End of the year....Beginning of a new one....

I can't believe that we are already at the end of this year.  2010 had a lot of firsts for me:  my first grandchild, Ayden, was born, a new librarian at the Junior High, an art room(s) of my very own to escape to and I started this blog.  Okay, so I'm not very good at keeping up with this, but I am trying.

Here are a couple of my New Year's goals:  1.  To take care of myself by excercising and getting  back down to a size 8 (or 6), 2.  To be the very best and involved Grandma, 3.  To add to my blog every day (or at least once a week), and 4.  To always have a knitting project going (I'm going to knit through a book of women's hats first).

I hope everyone has a wonderful year full of firsts and that you accomplish everything that you set your mind to.

Pics of some stuffed dolls!

I was making these stuffed dolls for my bazaar and had to work at conferences one evening.  I thought that I would just take my hand sewing and work on them there.  While I was sewing our Assistant Principal came by and asked if I was making voodoo dolls.  I said yes, of course and that I should make one of him.  We all just kind of laughed but I went ahead and made one of him and one of our Principal also.  So here are some pics of the stuffed dolls for the bazaar and my stuffed Rick and Tom.  I think they turned out cute.

Busy time of year....

I entered 15 things in the Central Washington Fair this year.  I was a little disappointed that I didn't get all blue ribbons this year, but there was some good competition.  All of my hats received 3rd place ribbons and my felted bowl also.  The purses received 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.  But the most exciting thing was that my crazy woven, freeform knitted and crocheted purse won Best of Show.  Yay!!  I've always wanted to win something like that so it was very cool.  You can see the purse in my first blog post.  Now I just have to decide if I am going to put this purse in the Holy Family Show or the Allied Arts Holiday Show?  I have a month to decide.  I need to get moving on my stuff.  I have a lot of purses to make before my shows. 

I am working on some rag dolls right now.  I have two of them hand stitched together and just need to finish them by machine sewing them and stuffing the darlings.  I will post pics tonight or tomorrow if I get them finished today.

Posting of my 9/11 display....

Well.....I can't say it exactly turned out the way I wanted it to, but I was in the middle of a time crunch so went with what I had.  I think it's okay but two of my people have very white faces which bugged me of course.  Here are my photos of the display I put up at school.  There are tags by each grouping explaining who or what was being depicted.

I've been working on some large flags for marching band so haven't had any time or energy for anything creative.  Today I am going to work on a quilted chair pad for my Mom's birthday present.  It's late of course but she understands.

I got accepted into the Holiday Art Show and Sale at the Peggy Lewis Gallery.  So I will be working on pieces for this and for the bazaar in November.  Busy, busy times.

Back to school.

School starts next week and I have been going in about three days a week for the past two weeks, so I haven't been able to blog much.

 Tonight I am going to the Yakima Bears game and am just going to sit back and start knitting a new purse.  I have been wanting to get back to knitting purses more.  I have been quilting purses more then knitting for the past couple of years.  I just finished felting a purse and am going to sew a lining for it.  It is very striking.  The colors are a hot pink, bright green, white, and a dark grey.  The new purse I am going to start is going to be a bright pink, black, and white.  This one I am going to keep for myself.  I need a new Fall purse with texture.  Will post pics soon.

Bases for some of the people.  Done with patriotic colors of tile.

Start of a new project...

I have been wanting to start this project for awhile.  It is almost time for school to start, so I thought it is finally time.  I saw in an issue of Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine a couple of months ago, a really cool idea that someone did.  They made 3D suffragettes out of fabric and wire and mounted them into a base (I believe a block of wood).  These were tall figures.  Probably about 13 inches tall.  They made a great display showcasing this period in history.  I think there were about 10 of these done.

My idea doesn't have to do with suffragettes, but another piece of history that should be honored.  I am going to make a 3D display (for our library) of 9/11.  I will make some New York firefighters and some other people who were a significant part of this event.  It should be fun but definitely a stretch of my ingenuity.  Wish me well on my endeavours.  I will try to post pictures of the process and of the end results.  Hopefully they will turn out like I am envisioning.

A year's worth of simple abundance...

I found this small book at a yard sale this summer and have been reading it each day.  It's called, "Hold that Thought".  It is a year long calendar with encouraging ideas and thoughts to help you learn to accept yourself for who you are. 

I really liked today's thought.  Here it is......
     Dare yourself to believe in your creativity, wherever it may lead you.  Trust that where it leads is exactly where you're supposed to be.  Your authentic self knows where you're headed.  Don't wrestle with Spirit.  Collaborate with it.

Interesting huh?  It would be great if everyone would be able to trust enough in themselves and their dreams.  It's such a huge leap to do this.  I think it is one of the most terrifying things......to put myself into creating something and then wonder if someone else will get it.  I guess I need to not worry so much about other people's reactions and just create to make myself happy.  Hard to do.....

For the last few years I've taken a planner and embellished the outside to make it look different then everyone else's planners.  Today I embellished my new planner with purple yarn, ribbon, material, and some permanent marker.  Then I braided some yarn and attached a clip to it so I can mark my spot.

Frenzy of Color

This was a bag I designed using a lot of different fibers: silk, wool, recycled cardboard, and acrylic yarn.  I used a loom and wove most of the body and then knitted and crocheted it all together freeform.

Today is the beginning of my journey.....

This upcoming school year is full of firsts:  new band director at Davis, only one child in school (Drake), new librarian at the Junior High, almost a completely new staff, new PTA duties (at Davis and not so much at Council), and a new determination of mine to push myself harder and farther to learn new things and perhaps begin to make a name for myself as a fiber/mixed media artist. 

This is my challenge to myself to make time to be creative every single day.  Even if it is only for 10 minutes in my art room or sitting in front of the tv knitting.  I am going to take pictures of my process and try to post new pictures at least once a week. 

So here I go off on my journey.