Is This an Old Lady Thing?

Columbine in the evening

I love the flowers and vegetables that grow in my yard, but I suspect it's an old lady thing.
When I was young, I remember thinking that I'd make a great old lady because I would take good care of potted geraniums in the windows. Well, I have none on a window sill, but plenty outdoors. They are a joy every day.

Iris are always my favorite.

There are new Iris budding, but not open yet. I know that one is so dark it is nearly black. I can't wait to see it. And the other one will be a surprise as I cannot remember what I ordered from schreinersgardens.com last year. (I can't remember what I did yesterday, and that IS and old lady thing.)

I bought a couple of these bright orange ceramic pots at Walmart. I also bought a red one. The blue was nice too. If they had them in chartreuse green, I would have bought them all. The orange is just going to look terrific with purple and fushia petunias, pink geranium and yummy green leaves hanging over the edge of the pot. They will fill out soon enough.

Ivy Geranium in another orange pot

Below are more of the Columbine. They were especially beautiful in the evening sunlight when I took the photos.

Cuz I've Just Been Busy!

I didn't realize how much time had slipped by without blogging. Egads! It's cuz I've just been busy. I have started a little etsy shop: quirkylittlebirds.etsy.com. Now, I would post a link here, but I have no idea how to do that, nor how to get the little banner thingy posted at the side so you can just click on it. About all I can do is load a photo and type a few words. Anyway, I have beads all over the house and they are now about to drive me crazy with the mess, not to mention the fabric. Sheesh! It just takes over doesn't it?

Here's a few things I've made recently:

For those who love to shop, or those who "have to," the Get Your Monkey On bag. The details and the innards are all shown at the etsy site.

This is just a small part of a necklace loaded with sterling silver, freshwater pearls, and semi-precious stones.

This is another necklace that has earrings to go with it. I started this one a few years ago and just didn't get around to stringing it. Then, when I did, I didn't even like it. So, I took it apart and started all over and now I love it.

There are some bracelet and earring sets that are inexpensive and fun.

Here is a sampling:

And there's more, but this is enough for here.

Bloomin'

For the last couple of months, I've been bringing in branches to get them to bloom indoors. As you can see, this branch still has fruit from last summer that the birds and the squirrels have overlooked.

While these blooms are wonderful to have in the house when we've all had it up to our eyeballs with cold weather, they cannot hold a candle to the blooms outdoors. Everywhere I drive, there are trees blooming white and pink. It reminds me of the holidays when so many trees are twinkling in the night.


This is the start of the blooms indoors. Really, when they all bloomed, they were lovely.








The blooms outdoors just take my beath away. The trees are filled with these precious little bits of spring heavenliness.
I think the forsythia are prettier than usual too.

I'm a Bag Lady

For the better part of a year, I have been looking at patterns, even buying some that I think might make a great bag to haul around. Like most women, I am picky about the bag I carry. It has to have pockets inside and my keys and cell phone need to be easy to find. It should hold a business size envelope and a checkbook, along with a bulky wallet. It needs to be easy to get into and deep enough to hide the contents, but not so deep I can't find anything in that dark place. Also, I carry an extra bag for knitting, and that bag must be capable of holding a magezine, and sturdy enough to hold a book. I'm pondering how to make several bags for knitting, and I already have a little sewing bag in mind inspired by others whom I will tell you about in another post. The third bag is for my lunch, but I'm not going to make a lunch bag so I don't ponder that one at all. I just thought I'd mention that I am a bag lady who has a job and a home.


The bag fabric, Begonia Leaves from Philip Jacobs for Rowan, is one of my favorite. I have it in two colorways, and plenty of it too. I could not make up my mind which I liked best, but I was able to narrow it to two. The lining fabric is Spot from Kafe Fassett for Rowan.


Yesterday it all came together. I left the house to find fabric to line the bag I wanted, then rushed home to cut and sew. By evening, I had the bag completed. It felt great to have a project completed in just a few hours. I am so used to knitting and knitting and knitting, and then have that feeling of satisfaction, but in just a few hours? Wow! I am very pleased with the bag.
I made the inside pockets from the same fabric as the outside of the bag, and I used no zippers for the pockets to make it easy just to reach into the bag and find what I want. The outside pockets are just right for a cell phone or an iPod. The contrast between the bag lining and the pockets seems like a better idea when trying to find something I've sometimes had my hand in a pocket when it should have been in the bottom of a bag.

Why has no one come up with a bag light? We have book lights, knitting needles that light up, and little lights on key rings to help us find door locks and the ignition. A five-inch, cylindrical, battery operated light that hooks to the insdie of the bag so it would not get lost in the rest of the clutter would do a fine job.

