I often wonder why I keep dreaming up more "work" and sewing. 

Well, I think it centers me!  Seeing the projects coming out of my studio gives me some kind of satisfaction! So I agree, sometimes a girl's just gotta sew!*

 

I also know, that making things for my friends and family is one way I stay in touch and the empty nest is less empty....(actually it is  quite "stuffed" with projects in various stages! LOL!)

 

The little graphic above has a heart theme, and relates to making Valentines for friends.....( oh, and don't we love her green chair?...1930's -1950's in feel!)

 

 

After reading about mug rugs on the Internet, you head to the sewing studio...and pull out scraps f fabric and batting! When you cut and collage and quilt, time flies.....even if your back gets stiff.....

And finally, you have created 9 mug rugs...

 

Some have words, of encouragement, quotes, and many have hearts.....but not all...

 

 

Here is a favorite indigo mug on my (yes, I made one for me too!) Japanese inspired mug rug.....and yes, the dust has gotten ahead of me while I was off sewing...ah well!...

 

These little quilts make a great way to enjoy your beverage and snack!
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* While I was sewing these, I got a call from my 13 year old granddaughter as she was using the sewing machine I bought for her and trying to sew some curtains for her bedroom.  She had a struggle, but stuck with it and now they are hanging on her window seat! I am so proud of her!

Stitching and Stretching

 

This is the quilt I sewed on yesterday. It is for a challenge from our guild, for the upcoming quilt show.  We were to use the theme of a holiday (any from around the world) and the "churn dash" block.

 

Mine is based on a cherry blossom festival, with some pomegranates thrown in.  Birds, and blossoms, trees and fruit.

 Making it was fun, I will have to come up with a good explanation of my "holiday"! It also remains to be quilted, perhaps with a final border first....or not.....

 

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Now the "counter pose" for all those hours sitting at a sewing machine, leaning forward, is to stretch the other way....

This is the "bow pose" (as in bow and arrow) which is a perfect release.....though other shoulder and back stretches could work too!  [Yes, that is me in the photo above.  I am lucky to still be this flexible, so off to yoga class today to maintain my range of motion!]

Windows 8 and Grandmother's Window quilt

This morning, I am working with the newly installed Windows 8 on this computer.
I think I will like it.....but of course there is a learning curve!

All the photos we had on Windows 7 seem to have evaporated [very bad!...or a clean start?]

So, I do have a "window" photo to share, tee hee.....one of the few I have at the moment on this new program (just now saved to this computer by emailing it over from my iPad....oh, what a complex web this is becoming!)...

 

 

Ta dah!

 The quilt is called, Through Grandmother's Window.

We  have been enjoying it the last week on our bed, but now I need to add a hanging sleeve so that it can go into our guild's quilt show soon!

 

 

And here is another photo.....of a blanket and soccer ball [pattern from Anna Maria Horner's book, "SEAMS TO ME"] made and sent to my grandson, Wesley.

 

 

And since I am having fun....and Blogger is finally uploading photos for me, here is one more!

It is a page from my art journal last week, a bouquet of orange tulips and a blue striped mug (I just  love those stripes!)

All is not lost....good ingredients come through!

Saving the pizza whose crust was too thick for our taste.....
In spite of not being pleased with the way I had made the margarita pizzas in the last post,  I decided to try making the extra pizza into paninis!

 

 

These worked great (we use our George Foreman grill rather than by an extra appliance for making sandwiches!)!
For more about gluten free living, "like" Red Mountain Chiropractic  (in Boise Idaho) on Facebook.

Still trying and learning....gluten free

Using Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Pizza Crust Mix....for the first time.

the mix  is pretty wonderful....but I wasn't sure enough with it to make a thin crust.

This is rustic pizza....with fresh mozzarella, fresh basil and fresh Roma tomatoes. Ready for the oven....it is baked directly on the oven rack....not on the metal pan.

Coming out of the oven with a pizza peel.

It was pretty good....the crust could have been thinner, as in Udi's frozen gluten free pizza crusts.

I will probably choose the frozen ones for future pizza, but think that Bob's Red mill mix could make wonderful cinnamon rolls and other gluten free yeast breads....maybe even be used for the dough in the Gooey butter cake recipe about which I just posted!

