Happy New Year 2011

Christmas wreath - done or not?

It's up on the wall BUT I really want to add some narrow plaid ribbon. Can I find any .... NO, not at the moment. I tried some plain red but it's too much. Everything from the dove down is detachable so I can change the theme every month if I want too. The twiggy bit is actually two wreaths tied together so that they swirl in opposite directions.

Finished - table centerpiece

I wanted something simple for our kitchen table. Voila :) The taper candles are buried in a box in the basement and will get added at another time. My daughter and I found the pull apart tree and table mat at Target this morning. Everything else I already had. The leaves will tie in with the wreath I am making.

Our daughters are now safely home. The weather issues this week impacted one of their flights. My two youngest ended up with a couple of snow days. I love snow but ice and hilly conditions round here makes for dangerous road situations. Hope you all have a safe and wonderful Christmas.

Colourful Friday - It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas .....

everywhere we go etc. etc. etc.
Greetings one and all and welcome to my little corner of Colourful Friday Christmas fun. The tree is trimmed, the fire has been lit, the stockings have been hung with care, and an advent calendar is on the go.

We've almost finished up our outside decorating and I'm feeling ready to "Deck the Halls" :) I'm making a wreath at our kitchen table and had my first hot apple cider of the season.

The weather is brisk outside ...... no snow yet but I'm sure it will come and my snowmen will be oooooh sooooo happy to have their "cold weather cousins" visit.

Hark I hear someone knocking at the door. What's that you say. You saw a star.

By all means come on in, you are more than welcome. Rest a while, You look like you have travelled far distances.

Yeah, verily, the baby has arrived - Praise be -  "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, unto us a son is given, for unto us a child is born ....."

(My mother-in-law and I took a ceramics class together many years ago. We made large nativity sets from scratch. Mine has been through a few color changes over the years but I think I'll stick with the pearl glazed terra-cotta.)
To everyone that has been participating in Colorful Friday I hope you have a wonderful festive season filled with great joy. South of the equater have a fabulous summer.
To all my blog followers and those who have left comments during this past year - thank you and may this season be memorable and joyful for all of you.
To my family and friends ..... love you .... may you sing and play away till the midnight hour tolls to bring in the New Year and may all of us celebrate in style.

Join in the celebrations with Robyn and the rest of the crew at http://daisyquilts.blogspot.com/ t'will be the last Colourful Friday visit for this year. Adios amigos, let the party begin. (Sorry people, I think there must have been something in the non-alcoholic apple cider, I'm feeling a wee bit merry ;) )

Mrs. Moen's Napkin Challenge - done :)

So as a reminder here's the napkin I used. I took the different shapes as the inspiration for the finished piece and modified them slightly based on the fabric I had in my drawers.

So what did I make ......... voila ........ a mini cushion approx. 8"x8" :)

And since it's a brand NEW project I'm also using it for the Creative Prompt Project. This weeks challenge word is NEW :)

Project update - Mrs. Moen's Napkin Challenge

It's moving along but not done yet. I had a busy week-end doing lots of Christmas related events :)
So here's a look at the same corner. I'm adding french knots at the moment using colors from the "stripes". Any guesses as to what I am actually making? It won't be quilted and the deadline is Friday (Norwegian time).

I'm dispensing with a number of my regular blog features till after the New Year. Expect Christmassy type stuff to show up. I hope you will still visit when you can. As always comments are appreciated and will be responded to if you are not set to no-reply :)

Colourful Friday - TEAL

TEAL is a very pretty color that ranges from grey blue to grey green. It can also range from quite bright to very subdued in tone. I've seen some lovely skies and ocean colors and birds with that color but I would have to raid WWW to get some of those.
Here we have what's left of any TEAL colors I have in clothing. (Mmmmm I think I need to hang them up to release the wrinkles.)

Two TEAL wall hangings "in progress" and some other crafty stuff. The bright thread and tiny bit of fabric is related to a large sewing project that is going on at the moment. My daughter painted the vase years ago as a mothers day gift and I added the pebbles. The fabric postcard came from a color swap and the cow head is one of the motifs on some "still to be made" PJ fabric.

Our synthesizer has bright TEAL buttons and when it plays the keys light up. Tons of fun for a beginning pianist :)

The heart angel was a gift from a friend when we lived in Michigan years ago. It's in the GREEN side of TEAL and goes on our tree every year.

Head on over to Robyn's blog for some more fun TEAL and some light hearted banter about her choice of color :) http://daisyquilts.blogspot.com/ 

Oooooooh, I just noticed a TEAL napkin sitting on my family room floor. What's that doing there?

Next weeks color is - ANYTHING TO DO WITH CHRISTMAS.

A hexie mug rug I made this week only I am using it as a candle mat :)

AND for Jaye at the CREATIVE PROMPT PROJECT :) This weeks word is #95 THANKS http://artquiltmaker.com/blog/

Mrs Moen's Napkin Challenge

The reveals start today so head on over to http://mrsmoen.blogspot.com/ to see some creative interpretations. I like them all so far.
I'm still working on mine.
Here's my "inspiration" napkin.

And here's a sneak peak at one of the corners in progress. What ...... you were expecting something white !!!!!!!! I confess I was originally going to do a whole cloth style but I got rummaging in my fabric drawers and had an AHA moment ........

Got to go finish painting walls then I can work some more on it.

