yoo hooo... moJo

The new eating regimen is certainly upping the energy level.  I am on a mission to reduce the amount of junk we have collected during our forty year sojourn here.  'Whenever' has been replaced by 'right now'.  Seasonal accessories are limited to favourites and a small designated area.  Likes are with likes and the extras are being pushed ahead of me as I proceed room by room and any extras will be pushed right off the front step at the very end.  Top priority is visually pleasing, low maintenance and easily accessible.

I'm convinced my mojo is trying to get free from the chaos that my playroom has become.  The thought of totally re purposing this room is a bit daunting.  I have got a LOT of stuff.  And worse, I have stuff I don't even know I have.   I can never find the thing I am needing to help Mojo do what Mojo needs to do!

I spent an long afternoon in Ikea with my camera and a pencil and paper.  I am so inspired.  I have some lovely acquisitions for the pink room.  I also have some new ideas as I unearth finds that I have been saving for the big what if... . 

I don't know why it has taken me this long to realize that Ikea have an whole area devoted to office supplies.  And I thought I was organized!!!  :O  If I can sell my sit down quilting cabinet I could reinvest the money in organizational greatness for The Coop and Saucer Playroom.  :)

My mojo likes fabric. Therefore  my BerNina needs the primary and best spot. This is gonna take some sweat equity.  Nina is pulling on her power cord because on my town day I  also picked up an embellishing tool for her.  Needle felting, here I come!  MoJo is making muffled calls in response to all the excitement she is sensing.  I think she is struggling to be free and rise to the surface where she can be seen.  ;~)

The trick is gonna be not to bury my own self in the chaos involved in this transition.  But I am actually  in a frame of mind (mad enough) to do the editing required to have all my tools and supplies readily available. 

Mojo, I'm coming!

Making time with baggage

Whenever I travel I hate schlepping stuff around.  And since one big bag doesn't exactly make things easier I have  learned to travel lighter.  Now why do I not make this amazing insight applicable for traveling through my weekly wanderings???  I am in the process of repacking!  ;^) 

Gee, I bet my mojo is somewhere under the lost luggage turntable!  I hope it is dry when I find it.  lol

Should I go back to a first luv?

My creative life began way back when my mum let me pick the colours for my bedroom.  I have been picking colours and shoving furniture around ever since.

The kitchen makeover is slated for September first which is two weeks before the arrival of most of the kids for a mini family reunion.  :O

 I haven't been feeling particularly creative.

I woke up yesterday morning thinking that I couldn't spend one more night in a BLUE/green bedroom with retro overtones.  The master bedroom  was always supposed to be blush pink and taupe with a classic undertone.  I have some blingy lighting and some hand dyed velvet and some snazzy material for a pink/brown crazy quilt all sitting in boxes.  The Rooster is a romantic so he won't mind!  Mind you, redoing the lighting might just dim his switching abilities!

I briefly thought of switching back into the original master bedroom but the thought of moving all my sewing and art supplies nearly killed my mojo which is starting to lift her head to see what is going on!  ;^)

So today I shall finish trying to put the contents of an eleven square foot blue/green room onto a ten foot pink/orange room and vice versa.  The versa is gonna work way better than the vice, let me tell you!

But I'm gonna luv it!

Not really broken.

I'm not really on a blog break but...

I live one hour from Winnipeg, know nationally as Winterpeg because we can have long brutal winters. 

This past winter was especially long and then spring was just plain cold, wet, and grey.  Then the mosquitoes descended in full strength.  Miserable creatures!  We are now into hot and dry.  lol

But there is also a saying among locals that we have two seasons.  Winter and Construction! 

This is the season I am in right now.  I am not alone as the Rooster has also felt the effects of this challenging year.  We are so behind; bogged down by one problem after another.  And after a meeting the minds, mostly his,  we are making some changes.  Age needn't defeat one but we certainly can't run as fast, as long, nor as hard as we once did.  But we can run smarter!  :)  Yay for the Rooster! We are getting a plan into position.

We are under construction.

Should I be ... a foodie?

 

 

DD#1 just spluttered her tea all over the 'puter screen!   But before she reaches for the phone to make her siblings aware of my need for assessment I will say,  NO! 

And before she spills the beans in the comment section, I will confess that my go to supper when the Rooster worked shift work was the no name equivalent of Kraft Dinner.  :O 

But...

I have been diagnosed as gluten intolerant and I need to find some alternatives to toast and pasta.  Hence the recipe research.   It wouldn't hurt to razzle dazzle the Rooster with a few culinary surprises either. 

