Dotty

I bought this knit fabric a few weeks ago thinking it would make a cute skirt. Only took a couple of hours to make, and now I have a new spring skirt!

Encaustic

I took an encaustic (wax) class a few years ago. I haven't done anything since, except buy supplies! :-P I took an encaustic class tonight at a cute little place called Craft. It was taught by a fun instructor, Christine. We did this on artist trading cards and postcard sizes. It was loads of fun, and my head is swimming with lots of fun possibilities.

Embroidery

I started work on Reginald, the hummingbird pirate, quite a bit ago. It's actually a pretty decent size, especially compared to the small projects I've been doing with the stitch clubs. I was almost done when I showed him to my embroidery teacher and we had a great conversation about color. The floss I chose worked with the fabric, but maybe a little too well as it didn't stand out enough. Part of it I think was the challenge of embroidering on a printed fabric, and part was maybe being a bit color shy and not picking colors bold enough. I had the right hue, but maybe not the right saturation. She helped me pick out some colors to do essentially a shadow or highlight to help what I had done stand out.

I don't know how well my camera picked it up, but the top branch has some shading with a teal color and the bottom branch doesn't. I can't believe the different between the two. I really feel like I'm painting with thread and am excited to finish the piece. I think in some ways it's going to look even better because I went back with another color and added another layer. I love how the addition of the teal was just enough to make that branch pop out. My brain is dancing with ideas of how I can paint with thread. :-D

Fall Stitch Club

I pared down the embroidery for the fall stitch club and just did a few of the designs and made them into a handy bag. I loved the fabrics for these.

Dining table and chairs

So during my kitchen remodel LAST YEAR!! I bought an unfinished table and chairs. I didn't start painting it until late September. It's been a giant pain in the arse. Lots of fiddly details to paint around, and I have no desire to ever paint such a thing again. :-P I put the final coat on this past weekend. I'm not overly happy with it. I did a sloppy job for starters, but no will notice that but me. The colors somehow aren't quite what I had in my head. It's not bad, but I think in the end I would have been happier with stained wood. Ah well. Maybe in a few years, I'll strip it and stain it. In the meantime I have a put together dining area. Woot!

NYC trip

I took a whirlwind trip to NYC for Christmas. I was lucky enough to have enough frequent flier miles to afford the trip. The main thing I wanted to do was see Waiting for Godot with Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan and see the New York City Ballet's Nutcracker. I got to do both of those things. The play was just amazing and did not disappoint at all. I read Waiting for Godot either as a teen or in my early 20s, and always wanted to see it performed. I couldn't have asked for a better cast! I was a bit disappointed with the Nutcracker. The set and costumes were amazing, but the ballet was just OK. They didn't do the traditional choreography, and I missed that. The acoustics in the Lincoln Center were amazing though and I did enjoy it.

I decided that I would try and see some of the museums I've never seen. Despite having been to New York many times, I've often wound up wandering the city and not doing a lot of "tourist" things. So my first full day there I went to the Met. I could have spent all day there. It was heavenly. Lots of Monet, and other impressionists that I love. I had hoped to also go to the Guggenheim that day, but I couldn't look at another piece of art. It was raining and the museum was very crowded. I rested at the hotel and then went to the play.

On my second day, I crammed in a lot. I started off at MoMA. I enjoyed it more than I thought, and could have spent more time there. They have a nice collection of impressionists and post impressionists. I also enjoyed the Kandinsky exhibit. My plan for seeing several museums was to triage and see what I really wanted to each museum. So on to the Guggenheim. I mostly wanted to go here for the building, and it did not disappoint. Even the bathroom was interesting since it too had curved walls! It didn't take long to walk through and I enjoyed the Christopher Wool exhibit as well as a few other modern pieces. I took a break and saw the Nutcracker in the afternoon. And after the Nutcracker, I had just enough time to make it over to the natural history museum. I wanted to see the dinosaurs, and the blue whale. It was fun to see some of the dioramas as well. It's a beautiful building. My day wasn't done yet! I then took a walk to see the Christmas displays in the stores and the tree at Rockefeller center!

My last day was Christmas day, and very cold. I think it was about 25, but much colder with the wind chill. I tried to take a bus tour of the city, but there was no heat on the tour bus, and once I got to Battery Park I got off so I could get warmed up. I took the subway to Grand Central Station, and then back to Time Square. I had a nice lunch and then it was time to head home.

Oddly, I'm kind of tired after all that! :-) I had loads of fun though, and it was really nice to get to see some things I've always wanted to see.

Pictures!!

Lemon tree in the kitchen

I finally did it! I painted an art deco looking lemon tree in the kitchen.