Flowers

I've made a couple more flowers using Calamity Kim's tutorial. Lack of rain and high temps don't bother these flowers at all (wish I could say the same for my hydrangeas!).Yesterday, after days of 99-102 temps, we were finally blessed with rain for the scorched yards and real life gardens!

I'm trying to get chores and duties done because next week I'll be leaving for a month in Austin. Oh, yes, it will be HOT there. Hotter than here--Austin was 106 degrees yesterday, although they've had some thunderstorms to cool things down, too.

Amelia, Chris, and Bryce Eleanor; Erin, Mila, and Max (coming up from Baton Rouge); and Fee and I are the only "for sure" participants for a July 4th celebration at the cabin, but these things often expand.

Today - a doctor's appt. to check on my swollen shoulder (the result, I believe, of a rather hasty move into side plank--and a foolish injury right before intensive yoga training in Austin...), then lunch with Thomas, a visit to Laddie, and hopefully, the library and grocery store. However, it would not surprise me at all if the last two are postponed due to laziness.

New Flower in the Garden

I received an invitation to join Calamity Kim's Fabric Flower Flickr group the other day. I clicked over and looked at all the pretty flowers. The tutorial says to use some silk circles, along with chiffon and tulle, but I didn't have any silk or chiffon. So I pulled out my "sheer and shiny" basket and used what I had. (Some of the stuff in this basket comes from tulle gift bows that I've saved.)

[click to enlarge]

Using what I had, I put together this flower and took some photos yesterday morning in the garden, on comfrey leaves and lamb's ears, etc. Mine isn't nearly as pretty as those on the Flickr site, but maybe the next ones will be better.

Yesterday, after my doctor's appt., I stopped by JoAnn's and bought some more sheer and shiny fabrics. :) More to flowers to come.

My blood work from the other day revealed that my TSH levels had increased again. I've spent a week of total exhaustion, taking naps each afternoon because I couldn't keep my eyes open. As I suspected, my thyroid medicine needed to be upped. Should have boundless energy again soon.

Here is a beautiful animated video about dreams.

Starry Night
Uploaded by Killstain. - Classic TV and last night's shows, online.

Garden Pics

Texas Star Flower

Four baby birds think I'm bringing dinner.Stylized version of coleus.
Man, it has been hot. Too hot. It makes me really worry about the rest of the summer. I'm ready to do a rain dance because it is not only hot, but very dry.

Some Shopping Goodness

This lovely doll by Art4Sol makes me smile. Love all the details, especially the feathers on the back. Check out her Etsy Shop, too.And Deborah has an Etsy Shop...wouldn't her embroideries make terrific blocks for a quilt? Or a pillow? These little birds are the ones I'm keeping in mind!Another Etsy find-- Lillya Lotta's Storybook Cotton Tape! And other cuteness. You can also get custom made tape!
And just for fun, a little Hammertime.

Monday Musings

Hope everyone had a good Father's Day! We had lunch with Amelia, Chris, and Bryce Eleanor--very nice, very good mimosas. Fee had a long telephone visit with Erin in B.R. and good wishes from Mila and Max.

Father's Day is a little sad for me because Laddie is so seldom "present" in any sense of the word, but I'm always thankful to have had him as a father. Alzheimer's Disease takes away so much, but can't destroy the memories.

Anyway, Fee and I enjoyed his day, even if he insisted on doing yard work in this heat.

More linen and embroidery play.
I'll be adding more to this one for a while.

The garden is taking a beating in this hot weather. We could certainly use some rain. Most of the daylilies finished a week or two ago, but these bloom a little later.

Saturday - Hot & Humid

I just received my second journal from Iliana! Her blog, Bookgirl's Nightstand, is one of my favorite book blogs, and she makes the most wonderful little handmade journals. I love the little birds on the cover of this one,

(click on any image to enlarge)

and the beaded back, and the smooth, creamy pages.Check out her Etsy shop, Bookgirl's Studio, to see some of her lovely work. They make great gifts! Even, uh, to myself.

Playing on linen again...
I didn't get off on my morning walk until 7:45 this morning, which meant it was unpleasantly hot and humid.

Why so late? Because Fee and I sat on the patio and talked during the cooler part of the morning. We were very envious of Marty & Robin (my brother and sister-in-law) who were leaving this morning on their way to the College World Series in Omaha! LSU and Texas have both advanced to the finals, but they would have wanted to go anyway.
Fee and I have been following the play-offs (well, Fee is more dedicated than I am, but I've enjoyed it, too). We both wish we were able to go, but hope Marty and Robin have a wonderful time! They both enjoy long road trips and will be able to see the series in the old stadium.

Scary stuff about our food here and here. No wonder Amelia sticks to organic as much as possible for Bryce Eleanor. The more I read about the food industry, the less secure I feel.

Another Tee

I wore this tee shirt yesterday, but couldn't get a good picture of the embroidery because I had to stand so far from the mirror to avoid the flash. It looks close, but it isn't. When closer to the mirror, the flash would go off and make a big blur. But when I got far enough away for a shot to take, all detail was lost.
So later on I took it off, put it on a hanger, and took it outside. Thus, the wrinkles instead of the freshly ironed look.
The back...

