My Little "Drawer" Addiction

Geez, it's been almost a week since I posted anything. I'd love to tell you how much I accomplished this week while I wasn't posting, but I'd be lying. Not much got done as I've seemed to run out of energy. I'd think of something, then fall asleep. I've been doing a lot of that IF I sit down. So, I've tried to get things done at the downtown studio....we are all painting chairs for a charity auction....I have worked on those...because I am standing up when working on my chair, I seem to get more done down there. Come home...sit down....off to sleep I go. Anyway....I will try to improve the situation asap.

Tonight I thought I MUST post....and then the camera battery was dead...taking a while to charge. I guess batteries run out of energy too!!! So....now I've got that taken care of and some photos taken....of all things.....DRAWERS!! I happen to love boxes, cabinets, jewelry boxes....all kinds of things with little drawers. I keep all the 'ingredients' I use in my 'work' in them. And, one or two of these are empty... just waiting.

So....since I've been told over the last week that there can't be too many photos...here are photos of some of my 'little drawers' for you to peek into. If there isn't an open drawer for that particular item...it means it's empty and one of those 'waiting.'
(Actually, I think there is only one of those.) Also, the first five are in my house....the rest in the backyard Nest. So...I hope you enjoy seeing these photos....and there is no need for you to remind me of my hoarding tendencies, OK?

I'll post again soon......maybe showing you my 'art chair' or some other thing from either here in the Nest or at the Downtown studio. Y'all have a wonderful weekend!!!! take care, pat

PS. Wonderful news....favorite son is visiting a few days toward the end of this coming week...can't wait for that!

"Back to Work"

Well, it's back to work! Thanks to you all for asking about me....making me feel much better. I'm on the mend and although short of energy, eager to get it back and MAKE something!!! Today, I thought I'd straighten up that little studio space I have created in my living room this winter, so I could go straight to work on something. (Seems if there is a clean surface anywhere on our property...all of us seem to find things to stack - or for some people - to PILE things on all those surfaces.) It causes me great stress....even if I am the one stacking. So....today I did manage to get that little studio space all ready for a new project.

What caused that little spurt of energy? Well, my favorite grandson brought me flowers! And, in my mind they seemed to say....little studio space....freshen it up! So, as you can see there are beautiful tulips and calla lillies....making everything around look and smell better. Thank you, Ty!!

I've placed a little project there......begun last September, of all things and crying out to be completed. So, there are threads, needles in a lovely little salt cellar pincushion from one of my thoughtful blog readers and scissors just ready to stitch on this crazy heart. In time, you will see the results. Inspiration is here, too, in the form of a vintage little book with a page about a girl stitching. Such a lovely old book!

I like to surround myself with 'stuff,' as you know, and where I sew needs lots of inspirational things around to stimulate my little mind. So, there are glass containers of buttons, a silk rose,
a beautiful box that came with three bars of great smelling soaps (from Tuesday Morning), some old books...I just love stacks of those...they may take over the place one day. There is a ceramic flower with a pink bird perched on it's edge...full of buttons and one of my favorite little books from artist Michele Palmer. Love her bird drawings. That little pitcher is full of paper strips I cut from scrapbooking papers, those cards that fall out of your magazines, and other bits of paper from around the place. I use them to mark places in books and magazines I am reading or even write little reminders on them. There are two tiny vintage dolls I bought from a friend's booth at the flea market recently and the little chair came from Hobby Lobby many years ago. (It's crazy how much I LOVE that chair!!)

You'll also see the English Cottage lithograph..........I have a small collection of these...four to be exact, and I'm always looking for more. I LOVE and ADORE them. I always think of embroidery when I see them and plan someday to paint, applique and embroider my 'version' of one, should I live long enough to do so. And, should I find more at a price I can afford - well, I'll just have to show them to you.

So, this little living room 'studio' is ready for some work to be done. Now, if I can only get caught up on some of the less attractive or fun things to do here in the house....I will be able to spend some time....perhaps very late at night....creating something pretty to show you...my dear peeps!!!

A friend turned me on to this quote and after the last couple of weeks here at the Nest, I think I should pay closer attention to what it says. It may help you too:

"Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand....and melting like a snowflake." Marie Beynon Ray

Take care out there and thanks for sharing this 'one sparkling moment' with me! pat

PS. Again....a lot of photos. One of my readers told me not to worry about the amount of photos I post....so, I'm not. Hope you enjoy!

