I want to thank everyone for their kind comments on my Mother-in-Law's passing last month. Last week, my husband John flew back to CA to start dealing with the house. He'll be there for 3 weeks. My MIL was a hoarder, and a collector of collections.....she had everything! And if she wasn't getting it for herself, she was buying stuff to send to friends and family.....but sadly, most of it never left the house. She loved the home shopping networks, and would get packages weekly......of stuff she never used. John and has been going through everything, little by little. There were dozens of boxes of receipts, coupons, and paperwork, including tax returns from 1967! Each time he'd finish going through a box, his brother would find another! But everything needs to be checked, and gone through, because Mom delighted in 'stashing' something valuable in the oddest of places, for safe keeping. Of course, she would forget these secret places, and then spend weeks trying to find that particular thing she knew she had. She was always searching for something in the mess!
My reason for saying all this?........ is that I have come to realize that I am on my way to becoming just like her! Cripes! I have WAY TOO MUCH STUFF! So in this last week, while John's been out west, I've been taking on a closet or room at a time, and purging! I have two more weeks while he's gone, and I hope to have most of the house tackled by the time he gets back. And if you are thinking this is a small task......we have 14 rooms in this house, and we've managed to fill every one of them up! Sheesh!
And, while I'm purging, I'm also canning! The garden has done pretty well this year, despite the rainy May and June, and I've already put up 39 pints of green beans, 13 pints of hot carrots, 4 dill pickles, 6 mustard pickles, froze 7 bags of corn, and today I made the first batch of 8 pints of salsa! Woot!
Also, from the garden........
My first ever success growing sunflowers! Woohoo! And they almost didn't happen, because a month ago, the dang Japanese Beetles ate them right down to little skeletons when the plants were only 2 feet high. But we sprayed the crap out of them, and have been vigilant about the bugs since, and they are now 6 feet high and blooming like crazy! Yippee! Also in the bouquet are a few black-eyed susans, some blooms off my hostas, and some big hosta leaves. I never make bouquets from my garden.....I just always forget to until the blooms are past......but I've been 'nesting' this last week......and it occurred to me to do it! Yay!
And, just to have something quilty in this post......cuz let's be honest, we always want something quilty in each post........here is the practice feather I made in my class I took from Cindy Needham!
It's Dupioni Silk (swoon!) with a wool batt........she made up a bunch of them for the class, and each person chose the color combo they wanted. I just love these neutrals together. The silk is about 11"x17".
I drew a spine with the water-soluable pen, and free-formed the feathers off of it! I added the pearls up the twisting spine, and some curly-cues in some of the feathers. Then I did a background of very close vertical lines....freeform, about 1/16" apart. I marked a blue line about every inch, just to keep my lines on track, then just went for it! And I'm totally loving the off-the-edge placement of the feather. For some reason......that REALLY appeals to me!
Can I just say......I'M LOVING THE CRAP OUT OF THIS FEATHER!!!!!!! LOL
I've purchased a bit of silk-like fabric to use as a binding, and will finish this up in the next few days. And then it's going on the wall! Woohoo!
If you couldn't tell already.......my three days of classes with Cindy Needham were the best 3 days I've had EVER!!!!!! She is so amazing......her work is stunning......and I think the whole class was so motivated and inspired......we all surprised ourselves! I LEARNED SOOOOO MUCH FROM HER!
Here's a link to her blog..... http://blog.cindyneedham.com/
If you ever get a chance to take one of her classes......DO IT!
Nuff said!
Ok.....I'd better get back to purging! If I take too many breaks, it will never get done! lol
Hope everyone has a great weekend! Enjoy your August....it's almost over! Eek!
regan
