Hooray!

They're done! Done!! (the pot holders, not the paintings.)
And only a month late!

I feel like a weight has lifted, enabling me to focus on more interesting things, and I'm excited. A couple of lil' pot holders might not seem like much, rather anti-climactic for those of you who received them, (sorry,) but for me they took a lot of effort. I did make about 50 of them after all. So if you got some please use them, tell me if they hold up alright, and think of that wonderful person who made them for you and just how great she is.

Ha. ha.

Uhm, there's this other thing goin' on that I'm looking forward to, and have been quietly preparing for this last week. On Monday I'll be taking a 6 hour art class (my first art class in 10 years,) at my neighbour's studio with a handful of other people. Pat is a fantastic artist who creates beautiful paintings... My favourites are her landscapes that have this warm, inviting light, I just want to step into them and stay awhile. I'm pretty pumped about the whole thing. I've got my photos printed and ready to go, I suppose I just have to dig out my acrylics and maybe prime my canvas.

Well, I guess now that those xmas gifties are all done, I can work more on that crazy thing hanging in the dining room tonight. Dinner's been cooking since 6am, (thank you for the 5am wake-up Sullivan, much appreciated,) so I've got a pretty open schedule this evening. My new best friend is my slow cooker, or shall I say my three slow cookers. They're all going right now, making my house warm and yummy-smelling. Hugh + LT, if you're reading this, get jealous. Two of those cookers are full of pulled pork n baked beans. Yum!

xoxo
-C

Amessa Mess

Getting there...



I actually have a little hope for this painting now.
Neato.

I sat down at the sewing machine just now and tried to finish up some things, but the noise woke the baby up. Gosh darnit, I'm just gunna have to do some drawing instead ;)

There's been a lot of talk in the house these days about furniture, computers, and prioritizing. I think I'm going to move the 'desk for bedroom' up a bit on the list, and do my night sewing in there. We're desperately trying to minimize night wakings, so I guess I'll save the sewing for another time.

The tablet is fantastic, as predicted. I'm using it right now to turn that monstrosity pictured above into something less garish. The painting has been through a few incarnations, this latest one being the product of a couple sessions I did in November. I hated it, so Steve sat in the garage with me for a few hours while I turned it into what it is now, something I hate a little less. I'm determined to finish it though, if only to get the darn thing hung up someplace out of the way. Otherwise I'll have to burn it. (Oftentimes this seems the most logical thing to do with my artwork.) I was perfectly happy to hide it in the garage awhile longer, but Steve dragged it out and hung it on the wall.

So the next step I'm taking is to figure out the colours + colour values. As you can see, some fit and some really don't. It's been difficult for me to figure out where the lines are going in it, too. I usually draw this kinda thing on a piece of paper, not a huge canvas, so it's easier for me to lay out the whole scene as it is in my head. This time though, I need a bit of help. I'm using this photo here as a background, and drawing that 'line' I'm looking for through the painting, also planning the tone of the colours a bit better. It's pretty fun, actually. Long way to go, but it's better than letting it sit in the garage for another couple months. Or so I'm told.

Uhm... Where did January go? The 15th? Already? In fact there's only about 30 minutes until the 16th... So I better make this quick.

The last few weeks I've been slowly putting together the gifts I should have had finished a month ago. Sorry friends, but I swear your things will be in the mail this coming week. I mean poor Billy hasn't even got his calendar yet, and the whole thing was designed with him in mind. Le sigh.



I put this lil' lunch bag together the other night. It's for a very special person who will be starting off on a new career soon, and will now have an incredibly fashionable snacking accessory to bring to work. It's just a simple tote bag, with an unbleached cotton lining. I think I'll make a few more with bits of velcro inside, or maybe add a little ribbon tie to fancy it up. Amy Butler fabric, lovely to work with of course.

I decided to pick up an easy knitting project to stave off complete crafting despair, so a couple nights ago I started knitting a hot water bottle cover. I'm making it with a thick, soft, felting wool, and am rather looking forward to the finished product. Hot water bottles are so cozy, and mine will no longer have to be wrapped in an old pillow case, because it will have it's very own fuzzy sweater.

In other news my life has been changed forever by the arrival of a Bamboo drawing tablet. Did I mention I'm the luckiest gal around? Steve picked one up for me last night, but couldn't get it working until this morning. Not that he didn't try to make it work for I dunno, 5 hours or so. In the end he had to do some reinstalling of OS blablabla and SO ANYWAYS it works now

AND I AMSOEXCITED!

I made that lil' header up there just now. It's just the first step toward making this place into what I had in mind when I began bloggin'. I kinda got side-tracked by all that xmas jazz, but no excuses now. I have about a million plans for how this tablet is going to help me along the artsy path, and so far it's been a real pleasure to use.

inanycase, I need to sleep. it's like, the 16th or somethin'. darnit.