It's Just Pincushions . . . and Shopping in San Francisco

Last Wednesday, I flew to San Francisco to meet my daughter. She drove from Los Angeles with Ian, and her husband met us there on Friday. While she attended a conference, I watched over my newest grandson, Ian. That meant shopping with Ian in a stroller. The weather was absolutely perfect for walking . . . sunshine, not too hot, people on the street enjoying life, and a very sweet baby to make a delightful day even more so.

Our first stop was Britex. Now, that's four floors of fabric, trims, buttons, and all kinds of lovely stuff. Starting at the 4th floor, there are remnants. I mean a whole floor of remnants. We were working our way down when, at the 2nd floor, Ian pooped his pants, so that ended that, but I'd seen it anyway.

The next day, we went to Haight Street to find some velvets and silks at Discount Fabrics. I wandered down the street to Mendel's, but nothing there caught my eye. I finished up by returning to Britex on Saturday and doing some serious damage to my financial situation. I always think, "What the heck, I deserve it," and then I can continue to abuse my bank account without guilt.

Each evening, we ate dinner in some of San Francisco's finest. When I got home today, I stepped on the scale only to find I had not gained even one pound. What a miracle! I am so happy about it.

Anyway, I posted a photo of fabric recently, as I will do below. In the last post, I discussed some thoughts on creativity and technicality. Really, the fabric had nothing to do with anything original at all; it's just for pincushions. And all the trims, beads, velvets, and silks, and even silk velvets are for pincushions. There's not much new in the way of pincushions, so creativity must come from the way in which I plan to decorate the pincushion, and even that is not original at all since people have been embroidering pincushions since they started making them. And there's nothing too techinical about creating a pincushion either, even with beads and embroidery added.

I do, however, have some creative ideas, and they will be applied to clay. Some will be polymer and others will be mud that is fired in a kiln. It's the polymer clay that brings the techincal difficulties for me, but no matter, I will work those things out as I move along.

And when I speak of creativity, it is not the creative genius of which I speak. It is just me taking it all in and applying the information to whatever I dream of doing. That's part of the creative process for most of us . . . there's not too many new ideas out there. And we just keep plugging away, practicing, drawing our ideas, writing our ideas, and finding our own voice as we do so. There are only so many sources we can draw on in life, and we can twist them in whatever way we choose. Of course, there are those who are perverted and twist the life from life and give the rest of us the creeps, and there are creative geniuses whom we admire forever afterward. I'm just the artsy fartsy type who might once in a while do something worthy of attention.

Some velvets on the left and silks on the right. The photo really does nothing to portray the lusciousness of these fabrics.

Creativity vs Technicality

Creativity blocks can last weeks, months, and God in Heaven, even years.

Speaking for myself, if years pass without any new creative ideas, I am (1) in a coma; (2) dissociated from my thoughts, (3) pathologically involved in something mindless and unimportant, i.e., a romantic attachment comes to mind immediately; or, (4) pursuing creative ideas by spending all my time and plenty of money following, to the letter, the instructions of someone who really is creative and acting upon it in the best possible way, i.e., they create, sell, and teach others. And their friends probably do the same.

What I will admit is that I do spend plenty of time and money reading, looking at the work of artists in any media, talking with creative friends, and just plain thought. For me, the ideas filter in often, probably due to the amount of time I spend in research and thought. My issue is most often the technical aspect of art . . . how to execute an idea and bring it to life. Perhaps this is lack of experience and formal training in art except for several university courses and a couple of years in the ceramics department of a small college.

On the other hand, perhaps many artists struggle with the technicalities of how best carry out the design. I do know that metalsmiths puzzle it out this way when it comes to clasps, hinges, and so forth.

How aggravating it is to feel like I am wasting energy struggling with one this or another, or to attempt to develop an idea and run head-on into the technical brick wall. Yet, there are times when ideas and the knowledge to accomplish the goal flow like molten lava in abundance. I feel giddy and gleeful when this happens. A few days ago I had this experience while at work. So, with a little notepad, I sketched and made notations. Now, I have begun to gather materials to bring life to my ideas. Soon, the fun begins, the total absorption in which you float free of time and space.

Let the fun begin, and believe me, this is only part of what is going on in my house!

Ron, Mary Beth, and Baby Madeleine: Faces of Happiness

On February 6th, I wrote a blog entry called Double Vision after knitting a couple of eggplant hats for the parents of a new baby whose auntie made her an eggplant hat. They look so happy with this sweet baby. I wish I could tell you more about them; Ron works for the company where I work. I often see him in the breakroom, but other than that, he and I work in completely different area. He just happened to want to have some hats knit and flagged me down in the hallway after seeing me knitting all the time. I'm glad he did. The hats were fun to make, and I've been able to get to know another wonderful person where I work.