Monsoon Season is HERE!

               (Look! Not even blue sky in Puerto Vallarta!)

Welcome Back!
(at least to me, I've been away from my blog for a couple days). 

I see the last blog was November 17, and now, it's the 22.  I will briefly say that it is pouring /pooring  rain! and no real signs of letting up for a couple days.  Today is 80% chance, tomorrow 100% chance, and Thursday/Thanksgiving is down to 70% chance!    Woowee!  It's gonna be a Thanksgiving MIRACLE, I tell you!

(enough sarcasm)


Let's catch up on the 'Thankfuls':

Today let's all be thankful for a dry spot (hopefully, you have one), to work, and live.  I certainly am!  my work kitties are banded together into a little shelter I built, and they're not coming out except for canned catfood! 


Yesterday, was Monday, and hard to get motivated w/ the rain.  I really wanted to write, but felt tired--  Sometimes I just don't sleep well.  Oh!  I know!  I can be thankful for the show, 'Raising Hope.'  Have you seen it?  Hilarious!  Last night trying to unwind, i opened my Hulu IPhone app, and watched a couple episodes.   I love to laugh!  It feels soooo good.

Sunday, I saw sunshine at the Oregon Coast--specifically, Cape Kiwanda.  I stopped there to look at the ocean, and sunshine before I drove back to Salem.  (jogging  your memory--I went for a retreat w/ some quilting girlfriends).  It was glorious!  Thankful for SUNSHINE!!

Saturday, I slept in, and then grabbed my gear, and drove to the 'retreat'--friends Shawna, Lori and Phyllis were there, and going great-guns.  Because I was too tired Friday night, and got to the retreat late, I held off on quilting projects, but instead worked on my Affirmation Journal. 

That turned out to be a great thing--  I had been kind of stuck on a new book.  Had gotten one w/ a spiral binding, thinking the pages and cover could expand, but one problemo--I love to use decorative papers, cut to size, adhere them, and then collage over the top.  With the spiral binding...the break between the cut paper, and the spirals left a white space which was really bugging me.  (I've spent the last couple months at a standstill w/ this project; trying to make myself go ahead, in spite of the white space-- just wasn't happening.)


(One thing that is an iron-clad rule in my book: if something bugs you when you're looking at it, it will probably continue to bug you later--so, best to remove it!)

This has seemed to work on my quilts--look at them, and if a certain fabric or block draws your attention (in a bad way), then it may be best to remove it.

--However--!!   What do 'they' always say?:

rules are made to be broken!             haha!

What's an exception?  If there's something in a quilt or project that bugs you,                                                   
                                                           ADD MORE!!

                                                                    huh?

Adding more 'troublemaker' fabric diverts your attention.  Once, a quilt I made needed white.  I hate white, and brown...they're non-colors in my book.  So, when making the quilt, I left out white.  What happened?  No 'sparkle'!  so- the things you learn from color-study!


Back to the book: as I drove to the beach, contemplating my book, I remembered I could take the pages out of the spiral binding, and 'do something' to them (colored felt markers didn't cut it)...I remembered that i had just purchased a couple containers of Inka Gold; in Copper (why isn't it Inka Copper?!), and Gold, AND it was riding along w/ me in the truck with my art supplies!! 



This cool stuff, which I had no definite plan for (other than being cool, and have to have it!..), is like a creamy metallic shoe polish.  Get a little bit of water on a sponge, smoosh it around, and start wiping it on.  I decided as I drove, that it might be the perfect remedy for the white paper issue!


So, once I got the layout of the retreat-house (very nice, but no ocean view--can't compare to Coccoons, Mom!  but there were surfboards!  haha) and settled in, I went 'rogue' and took all the pages from the book, got out the Inka Golds, and the stamp-pads I had, and started sponge-painting the spiral part of the pages.

(oh, i SO love the copper!)

after i did a bunch of copper, I did some gold, and some Tim Holtz 'Vintage Photo' colored pad, and black.  The stamp pads, I just randomly pressed onto the spine of the papers, to make a 'grunge' look.

Once I got the covers back on, and a couple of the finished pages re-inserted, then things began to happen.

(My first page in the book--love, love, LOVE the dragonflies!)

(I love the Inka Gold-Gold! on the spine, too!)

I had been bugged about the spine, and now it was fixed, and the paper, imagination, quotes and photos begin to emerge in random ways; and as I go, I'll add in some rubber stamps, and/or maybe embellishments.

('Imagination is the eye of the soul,' says this PaPaYa art postcard.)

Friday's 'Thankful', looking back now, was flannel Jammies!  I was so tired, that when I got home, I knew I was not going directly to the beach, but instead, go my Victoria's Secret Pink polka dot jammies on, snuggled on the couch w/ Maggie, and took a nap for a couple hours.  This time of year, you just GOTTA HAVE 'EM!

Thursday? WHA?!

Hi there!
How on earth did it get to be THURSDAY?!!  Is it really?!!  WOW.  Thankfulness has crossed my mind, and I've thought daily about things I'm thankful for, but I have been really busy this week, and haven't 'blogged'.

did you miss me?  i'm sure your week has been just as hairy as mine has.

So far, I bundled up a couple bags of remnants to take to the quilt shop, got all the payables put into the computer at work, wrote a 12-page newsletter for my quilt guild, and got that to the printer, took an Affirmation Journaling class, and went to a purse-party/open house last night, and soon will have a fun little purse to tote around.

(I wasn't going to, because I thought those Miche' bags were hokey!  I've seen them on TV--probably QVC--, and the idea of a 'base bag' with exchangable-magnetic covers on the outside seemed goofy, and gimicky.  However, one of the regular Potluck Piecers, Kari, is now a Miche'-dealer.)

