My Minutia

Hello, June

I love June...not too hot, not too cold. All of our flowers bloom...or explode I should say. Our peonies just started blooming!!

Too bad my Mother in Law missed out on seeing them. She's been visiting for 10 days and just left. They bloomed a day later. Isn't that how it goes?

 

Our roses are blooming all over the place, too. I cut these this morning. They've my fav. Not sure what they are called.

 

I keep meaning to tell you about Designer, Illustrator; Tabitha Emma. The first day of every month she shares the pretties desktop calendars she makes. I always get them. Just when you start to get tired of the desktop wallpaper, it's time to change it again to the new month. :) Check out June's calendar here.

Lastly, our daughter ran at The Boystown Memorial Run and she won her division!

She was 13th out of about 450-500 runners. We loved watching and being a part of the Memorial Day fun. Boystown is such a pretty place, especially in the Spring and Fall.

Proud Daddio and daughter right after the race...

 

Omaha Art Festival

Hubby and I ventured to the Omaha Arts Festival this past weekend. It was so hot (110 heat index) we grabbed large fresh lemonades and made it a short and sweet evening on Farnam Street.

 

 

 

We found a couple neat things...well....loads of things I'd have loved to have gotten. I did manage to pick up a few things I was excited about. This collage by Brandi Butcher-Isley.  I look forward to seeing her here each year, so delighted when I step into her booth.

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped in our tracks when we saw this booth.

 

 

 

Andrew Johnson a/k/a The Stitch Maestro and his work, were both a delight! He stitches his scanned sketches and builds repurposed frames for them. This doggy with blue wings (and carrying her purse) all the while adorned by her fans below...well it was just too cute. Even on a scorching hot evening in the city. I love it I hope he comes again next year. 

We ended the evening with long cool down and dinner. I love our June date nights.

 

 

 

 

I love art shows (sigh)

Especially when they are on pretty Spring evenings in beautiful historical buildings like this:

Art shows are even more delightful when you go to them with your family, and their eyes light up when they experience the art that surrounds them.

 

This was the NAIF Art Show, and this little miss you-know-who had a piece in it! She has been excited about this for months. She was the only freshman who had work selected to be in this show. Here's her 2-D piece entitled "Dirty Highway":

And here she is winning Honorable Mention!

 

She was the only one from her college to win an award. There were so many many amazing pieces there, so that was surprising. Our minds were popping out of our skulls. So much fresh talent in that room that night!

I don't think any of us will forget this night any time soon!

I stitched my kicks

This weekend I went down my list of "want to do somedays" and picked a simple project: embroider on a pair of tennies. I did bright, playful colors for Spring. Yay!

 

I only stitched on the right shoe. Is that bad? I should probably do the left shoe, too. These navy gingham Converse shoes are really inexpensive at Target right now. Several great solid colors, too.

 

I wouldn't say it was easy...and my fingers hurt, so I did a little at a time. If I had a little girl, I would be stitching on a pair of Keds or Converse for her for Spring and Summer. 

You could also stitch on a pair of the fabulous Tom's Shoes. Wouldn't that be great?

P.S. The list of teachers for Silver Bella 2010 is up over here!

Ornaments and Roses

Well, it's a Christmas miracle. I finally finished these ornaments!

Stitching is always enjoyable and I love these felty ornies. We have some special ones like it already on our tree, so I thought these would be a nice addition. I ordered them from Alicia last month and worked on them on our car ride to my Mom's for Thanksgiving. 7 hours later, I had the front of the house almost done. Goodness. I think it's just me....I'm slow at tedious work.

Speaking of homes, all is right in our home now. My daughter is home from college for Christmas break. I can't begin to tell you how happy this makes me. It's like all is right in the world now for some reason. I decided to give her a sweet welcome home and put these in her bedroom.

 

Every girl likes a pink welcome, right?

Even filled up a candy bowl. Because she is entirely too skinny. My goal is to add at least 5 pounds to that girl while she's home on break. Wish me luck!

Nurturing a young artist

Conversation last night between my eleven year old and me...

"I can't draw. I'm horrrrrrible, Mom. I'm not an artist and I never will be. Can't you just draw it for me?"

"No. You can draw, you just haven't really ever tried. Want to try?"

"It won't work. I know it." (silence) "Okay, I'll tryyyyyy."