Feeling Better and a Bird Helps!

Well, after two weeks of craziness around the Bird Nest....I think things are finally getting better. Today is the first day I can move my neck to the right and not jump. It's still sore, but I can live with it at this point. It has been a very LONG two weeks. The AT&T fiasco from week before last has been solved. THANK GOODNESS!! And, my poor old body is recovering from my ambulance trip of a week ago yesterday. Thankfully, I did not have a heart attack, just that awful pesky, trapezious muscle and what with Valium and Hydrocodone, I've been 'somewhere else' most of the last week. A good thing. On Friday I had a physical and was told that my thyroid was very low, so more meds were ordered and I've had two of those so far.
No idea what to expect as I didn't know I had an issue with that. We'll see how it goes. But long story short........hopefully, you won't hear about my woes for a long time.

In my last post, I showed a photograph of my latest Shorebird embroidered pincushion. I didn't want to show much of it until I knew it had flown to Alabama....it's new home. It was made
especially for my blogging friend, Sandra, and now that it is actually in it's new home, I'm going to tell you about it. Sandra was so very patient in waiting for the bird to arrive and I am very appreciative of her patience. As I've said, hers was my last piece of commission work. From now on, I will just make what brings me joy and show it here and if you are interested, you can email me. Otherwise, I will just surround myself with these little pieces of embroidery and whatever else I come up with....and either post them here or on my etsy, or keep them here for my own entertainment.

Sandra had requested a Shorebird last fall. (See how long she waited!!!!) She gave no other requirements, so I just let the painted fabric and thread 'talk' to me and this is what we got out of those conversations. For those of you not seeing my pincushions before, I just dream up a 'scene', paint some vintage linen fabric (or sometimes other fabrics), and proceed to embroider my birds, flowers, and so forth, by hand. I always like to incorporate embroidery floss, perle cotton, silk ribbon, and those types of things to stitch with...then add beads, stones or pearls for extra interest. It's so much fun. LOTS of work, and sometimes tedious, but fun too. The bird is embroidered with one strand of DMC embroidery floss in several colors. In the 'fringe' of this pincushion, I chose to add some shell beads here and there as they looked kind of 'watery.' You have to look for them amongst all those seed beads though. There are forty beads in each 'loop' of the beaded fringe. And, I think I did five beads on each little loop shape at the top of the fringe.

These projects are always fun to me....but, boy, they take a long time. I'm so proud I could finally send this one to Sandra. She tells me she slept with it by her bed the first night she got it.
Well, that made me feel just GREAT!!!!! I hope she enjoys it for many, many years!! At some point in life, I possibly could make more birds....but only if my head and heart tell me to. And, of course, all my projects are completely different from each other, so this particular one, like all my others, are totally individual and will never be repeated. I like that.

I'm probably going to show you too many photos....but, just bear with me. I'm so glad the pincushion is done....and then, I did that collage. It was made at the downtown studio and until I began to take photos of each of these projects, it never occurred to me that they MATCH!!! How weird is that? After taking photos of the collage, then the bird pincushion, I just knew I had to photograph them together. So, when I sent the bird photos to Sandra for approval, I just HAD to include the one with the pincushion and collage together. Just for fun. And, I guess...just for her fun....she wanted to buy the collage too. I was so excited over that and was happy to pack them both up and let them fly along to their new home. She says they are happy....me too!!!

The collage, if I remember correctly, is 11" x 14" and the pincushion is 6" x 6".....I really love how they look together. For the collage, I was just dabbling with paint, then decided to make a tree.
Loosely translated as you can see. I found a little bird on a paper napkin for the bird in the nest, and the larger bird is a piece of scrapbooking paper. Never knowing when to quit, I took a page of text from a vintage book and painted it, then cut out all those leaves. Making a little vein with a liner brush and glued them on with gel medium. Well, of all things.....I LOVED doing that!
And, of course, more words had to be glued on...as you know I love to do:

"A flock of birds
A gentle breeze is blowing
In the nest are some little eggs among the trees."

Just choose some words and add them to your collage. To me they don't have to make sense...just sound kind of 'poetic.'