It's an Interior Thing - Split Personality

I'm in the middle of painting our family room in preparation for Saturday and putting up our Christmas decorations. If we don't paint this week it won't get done for a few more weeks because I for one don't want to work round our tree. Once all the painting is done we will come to a decision about the fireplace.
The wall looks a bit funky at the moment with the two colors but I am working my way round the room.

I caught our "men at work" recently when they assisted with scrubbing off wall paste in the bedrooms/bathroom hallway.

Our kitchen chandelier created an interesting (I think) pattern on the hall wall and ceiling during the painting process.

Back to the family room. This is the section I will be painting today. There's just enough room with everything pulled out for me to get my wee stepladder in behind the entertainment unit.

Tomorrow afternoon I hope to get the little bit by the other window and round to the fireplace finished off. While I still miss the tone on tone stripey wallpaper from our hallway I am enjoying the new calmer color in our family room.
The other project I am working on is the master bathroom. I'm scrubbing the shower stall area in preparation for new paint and might repaint the rest of the room. Given that it is the size of a small closet it should not take too long to do :)

Artist of the Week - Melani Kane Brewer

I've mentioned on a number of occasions that I am interested in learning how to do 3-dimensional textile art  properly. Melani does some beautiful work. http://melanibrewer.com/ Since her work is under copyright I have opted to show a couple of details from two of her pieces.

Sunset At The Saltmarsh (detail)

Walk In The Woods I (detail)
Melani is originally from Ohio but now lives in Florida. She has a background in biology (teacher) and anthropology which is very apparent in her work. Melani's attention to detail is stunning.

Colourful Friday - SILVER

Good morning one and all. For those of you who celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday I hope you had a fabulous day. We stayed home this year and had a restful day enjoying each others company. Ate waaaay too many desserts (as usual) and don't feel ready for breakfast yet :)

Onwards to the color SILVER which can range from white through dark grey depending upon the light. It's one of my favorite colors and I had a hard time culling photos :)

Darling daughter #2 looooooves shoes and I actually miss not seeing so many round the house anymore !!!!! This pair is still here and for the photo they are resting on top of one of the dresses she made for her flute trio.

Nashville dust has a silver/grey hue to it ..... at least at our house it does :) Wouldn't you know it ....... the shadows look silver/grey and the highlight could just sneak in there too

I make rice pudding from scratch and am currently stocking up on evaporated and condensed milk because Christmas is coming :)

Darling son is reading and DD #3's elephant decided to join in. The book cover has a lot of silver in it that changes color depending upon the light.

Our kitchen has tons of "SILVER" aka chrome, the biggest item being the fridge/freezer we bought a couple of years ago at our local scratch and dent store.

The Hansen great grandparents originally came from Norway and our Viking hangs in the front living room with all our family photos lending a very whimsical look to the arrangement.

One of my flower sketches is on paper that has silver stringy bits in it. For those of you who have visited my blog for a long time you may remember this one from being one of my blog headers last year.

I'm working on a project for Mrs. Moen and need lots of circles.

Head on over to Bev's blog (our temporary hostess) to see some more fun SILVER blog entries. http://kaingahappenings.blogspot.com/ Robyn will be back next week so many thanks to Bev for keeping the party going.

Next weeks color is Teal.

Creative Prompt Project - TWIST

Another photograph for this week. This is what happens to your truck when you slide on black ice, fly through the air and land sideways in a ditch - a lot of TWIST(ED) wreckage :) (The accident was in February and I have recovered quite well. Thanks for the concern.)

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. I for one am thankful for life, family, friends and the beauty around us.

One of my Celtic Knots for a signature block swap event I participated in. Love Celtic knots with all their TWIST(S) and turns

Beautiful Britain - Horse at Water

A few days before John visited London an new sculpture was unveiled (14 Sept. 2010). Titled "Horse at Water" by Nic Fiddian-Green it stands an impressive 33 feet high. It's made of bronze and took about a year to build. It weighs 17 tonnes and currently is the tallest free-standing sculpture in London.

When I first looked at the hubsters photograph I thought "Oh look at all those wonderful little birds. How are they attached?" On closer inspection I realized they were real birds, probably pigeons :) Given that particular birds propensity for pooping everywhere you turn I doubt that the sculpture will stay pristine for long.

To read more about the sculpture and why it came about visit http://artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=40761&int_modo=1 I pinched the picture of the artist with head from the article. Take a close look and work out if he is standing up or lying down :)
Before I forget the sculpture is located near Marble Arch.

Here's another one of the artist's equestrian sculptures, this time it's "Still Water" that was installed at Ascot Race Course on June 8, 2010. It's a bit smaller at 20 feet but still impressive. (This one, I think was a temporary installation.)

An interesting article about Nic Fiddian-Green and his sculptural philosophy can be found at http://www.holmesadamsprojects.com/nicfiddiangreen.php

Artist of the Week - Dog Daisy Chains

Meet the very popular Jackie Cardy of Dog Daisy Chains. An embroiderer who lives in Lancashire, England she specializes in using silk and velvet which she embellishes with machine embroidery. She has developed her pieces into some very interesting jewelry. Some of her work has been featured in Quilting Arts Magazine http://www.quiltingarts.com/Fine-Sewing-Techniques/.
Her hearts and leaves are wonderful. http://dogdaisychains.blogspot.com/ I love the texture and atmosphere (yes atmosphere) she creates with her pieces.