Creature by creature, line by line, color by color...and an hour or so later:

 

"It's amazing! I can't believe I did this! Isn't it great? (runs around showing every family member) Will you put it on your blog?"

"Yes! Absolutely I will."

F o c u s

It's been so cold and rainy and dreery here all week! So my son is playing indoors more than outdoors. Which means at any given time there is a pile of these guys to be found, stepped on or in the dog's mouth. Their tiny guns and weapons, too!

They have been a classic toy for AJ for about 8 years. I just accept them as part of our family now. The other afternoon I saw them at war on his bed, which was reconstructed into their battlefield.

The light seemed to be just right, so I snapped a few photos. I know that someday they won't be around so much...he will outgrow them. I think he will, right? Do guys ever outgrow G.I. Joe? I hope not.

Most importantly, the word of the day for this girl...focus. While it is fun to lose focus once in a while, at the end of the day, it's even more rewarding when you keep it.
 

The runner and the spoons

Table runner that is. I finished it and am already wishing I could start another. Or something.

Once the front panel was finished, I stitched an old barkcloth to the back (and forgot to take a shot of it...oh well) and then stitched the binding. I am really loving the colors. Especially for Fall.

I was very inspired by Pam's recent patchwork samplers. How could you not be?! Earlier she wrote about Jude Hill's work which take's my breath away. Her recent article in Art Quilting is breathtaking.  

That recent photo of my Blythe doll's dress was another inspiration. It's all around you when you need it isn't it? This was another:

Details on that here.

So anyhoo...this runner was the perfect distraction for the week that daughter moved to college. My hands were ever busy. Felt great to have something to focus on while it all sunk in, ya know? Gotta love runners.

Check out this print I got earlier in the Summer and finally framed and hung in the kitchen.

It was done by a darling Canadian Artist Eva Juliet. I love it!

Peek into my studio

As promised, I have some answers to questions about my studio! I've had some emails about my creating area as featured in Where Women Create Magazine. I thought it'd probably be easiest to just answer them here.

This exploding birdcage is actually covering up a window. Let me back up a minute, my studio is in our unfinished basement of our older home. The windows were one thing I wanted to cover up...creatively. So this exploding birdcage covers one.

There are 150 or so pink envelopes flying out of the birdcage. They are fictiously addressed...with some of my fav. imaginary names, streets and towns. For example: Bijorn Bijoux, Penelope Talbot, etc. just pure fun and giggly names. I like funny words. The inspiration for this birdcage originated from our local Anthropologie store. They had an even bigger arch of envelopes and it was so cool to me. So this is my smaller version!

This window (and another one, not shown) have vintage piano paper roll curtains. They were draped over a rod.

I hot glued them a bit here and there to get the rolls just right. Also added a bit of off white lace and a doily for interest.

So, they cover the windows and are subtle, and yet interesting when they catch your eye.

Another question was about my desk. This is a lace tablecloth that's just been tacked around the side of the table and tied off to the side. Sassy's idea...of course. :) She was such a help when I was needing some ideas! So it covers things up a bit...that ugly area of cords and stuff behind the desk. And the desk isn't a desk, it a table I painted and aged a long time ago. I like the open area underneath.

I gotta show you a fabulous Sabrina Ward Harrison giclee and journal I got recently from Papaya. The energy of these rich colors is really great. It doesn't match anything in my studio....but perhaps I'll be slowly changing that.

I've hung some dyed ribbons over that window ... they look better in person. Just wanted something colorful there! Her gorgeous journal is here in the background. The colors! Gaaaa!

We're still getting to know each other at this point, so we shall see.

Sundays are cutedays

We are getting in the move out/move mode here! Daughter leaves for school this week. Take a peek at this pile of cute.

It's her dorm room bedding. So colorful and so her! The adorable pillowcase and lil black floral print pillow was a very thoughtful gift from our friend Jemellia. She offered to make them and let me pick out the fabrics from what she had in mind...and I said yes to all of them. Such a generous labor of love. Here is her etsy shop.  Jemellia, you are a peach!! Allie loves it!

Black and white polka dot sheets and hot pink damask comforter are fun together but the handmade accents make it all come together so well. Thank you Jemellia, for making us smile!

While taking pictures to show you, we gathered the bedding and were clicking away. Someone's pet saw the photoshoot and had to be front and center.

  She strongly feels that she is the perfect bedding accessory. Love love!