A long long time ago in a galaxy far far away....

ok so not far far away - right here on earth......I used to paint. Yup. Watercolour.

Then I had a kid and life just sorta whizzed right on by. You blink and 10 years have past. Wow.

The last time I painted was 2 summers ago. My sister and I spent 4 days at my brother's cottage - just us and her dog. I took pictures of stuff, mostly flowers and then put them on her laptop and then painted from them - well I started two paintings. Never did finish them. I'm like that - I start lots of stuff - one day I will finish. I started this quilt at least 12 yrs ago but it is done now :)

It is time I got back to painting. I have a LOT of paintings to finish.

Here are some of my paintings. I haven't tried anything other than flowers yet. As you can see I have a lot to finish before I start a new one.

Oh and a photographer, I am not - sorry for the poor quality of some of them.

This one is dated 1989.

No date on this one but I am pretty sure it is from 1985 - I was still living at home with my parents when I did this one. Was from a greeting card.

1989

Inspired by this - a print I got at LewisCraft.
So the one above I painted - this one I did not.I think this one was for a watercolour class I was taking. Dated 1986.

Not sure when I started this one- sometime in the late 80s I would assume.
It is not yet finished.

This is the inspiration -a greeting card - I decided not to include the cat as I figured it would end up looking like a mutant - I am not so good with people or animals :)

This one is only half done - no date.

Again no date and not finished.

The inspiration for the one above - another print from Lewis Craft.

Another no date - could use a bit of work to finish it off.

Another print - inspiration for one above.

Dated 86. I think the inspiration was a magazine photo.

This is one of the two I gave my sister - actually no that isn't true. She has one like this, so does my other sister, and as you can see below, I have painted it 3 more times too.

The original print from LewsiCraft.

Another painting of same image but large than the others.
And finally another, not yet finished.
This is one of the ones I started 2 summers ago.

This is a photo of the same garden but different shot - a painting from this is below.
You may notice, in the 1st painting I didn't notice the holes in the pot - in the 2nd one, I did :)

Needs to be finished too.
I couldn't get a good shot, so I scanned it - even worse I think.

This is a painting I did for my sister in 1987. It was one of two I gave her.

Done about 8 yrs ago - inspiration -garden catalog.

This one did about 8 yrs ago - inspiration - a kleenex box :)

One of my goals is to finish some of these and get them framed and hanging in my house. Two of them were actually painted for my brother about 20 years ago, maybe I'll finally give those to him :)

Catch up post

March break started for my son on Friday. My DH took Friday and Monday off so we all had a nice long weekend. Most of it was spent indoors due to the storm that started Friday afternoon and lasted until Saturday evening and left us with about 25 cm of snow. Good thing DH has a snowblower :)

We went to see Alvin & the Chipmunks yesterday - it was cute. We had planned to see 10,000 BC, but it got horrible reviews. Oh well - we'll catch it when it comes to DVD.

Have been working on my new quilt - I have 9 of the 12 blocks complete. I will have to get out sometime this week to look for a background fabric. I still need a border fabric for the argyle quilt too.

I met a new friend today. I joined a tote swap on Down to Earth, that is where we each sew tote an d swap them with a partner. Well I just met Vickie via email - she is my swap partner. I will post her very interesting blog once I ask her permission :)

Update: I now have her permission - check out Frenchy Addict.
Frenchy is a thrift store in Vickie's area. Very cool blog - she has got me wanting to bake bread, garden and treasure hunt more in thrift stores :)

Ta ta for now

Frugal Fridays - Thrift stores

I LOVE thrift stores!

I mostly buy fabric at thrift stores. I find brand new fabric. I have gotten some really good deals.

Check out my finds here, here, here and here!

This quilt is made completely from fabric I got at value Village. Total cost of fabric is approx. $13.

When my son was younger I was able to get him clothing in good condition - but now that he is older, not so much.

My sister buys most of her wardrobe at thrift stores. She often finds item with tags still attached for only a few dollars. She is able to update her wardrobe each fall and spring due to the savings.

Even if we don't find a good deal at a thrift store, we always have fun checking out all the stuff and saying "wow didn't Mom have one of those?" or "I remember that!"

It's also a great place to buy books.

So if you haven't recently, go check out your local thrift store! :)

For more frugal ideas, go to Biblical Womanhood.

New fabric and new quilt

These came in the mail today - I bought them off eBay.

30 4x4 squares of different floral fabric. I bought 4 sets.

I need to stay away from eBay. I want to buy everything. I love pretty fabric. I want to live in a fabric store...no really I do.

This is what I have done so far - from about 2pm today.

6 9 patch blocks.

I just have them laying on the teal fabric for the photos, but I think they look really good on it. What do you think? This piece is all I have of it. I need to buy more.

Close-up of first 3 blocks

Close-up of 2nd 3 blocks

I even once again drew out a plan. You probably have to click it to see it better.

Works for me Wednesday - Backwards - Blogger ?s

Ok as today is a backward WFMW - I have two questions regarding Blogger.

1.) Can I set up a post to automatically post at a certain time - I mean write it in advance and then have it post on its own in the morning - without me having to manually post it?

2.) Is there a way to add pictures to my posts without them all appearing at the top of the post and me needing to rearrange them?

Hope that makes sense and I hope someone out there has answers for me.

For more questions on Backwards WFMW - go to Rocks in My Dryer.

Kitchen tip Tuesday - 4 Tips

1. Keep store bought French or Italian bread fresh longer.

You know how Italian or French bread comes in those paper bag wrappers from the store. If you have ever left it in that wrapper overnight, you know that it doesn't keep it fresh.
What I do, put it back into the paper wrapper but then place inside a grocery bag and twist the bag closed and wrap the handles under. This keeps the bread fresh for several days (not that it ever lasts that long).

2. Easy read recipe cards.

Place a fork, handle down into a tall glass - place the recipe card into the tines of the fork - now the recipe is right where you can read it.

3. For kids that don't care for milk.

I warm a glass of milk in the microwave, add a splash of vanilla and a smidgen (1/8 tsp?) sugar - mix and serve. My son loves this treat just before bed. (Make sure kids brush their teeth after the milk, not before).

4. Special coffee.

I drink instant coffee every morning - I don't drink enough to make a pot of real coffee. To make instant special, I add a tsp of hot chocolate poser to my instant coffee. Homemade Cafe mocha!


For more great Kitchen Tips, check out Tammy's Recipes.

Heck of a week

Well the week started out well enough. I got news on Tuesday that my oldest niece is expecting her first child in August. My brother (her father) didn't have my two sisters' emails and asked that we pass the news along to anyone he had missed. I forwarded it to my sisters.

Friday I got a response from my sister. She had news of her own - but not good. My nephew (29) has just been diagnosed with something called Moya moya syndrome. It is a rare condition that causes the arteries in his brain to narrow and cause strokes. An MRI showed scar tissue from at lease 4 strokes - 2 as recent as last week. His driver's license has been revoked, and as his job is driving truck, he cannot work. The only available treatment is brain surgery.We are waiting to hear if he is a candidate for it or not.

Later that night my brother called me.....from the hospital. He has been there since Sunday. He was having trouble breathing so finally went in. They have found 17 blood clots in his right lung - not sure about the left. He was put on blood thinners but wasn't responding to it, so the dosage was increased. The thinners will prevent new clots from forming but the existing clots still have to be removed/busted/dissolved whatever, as they can move to his brain and cause strokes, or if they stay put, cause diminished breathing capacity. He is waiting to see a blood specialist.

Man so much all at once.

For anyone out there that prays, your prayers would definitely be appreciated.

We are all doing our best to stay positive and informed.