shades of green

I have a salad garden... peppery mustard greens, collards and beet greens.... not only is this a delicious salad, but the colors are beautiful.....
Just like the beautiful green of this re-purposed sweater... once lovingly hand knit into a cozy cardigan, it felted down to the perfect bag weight.

Once done, I took it straight outside to get a true-green picture.... look what happened to the color when I hung it from my turquoise blue storage room door... washed all the green right out, but really enhanced the red-orange of the flower....

This is the bag again, hanging from my office door... the color is much greener, but still not as green as the first photo, taken on my stove top under fluorescent light....

Here is a close up of the flower.... I was ready last night to toss all these green left-overs, but when I gathered them into my hand I realized I had something and this morning I dug around and found some nice felted bits to add to them. The flower is pinned on, so it can be removed if I need to launder the bag.

The bag measures 13wide, 8 high with about a 24" double handle. I saved the cardigan front and think it gives it a nice look with the vintage buttons.

The back is plain. The handles have a running machine stitch... five or six actually... to help stabilize it and prevent too much stretching...

oh... and the real color... closer to the first picture under the artificial light.

I have a couple other sweaters in my stash that would work for purses.... I'll let you know how they turn out.

time to get to work

My friend Kathy has returned to the blustery Midwest and with her she took a pile of my felted scarves and three books (Thank you, Kathy!).... and what this means to me, besides getting back to my diet and regular exercise regime, is that I need to get to work.

So while I will be felting and building books, getting ready for the Sunnyslope Art Walk in early April, I will also be trying some new things.

I'll keep you posted, show you pictures of my progress...

and now, I need to begin.

mural

I finished the mural yesterday afternoon... well, almost as I need to go back and give it the final clear seal coat and plant a sign in the yard that I am available for hire in this department... you can't really see them but the trees have little tiny leaves... they are supposed to be palo verde's... I love how the gate turned out, making the cross the focal point of the mural. The bird on top the fence was Judy's request... a roadrunner. I had thought of a sentry quail on the fence or a fat red chicken by a tree, but the roadrunner was the preferred bird, so even though I have only a general picture in my head of a roadrunner, I painted it and even Joe next door, when asked could identify it... so, there you go.

The entire house will be painted in march when they have money from their tax returns... Then I'll take a picture of the whole house so you can see how well this will blend into the look and architecture of the home...

For the next few days in between my to-do list of self-inflicted and completely enjoyable obligations and an afternoon working a real paying job, I must prepare this house for my friend Kathy's arrival... which translates to push the broom, pull out the vacuum, and mop, dust, scrub. Thank heaven for visitors... if I can keep them coming at regular intervals I will have a relatively clean house.

time flies

January is gone... I knew going into January that it would be New Year's Day and then it would be Ground Hog's Day... and that is exactly how it has turned out.

I had company. Good company. Company I enjoyed and had fun with... but because of that it felt like January was gone just as it began.... one of the things we did was go to Burnt Corral camping/picnicking area on Lake Apache... I took the girls there many moons ago camping. I remembered that I loved it... and this drive, walk, and picnic lunch reminded me that I cannot wait so long before I come back again.

I love bare trees... I have pictures and pictures of bare trees.... what is it about them that calls to me so?

look at the lines they form, and the shadows on the bark, and the texture, texture, texture....

I received two boxes of wool sweaters from a friend in Illinois... three cashmere and this one, a Merino wool.... I stitched up the holes and felted them all... this one felted the best. It originally was a man's cardigan. On a whim I put it on and liked the feel and fit... but I needed to do something about my patch job. My solution was embroidered flowers.

on the back.....

and on the front... it is cozy warm and I have had several compliments on it.....


And last Cinco De Mayo, I promised Judy I would paint her garage... nearly 9 months later I finally am making good on the offer....

I washed and primed the door, then sketched out my plan.... put the sky in... the door has all these squares. I'm working hard on the texture to diminish the look of the squares....

today I painted in the wall. people hollered from the street, great job! as they drove by... have to admit, I love doing this...

Oh! and I have been working at putting together a class on art journaling for March... so in lots of ways I have been in fast forward since the 25th of January when my company left....

Ten more days and I will have out-of-town company again... and then it will be March!