falling into winter

at least that's what it feels like this morning

when I walked Mr Benson down to get the mail it was snowing and the snow landing on the still green leaves of the trees sounded like water droplets hitting a hot pan --- hisss, hisss --- a sound I had never noticed before

since my last blog post, we've had a bit of household excitement

two weeks ago when I cleaned in the kitchen I discovered that we had a leak around the garbage disposal -- not what I wanted to be dealing with just now, but I know better than to let a leak go because my experience with that in the past is that it only costs you more

we made the decision that if we were going to replace the disposal, it made sense if we could swing it to do the whole job -- the sink that was here when we bought the house was a porcelain coated steel one that was badly stained and chipped by it's tenure as a rental house and the spray attachment didn't work properly ---   I had hoped at some point to replace the counter top and have a nice under mount sink installed, but that was just not in the budget

so, off we went to the local hardware store and did some shopping and pricing

last Tuesday morning the installer came and installed the new sink, water supply lines, faucets and garbage disposal --- all in stainless steel which matches the appliances in the room and because I paid a bit extra, I now have a 9 inch deep sink which is wonderful for doing some dye washout projects too

and because the leak had marked the veneer of the bottom of the cabinet, I picked up some self stick vinyl tile squares and my wonderful son-in-law installed those for me last Saturday

YEAH!  a small victory and learning to be grateful for what we can do even when it isn't "the big dream"

from now until Christmas, my studio takes on the look of having a million things going on at once

October is usually taken up with working on a special Halloween costume for Mr Cute, and this year is no exception

over the past 7 years I have created something custom that was requested by either his parents (the first two, when he was too little to express an  opinion) or by "the little man" himself

he's been a winged monkey

Linc (from the Legend of Zelda game)

a dinosaur

a fireman

a Ninja turtle

Captain America

and the Hulk

this year he requested a pirate outfit

and not just any pirate ---- nope, we're going to give Captain Jack Sparrow a run for his money

we ordered this pattern (and had to wait  F O R E V E R  for it to arrive)

while we were waiting, he helped me create the wig he would need to wear to make this a proper Jack Sparrow costume

this was created by using one of those soft net bags that cantaloupes come in at Costco as a base and threading bulky yarn into it for the hair --- a trip through my beads and metal charm stash provided the ornamentation -- looking good!

and now that the pattern is here, I've already made a good start on the sewing -- the vest is ready for it's buttons

the stack of fabric for the annual Christmas pj bottoms has been washed and folded and is waiting for the cutting and stitching once the costume is done

meantime, quilts continue to be entered and accepted into shows

this piece, titled "The Wheel" was originally created as a test of techniques for another piece -- because it worked so well, I finished it off and put it in with the pieces to be shown

yesterday I was notified that it has been accepted for a show titled "Overlooked" in Cumberland, MD -- I'm very pleased!

and this piece that has already been in two shows has been accepted to be printed in a special edition of the Surface Design Association's magazine in a grouping titled "Family Matters" --- WOW!

this piece is moving right along on the design wall

the figures are done, and the background is coming together ---

the background of this piece is almost complete too --- and I'm amazed at how well it has come together

as usual when I'm getting close to the completion of a piece, I'm already thinking about what the next two or three will be ---- so many choices!

this picture of Mr Benson is a candidate for one of them --- I love the light and shadow on his face and for once he is looking right at the camera without bouncing around

time to get back to the studio to work!

getting ready for winter -- it's a pain

this is our back deck

it's big, and it was one of the things we liked about the house when we first looked at it

but it has a down side

if you want these things to last, they need maintenance

which means an annual coat of stain/sealer needs to be applied to the decking and the top of the rails to protect the wood

and it needs to be down before the wet of winter starts

this week I did that coat of paint -- breaking it up into two work days -- one for most of the floor and one for the rest, and I finished it yesterday

let me tell you, this work is not for the weak

my arms and shoulders are so sore I could barely dress myself this morning -- YIKES!

it looks beautiful, but it's going to take me a while to recover

of course painting the deck as not my only activity this week

since the rusting project went so well a couple of weeks ago, I decided I could handle dyeing some silk organza for the fire piece

I took the piece of silk I wanted to dye and crumpled it up in a gallon zip bag then added white vinegar and some pewter colored dye powder and zipped it up

the next morning, all of the dye had been absorbed by the silk and I could wash it out to reveal the very interesting random patterning of the dye on the silk

including some spots that have a very pink overtone

great!

I think it's going to be the perfect top layer over the fire piece!!

time to make up that fiber sandwich and start quilting

just as soon as I finish quilting this one 

I've finished the sky and the mountain and I'm working my want across the field and the fence

moving right along!

this piece is coming along nicely too

I really love the way the sky and mountain background came out

the big blank spot on the side of the big building is there because I'm working on how to create the reflection I need to have there without it being too bright

still thinking about that part

and work has begun on the next piece

the windmill has been through several design changes, but I finally settled on something that I like

the part that is being stitched in this photo is the top left corner of the sky

then there is this

one of the online bead groups I belong to has a challenge running that is titled "Shadow and Shade"

I thought it would be fun to create a cuff bracelet that was silhouettes of cats and pumpkins with shadows behind them

it's getting pretty close to finished

then I'll go back to the other piece

the garden is finally started to produce some edible tomatoes

the San Marzano tomatoes are starting to ripen --- and there are some Early Girl and Cherokee Blacks that are a good size for Fried Green Tomatoes!