I do love that simple running stitch! It is my favorite stitch to make.

Quilting? Que? Not much going on even in my head in that area.

Still loving my latest yoga class. Not that I don't enjoy the fitness classes at the WK Wellness Center, but I'm so glad to have branched out a little and discovered the sense of relaxation that Marcia's class provides. It seems both serve a purpose in my life, the more dynamic, demanding, and fast-paced fitness yoga and the slower, more thoughtful, more internally satisfying restorative yoga.

The course in Austin is approaching more and more quickly. Fee and I are going to drive down sometime after July 4, take our time, visit San Antonio, then head to Austin and have some time there before he returns home on the 9th or 10th. I'll be staying through the first week of August.

Links

Nothing much going on here, but check out this recipe over at Of Interest to Me. My mouth waters...

And this parody:



"Wow! That's really good!"

3 Year Old Is Amazing Finger Painter - Watch more Funny Videos

Birthday Weekend

We went to Baton Rouge on Friday to attend Mila's recital and sixth birthday party. Amelia, Chris, and Bryce Eleanor went, too, and we had adjoining rooms at the hotel.

We stayed at the Hilton downtown which is about 3-5 minutes from Erin's apartment and where we could watch the river, swim in the pool, and walk to the recital.
No one enjoyed the recital more than Max and Bryce Eleanor. Unfortunately, I was unable to get a picture of Mila in costume, but she was, of course, a marvelous dancer!The birthday party was suitably hectic and full of fun for the kids. The pinata is a big deal for the kids, but this one was a tough one to beat into submission. Getting a picture of Mila was almost impossible as she was on the run and in the middle of kids the entire time!It was a full weekend, and we all enjoyed it very much. Returned to Shreveport around 6:00 last night...very tired!

I finished the blue tee. This is the center front, paisley-like detail.

The center back detail...I'm thinking I may add more here, later.
Bottom, right, front detail, covering a small stain.
I didn't realize how many tee shirts I had until I started pulling them out to embroider them. Quiet a few! I'm working on one more right now, then I'm going to abandon the "embroidered tee" project for a while and catch up on some other things.

Still learning Sanskrit terms and working on my yoga reading list. I've finished Heart of Yoga; now reading Yoga for Wellness, then I'll have to decide on the next book in the stack. I've actually finished Yoga Anatomy, but only because it is one that I already had, and I've been working on it for quite a while.

Early Morning Photos

Instead of a drawstring bag, I decided on the envelope style. The envelope is a deep purple and doesn't show up so well against the slate, but the little "wallet" will hold cards, etc., and will slip easily into my purse...I've been saving thread snippets for a couple of years, always intending to make some "fantasy cloth" with them. Since I've been using Solvey for stabilizer on the tee shirt embroidery and had some odd pieces left, I decided to try the "fantasy cloth" and came up with this: [clickable]

It is a small piece, and I'm not sure what I'll do with it, but I have lots and lots of thread to make more if I choose.

The monarda (bee balm) is blooming. I used to have red, then some white appeared (?), and now I have pink.
All my photos were taken early, so the light isn't very good...

Memorial Day Weekend

I think I'm going to make a tiny drawstring back out of this piece. [click to enlarge]I was working on this piece when I got the idea of embroidering my tee shirts. I liked the flower shapes, and of course, love the plain little kantha type stitches that are so satisfying to stitch.

[click to enlarge]

Our cooler than normal spring has been such a pleasure. I've enjoyed working in the garden so much more with less sweat equity.
We spent Saturday night at the cabin. I forgot to take my camera, so I didn't get any pictures of Bryce Eleanor and Jon David, but watching these two toddlers (a year and a half) "play" was a cause for much laughter.

We came home last night and will be heading over to Amelia's this afternoon for more Memorial Day food and fun.

Is It Wednesday, Already?

Where does the time go? Days, weeks, months move so quickly now.

The weather has been beautiful for the last few days! I wish all of our days were as lovely as these have been.

I've almost finished this piece, "Miro Dreams a Circus" and have no idea what I'll do with it.
I'm busy learning Sanskrit terms for my summer adventure and have about 8 books on the class reading list ordered from Amazon. Now, off to another class.

Namaste.

Another Tee

In progress:
I like playing with the henna-like designs.

I found a link to this color test on Suzanne Engler's blog, Transitional Textile Artist. I scored 11 (0 is perfect and the worst is color blind) and was amazed that I did so well, as I don't think I'm very good at distinguishing shades, tints, whatever. It is a fun little experiment to determine how well you see differences in color. There were several groups of 3 in each group that looked the same to me, and I didn't spend much time on them. Now I wish I'd tried a bit harder.

Monday Morning

I found this free pattern on Andrea Zuill's blog; wish I'd thought the colors out a bit better, but I really enjoyed working on this little fellow. I finished him about 3 weeks ago and still haven't decided what to do with him, but he definitely looks like something Max would like.Andrea has other free embroidery patterns and some wonderful little bird prints. Check out her Bad Bird Etsy shop-- I love her fat birds, brimming with personality.

Daylilies! So big, so bright, so easy! I keep dividing them, and they keep needing to be divided...


A little Cat & Mouse (er, Rat) -- opposites attract: