Tiny (?) changes....

Hoping I haven't bit off too much more than I can chew.....

My word of the year top is done with hand dyed and ice dyed fabrics...

but feeling a little under the weather has messed with my desire to quilt this week.

In the meantime...

I am participating in a 7 day nature photography challenge

 over on Facebook...

and so I have been posting mostly old photos....

that I tinkered with using iPhone apps...

  and Photoshop Elements,...

while I train for a new job....

study for an old job....

keep on top of my Happiness Project....

find time for exercise and meditation...

enjoy some company....

and

knit in my spare time (did I say spare time?!!!)

"True life is lived when tiny changes occur."

-Leo Tolstoy

Failed.... again!!!

I tried and tried... but I just couldn't do it.... 31 consecutive days of blogging, that is.

With weather like this in December in upstate NY...

who could blame me????!!!

A failure is not always a mistake, 

it may simply be the best one can do under the circumstances.

 The real mistake is to stop trying.

-B. F. Skinner

Failure is really a harsh word isn't it???

I have made many mistakes this year

but I now realize that 

it was really simply the best I could do at that moment in time

Those mistakes are done

and I need to focus on the joy of the present moment!!!!

(this was my word for 2014... I am working on one for 2016, how about you?)

And yes, there were presents lol!!!

This week, I couldn't blog about my latest projects 

because these projects were under wraps (so to speak)

... or should I say, wrapped!!!

There was a pillow to commemorate a beloved pet...

cookies in a jar to layer...

pouches to fill with junk...

a shawl to knit and knit and knit...

and

cookies to bake....

(wait!!! I didn't bake those cookies!!! the kids did!)

Even with all the hubub going on here,

Amazon left a new house for Olive...

Now that those projects are in the hands of loved ones,

I can move on to the myriad of unfinished 

and unstarted projects

and I will surely have plenty to blog about!!!

Wishing all of you peace, joy, love, and new projects this holiday season!!!

Just about time...

..to get in some last minute bidding on the first round of quilts being auctioned off 

by Quilt Alliance on eBay!!!!

But

there are still a few hours left to bid on my quilt!!!

As she gets ready to head to her new home, 

I will probably not see "Olive. Olive You." again ....

but I still enjoy Olive in real life...

often enjoying some breakfast together...

and now that it is mid November,

it is just about time to start some holiday projects

that probably could have been started months ago...

and when I am not rushing to get these done,

I am always working on something else...

in black and white, of course!

It's that time of the year...

We begin getting out our woollies....

sunrise is later...

there are lots of crunchy brown leaves...

with the occasional pretty leaf left...

and

it is the beginning of chapped, 

punctured, 

and cracked finger skin season...

Oh the agony!!!

This is the mottled, post super glue look...

Between the knitting and hand stitching these days..

My hands are already taking a toll

 and the calendar is not even near the worst time, 

 dare I say----

"winter"!!!!

I go to bed with Aquaphor or Burts Bee's Hand Salve slathered all over my hands

 and 

yet another day with a needle in hand yields...

more damage!!!!

I may need bionic hands this winter!

Who is that???!!!!!

Faster than a shaving boy-man.....

(Before shoveling)

(After shoveling)

Me: "I got this entire driveway cleared in the time it took you to get ready for work!"

Nature Boy (a boy-man): "Well I had to shave."

More powerful than a teen-aged girl in her room on a snow day!

Me: "I'm going out to shovel, if you want to come out and help...

Her: "                                 "

... apparently, she had fallen back to sleep!

Able to leap between ...

homeschooling

French knots

knitting cables

taking funny photos of the birds at our feeder

and shoveling.

in a single day!!!!

Who is that?!!!!!

It's just me.....

but shhhhh......

 I used to be Superwoman!

Dr. Jekyll and Mrs. Hyde-ing Under Projects...

Every felt you are spread a little too thin?

Like you might have more than one personality?

That's the way I seem to operate these days....

Some days I am at my studio...

and some days I am home in my sewing room....

some days you might find me knitting...

(more than one project at a time, I might add!)

while on other days, I may be sewing...

either way, I might be pulling out my hair trying to get it all done...

Life II: I Have a Teenager is now appliqued!

As in Life I, I am planning to embroider some words around the piece

but while I am waiting for the floss I ordered to be delivered,
I have been playing around with some lettering ideas...

There are MANY ways to describe my love-hate affair with a certain teen!

And not to be without a project....

EVER!

I have another one that I am trying to move out of my head
and onto paper before it moves to fabric....