Giving Thanks

So much to be thankful for - loving family, good food, warm Alabama weather, two young nephews who were amazed that we could actually write with the guinea hen quills we found in the yard and mama's pickled beet juice from the beets dad grew in the garden. Simple pleasures.

Artful Blogging

My blog collage banner is in the new Winter 2009 Artful Blogging magazine. It was a nice surprise when they contacted me and asked me to submit artwork for the "Banners We Love" section. Although I've savored every issue from the beginning of publication, I never thought to submit any of my own artwork. It's fun to see my little ol' blog banner in such a cool magazine.

I cracked up when my friend introduced me to someone the other night and said "She's published!" How funny. :-)

Breathe

I'm still playing catch up! A few weeks ago we took the "FrankenCamper" (hand stitched pop-up tent camper) to Black Rock Mountain State Park. The fall colors were just beginning to change and it was the first really cold weekend we've had this season. In spite of the cold weather and the lack of water at the state park, it was a great weekend. We hit a couple of flea markets early on Saturday and then back to the communal campfire.

Check out my goodies! I love the paintings - they are already hanging in the kitchen to distract my eyes from the apple motif wallpaper in a small area under the top cupboards. The wallpaper that is half torn off in hopes to motivate me to finally get rid of it completely. That's a whole other story for another time.

Another good find were these 2 gallon plastic bags stuffed FULL of junk jewelry. I don't know that I'll ever go through it all but it's fun to sift through and pull out a piece every now and then. Yesterday I wore a mood ring on my pinkie that I found in the stash. It turned from a dark gray into a beautiful teal blue color - so I must have been in a good mood.





I've been feeling pretty crafty these past couple of weeks. Totally inspired by Ms. Mary Ann and her way cool funky journals, I got out my old sewing machine and began stitching up a few things myself. This is the first thing I did - just a photo sewn onto a 6x9 clasped envelope that I folded in half. It was fun to learn to thread the machine, wind a bobbin and try to figure out what all the buttons actually do. That poor machine got no love for the past 10, 11, 12 years. It was moved from one house to the next, from one closet to another and now it's finally made its way to the dining room table. It's out and it's ON, baby!



Don't laugh, I'm just learning. Okay, you can laugh - I did. I cracked up, actually. I had this idea to use a bunch of personal photos and make a booklet type card for a friend... but my printer jammed after only printing 2 photos. You know how that goes - no time to mess with failed technology when the creative spirit strikes. I shifted gears and started going through my F.ART (Future Art) box. Lots of random things - it's a work in progress with many more layers to be added but it's done out of love.








More news on the crafty scene here at The Pharm...I crocheted a purse! It's a small miracle because I don't even know *how* to crochet. Well, I know 2 stitches (chain and I don't know what the 2nd is called) that someone must have taught me about 35-40 years ago. Seriously, I can not even glance over a page of crochet instructions without feeling dizzy and almost passing out. Even the drawings just confuse the heck out of me and I'm supposed to be a visual learner. So, I made it up. I just crocheted this THING, folded it over, stitched up the sides with that same stitch I know and looked at it. It could have been a sort of squarish hat, or maybe a double handed oven mitt (not safe) or possibly a triangular shaped pillow. Nope, I thought it looked more like a purse than anything so I got two handles and used that same stitch I know to attach the handles to the purse. There you have it - my first crocheted bag. I finished it last night with one of the cats on my lap right before going to bed. I was so proud of it - I took it upstairs and hung it on my dresser to look at.



The next thing planned in the crafty arena is to make place mats. That's right, I am going to actually try to sew cloth to cloth. I'll let you know how that turns out.

Aside from being silly and playing with the sewing machine and crochet hook, I've been enjoying the true fall colors of late. Like my friend said the other day, it's a panoply of colors. Isn't that a great word?! We've got a couple of Japanese Maple trees by the driveway - I always love how the reds pop against the fading yellowy green of the wisteria on the picket fence.



Our CSA friends just harvested fresh peanuts! Another reason that I love this time of year. For those of you that have never seen a peanut plant, here is what they look like after coming out of the ground, before picking off of the bush, washing and boiling. O.M.G. There's nothing that can compare to fresh boiled peanuts. We're about half way through the batch I made a few days ago. I'll be sad when they are all gone.