YUM!

the halls are decked

this week we finished decorating the house, adding all the little things that make the house look like a Christmas wonderland (my daughter's phrase)

the coffee table has vintage candles including one that was my grandmother's and one that my mother painted a poinsettia on

the stair rail had just enough openings between the spindles for the collection of jumpers (that hadn't seen the light of day for a long time!)

the table just inside the door holds a basket made by Amma and a metal mailbox that I've had for years

and the mantle has the collection of rocking horses

this last phase of the Christmas decorating holds the sweetest memories as it involves unwrapping the carefully wrapped and protected pieces that have no value to anyone else, but are priceless to us

the little feather has the really small ornaments -- including a Santa that the DH made as a child

and the Christmas village - most of these pieces were my grandmother's and I remember them clearly from when I was a child

not everything this week was fun, however

on Monday, after I had been doing laundry most of the day, I went into the utility room in the basement and found water on the floor under the water heater

ACK!

the picture of the floor shows part of how big the puddle of rusty water under the old water heater was

and here is the picture of the shiny new model that my plumber installed for me -- in about 3 hours from the "let's take a look" at my front door shortly after I sent him a message about the water on the floor to when his truck was pulling out of the drive way when the work was all finished

while this was not an expense I was planning for just before Christmas, it was about a third of the cost of the water heater I had to replace in our old house a few years ago, and the work was done a lot faster

I'm very grateful that we have good contacts here to have work done by good people

guess I need to put a big bow there on the water heater -- Merry Christmas to the house!

 

this time of year the studio work includes a lot of utilitarian activities

some of what happened in there this week I can't show you yet (watch for the Christmas Reveal post after Christmas!)

but these three items are all done

a pair of mittens hand knit that will go along with the toy we bought for the child who's tag we pulled from the local giving tree -- in this climate, every child needs a pair of warm mittens at Christmas!

the Christmas sock (which I made over 30 years ago!) now has been embroidered with the name of my daughter's newest dog -- old meets new!

and Mr Cute has recently had a growth spurt that has made most of his stash of "made by gramma" favorite flannel pj pants too small -- fortunately, I can whip up a pair of these in less than an hour from cut out to complete -- he liked this pair

there has been work on art projects this week too

I'm working my way to the back of the neck on this piece now -- the graduation to the darker color that will continue around to the clasp went well, so now it's all seed bead fill to the back -- not nearly as interesting to work on for me as the part where I was adding other pieces, but necessary

the leather I need to back this has been ordered -- this will be another one that will have a soft gray backing -- that color just seems to work for most of my pieces

I'm trying to decide if it would be a good investment to buy a whole hide -- but that would be a pretty pricey thing -- maybe after I pay off the bill for the water heater!

the background for the truck is done -- I think

now that I can see the background with the drawing of the truck I'm wondering if I actually want the background to be wider

I need to think about that

meantime, the silk organza that I need for this piece has also been ordered

and I can start working on the barn and the trees while I'm trying to decide about how wide this should be

then there is this

a little over a year ago I was in the thick of this activity getting ready for our move

this stack is not mine, but my daughter (bless her!) and I packed 23 boxes of books for my mother yesterday

like with labor pains, where you forget how bad it hurts when you have that child in your arms, I'd forgotten how much I hurt this time last year as I was trying to get us moved now that we are in our new house

I won't be doing a lot today -- I need to let my shoulders and my back recover

it's time to wrap presents!

cooking and sewing and beading -- Oh My!

last week's activities involved some canning, and this week's involved cooking with a vegetable that I had never tried before

my daughter's garden produced a bumper crop of spaghetti squash, which we had never eaten, but this recipe was really good

if you'd like to try it for yourself, I've posted it out on Hattie's Kitchen

we had another little home improvement done in the garage this week -- these three steps from the garage floor into the house originally had no hand rail

on Monday the same contractor that did my studio came and put up this amazingly attractive rail for me

Yeah!

this piece is ready for the backing -- I tried one type of material and it just was not up to snuff

so I ordered a piece of suede to take care of that issue, which arrived yesterday -- I'll be getting back to this piece soon

in the mean time, I started on this piece

my plan for it will involve doing some bead woven parts to create the necklace --- but I've set it aside for now while I finish the blue one

the quilting continues on this piece

and I've decided to use the tear drop shaped beads off the edge of the trail as part of the "finish" on that bottom edge

 

and the costume for Mr Cute is finished!

he loves it, and while there will be other Ninja Turtles out there trick or treating, there won't be another one that looks like this one!!

Yahoo!!