wow, organized or what!

This is not what this worktable looked like 24 hours ago!  But I was, pant, pant, ready for Creativity 101 by the time the girls showed up.

The Rooster added the rods and made the box for the last bookshelf.  I had decided to put all the mixed media supplies in that last bookshelf and that meant moving all the fabric that was grouped for future projects.  I had started rearranging fabric but the Rooster felt it was much easier to take the top boxes down and work on the floor Monday night.  It was but I had to empty them.  :O

The worktable got some extra support with two legs on the end corners.  The ironing board still needs to be put inside the closet door.  I found the Rooster's handy dandy chop saw while he was at work and I cut one more shelf and a divider for this bookcase and I think it'll be good now.   See.  I'm not totally helpless but the quality isn't up to Rooster requirements. 'sokay!
The Rooster mutters about how long before I'll change things again.  I'm hurt.  These are upgrades, not changes!  ;^)

I now have a helper on Tuesday afternoons and we purged and organized.  I would look at some fabric, remembering when and where and what for and wax nostalgic.  But the two questions that solved the dilemmas were- 1) Would I want a quilt from it?  And 2) Would anyone else?  Surprisingly my young gal okayed some. I did give her all the novelty fabric to sort and she commented that she could see some would indeed be hard to part with!  lol   I'm embarrassed by my excess but I am already feeling way lighter, freer and definitely happier. 

After she left it was up to me to bag and load the trunk of the car.  I'm sure the hood/nose is pointing slightly heavenward as if to say 'Really!'.  I did scoop up one or two, no more than half a dozen,  as a last moment reprieve.  I also forgot to edit the green fabrics which are squeezed into their allotted shelf.  oops! The main colours aren't stacked nicely but they are in their place.

Oy!  Now I need to organize all this side of the room which is for the wet stuff.  We need to find stuff easily and quickly.   Next worktable session is scrap booking but a lot of sorta wet stuff is also on this side of the studio like stamps and stencils.  How much better can it get?  :) 

I must remind the Rooster that it takes a lot to personalize a house to make it a home and that applies to my Coop and Saucer Playroom as well! 

In the mood

 The fore casted rain has been holding off but the dew this morning was very heavy.

The plants are all loaded with dew.

The Rooster was in the mood to weed Sunday night but the mosquitoes drove him in finally.  The wood ticks have also been very bad this year.  He is giving weeding till the end of June and then it is time to move on to The Projects!  :)  He has almost completed his initial pass around the circumference of the yard and is most interested in filling all the black areas to reduce future weeding. lol 

We moved the bench to the other sunnier side of the yard.  I/we are thinking a nice paved circle would be lovely in front of this bench and anchor it. The two small and rounded lilacs on each side and a nice  small sized tree off to one side but behind it will make a nice grouping.  And off to the left of the photo and deep under a shrub is where mama duck is in the mood to brood her eggs!  shhh, its a secret!

We were all in the mood for lunch in the veranda Sunday afternoon.  A little crowded but very pleasant.

While the Rooster was on his hands and knees in the yard I was in the mood to purge my fabric.  This is the rough sort.  I have 4 bags for the MCC quilters.  I just asked myself if I'd want a quilt from the fabric in question or do I even know someone who would.  Folk art??? I have come a long way, baby!  lol The boundaries for my fabric will be this shelving unit and a matching one with projects to the right of the sewing machine.  My neutrals are still to be moved from the closet. hmm, I might just switch all the fabric to the sewing machine wall and put the beads, buttons and thread on that end wall.  Tonight the Rooster will hang my new rods for the white curtains which will be my design walls.  vbsigh  It feels good!  I was in the mood!

Flower power

 The chokecherries are done and the lilacs are in full flourish.  I do like that powerful smell.  Makes me think of walking to school way back when.  :)

These straw flowers have self seeded all over and I need to entice some over to the bare patch in the north east corner of the yard.  They can exert their power to self seed over there.

For some reason clematis seem to like my yard.  I need to redirect the one beside that lilac where it threatens to overpower that shrub and plant a few more throughout the yard.

