Old Drawings...............

Me and Danielle. I did this from a photo by hand, no trace or light box. I try to do all my drawing from scratch. I now wonder why. So far I have not done it any other way but when I had the watercolour class the teacher traced or used a light box or projector. He said if you do a building then it needs to be accurate. I thought that was cheating but I guess its considered acceptable. Now I dont see so well I might just try that from now on.


Trouble is all my pictures that I have saved are under glass and I was too lazy to undo them to take a photo but maybe some day I will redo them. For now this is a copy of an add in a magazine. I can no longer remember what it was about but I loved the picture and it reminds me of all my babies.


FRIENDSHIP IS BEAUTIFUL

Yard Sale......................

I had a yard sale the last two days. One more day to go. Its a lot of work and can be boring after awhile but I had company. My daughter came over and sat with me and my granddaughter helped me set up. This time I was trying to sell a lot of clothes that have been packed away for several years. They are nice things that either dont fit me any more or I am tired of. I also have a load of baby clothes that Tristen has grown out of. Among the stuff I dragged out were knick knacks that I had packed away from my last sale and a load of books. I was selling everything for 50c. People liked that, said "This is a real yard sale". We held it in the drive way this time. Much more room and no old men stopping by and saying "How much are you selling the garage for?" and us having to laugh like its the first time we have heard that.
Well so far I have made over 200 dollars, not bad for 50c sale. The fact is the last couple I had I made really good money. The first one, several years ago I made over 1000 dollars and the next couple I made around 500 dollars. I had good stuff then, furniture and knick knacks that always sell well. People dont go for clothes so much.
Its funny sitting and watching people. For example I had a couple of those baby car things, the bases that hold the car seat. Someone was pondering over if or not it was a universal base or not and if it would fit her baby carrier or not. Well at 50c why would you not just take it and find out????? but they didn't. Old ladies are worse, they will haggle over 10c. For example 2 glasses at 25c each but one was bigger than the other so would I sell the smaller one for less? Come on people. I gave her them both free with a basket to take them home in. I figure she needed them more than I needed the 25c. I know thats the fun in going to sales, the bargaining and all that but sometimes I just shake my head.
Anyway, one day to go for this sale.
Later in the Fall I want to go through the whole house and find everything I can bare to part with and sell it at a proper price.
Another thing I have discovered, people seem to think if its only 50c then something must be wrong with it haha. Its a life experience and fun to people watch. All shapes and sizes and young and old. The old guys are so funny and obviously bored and so they amuse themselves at our expence as the wife shops. Talk about silly jokes.
One couple came with some cute little kids. My daughter brough out our lunch while they were browsing and as we sat down to eat our sandwiches (ham, cheese and cucumber) the little boy who must have been about 3 came and stood staring at me with big blue eyes. The mum said "are you hungry or something" he said "yes" so I asked if he would like to share my sandwich and he nodded yes. So I broke my sandwich in half and he chowed down and ate the whole thing cucumbers and all. His dad was just cracking up. I thought it was sooooo cute. Its a wonder he didnt want my drink haha.
Well who knows what tomorrow will bring. It was so hot today, and it may rain tomorrow.



Well I only did two days after all. I went out on day 3 to find everything wet. It was covered but the cover leaked so now I am washing everything. Thats OK though because next time I have one all the clothes will all be sorted and ready. With a bit of luck I will be able to do this again before winter. If not then in the Spring. Meanwhile I made enough to cover the gas for our trip and to pay our house sitter.

Quilting............

One of the easiest and best looking quilt patterns is the log cabin.




I took my first quilting class because a couple of friends encouraged me. They said it was easy, a nine patch quilt. OK I thought that would be really easy, I mean to say I have always sewn. So nine patches? So I signed up and went to the class. I saw the nine patch quilt displayed on the wall and about screamed. Nine patches made up one tiny square of the enormous quilt. I had to choose fabric to make this thing as well. It turned out to be a lot of fun, especially I found that choosing the fabrics was the best part. I was hooked. I cant say I have made a whole lot of quilts but I sure got a LOT of fabric. My stash. Books? Oh yes, I have books. Finished projects? Not so much.




My three quilting friends, Barb, Edna and Nancy took several classes with be before we decided we could do just as well on our own. Barb in fact bought a long arm quilting machine and started a business. That was great. She experimented on our quilts and has become a real proffessional, she found she has the talent and now the experience to do a great job. Nancy and Edna still do a lot of quiting. My life has taken a differnt turn but we still all go out looking for fabric and going on "shop hops"
I have done my share of quilts though. I made one for my sons bed and his spare room bed, my daughter and granddaughters. I have several around the house. I slowed down when I began to babysit. That is a whole nother story.
This one is sort of cheating because I used a panel. The backing is great and my friend Barb did a nice job of machine quilting for me.



This one is one of my early quilts, I took a class to learn it. I thought it would be way more difficult than it was. It is now my poodles favourite napping quilt. It has been washed so many times its faded and soft. This one I quilted myself in straight lines, it was before Barb got her long arm quilting machine.



This one is done with just two fabrics. I tied this one and its one of my favourites.


Some I did for Laura's kids....flower fairies.



and a close up of the fairy quilt.



This is the only miniature quilt I have done, its a very simple one but I loved the colours and the tiny buttons




Our Eons group worked on doing a Quilt block and I put it all together. It was a project to get lap tops to disabled veterans so they could be in touch with their families. It turned out quite well.

Watercolour.......................

I love to paint. I love watercolour. I have not found my nitch. Most of the art that I admire is so lifelike and so intricate and detailed that I know I could never achieve that level. Consequently anything I do myself is in my eyes worthless. Well, having said that I have done a couple of pictures that I like. Out of most of the things I have done though the ones that make me happy are few. I have been looking at some watercolour blogs and I have found some that are very free and clean. I cant do that myself and so I would like to learn to. I also like ink and watercolour and will try to do some more of that. I have read about watercolour pencils too and have some so I could try that. I was not exactly sure how but now I am into this blogging business I have found some answers. I will try that too.This is a picture of Betsy Lighthouse here in Michigan. Its not good but is one of my better ones. There are some elements of it that I like but still...........need to do a lot of work yet

I also did quite well with this one but again, I see too many faults to enjoy it myself.

Right now I want to begin fresh. I would like to do some drawings and make a new beginning.
This is a picture I did a couple of years ago from a photo of my parents back yard. The door is the coal shed.


This one I did in a watercolour class, the only one I ever took. Pity they are under glass now so the flash shows. I must replace these pictures some day with new ones but for now I just want to get a few on here.