ad libitum

SURPRISE PARTY GIFT

My friend Catherine (still, sadly, blogless) had a significant birthday and her daughter Nan planned a birthday party for her. It took months of planning and involved many people and she actually pulled off the surprise.

For the party, I made tags for people to write messages for Catherine on and I made a book for her to keep the tags (pockets) and to put photos from the party in.

FABRIC BANNERS

I had, actually, sworn off swaps, round robins and trades for the rest of the year...and then, I got seduced by fabric banners. So, I decided to host a fabric banner swap. There are 18 participants. They should be postmarked by August 1 and sent to me. When I get them, I plan to string them across my studio.  I will then send them out to everyone as soon as they are all in. I have spent the past three days working on them. They are 5x7 inches, cut from the off white squares I had previously made. I beaded a string of pearl seed beads to each one. I then embellished each with buttons. I sewed a bangle on the bottom and sewed a lace piece across the top along with ribbon ties. I was going for a sort of shabby chic look.

Below are the banners I made (of course, there are a few extras, for which I have some plans).

TEN CUTTER QUILTS, NUMEROUS DOILIES AND LINENS, AND A DRESS

This morning, Andi took me to a couple of antique stores in Buckhannon, WV. I bought 10 cutter quilts, a lovely lace First Communion or Confirmation dress, a wide assortment of doilies, linens and table runners. I also bought old wooden alphabet blocks and a pair of gloves.

After shopping and a ladies' lunch (I love eating lunch out!), we worked on polymer buttons. Andi's two friends Jerry and Twila had never played with polymer before and it was great to see them becoming converts. I taught them how to make checkerboard patterns and how to do a Skinner blend.

Yesterday, we painted shoes. I decided my sturdy Ecco sandals were looking a little worn; so, my formerly spring green and tan (with a certain amount of grubby brown from walking in them a lot) sandals became ladybug sandals. Still comfy, bun now a little jazzier.

MY TRIP TO WASHINGTON DC

This seems to be my year for travel. I am currently in West Virginia, staying with my friend Andi on my way back from a wonderful mini-vacation with my sister-in-law, Wilma, and my oldest nephperson, Christina. On the way out from Kalamazoo, I stayed with Lou and her delightful husband Tom (Andi's husband Jim and Lou's husband Tom are two of my favorite art friend husbands and are almost as much fun to talk to as Lou and Andi are). I got to DC a day early to visit Kate (we went to the Textile Museum to see a small, but excellent exhibit on Amish Quilts) and out to dinner in Georgetown. The next day, I picked up Wilma and Chris at Dulles for 3 full days of tourism (I walked my chubby little butt off;  sadly, it has returned) and visiting.

Here I am outside the Textile Museum.

Georgetown is full of beautiful houses and I took quite a few pictures. Here are two of them.

On Friday morning, Wilma, Chris and I toured DC. We saw the National Cathedral...

...including The Bishop's Garden.

We went to the Viet Nam Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the FDR Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial,  the Lincoln Memorial...

...and the White House.

In the afternoon, Kate took us to the Marjorie Merryweather Post Museum (incredible gardens, intriguing costumes, fantastic household art - especially the stuff she brought back from Russia.

Saturday morning, we went to the Museum of American History, The Museum of Natural History and the Air & Space Museum.

Saturday night, we took the night-time trolley ride around DC (here is a blurry photo I took of the Washington Monument awash in light.

Sunday, we shopped and ate. Monday morning, we visited Union Station and then I took Wilma and Chris to Dulles and drove the long, winding roads to West Virginia because my Garmin decided to send me on the scenic route.

GUESTS AND DRAWING BIG EYED/ BIG HEADED GIRLS

I had the pleasure of a visit from Martha Brown and Ray earlier this week. We ate out and went to the Georgia O"Keeffe exhibit at the KIA and shopped and talked and arted and then they went off to Lake Michigan before returning to Toronto (they were delightful and fun guests and I thouroughly enjoyed their company; I hope they come back sometime). I had my daughter take our photo in my backyard.

Martha is taking an online class on drawing and coloring Petite Dolls (ignore my very messy computer desk)

As part of her class, she has to practice drawing a lot. The figures are big eyed/ big headed girls and currently very popular. So, we drew big eyed/big headed girls on Wednesday night. It was fun and I really enjoyed it (gotta admit, I'm still not sure how I feel about these babies, but I ended up drawing a lot of them). On Friday, I had to take my car in to be worked on (headed out to D,C, on Monday), so I took my sketch book and drew more big-eyed/big headed girls as I waited. Last night and tonight, I colored some of them. The more I make, the more I like them.