Celtica!, silk scarves and ties, and a hand made lucet

I sing with a group called Celtica!, that is based out of the Irish Cultural Center in Phoenix, Arizona. We held a concert last night in memory of one of our charter members who passed away recently. It actually went quite well, despite my butterflies. I do so love singing in a group. I just don't like performing in front of actual people. Somehow that performance thing comes with the territory, though.

I gave my camera to a friend (Rebecca Baum) for the evening. She got several good shots of us, despite the low light and the lack of flash photography. I went in and cropped them up a little bit. What I'm really pleased with is how well the scarves and ties pop out. These are some of my hand painted silk pretties that the group uses as accents to the outfits during formal performances. They really give the group a unified look.

That is me on the far left in the first row.

In other news, my birthday was last Wednesday. My husband has been busily at work in the wood shop, making me fiber tools. He's almost got the charkha finished, for spinning fine cotton yarn. He did get a lucet done for me, made of walnut. A lucet is a tool for making strong, fine cording for things like drawstrings and laces. I think I've convinced him to make up some more of these, so I may end up expanding my Etsy shop to carry these too. In the mean time, I love mine!

Now, it is a lovely afternoon here in Phoenix, so I'm going to go enjoy the daylight and work in my front courtyard. It is so nice to be able to get outside again, after the heat of a desert summer!

Celtica! singing group

I'm going to decide that singing fits into the crafty/artsy side of my life, as it is definitely creative. Tonight I took myself off to a rehearsal of the group Celtica!, at the Irish Cultural Center in Pheonix, AZ. I have a friend who sings with the group, and he let me know that they had a couple of open spots for new members. So I brushed off my sight singing skills, warmed up in the car on the way there by singing at the top of my lungs with the radio, and gave it a shot.

I'm in.

I do, however, have a heck of a lot of catching up to do. The group has been singing together for awhile now. And we have a performance in a few weeks on the 11th. So I've got a folder full of music, and a piano, and time before the next rehearsal to brush up on my part. Ready? Go!!

Here's a couple of videos of the group on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/bradesh#p/u/7/Wtz8RaqEHS0
http://www.youtube.com/user/bradesh#p/u/6/5MKSPg8YztU