Bittersweet

On Friday most of the surviving members of our local miniature club met at our recently departed friend's home to sort through her supplies, stash, and tools so we could purchase what we'd like from her husband. There were many tears and lots of laughs during the hours we spent combing through her treasures. Lots of memories were traded back and forth too. And lots of questions like, "what do you suppose she saved THIS for?" 

Honestly the whole day was overwhelming and I didn't make it through every section and bin before my brain was totally numb. We're talking about decades of collecting that was extremely well-sorted in labeled bins. And that wasn't even her quilting supplies. Those were on a different floor. On and the needlework supplies. Sometimes we'd find something that we knew should stay with the family, so we made room on a shelf for all those things.

These are a few of the treasures that came to live with me. I could spend all day photographing what I brought home, so these are just the highlights. 

I'm already putting together things of hers to build a scene around the sofa bed. I'll have to clean my studio (don't even get me started on that fresh hell) so I can supplement with things from my stash. I've also got some rough plans for the Japanese miniatures. I've been collecting some similar pieces over the years and will be combining them. Somehow. No clue how yet.

Other than that, the rest of the week seems pretty mild. Mercedes got a bath and I baked cookies.

That's all for today. I need to go try to be useful somehow. See you next week!

Good Intentions As Paving Stones

I'd planned on doing an early blog post last week to commemorate FuzzyHusband's and my 10th wedding anniversary, but things were just too busy. I was too busy trying to finish this piece and neither of us wanted to deal with holiday crowds, so we've opted to wait until after the holidays to have a nice dinner out somewhere.

I did get the vest done and delivered on Saturday. Kinda bummed that I'm still too sick to see it being worn on New Year's Eve.

FH bought me some beautiful jewelry, which is a rare and wonderful treat reserved for special occasions.

He also picked flowers that were the same type he used to buy me when we were poor college students and just starting to date. So sentimental! <3 p="">

Saturday was busy right up until I passed out from exhaustion. I had a cake to bake, a wreath to finish, bags to pack, critters to prep... all kinds of things needed doing. The last wreath of the season got done whilst waiting on the cake layers to cool. I designed it for my mother-in-law specially because she loves nutcrackers.

Then I wanted to make a post for Christmas Eve/Day, but again life was filled with wonderful things that were more important.

Tuesday morning I woke up with a fever and very little voice. When we finally got home that afternoon, Ellie Bean was injured and we had to rush to the vet. She'd somehow injured her lip, and the vet (not our regular one) wasn't sure how so he gave us antibiotics and sent us home.

I slept through most of Wednesday and Thursday as the lurgy symptoms got worse. Thankfully all signs point to it being a nasty cold and not an infection.

We went back to the vet Friday, in a snowstorm, because her lip looked worse. FH was home around 2:30 after swinging by the grocery store and passing 5 wrecks in 3 miles. The roads were heinous. It took us a while to get there and I'm glad we left way early for the appointment.

 This time we saw our regular vet and she's seen this type of injury before. Apparently Ellie likely failed to stick a landing after jumping down from something, landed on her faced, and skidded. The vet was impressed that her lip didn't tear away from her face. Confident that we weren't dealing with a potential abscess next to her jaw, Ellie and I headed home in the storm.

It was still coming down late yesterday evening. I haven't even gone near the door today as I woke up coughing and have no voice. Himself has been taking care of me all day. I've slept through most of it, as rest and fluids are about all one can do for a virus.

I figured I'm likely to sleep through most of tomorrow too, but since I was awake now I'd go ahead and update the blog. So Happy New Year to all. May 2018 be kinder to the world than 2017 has been.

Cleaning, Baking, Decking, Etc...

Been a busy week here. My adopted nephew wanted to surprise his mm by showing up while he was on leave from the military... along with his new fiance... and they enlisted my help in the surprise.

So FuzzyHusband and I cleaned, baked, and waited. Of course FH didn't know who was coming to visit... he just knew we had to clean everything. Nephew asked that I keep it a surprise for all.