But the real power is happening in the studio.  I pushed the bookcase into the closet and traded spots with  the nine compartment cubicle.  I edited the books and the cloth boxes.  I have one  stack and one bag so far for the thrift shop and one bag of garbage. whoo hoo!  The real power is arriving later in the day as the Rooster is taking some time from the yard to work on the studio 'to do' list!  Ah, the power of progress!!!

Bejeweled

                                             I caught the sparkle!

Four girls for Creativity 101 and we were so busy I forgot to get finished photos of 2 anklets and one pair of earrings.  But after the three girls left we returned as I had visions of sparkles in my head.

                                April fine tuned her anklet and made a second.

                                                                      I made an anklet.


 Then I perfected the curve needed to attach the beads to the earring itself.

Since I was still seeing sparkles I finished up with a flourish and a matching bracelet.  When 'it' happens it sure feels darn good!

Proceeding with caution!

I am hoping the road running is about done and it is time to stay home and make some dust here in the coop!

I am upset enough with all the clutter and the amount of time I spend managing my stuff that there is a possibility I just might throw that baby out with the bath water.  I am not really a thrifty person so what makes me save stuff  'just in case' is a mystery to me.  :O

I am ready to move my creativity ahead but I am hampered by the piles I need to leap over and the stalls as I dig through the clutter.

Vicki's post on time management has me considering what else I can do to improve things.  Some I do, some I should do and some I need to do. ;^) I don't have a job and I do have a designated workspace.  I can not create in the midst of clutter.  I do need to streamline my household chores instead of using them as an excuse for not creating.  The errands and shopping this past while took time and gas, not to mention the money spent on the extras that weren't on the list.  I must seriously rethink the value of on-line shopping.   I actually think I am more focused on what is necessary in front of the screen than when I am out and bedazzled by all the choices in the aisles which are pressing down on me and around me.  yikes! The recommendation to find the best times to do projects is excellent. Then to realize that I can get things done in increments rather than in huge time blocks would be empowering.  I do make oodles of lists. But then I should actually find my lists and read my lists!  Sad but true. Just listing them doesn't get the job done!  :(   And I NEED to get past these older 'must do' projects.   How can I bribe myself???

The biggest thing I got from Vicki's post was that 'stuff' takes lots of time (and money) to manage and I need to quit tidying the edges of my piles and bulldoze straight through them and carry them far away!  lol

This week the section for this month's book and the art of seeing focused on imagination.  We tend to emphasize logic. Developing imagination involves abstraction and selection.  Abstraction is just separating the parts from the whole (simplifying).  Then you select the elements that best express the intent. Again, simplifying!  Heck, I can do this for my 'problem' 

So today I will be all day in my 'studio'.  I will be abstracting what really needs to happen and then I'll be selecting the best ways to achieve the vision!  Hopefully I can then carry my thoughts into every area of my spaces. And the most troublesome space is really the mindset that I have!  ;^)

In spite of my usual ability to jump start and hare off like a startled jack rabbit, I shall proceed with some caution. 

Coming to a stop!

 I did boring errands in the city today and then I did some fun ones.  I returned to IKEA for some backing for the proposed quilt and a glass lamp and shade.  I had gotten another shade at a previous store for the lamp by the mirror but it doesn't fit. 

Some yellow gold coloured diamonds would be great here but the shade isn't deep enough.   

So I tried it here and I am already humming and hawing. I can't trade them as I guess IKEA shades need to go on IKEA lamps.   :(   To further complicate the decorating plan I also got a large canvas to experiment with.  :O   This triangle fabric is too much and will be pillows for the kids bunk beds.  I haven't even removed any cellophane so nothing is permanent yet.

Saturday morning we had the grandson and we went around 8:00 am with the little truck to the nursery.  We never made it as we were run off the highway and into this ditch.  We were happy to be in the ditch as the alternative was unpleasant.  She had pulled out into our lane for no apparent reason giving no maneuvering room and then continued on down the wrong side of the highway. The truck following her reported her to the RCMP and she was apprehended.  Kinda makes you wonder!  But she was stopped and our plans for the day were stopped as well  what with statements and towing.  It took a while to get back up on the road and then we had used up our time not to mention our energy!

Thankfully, Josh was down in the jump seat behind Michael and really saw nothing.  There was no time to scream even if I was a screamer!  But he sure was full of questions when he discovered where we were!  lol
I have one more day away as the grandson needs his ears checked and then I hope to remove the word stop from my vocabulary.

