothing seemed to work for me until I discovered that I have been purling incorrectly all my life! Duh! It has to do with wrapping the yarn over the needle, not under it as I had been doing. It never mattered until I tried to do lace, where the increases and decreases are a major element of the designs.

I kept practicing the right way to purl until it became natural, which took DAYS to conquer, but now I have it down and the samples look the way they are supposed to look. Old dogs can learn new tricks.

On a personal note: as I watch my husband lose his memory, I wondered how much I might also be sliding downhill. I am 76, and I want to keep my wits about me as long as I can, so this challenge of learning new knitting techniques has shown me that I may still have mental acuity. Or at least determination. 





Another thing that happened this summer was that my car got stolen, right from my driveway, on a Sunday morning while I was at church! I walked to church as usual and on my way home I noticed that the driveway was vacant of my car. The nerve of some people!  

I called the police, my insurance company and my sister, of course, and then began shopping for a new car online. Well, I just assumed my car would never be found, or worse, found and destroyed, so why not get a replacement? Monday I had Enterprise pick me up and I drove to Carmax and bought a new car. Just like that. Then two days later the police knocked on my door at 4am, saying that they found my car! 

O dear. 

I really like my new car...a 2021 Hyundai IONIQ, another hybrid. So when the old Lexus was returned to me two weeks later, I just went online and got a quote from Carmax and drove it over and sold it to them. Now that's the way I like it. 

The perps were caught and two of the other 'victims' of car theft and I had to go to court to testify, but by then the one bad guy skipped bail and so we have to go back when they rearrest him. The other people lived in really nice neighborhoods, so it really doesn't matter where you live. If they wanna steal your car, they will. 

OK...I think that catches up the gist of how I spent my summer. We did get a bunch of nice rain from the remnants of Helene, but no flooding or other damage. Thank God for that.