I baked some cookies fr us to snack on once they arrived. These in the picture are all that's left! Or at least were left when I took the photo. ;-)

The surprise went well and many happy tears were shed. My "sister from another mister" is very excited to be welcoming a new daughter into her life and said young lady fits right into the family as if she was made for us.

Onto the hall decking... There's been a severe run of drought for the last several years, so the availability of real trees for the holiday were slim to none. I managed to find this slim profile artificial tree on sale and picked it up. It will be a nice back up until we can have real trees again. Plus the little tree I put together will sit quite nicely next to it, making a tiny festive grove.

And Pixel really likes the box it came in!

Ellie also has a fondness for boxes and claimed this one that the new light sets arrived in.

That's all for this week. I've got a sewing commission that needs finished before Friday, so I'll be making up for time spent with family this weekend. See you later!

Glitter, Sewing, and Baking

It's that time of year again. Time to start planning and decorating for Festival of Trees. I've come home many days now, covered in glitter. But the shop is ready for us to start designing tree themes now.

I'm almost done with the little pillow for my sister's impending grandson. Just need to cut the back sections and put everything together.

And finally, I tried out a new recipe last night for cream cheese brownies. It's from America's Test Kitchen, we have the giant recipe book, and... WOW! So good! Someone (not me) couldn't wait for them to cool all the way before he stole a wee bit off a corner.

That's all for this week. How everyone is staying cool in the heat!

Eratta

As far as my writing goes, I'm being encouraged on multiple fronts to consider publishing a book of my poetry. So I'm slowly figuring out what pieces would be good enough, which need polishing, what are "good examples of practice" (aka rubbish), and pondering thoughts for new poems.

I did make a lovely salted caramel sauce last Sunday. It was perfect on top of the chocolate cheesecake... and on fresh fruit, potato chips, pretzels... ;-)

Pixel found Artie's hiding spot and claimed it for her own.

I've finally started in on a little pillow my sister asked me to make for her impending grandson. It's 5" x 6", sized for a wee rocking chair she's refinished for the nursery. I found the font I chose somewhere online.

Now I need to make piping, cut out the letter appliques, and put it all together.

See you next weekend!

Pixel says...

Mama let another D.O.G. into MY house! It was only for one sleep, but come on! Bad Mama! I had to hide the whole time!

And all the toys were everywhere! Nothing was where it was supposed to be. Maybe I should have stayed and snoopervised.

My dog apparently had fun, for whatever that's worth.

And Mama made muffins things that she wouldn't share.

Horrible days!

Fuzzy Bunnies

Between the holiday on Monday and Thursday being mini club day, I didn't get much done in the way of streaming or projects. But the three bunny sculpts are no longer "nekkid." This is what they looked like before I added the flocking. The paint was there as a placement guide, not necessarily a color guide.

The grey and white bunny went first. He had the least complex coat. His flocking was cut from DMC 5200, 414, and 415. Some of the colors were blended as I cut.

The seal point bun was next. His flocking was DMC: 5200, 437, and 938. Again, I blended colors as I cut the flocking.

And finally, the mini version of Jackson, my friend's bunny. His flocking colors were cut from DMC: 5200, 433, 434, 801, and 938. All of his brown tones are blends.

Jackson was the hardest to do because he's a mini copy. The other bunnies' coats let me use my imagination. Mini Jackson is now residing with my friend. She loves him, which is what I was hoping for. She didn't know I was sculpting him.

I also made her some mini fat quarter bundles using bits of fabric from quilts she's actually made.

On Friday I managed to squeeze in baking a cake. I"ve made this one before. It's flavored with orange juice and zest throughout. Very delicate flavors and nice on a warm day.

But the rest of my week was spent cleaning. And cleaning is boring, so I shall spare you the details. For now, laundry beckons and I need to figure out what projects to stream this week. See you next Sunday!