Wow, I'm getting so bad about getting a post on here. I've been meaning to write and show what I did get done during our RV weekend getaway last month, but didn't mean to take this long about it. We just seem to be gone so much or what little time I am home, I'm too tired to take the extra time to get pictures taken and posted. So explanation over, I'll proceed!
I say we got away, but really it was mostly me and the doggies. Kerry stays very busy working 2 jobs, but he was kind enough to help me enjoy a long weekend by pulling the RV to a campground about a 30 minute drive from our house. He was able to spend a little time with me, too, but he is tied down more to the farm than we used to be because his Dad has never really done well since a knee replacement a couple of years ago. It seemed to do a number on him, so that he has not been able to make himself move around as much as he should, so therefore, he is getting less able to. There have been some recent medication changes that will hopefully help some with this.
We are in the farming business with Kerry's parents. Due to his Dad's health and other reasons we are trying to sell the farm and have someone interested. Not sure if that is going to work out, but are praying that it will. I really don't want to leave our house, but the farm is becoming such a burden that it would be for the best even though hard. Kerry and I have done much of the work on and in our home, with some help from his Dad and then most specially to me, my Dad who I lost a few years ago, did all of the cabinetry work for us. So for me, it's not just a house, but a special place that would be hard to leave.
Well, back to the escape from reality. I took a lot of art and jewelry-making supplies, but mostly ended up making or working with jewelry. I did work in a little mini journal, that I'll try to post about later. Forgot about that until just now and it's lacks a couple of pages being done, so I'll save that for when I can scan and save to my other computer because that will show up better. Spent time relaxing on Friday, worked on artsy stuff on Saturday and Monday(when we came home), and then on Sunday drove down to Northport, where Emily lives to attend the Kentuck Art Festival. Kerry went with us, which shows the power of the draw of a grandbaby. Thomas was going, so Grampy came, too! The weather was beautiful. We met up with some friends of Emily and had a wonderful afternoon seeing some amazing art. While we were walking around, Thomas decided that the pine bark path needed some cleaning up, see below.
Pictured next are some shots of the art on display. With a grandbaby in tow, I didn't have time to take as many shots as year before last when we attended the show or time to get the artists names to give to you. I think the number of artists might have been down a bit, but still great stuff. Wish I had a bigger pocketbook!
Now on to the jewelry shots and my apologies on these pics which are not so great! First I finally did some wire wraps so that I can wear the beautiful pendants that Holly gave me for Mother's Day. Love these!
I've been wanting to do some asymmetrical earrings ever since I saw the ones in the Charming Exchange book. These look so easy, but it took me awhile to get going on them. Not as flexible as I like to think I am, perhaps,making it harder to do something not so matchy-matchy! Happy with how they turned out. The starting point were some Frida charms bought on sale recently. Took the colors of the beads from them. The glare was bad on this shot!
And the glare was really bad on this one and the colors and beads didn't show up too well either, but I want to get this post done, so here it is. This was also inspired by a book project, think it was a recent issue of a jewelry magazine. You start with a felted half circle. I used a felted ball cut in half and then attached beads around the outside and some tiny silver and clear beads to the flower center. This had a jump ring attached to the back and I'd like to make a ribbon type necklace for it to hang from. Promise it looks prettier in person.
This last piece ended up being one of my favorites. It started with an overdyed quilted fabric that I was lucky enough to get in a studio cleanout lot purchased from Belinda Spiwak of Crazy Art Girl's Musings She is a talented and prolific artist often featured in current art magazines. I've been in a few Yahoo art groups with her and lucked up on some really cool goodies! I cut a rectangle of the quilted fabric, used embroidery floss to attach some netting to "finish" the edges, then attached a orphan vintage flower earring, a few beads here and there, and finally attached a fabric piece for a hanger and dangling from the bottom a favorite pendant saved since my teenage years. I also am thinking of making a collaged ribbon and fabric necklace to wear this on, similar to one like this that I made before.
Lots has been going on since I posted last, since it has been over a month. Maybe I'll get another post in with more news and pics soon. I'll try! To close, I'll show one more shot of Mr. Thomas. This was at Halloween, when he was Thomas the Turtle dressed in a cute costume made entirely by hand by his sweet Mom, Emily. He is being held my his Aunt Holly. Emily and Craig had to be in Texas for a wedding the weekend of Halloween, so his Aunty Yaya, as he calls her, was lucky to get to spend some time with them. Holly and Chris live in Waco, so they miss out on a lot.
