I am learning to have so much more fun painting. I’ve let go of the perfectionist side of me and have been able to successfully experiment with oil painting. I finished this new painting in one night, called Red Tulips, prints available on my Fine Art America site. Many years ago after being laid off from an artist painting position I think I felt a bit damaged. In all actuality it had nothing to do with me and my work, it just was business. For the 3 months that I was there I was instructed to use acrylic paint (which is my enemy). It dries faster and is useful for many art pieces, just not mine. One day I finally admitted that I hated acrylic and would feel much more comfortable using oils to which the owner confessed that she liked oil paintings better anyway. My boss gave me an assignment where I could demonstrate my abilities with oil, and then I was called to headquarters the next day for a group lay-off. No one ever saw the oil paintings of which I was so proud. I always felt as if I never got my chance, but it all worked out. I moved to Colorado shortly after that and wouldn’t change that decision for anything.
Red Tulips
Now that I don’t stress myself out over the details of a painting, it allows me to create fun and beautiful pieces that I can decorate my home with, and sell prints through FAA. I also finished the set of trees that I had started a while ago. I love they way they turned out. These paintings represent a man and a woman coexisting in full bloom. Simple, yet beautiful.
Parker and I go to our local library ever other week to pick out books for our storytime, play with the puppets and toys that they provide, and to go to the playground outside. I really enjoy our trips to the library but I rarely ever get anything for myself. This week Parker asked if we could go upstairs, (he loves the challenge of climbing the stairs by himself). When we do go upstairs it’s usually to go to the knitting book section and sometimes I find books to take home, but a lot of them are very dated and not exactly the style I’m looking for. This week I picked up Knitting and Tea by Jane Gottelier and when I flipped through it there was one pattern that really stood out, the Cozy Capelet. So that is what I have cast on to my needles. It features some intense cabling, but I love the look and am praying that I will have enough yarn. I’m thinking it will go perfect with a little black dress this coming fall.
My review of this book is fair. While I do like a bunch of the patterns I am disappointed that a lot of the photographs are slightly out of focus. I have come to realize that I’m an obsessor of perfection, and I will admit that sometimes my own photographs aren’t crisp, but for a book? I guess I am a little bit spoiled with Interweave Press, a local craft industry publishing company, because their books are impeccable. I find myself naturally drawn to their books on a shelf because they are aesthetically pleasing. As a person who is visually oriented, this makes a huge impact on me.
I have officially mastered mittens, for children and adults. The first mitten pattern is from Knitting Nature, Target Wave Mittens. Adorable! I really love the colors and think the pattern is quite unique. I made a few minor modifications to the thumb so that it would naturally curve upward, instead of straight out the side. And to my surprise they are created entirely on straight needles!
The next pair of mittens are for me. I am well aware that winter is a long way off. Maybe I just want to be prepared! Actually it came down to the fact that I had the perfect yarn, an already purchased pattern, and the motivation to wind the yarn one afternoon. It is a wonderful pattern All The Water, written by Kirsten Kapur from Through The Loops. I followed her mystery sock knit-a-long over this past Thanksgving while vacationing in Vermont. I used pure alpaca by Cascade Yarns for these mittens and they are incredibly soft and really warm. I love the way the cables run on either side and how the middle one looks like a braid…which leads me to my next topic.
Challah. I have been passing over this recipe for a while, and each time I’ve wanted to make it more and more. So I finally made it today. There are few things better than fresh homemade bread. It is so good, and even better with the homemade honey butter that I made to go with it!
I’m pretty excited about this quilt. It is coming together beautifully and all of the material for this quilt has been traveling around with me for a few years. Once in a while I would work on it for a little bit, but this past weekend was the first time I’ve really been inspired to get it done. It takes about 20 minutes to sew the strips together to form the smaller square, then four squares get sewn together to form the large plus, and so on. I still have a lot of work to do before it’s finished, but the majority of it is done, and I’m very happy with it.
Just made myself this simple, comfortable skirt. I love skirts and I need more of them in my closet. I am working my way through my remnant pile yet again which feels pretty good. I appliqued a couple of the flower centers onto the black panels to soften them up a bit. Love it!
This tank top has been finished for a few months and it needed a few photos. I rarely photograph clothing on my dress form because it is a lovely cobalt blue color that clashes with everything I put on it, but not anymore. I made a complete canvas cover for it, for her, the nameless dress form…and I’m pretty psyched about it. Not only will it be better for photographing, it is also great for when I’m pinning and designing clothing, because it no longer has the large spaces in the adjustment areas. I was just about finished making the cover when my sewing machine died. No power, no nothing – static. What a bummer, but it’s now fixed, raring to go and I think I will be treating it with something other than New Belgium bandanas for the next week.
As for the tank top, I will not be knitting another one of these. I’m not a huge fan. It’s possible that I just really hate using other people’s patterns, but most of the time other patterns teach me a thing or two so I’ll stop complaining. It’s finished!