Philadelphia style German Butter Cake

I wanted to make some comfort food....and had been reading about Gooey Butter Cake from St. Louis and the southern US......which uses a yellow cake mix and an eggy cream cheese topping....

But I remembered reading about an older recipe, with a yeast base from German bakeries in Philadelphia.

That is the one I set out to make, gluten free!  This recipe was easy enough to modify and I even cut it in half...[since one could easily be induced to overeat on this treat! Having less of it to start with seemed wise!]

Above you see the two batters, first the bottom cake batter which has yeast and sits and rises for an hour before being spread in the pan.  Without gluten [I used King Arthur gluten free flour],  the batter didn't rise much or build up any elasticity.....

The topping batter is then put on top, in little "plops".  Then into the preheated oven.

It cooked beautifully and smelled divine! Out it came.....the top crunchy and fragile as expected.....

Here is the first piece.  Yummy....even if all of the liquid butter and egg topping sort of descended down into the yeast dough rather than staying  up on top to make more of a "gooey" pudding effect.

It tastes like a very buttery pound cake....and is great with fruit.

Perhaps if the gluten free flour I was using had contained Xanthan gum, it might have seemed more like a traditional yeast dough.....

What I wanted to post on the one before this....

Is it me? or is it this computer? or is it Blogger/Goggle?

Whatever is going on here, it is so hard to work with! Getting a photo uploaded takes so much time and several efforts....[and Blogger still gets it wrong, this photo of my painting is supposed to be larger and in the center. Those are the buttons which I marked when the photo loader finally opened...]

Here is the painting from yesterday....(perhaps titled,"Can You Find the Banana?", LOL!)   I don't like everything about it, but it is time to stop with the paint brushes before it is overworked.....on to another painting now or maybe on over to Typepad for a free trial blog to see if they are more user friendly!

Working through it....

This is today's painting.....I wasn't very happy with it.....so I kept messing around and added some redviolet washes.  Still not what it should be, but at least I was painting!

I'm posting them here so that hopefully I can compare them....seeing them on a computer screen is a good way to get insight!

One thing I do know, I am very tired of trying to literally paint what is in front of me.  It is just a starting point....the question is starting point to where?...

Oh well, tomorrow is another day....and hopefully another painting!

PAINTING once more...

This is a photo which came to me in an e-mail today. It was taken while I was at a watercolor retreat in October. [With Richard Stephens of Hot Springs, AR]. I'm doing 2 paintings at a time, the "window and bushes" one from a photo of an abandoned house, and the vase of flowers from my imagination....

Seeing myself in the photo, happily painting, inspired me to set up some still life things and paint today!

I had bought some pink tulips yesterday to brighten our gray days now.....

and some red pears....just because I do love them and love to paint them!

This is only a quick sketch of a probable painting....it was so much fun to realize the the quick stroke of a brush could add a stem instantly and make the shape into a PEAR!

In also joined Lesley Riley's inspiration for artists program for this year....called "52 pick-up".  Hopefully money well spent.....so I can be connected to the art world a bit and get weekly e-mail nudges from Lesley!

Now off to run some errands, and then I will watch a DVD of a demonstration by British watercolor artist, Shirley Trevena.

The DVD was a Christmas gift and it is time to enjoy it!

Just knitted a fun hat!

While spending hours with Mom in the hospital and rehab, I had time to knit! 
The project was a hat called the Betwixt Hat! I found the pattern and the yarn at Hand Held, our local yarn shop. The young designer actually works there!

 It was a little challenging but I loved the yarn,..... it was fitting it onto the double pointed needles (they were very full for a while) that was a challenge.

She has planned it for magic loop knitting but I had to use double pointed, as doing magic loop is not in my skill set yet!

Here is her hat!

Looking very cute on the designer as her own model!

Here is my hat in the same yarn, different colorway.  Great buttons,.... AND needing a really cute model....I'm thinking of someone who lives in a fairly cold climate.....

Yes, Mary, this hat will be coming your way! Soft and lovely, alpaca yarn!

Home from rehab!

Above, Mom is now home from her doctor's appointment this morning, reading today's paper and wearing a knitted hat against the cold outside!

