Out With The Old, In With The New

Recently, I had a really nice surprise come in the mail.  My stitching friend, Deb, asked me if I would like an adult coloring book featuring Japanese Woodblock Prints.  Yes!  Japanese artwork is so beautiful.  Most of my long time readers know that I have an Okinawan (Japan) heritage so this coloring book was right up my alley.  This isn't just any coloring book, though.  It shows a color print of the actual artwork and the history of the artist as well as a corresponding coloring page.  It's VERY cool!

 

 

Thank you so much, Deb!



STITCHY STUFF
The end of 2016 brought several finishes. 

Handmade Charlotte kit by Buscilla

Wood ornament stitched with cotton threads

Christmas Wishes

Designer: Alita Designs

Fabric: 14ct Cream Gold Lurex Aida

Fibers:  Cotton threads leftover from misc kits

Embellishments: Ricrac, Grosgrain Ribbon, Gold Seed Beads

 

Woolly & Cosy Ornament

Designer: Valentina Sardu 

Fabric: 28ct Antique White Cashel Linen 

Fibers: Cotton threads leftover from misc kits

Embellishments: Ricrac

 

I ended 2016 with a total of ten finishes. Not as many as I'd like, but a stitch is a stitch, right?  My finishes can be seen HERE.

The beginning of 2017 started off with stitching on Japanese Garden.  You heard it right... I pulled out JG.  The last time I worked on it, it looked like this:

 

 

As of today, I finished all the gold brackets and most of the purple Jessica stitches.

 

 

WORK

After having 11 PTO days off work, today was my first day back.  Talk about busy!  Tomorrow will be just as busy.  I don't know if I mentioned it... a few months ago, I took over project billings for the office I work out of.  It has consumed my days at work.  It's challenging and I seem to learn something new every day. I thought it was ironic that the first day back for the new year is Festival of Sleep Day. LOL

 

 

EXERCISE

How many of you made a New Year's resolution to lose weight, exercise more, blah, blah, blah?  I joined a gym a few months ago... a nice perk provided by my employer.  I had been going 3-4 times a week until December hit... holidays and cold weather have thrown my schedule off.  I seem to do better when I go to the gym directly after work. Zumba classes, weight training, swimming, stationary bike, and elliptical are the things I do in rotation.  Tonight was my first night back... weight training, biking, and elliptical.

 

I'm going to leave off by saying that I wish all of my readers the very best 2017. May the new year be everything you wish for.

 

 

Have Paint, Will Travel

In my last post, I shared my photographic checks. Thank you all for the compliments. They are really cool, aren't they?  I've had several inquiries as to where I got them.  I ordered mine from Artistic Checks www.artisticchecks.com.  One caveat... Look for a coupon code to get them really inexpensively.  Normally, they are $20.95 + shipping!

ARTISTIC ENDEAVORS
A while ago, I picked up a set of Loew Cornell watercolor pencils and a new adult coloring book called Magical Garden by Cra-Z-Art.  I really like the pencils. They cover and blend really well and are not too expensive.

Two weeks ago, I started a 6-week watercolor workshop taught by a local artist.  This week, we had to come up with ideas what we'd like to paint for our "masterpiece".  These were my choices.

The instructor critiqued our choices.  He really liked all of them except for the hot air balloon. He said the sky didn't have interesting detail in it.  I chose the autumn river scene.  It will be very difficult, but I will give it my best!

 

One of the supplies recommended for class was an 18x24" thin board for drawing and painting on.  Ahh... a DIY project!  I bought an inexpensive piece of Masonite and cut it to size.  A bit of primer and quite a few coats of polycrylic makes for a nice waterproof painting surface.

 

 

On my own, I've been doing some fun things with my watercolor paints.  I've created color cards so I know what the paints look like on paper.

 

 

I also did a mixing exercise with the Reeves watercolors using primary colors: red, blue, yellow to make secondary and tertiary colors.