Making things complicated

 

The chokecherries are always a welcome sight when I look out the bedroom window and smell the flowers.  The birds are quite noisy as they hop about in the branches.

Life becomes more complicated as I add outside chores to my inside obligations!

I hope to make one last trip to the city to get my supplies and then spend the rest of the summer using them all!

IKEA and Michael's!  We had a challenge fitting DD's mirror into the car and we were just deciding who would be riding on the roof rack when I found the rope to hold the pillow on top of the mirror and the trunk down! :O   Nobody was more surprised than me when we arrived with it still in one piece!

The grandson is spending the weekend and we showed off our considerable skills to son #3's girlfriend.

 I have been considering a plan for a quilt for the newly redecorated sitting room.  It is gonna be a modern quilt, probably with a cross inserted into these large precuts.



We are off to the nursery to get that black soil that the Rooster has uncovered filled up.   Then there will be the everlasting grass to trim.  The Roosters focus for June is the yard.  He will hold me to the plan!  ;^)

As far as my own plan, I will be considering the best ways to make the best of the summer that is here and fill up my new journal!

64 and counting!

Yesterday my girls and I could hardly wait to get back to the Coop and Saucer Playroom to open the package that I got in my mailbox.  What a lovely surprise from Miss Createology herself, Sherry!  We had a lovely chat about the gift that Givers are in this crazy world.  Thank you, Sherry.
 

 Now we all want to know how that gorgeous woven chain was made.  And that little pin holder!  Too cute!

I am too busy January first setting up goals and objectives for the coming year to start a new year long project so I decided to do a calendar journal that kept pace with my birthday year. June to June.  I was hard at it all the way to March and then I kinda fizzled.  I do have the data on the calendar.  I think the double entry kinda did me in.  lol

I think 12 different homemade journals with one entry just might be better so I'm trying that this year. 

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.  And guess what, the speed limit for doing everything goes up every year.  So that'll be me buzzing past at 64 clicks per hour!  LOL

Wow, a real homemade book!

 

I did it.  I made a book!

 I cut watercolour paper and used some waxy thread that I suspect may be for moccasins.  ???

I used fluid acrylics but I wasn't real happy with the flow so I added some red to the yellow and some yellow to the red.

 I'm not real thrilled with the bleed through and I'm not like many who say that doesn't bother me.  At this point in my book making, it bothers me.  :O

Now I am really liking this flow of colour much better.

Teesha Moore's tutorial inspired me to add borders.  I remembered all the fabric I had made black and white photocopies of for a design workshop.  Perfect!

My intention is to doodle the shaped edge.  This will be my June journal. I officially start my year tomorrow.  I hope to do the catch up on the last of my 63rd year but we'll see how that goes.  :)

There were four of us around the worktable today if you don't count the guard dog!  LOL  We had met in town to get some supplies. We gathered for coffee and some show and tell.  Then we were so busy making pages I forgot to take pictures.  Ha!  I even forgot to show them my homemade book! ;^)    We were working at the worktable on this finally warm Wednesday!

I see says the blind man!

I am reading slowly, "Photography, the art of seeing", by Freeman Patterson who originates from The Maritimes.

He starts off by saying there are barriers to seeing.

1) Let go of self and that includes all our preconceived concepts, concerns, and expectations.  Have fun looking and let the mental winds relax!  :)  Try capturing something from bending down and shooting between ones legs!  I really did this upside down! lol

Here is another.  While I fool around, the Rooster is hard at work! oops!  Coming, dearie!!!

2) To handle all the stimuli around us we select and organize.  While this is probably a good thing it can lead to tunnel vision.  It is just a tree!  But in isolating a part of that tree...

3) In our need to identify objects we develop labels.   But this stops us from seeing.  Roads are either paved or gravel!   But are they?   Darn dog now has two roads thru the yard! And the tulips under the first tree are where that large dog chose to lay! :)

The key to seeing is involvement!

So...

                                      Consider the ordinary as a complete composition it itself.

Get up close and personal!

 Tell a story with your picture. We all have stories to share about how we look at things.  I'll continue to stay involved with my seeing.  I must say that I am enjoying it!