countdown

Whew. Between family stuff (all good) and getting ready for my trip, my days seem to be about 11 hours long and not much of that for sleep. Excited, is she?

For the first time in my life, I'm not packing the night before I leave. Throwing stuff from one side of the closet to the other and back again. Trying to pack for New England weather even though I don't own (and won't buy) a coat. Ten bucks says I wear the same ratty sweater and jeans all week long.

There was this 

Thought about making and taking a small stitching kit. yes, no? Let it be known that I can actually sew on a button? Bet I'm among the very few who can.

More babyworks

Finally got this boxed up and sent. Fingers crossed that it gets there before Vinny Boombatz arrives, not that he'll care a whole lot one way or another. I know a month from now he'll be dazzled by the colors.

cloth, get busy!

The cloth for the notebook cover was dyed six years ago! I was working on a series trying to recreate the palettes from some J.W. Turner paintings. They turned out to be so tasty that I quickly hid them away. Nothing is sacred around here anymore when it comes to cloth.

This one, from the same series, was incorporated into one of my favorites...

crossroads updated

 I wanted something special by way of a notebook to take to the conference in two weeks and foolishly bought one of those ponderous 5 star, 5 subject spiral bound things. Once it got here I found that weighs nearly as much as my laptop.

So I'm out getting the usual at the grocery store and picked up an ordinary, soft cover compostion book with an eye toward traveling light.

Later, I was sorting cloth and came across this in my Holy Relics basket. The overall brownish-ness of it made me think of a grocery store paper bag. Then I remebered how we used to dismembered those bags to cover our textbooks. I fiddled with it for a while, remembering how, then put one of the folds on the outside instead of hiding it on the inside, giving it pockets for what-not on the outside. No stitches required, just the press of time and use.

All my sacred, "can't cut into them" cloths are going to become book protectors, born again into Utility.

I anchored the flaps with tails. Just a frill.

Home Improvement time!

This time last year I was celebrating the brand new heating and air system. This year - a badly needed new roof. Who knew how much damage there was up there from wind and hail? State Farm and TruTech knew and I'm a happy camper.

This was the tarped-over view from the studio. A beautiful light.

The crew was here before it was fully light and soon it sounded like a tribe of rabid Sufi's on crack were working it out on the roof. Sweetie and Juicy disappeared for parts unknown and I even bugged out for a couple of hours of quiet.
Their generators bothered me more than the banging, I think.

They finished and cleaned up by five. I'm having some hedge tidying done soon so I'll wait on the after photos. It's a good feeling. I know Jim would be pleased with the work and the outcome - a big boost to the value of our home.

~


I feel Jim's love and protection here as strongly as ever. This was my last birthday gift from him,  taking a few hours of fresh air and sunshine.    10.14.13