(see, it's old-lady-ish, ooky!)

(you can see where this is heading...!!)

Last Friday at Potluck Piecing, Kari (who is also a great cook) bribed me with food, and invited me to stop at her house Wednesday night to take a look at the bags.  I knew I had Affirmation Journal the same night, and didn't want to miss that--who DOESN'T NEED AFFIRMING?!!  but Kari called to remind me on Tuesday night, and I know how that goes; having sold PartyLite...

you do all the calls, ask for RSVP's which don't come, over-invite to make sure you have people there, clean the house, light the candles, make all the food (not to mention grocery shopping), your family asks, 'why don't you ever cook for US like this?!!"  and all you can say is, "because YOU don't give me 25 FREE TEALIGHTS with a $50 purchase, and KIDS!! I can earn a free nightlight, too!!" 

(or something like that!  haha!)

anyway, I figured I'd pop into Kari's and see the action--fortunately, at 8pm, she said I could still stop over, so I did.  I assumed that all the Miche' bags would be large mondo things, that when I 'wore' one, I'd look like a pack-mule...

(did you know that you 'wear' a bag, now?  It's like a part of your clothing!  When you think about it in that context, it makes it easier to understand how to choose one which may look better on your body.) 

I love the way the big zippered purple or aqua, or orange patent-leather bags look, but guess what?!  My body does NOT look like Ashley Simpson or Nicole Richie, or some little unknown 'STAR' of the month, who looks like she's standing on toothpicks!

I have legs and curves, and a big purse is not quite so fetching on that body-type.  I'm big enough.  Instead, I have gone the opposite direction for the last couple years: paring down to the lowest common denominator, a small cross-body bag! 

I totally LOVE IT!  for me, something this size (8" square or so) is about right...wallet, checkbook, cell phone, lipstick, pills, pens and keys.  A cross-body bag keeps my hands free and my body balanced, and doesn't fall off my shoulders.  It's light, so I don't really notice it, either.

(my sweet friend, Judith, in her little apartment)

I discovered the beauty of the cross-body bag when I was taking care of my friend, Judith, a couple years ago.  She was an elderly lady who went to water aerobics classes several times a week with my assistance.  Having two hands free, I could hang onto her, and her bag, and/or walker, and not worry about losing my purse.

At Kari's, it didn't take me long to figure out what I'd love.  They do have little patent-leather black cross-body bags, and little covers, and because they're little, they're affordable!  Because I like bright colors, and they don't have too many, that was easy to decide too!

(it's totally ME!)

Then, I got to eat and have some wine! 

(ever eat a 'cake ball'?  Red Velvet, dipped in white chocolate w/ sprinks!)

(kari's were like this, but on sticks, with sprinks, and stuck into a styrofoam christmas tree!)

enough about last night--
oh!  do you know how hard it is to fall asleep after eating a couple cake balls and a brownie w/ marshmallow-caramel topping baked on?  SUGAR RUSH to the MAX!  haha!  (I'm such a goofball.)


So, what's ahead?  probably cutting some fabric at Greenbaum's after work tonight, pack up some quilting projects and my sewing machine, and, after work tomorrow, meet some friends for a beach retreat--well, we may have our noses to the needle, and footsies to the pedal, but hopefully, I'll get a little start on a couple Christmas gifts.  I'm gonna try to make several things, before the big day, and Thanksgiving weekend, I'm actually off on Friday, so I plan to bivouac in my studio!

Isn't that a great word?  I LOVE 'Bivouac'!

so!!  What are my latest 'Thankfuls'?

Tuesday, November 15:
As someone who loves to write, I'll choose being thankful for letters and words.  Remember in grade school, learning to write on the newsprint with the blue lines, and dotted lines?  An 'a' was a circle with a stick hooked on.  A 'b' was a tall line with a circle stuck on the other side, and so on.  How FUN to find out that putting them together made words! 

Putting words together made sentences!  Putting sentences together made stories!

i couldn't wait to learn cursive (third grade)...it was like a 'secret code'; along with that, were other shapes like an 'a' or 'g' with their curvy parts.  FUN!

I am thankful for words today because I wrote a Christmas poem in 5 minutes, the words rhymed and flowed right out, and i'm thrilled with it.  (I'll share it another day.)

Wednesday's 'Thankful': would probably need to be 'Fun with Friends'!  You can see all the fun I had at the Miche' party, and all the fun at the Affirmation Journal class, which I'll share about another time  (this is a huge blog post!), but there was lots of laughing with ladies, food, creativity, and it surprised me how energized I felt by the end of the night after being creative.  What a gift!  Which brings me to:

Thursday, November 17:
I'm thankful for my CREATIVITY!!  This is one of my favorite things about ME.  I love to brainstorm with others, name things, make slogans, use colors, rhyme words, write poetry, play word games, quilt, build, cook, hammer, cut, paste, and imagine.

(it used to make me CRAZEE when we visited Grandma Bernice's and she'd say, "Use your imagination!"  That's how we ended up under her dining room table-chairs tipped over on their sides for doorways, having tea parties!)


I don't know why God built me the way he did--I sure see all my flaws and weaknesses, but taking the time in November, being thankful for things, gives me a new perspective, and shines a light on what God has put in me, and around me, which I can appreciate, and hey!

I can share my excitement and blessings with others!

(well, Hey, Diddle Diddle!)

is that what being thankful each day might possibly be about?  Turning a light back onto the Person who gave us all of this?  YAY!  I'm smiling right now.  okay, bent your ear long enough--let's all be thankful.  we're given another day to encourage and bless others, and get more work done. 

see you tomorrow,
xox

(see, Caitlin,  green leaves = spring in my book!  MY favorite time of year!)