For the back of the pincushion, I chose this lime green fabric I painted last summer. I placed a bird stencil on the wet painted fabric, laid it on my patio in the afternoon sun and it made these cute birds and branches...which I had saved until now. Just right for the back of this pincushion!

So...there you are....my latest work. And, I'm feeling better.......hopefully, my new meds will straighten me out and I'll be back in my little quiet rut!!! So, thank you for checking on me and caring...pat

PS. One funny story. Well, not really funny, but WEIRD! Around 8:30 a.m. last Sunday my grandson went to get my prescription filled that was given to me at the emergency room. I told him to drive my little PT Cruiser. Being a pretty day, he opened the sun roof. As he pulled into a parking place....a bird just happened to fly right over the car and decided to poop right then and there. Of course, it fell inside my car and hit Tyler right in the EYE!!! How awful! He went into the restroom and washed his eye out with that handsoap in the dispenser. Don't you know that felt good! Then, insult to injury....found out that the Walmart Pharmacy isn't open until 10:00 a.m. on Sunday. This kind of story happens in our household all the time. Funny, but NOT!! And, he was just trying to do a good deed! He's fine...but says he doesn't know if he will ever open the sunroof again!

Just another delay!

Well, it's 8:47 on Tuesday, March 6th. And, I'm WAY late to post something for you. So, I'm sending you a photo of my recent work...already delivered to Alabama and in my next post, I will show you more and tell you all about it. Just for now though....this is all I can do. You know I never talk about 'private' stuff, but since this is the second delay lately in my posting, I feel I need to explain. I was taken to the hospital Saturday night by ambulance. We thought I was having a heart attack. So the ambulance crew (such nice guys they were!) gave me those aspirin as you are supposed to and some nitro-glycerin and off we went. Only once in my life have I ever hurt that bad. Machines and blood tests, etc. showed it wasn't a heart attack........but something more like spasms in my trapezious muscle. It's Tuesday and I still have trouble moving my head and shoulder and my neck is not cooperating very well either, pain, pain, pain. I go back to the dr on Thursday. So, I HAVE thought of you..........but thanks to Valium and Hydocodone, I am mostly sleeping. I came out to the computer to pay bills....all of which are now late because I totally forgot about them...so I'm doing that then hitting the bed again. Please know that I will be back ASAP!!!

PS. And, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, my sister!!!!!!
You all take care, hugs, pat

Just a Note!

Just a little note to let you all know that my Internet has been down since Monday morning...so life has been crazy this week as I have spent part of every day with AT&T. It hasn't been pretty. But, as of about twenty minutes ago....I am now back on line...and not a minute too soon. Hope you are all well, I will be posting something for you to enjoy sometime before the weekend is over. It's so good to know I can now consider what I'd like to show/tell you and then actually be able to do it!!!! Hope you have a wonderful weekend....pat

PS. Who knew we could so involved with people both near and far that we might not ever meet?
It's such a delightful thing!

A Mr. G Watercolor

OK...it's still February, so I'm still finding 'hearts' to post. Here is one of my very favorites. This painting was created in 1996 by my very dear friend, Jim...sometimes I call him Mr. G. I don't know why except his last name starts with a G. It makes sense to me....and he doesn't complain.

Mr. G presented me with this wonderful watercolor 'out of the blue' one day and I have loved it ever since. Isn't it fun? It was his way, I expect, of making me a 'different' kind of quilt. It's approximately 24" x 30" and has been hanging in my house since the day I received it...well, except for a couple of times it escaped and managed to be shown in a couple of Jim's quilt showings.

I love all the bright colors....and all the little 'blocks.' I am particularly fond of that big red heart, the 0ff-kilter basket, and the house...three of my very favorite motifs. Yeah, Mr. G knows me alright....he seems to always manage to either make or find things that he knows I will just be 'over the moon' about. Thanks, Mr. G, again, for this lovely painting...it is one of my great treasures!! Y'all take care out there. pat

PS. The other day I finished a project I have been trying to get finished for what seems like years, but it's only been months. I am so happy to have it done and on the way to it's new owner, a very patient owner, I might add. I'll be showing it to YOU very soon...I'm waiting until the new owner receives it so I can share her thoughts on it with you. And, NO, I have not forgotten I'm to do a heart tutorial and another giveway...they'll be here soon too. (Time just gets away from me...does it you?)