These lilies from Laura are still blooming!... now that she is home they are in her room here.

I recently found this very old photo.  It shows Mom as a child, about 1930, before the dust bowl in Eva, Oklahoma.

She is wearing a new green velvet hat and standing in front of a bush with yellow roses. She told me those colors when she looked at the photo.  She can't remeber the dress, so I can really play with the color there!.

I have made plans to use this photo as inspiration for a painting. As soon as I have quiet time to sketch and plan and paint!

For now, I am thankful to have her home here.....and doing better!

Nothing but problems here with Blogger!

I have photos and artwork to share, but the gadget which lets me access my Windows photo albums (in other words, everything I put on this computer to use in the blog) has gone missing.  I have checked back.  I have made sure that I have "Upgraded to the New Blogger"......still no photos to use!

So,  I am more frustrated than ever.....and if I continue blogging, it may be with another server. Blogging used to be so easy and fun!

I must find a photo to  use.....I think I can use anything which is already in the blog.....we will see!.....

This did work, a collage posted a couple of years ago..... but how do I get new photos to use as I journal through the days of this new year???

Merry Christmas and Family Update

It is a very different holiday this year.  I am just home from babysitting the grand kids.....(legs of the twin girls all set for the holidays!)

Lilia and Bindley (taken in Mexico in October)

Nina Kate

                                       Sophie Jane.....

I am truly blessed!  Little grandson (below with his beautiful mother) is in Idaho and I hope to see him this spring!

I love these young families!

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I had been home a week Saturday, when Mom had a stroke and fell.  We have been up at the hospital the last few days.  Now she is in rehab and may get to come home with a day pass for Christmas.

This is my first morning at home, I will try to get to yoga, visit Mom, and then head to my part-time job  [.Below my brother, a nurse, is adjusting Mom's sensor lines, earlier this week]

Hope to post again soon, we have a trip to San Francisco coming up to celebrate a 95th birthday of an aunt!

A struggle but fun!

I've been painting with watercolor,

struggling to stay loose, have a good composition (always hard for me) and trying to capture the beautiful blooms of the amaryllis!

 The beautiful colors of the paints and how they "flow" with water makes doing this very delightful for me.  Before beginning this painting, on 140 lb. cold-pressed paper, I used a white parafin candle to make marks on the white paper....nothing I could see with the naked eye, but this is a "resist" which will not take the paint.
So, as I paint, these strokes emerge to add an element of their own to my work.
Looking at the painting above, I could see I had done it again,  placed two objects barely touching...."the kiss of death" to a good composition.   SO, I have now added some more green blades coming up infront of the turquoise pot.  making the amaryllis come forward in the painting. ....I'm getting there!

It helps to see these together on the computer screen, more needed adjustments may be seen then (now?).

Today is a Christmas potluck luncheon at my mom's church.  We will go and enjoy the great food and fun!

I have to run to the store and get ingredients for Texas Caviar to take along.  Having just read an article about how healthy it is to eat beans, (they fight fat! Yeah!) this recipe seems like a good choice!

So, the version I am using is from this blogger's recipe except I will use black beans rather than black-eyed peas. [and I may use yellow corn instead of white, even add some avocado if I find one that is ripe!]  I will make it again for New Year's with the black-eyed peas.

Not that I'm catching up.....or anything.....

I'm not much of a blogger lately.  It all started when Blogger made changes which have been hard for me to work with.  Then we changed to a different camera and I haven't made that transition well either.

Last week, I took an even different gadget, my new iPad, along to my daughter's where I was to babysit 4 grandchildren while their parents had brief break in the Caribbean.  

So, I have lots of photos now on the iPad, but haven't been able to publish the blog posts from it...[.I'm still learning, and "yes" I do have the book  iPad for Dummies for Seniors!]

It was an intense week, and almost fun....I'm just not used to being "on" all the time...but do LOVE those grandkids!

At 18 months the twins are amazing! Nina Kate is on top of everything and never misses a beat. Here she is checking out the ornaments on the tree which her mom had just decorated before I was to leave.