My niece, who is a chef, was here at the coop for a visit and kindly offered some suggestions.  She and I spent a whole day in Winnipeg touring Asian markets.  Who knew!  I did enjoy it, well, maybe not the octopus thingies,  and came home with bottles, jars, packages, veggies, and spices.  The Rooster would have luved it and I shall be happy to take him on a return visit.  I shall carry on with the weekday cooking and enjoy the weekend respite when his passion for food is released.  But I really do hope he can retire soon!  :)

In the meantime,  I shall continue my search for the best way to express myself with blogging.

Am I worried?

I am not really worried.  Perhaps I should be more worried!  LOL

But I do not have seem to have things together.  In fact, things are in danger of falling apart.  There is a lot of spinning/flapping but not a lot of forward motion!

I have been thinking about making some changes to my blog but I have January 2015 in mind.  I have learned not to be so hasty and this gives lots of tweaking time.   Apparently I am not alone as I am reading about similar transitional thoughts on various other blogs. 

In the meantime I am kinda stuck.  Kinda like my little friend above.  :O  hmmm, what to do???

Shall I get it together or just release and let go?  Stay tuned, as soon as I know, you'll know!  ;^)

Stepping Things UP!

I have been following a new to me blog and I quite like it!  france papillon  She hosts Journal on Monday.

Here is my try at making a journal page spread.

I opened my DYLP journal to a blank part and spread gesso with a plastic card which I like!

Next are sprays  which I also swiped with the card. 

I added printed tissue paper and dulled things a bit with some more gesso spread lightly.

Texture was made by spreading molding paste thru a stencil and then I flipped the stencil over onto the other page for a reverse effect.

I added more colour meaning to kinda hit the tops of the dried molding paste but...

More interest was added by stamping.

I really am on a mission to add fibre to my mixed media work.  I chose a complimentary colour  and sewed the fabric onto some coloured paper.

As seen, the dropper on the acrylic ink kinda exploded but I did like it.  I did spray some water to get some more drips on the left.

I wanted to get the various elements more integrated so I reached for more stamps.

To get some harmony with the fibre I added washi tape, some smudges with the ink pad, and some lines with that nice card again.

 I wasn't thrilled with the bottom left page and tried stencilling some copper.

I also tried a marker.  A water soluble pencil helped bring out the raised hand.

I positioned the stamped fabric with brads and balanced it with the key.  Good enough for a first stepping out!  lol

I'm going to link up with france's 100th JOM and hope that you will check out this great resource!

Monday- maybe!

We'll see how this works out and maybe move her when we are sure she is done hatching.  :O

How long should Hsteria last???

 August the first!  My, where is the summer going?  The grand kiddies spent some time.

The flowers have really liked cool and rainy.  The raspberries and even the saskatoon bushes have produced the best crop I can remember here on the farm.

The Rooster's new raised bed garden has revived his faith in his agricultural abilities.  

But the mosquitoes and the weeds and the weather have made us all a bit hysterical.  Hopefully things are looking to settle down to regular summer happenings as the forecast shows no clouds and lots of sun.

We should have known!  But then the rooster in the egg laying flock didn't seem to be too energetic.  We moved them to a new area with lots of tall grass.  But then egg production should have been better.  ???  Aha! While I was cutting grass I saw them!  chicks!  Some broody hen has been hiding eggs and she has hatched out a clutch.  We aren't sure how many.  She has snuck out of the main area and has them hidden in some large hay bales that run along the fence line.  Now my Rooster says there is a reason that the egg people went to incubators.  The mortality rate is high what with all the natural predators around. He takes each loss personally.   :O   I hope keeping track of them doesn't drive the little mama crazy!

Speaking of craziness,  I have been giving myself stern words.  Except for some sewing I haven't managed to accomplish very much.  The weekly list of finishes has languished.  But what I have been doing is learning about what I like and that has moved my design sense ahead!  :)

I very much enjoyed Vicki's HSTeria Quilt Along.  I do really like half square triangles.  Turns out I made these particular squares out of a quarter square die so it'll be a bit more of a challenge to sew all of the bias edges together.  But I do like the way it is coming together.

Vicki showed lots of options for various layouts and I want to try another top with the right die. 

Then I won some of Vicki's hand dyed scarps one week and that will be another project with HST's for sure, although I may be hand cutting larger pieces. ;~)

So HSTeria will continue here in this chick's coop!!!