Lately, 6.24.15

First of all, I apologize for the delay with this post, as I thought it would be finished Monday. Life happens and here it is on Wednesday! First of all, I'm making some changes to my social media and I'm going to try to attempt keeping this blog going without a Facebook page. If you'd like to continue being alerted about new posts, just sign up as a follower or, if not, just bookmark it and check back in from time to time. We'll see how this goes :)  In the meantime, here is my...

Lately...

Making: painting, embroidering, sewing, refurbishing

A two hour challenge painting. I'm not super happy with it (brush strokes need to be much looser), but since I had a time limit, I'm not going to be too hard on myself.

Baby G's first birthday pillow (Peanut got one on his first birthday, too). It has a handle (which is barely visible here) and embroidered pockets (Ruben J's jean pockets) for small books, toys, etc.

Pocket detail (in progress).

I intended to paint this chair, but decided on making a cover instead. Since it's made of cedar, I wasn't sure about the paint sticking like it should.

Drinking: Still stuck on Starbuck's Flat White, and now, peach and ginger green tea.Yum!

Eating: Still staying away from processed foods and foods with too many ingredients and/or "mystery" ingredients. And I still feel great!

Watching: Cake- Jennifer Aniston was amazing, but the movie was pretty much a downer. Don't watch it if you're depressed!

Reading: Finished the book "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying up". The author seems pretty obsessive about being organized (which I can't relate to- at all!) but she has good tips. And I was really motivated to clean up/clean out when I finished reading it.

Listening to: some classics- Danny's Song by Loggins and Messina and Carolina in My Mind by James Taylor

Thinking about: How fast the summer is flying by.

Laughing at: Peanut at the bowling alley for the first time. His phrase for the day- "oh, gosh!"

Disliking: our lawn maintenance people weed-whacking my brand new peony bush! So mad!

Loving:  All of us piling into a pick-up truck (don't worry, it was just on the cemetery road!) and heading to the cemetery to release Baby G's first birthday balloons. And the picture, below. I'm so glad to have captured that exact moment when everyone was looking up at the same time.

As far as studio news, I'm very slow to start this summer (which I hate), but I've been inspired lately by some painted fiber pieces with lots of layers. And since experimenting with mediums is on my summer list, that's what I'll be working on next. Hopefully something good will come from experimenting and playing and not being too hard on myself.

Here are some examples of my inspiration pieces:

Artist information here

Artist information here

And finally, my very best wishes go out to my niece and her husband, as they had their itsy bitsy ( 5 lb. 9 oz.!) new little girl yesterday. She is our newest family member, their first baby, our family's first little girl in a long while (16 years!) and another little Baby G! And she is the cutest little thing :)

Have a great week!  Juli