Sophie Jane is a real brunette beauty and quite willing to be laid back and to let Nina be the boss...[I would post photos of Sophie, too, but have still to transer them to this computer.]

Once I got home, I was delighted to see that our amaryllis is bursting with color! Now I am doing some watercolor paintings of it. [photos to come, I hope!]

And I was also able to get our tree set up.  This year we have a quiet "empty nest" Christmas, but I don't think that will be too bad after all the "excitement" I have had recently!

May you all have a wonderful season and a time of blessings in the coming year!

New freedom

Just trying a post from an iPad. So much to learn here!
I'm also getting Thanksgiving dinner together and sewing 3 rag dolls for the 3 toddler grandchildren!

Photos to follow...with a bit of luck!

This is a letter which came to my e-mail last week.
I love these twice weekly letters encouraging us as artists!

Dear Lila,

Because this is a bit personal, I'm not using their real names. They're both about 40 years old.


"Jack" got a BFA and then an MFA from a Midwestern University. He's visited many of the major contemporary art museums and follows the work of several "important" contemporary painters. He's written articles on Philip Guston and others. He subscribes to several art magazines and is "the most knowledgeable art-guy in any discussion." After university he worked for a while in a commercial art gallery. He sometimes writes me long, well-informed letters. He's painted eleven large paintings (two unfinished) since leaving school. He's not represented by any gallery. He thinks you need to move to New York and "get lucky" with a dealer who "really represents you."


"Jill" took two years of art school and then quit. She pays little attention to other artists. She subscribes to no art magazines but has taken several workshops. Her hobbies include bowling and travelling. At one time she also worked in a commercial art gallery. On two or three occasions she's written to me. She's painted "approximately two thousand paintings" since leaving school. She's represented by four commercial galleries in four, well-separated mid-sized cities.

There's a great story in David Bayles and Ted Orland's Art and Fear. Here it is:

"The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of the work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: On the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work in the "quantity" group: fifty pounds of pots rated an "A", forty pounds a "B" and so on. Those being graded on "quality," however, needed to produce only one pot--albeit a perfect one--to get an "A". Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of the highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the "quantity" group was busy turning out piles of work--and learning from their mistakes--the "quality" group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay."

Best regards,

Robert Genn

(click on his last name for a link to more of this letter and to his web page! You can also subscribe to these from his page!)

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I personally am relieved at the outcome of the election yesterday.  We voted early before a trip to Georgia to see our grandchildren.
On the way home yesterday, we passed through a very rural and scenic area of our Ozarks.  There, along the side of the road was small white community building with the sign, VOTE HERE . Cars had filled the small parking lot and parked across the road too.  It was a wonderful sight to see them coming and going to be able to cast their votes!  My state did not "GO" for my candidate, but I feel that my vote counts, part of the "popular" vote and no doubt adds to the positive energy of our country!

Now off to watch a painting video.....watercolor lesson by Shirley Trevena!

A wonderful birthday!

A watercolor done this week at a workshop with Arkansas artist, Richard Stephens ! The workshop was three wonderful days at Eureka Springs School of Art.  We played and painted, doing exercises and watching Richard's demonstrations.
You can read more and see more of my exercises HERE .

So, I was able to leave sewing for a bit....maybe I will have some of these new watercolors for sale soon!

Victory Garden Quilt in progress

The pattern I ordered (from the link in the previous post) came so quickly, I was able to start these blocks this week!

To date, I have made 7 out of 15 and it is so much fun, seeing the combinations come together.....in order to save fabric [I had picked up 15 fat quarters for this at our guild's "fat quarter frenzy"], I am paper foundation piecing the corner units.  The directions call for 5/8 yard for each block....a lot of extra waste of course. So, I trace the corner block (and the reverse) from the pattern onto lightweight tracing paper,  then I am ready to sew!

These photos were with natural light, the first photo is with artificial. Interesting how much "warmer" the artificial light looks! 

Here, I am auditioning a possible lattice fabric, the lavender floral (after all it is a "garden").

Today is rainy and cool....getting cooler by the minute as a front moves in.  Our first really cool weekend since the long dry, hot summer!  I won't be sewing though....

I have an apple cake to bake and shrimp tacos to assemble for an evening with some friends!