 

CRUISE NIGHT 2016
When I was a teenager, entertainment on a Friday night was cruising around the square downtown.  From that, Cruise Night was born.  At first, it was a bunch of people with cool cars, trucks, and motorcycles that drove around the square.  There was a beer tent with music.  Decades later, it has turned into a huge event featuring car shows, music/entertainment, and competitions.  This year, my brothers and nephew decided to take their cars and enter the burnout contest.  My oldest brother placed 3rd out of about 20-25 cars in the competition.  Pretty cool bragging rights, if you're into cars!

My brother in his 1969 Pontiac GTO convertible.  He restored and painted it himself.

 

Photo from 2008

 

My nephew entered his 1973 Chevy Nova - He created a lot of smoke, which is one of the factors they're judged on.  He didn't place, though.  Not bad for his first time!

My youngest brother entered his 1968 Pontiac GTO.  Both my brothers vamped up the motor the day before.  He had a hard time keeping it on the pad, and the facilitators shut him down early.



Photo from 2014 - My nephew in his Nova next to my brother's GTO.

FREEBIE

Road Trip by Ursula Michael
Get the freebie HERE.
 

End of Year Catch Up

WEATHER
Our first snowfall of winter occurred on November 23rd. Ten inches of heavy, heavy (Did I mention "HEAVY"?) snow fell. Starting out, I was able to clear the backyard with the snowblower.

While trying to clear the driveway, I fell backward into the snow. Landed on my rear end and jammed my knee into a screw on the snowblower. It's almost healed. I can't believe how long it's taking!

Then the shear pin broke on one of the augers. Since I couldn't get out of the driveway, I couldn't go get another one. This meant shoveling by hand... for the rest of the day! Because of this, I'm now suffering from tendonitis in my elbow. Thankfully, a passerby offered to help me clear out the remaining third by the street. Who says there aren't good samaritans?

Once I was able to get out, I went out to get new shear pins and promptly repaired the snowblower.

Up until today, my area only saw one other snowfall... a light dusting. Today... oh today... brought sleet and freezing rain. All day! Most of us at work left early. There's about 3" of sleet on my driveway. I don't know how I'm going to get it cleared.

WORK
December 14th marked the 90-day anniversary at my "new" job. So far, it's been going pretty well. I have three project managers I work under. One is in another state so I've never met him. A second is very good at explaining in depth everything I need to know... and then some. The third forgets that I'm new and doesn't take the time to explain unless I ask for clarification on how things should be done. The first month was spent training in other offices near Chicago. I went to a seminar in near Chicago to learn the basics of construction industry accounting. The trainers gave out candy for anyone who answered questions.

At the back of the training room, this sign covered a good two-thirds of the wall. I really liked it. It's so true!

FAMILY
A couple weeks ago, I became a great auntie for the third time. Let me introduce you to Annyia Rose. She is so tiny and adorable.

COLOR CRAZE
You may or may not know about the adult coloring craze that's been going on the past several years. I decided to download a coloring page and dig out my art supplies from years past. I started this floral design a few days ago.

I'm really enjoying working on this. I've used cheapo Rose Art and Cra-Z-Art colored pencils since they're what I had. On each flower, 13-15 colors were used.

STITCHY STUFF
I participated in one Christmas ornament exchange this year. The person I sent to was not the person I received from. You may recall from a while back, the flat snowman ornament I did. It went to Jenn in TX.

Design: Heads UpDesigner: Cherrywood Design StudioCherrywood Design Studio
Magazine: 2012 Just Cross Stitch Ornament issue
Fabric: 28ct White Linen
Fibers: DMC
Embellishments: Handmade cording,
DMC memory thread arms, fabric scarf
I received the cutest ornament from Char in PA. Thank you, Char!

I also participated in a card exchange. Marina in Canada sent me an adorable angel ornament. Thank you, Marina!

CHRISTMAS
I really wasn't in the mood to decorate for Christmas this year so all I can show is the many cards I received from friends and family.

For Christmas dinner, I made Italian Roasted Chicken, Roasted Mixed Vegetables, and Mashed Potatoes with Mushroom Gravy.  It was soooooo delish!

In my next post, I will be showing my two finishes.  Stay tuned!