Outside, Inside

Outside the kitchen door:

Inside the kitchen door:

 

And again, outside:

 

Inside:

One more time, outside:

 

Inside:

Still outside, but trying to figure out how to get in:

"Better not let him inside, Mom. I have no interest in being his dinner!"

No worries, Weasley. I may be smitten, but I know he's not one to live peacefully with bunnies. He's no KB. The door stays closed!

Another Year, Another Block-of-the- Month Quilt

Well, I don't actually have a finished quilt from last year's black-and-white blocks that I made with Quilter's Way, but that shouldn't surprise you! I do, however, have the first four blocks from this year's project, that started in June. I decided to pick the most colorful version this year. They are calling this quilt Music Moves,  and this colorway is the Rock 'N Roll version.

Each month we will do a pieced block with half-square triangles. We also have the option, for a small fee, to do an extra block. These are the circular blocks. I have a feeling that the piecing in the center of the circles will get more complicated every month. This should be fun, hmmm?

Friday In The Garden

The garden is in full bloom now, and it was not too hot to enjoy it. Not much to say today, but I thought I would share some pictures with you, so you can enjoy our garden, too.

I love it when the day lilies are in bloom. Apparently the little guy (girl?) at the center of this one does, too.

I hope you enjoyed the flowers. Have a very happy weekend, everybun!

Second Class

I had the second night of the class that my girls gave me at the Worcester Art Museum last night. We had to hang up the papers we made during the week, and then explain the techniques we used. It was interesting to see how individual all the work was, when we pretty much all started with the same supplies. This afternoon, I got started on my homework for next week. Since it is finally a reasonable temperature around here, I was able to work outside. 

  

Here's a closer view of some of the papers I created. I actually painted this one in class last week, with leftover paint. It ended up very gray. I masked off some of those areas, and then painted over the whole thing. It's better now, but I think it may still need something.



This one was done this afternoon, again using leftover paint. It was really dark. First I drew into it with a paintbrush handle, then blotted it with a paper towel to lighten some areas. When I decided it needed stars, I went looking for metallic paint. All I had was fabric paint, so I used that. Then I put drips of white on, and dragged the paintbrush handle through them to make asterisks, and finished up by stippling on some white with a toothbrush. I also stippled my neck and shoulder at the same time!

This next one started with an all over pink glaze, and then I added some of everything. I really, really, really wish this were a piece of fabric! 

And here we have this week's main course. Last night in class, we covered boards in molding paste, which is sort of like spackle. Then we used all sorts of tools to create texture, including putty knives, brush handles, stamps, cardboard, etc. You can see the texture in the photo. Then we had to wait for them to dry. Even as hot as it was yesterday, they didn't dry in class, so we are painting them at home.  

I still want to give this one another wash, but I'm pretty pleased with it. And, it was a lot of fun to do. I'm definitely going to try this again.

Right about the time I started to get tired, help arrived.

Thankfully, the paint was mostly dry by the time the Neighborhood Lion jumped up on the table, although he may have gone home with a little bit of green on his tail. My hands were not so lucky!

One of these days, I may remember to wear gloves....Probably not, though.

So, I'm curious. Which piece of paper is your favorite, and why? 

I Am NOT A Pincushion!

Today Mom took me to the stinky vet. OK, she's not really stinky, but wait till you hear what she did.

I thought it was just going to be my usual eye pressure check. Quick, easy, with a treat to eat in the car afterward. But nooooo. Bunfriends, you are not going to believe this.

The stinky vet stuck needles in me! Not just one, like when I get a medicine shot, or hydration. That's bad enough, but she stuck me over and over again. Eleven times! Eleven! Can you imagine??? And then, she made me sit there for 15 minutes with the darn things in. I looked like one of Mom's pincushions!

Mom and the (stinky) vet called it acupuncture, and said it might help me move around better.

I call it "A Pain In The Butt".

There is not enough parsley in the world to make up for this, Mom.

(Poor guy doesn't know it, but he's got 3 more treatments over the coming month. Then we reevaluate to see if it's helping. He's really having a tough time moving around these days, so keep your fingers crossed for him, please.)

Trying Something New

Seems like my birthday is going on forever. Not that I'm complaining. Here's the latest. The girls enrolled me in a class at the Worcester Art Museum, called Transforming Paper. I've done a lot of stuff to fabric, but I haven't really done much exploration of paper, so this is all (sort of) new to me. It looks like many of the things we will be doing are like fabric painting and dying techniques that I've tried before.
Last night we worked with acrylic paints and inks on a variety of papers. The idea was to see how different papers responded to similar treatment.  Some light papers did not hold their shape well, but the resulting textures were pretty interesting. The watercolor paper was the most cooperative paper that we used. The papers below are both watercolor, and they were treated similarly, but the one on the left was painted wet, and the one on the right was done dry.

It was a fun evening, and I'm looking forward to learning more techniques for decorating paper.

Someone else tried something new today. The Curly One got her locks chopped even shorter.

I think it looks pretty cute. And she is enjoying how much cooler it is. There's nothing like a good haircut to lift your spirits, is there? Despite what Weasley says!

OK, I've been fighting with Google for over an hour now, so I think I'll stop here. Time for PJ's. 'Night everyone.

Yup, Still Here....

We've had a little break the last couple of weeks, as I've been at my parent's house. My brother's wanted to throw a party for me, because of the whole 50 thing, and Fourth of July week was when we could get everyone in one place. I had a great time visiting with everyone, especially my nieces and nephew, and then decided to hang around a bit longer to spend a quieter time with Mom and Dad.

Weasley was cared for by his Spare Sister, and then by the Curly One and her Dad, who returned home first. He says that keeping them straightened out was exhausting.

While there was a lot going on people-wise, we also got to enjoy a little nature drama. A pair of robins built a nest about two feet away from my parent's hot tub, right at eye-level. Robins really don't seem to be very smart about where they build their nests, but luckily for these guys, they didn't attract any cats. This was taken on the day of my arrival. There are four little ones in there.

Amazingly, it was not too many days later when they were ready to fly. In the picture below, one baby has already left the nest. That one looking right at the camera flew immediately after this picture was taken. The other two left the nest later that day.

Being with all those kids must have put me in a child-like frame of mind, because I found this Cookie Monster video to be lots of fun.



And of course, there was lots of grown-up talk, too. The subject of Fifty Shades of Gray came up. Haven't read it, but I found an interesting feline version on We Three, Ginger Cat Tales.  I wonder what the bunny version would be. Maybe  Fifty Shades of Disapproval?

Well, that's all I have today, as I struggle to get back into the normal routine. I took my laptop with me, but didn't turn it on, so I'm way behind on blog world. I hope to be catching up with everyone soon. So for now,

 

THE END!