Round Robin - Water

Last weekend, as I sat contentedly in my living room sewing, it poured outside! Remembering the theme for this Round Robin, I snapped a few pictures from my back deck.

These photos were taken Monday afternoon at Caddo Lake. It was unbelievably windy that day and the usually calm lake had waves that were actually crashing against the shore.

Be sure to check out all the photos of the other Round Robins over here.

Concentric Circles--sort of

Callie has the ability to sit in the same room with an unopened package that has arrived and not be bothered by it at all.  I can't and it drives me crazy that she can even go a couple of days before ripping it open to see what is inside!!!    So, why would I have ever dreamed that she would read the post I wrote about her "surprise" that I was making her??????  At her birthday dinner last night, she opened the package and said, "Oh here's the quilt."   Fortunately, I hadn't put a final picture in there, so there was some element of surprise.  I guess I can reveal the final product now:

100 Photos

Dandelion surrounded by dirt and mud at Caddo Lake.

100 Photos - Contrast

Yesterday, just before it started raining, I snapped this picture in my backyard.  I have a huge cypress tree that is now completely bare except for the mass of ivy vines wrapped around its trunk.  I really like the contrast both in lights and darks, but also the contrast between the light, airy branches and the heavy shape that the ivy forms.

Callie, Don't Peek!!!!

Last year, Callie's birthday was kind of lost in the medical emergency involving my daddy. While I had plans to make her something special, and even had made a good start, the need to be at the hospital every free moment for weeks on end meant that I never got to complete the project.

This year, however, I am determined to get it done and present it to her next week. She went with me to a fabric shop a year or so ago and we discovered that she was really drawn to graphic patterns and circles in particular. I should have known this considering that Kandinsky is one of her favorite artists and she chose this painting of Concentric Circles for her dorm room a few years back.

I knew that I wanted this project to be colorful and have some graphic shapes in it, so I chose this free pattern from Moda to be the basis of my project. As I gathered the patterned fabrics, I made sure to choose some that were circles and other geometric shapes. I really liked this fabric I found at Hancock's last year---it looks so happy and carefree to me. I decided to use it for a narrow border around the whole thing and for the back.And I started sewing! 

Some of the stitches are kind of "wonky", but I finally finished and I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out. I hope Callie likes it, too--her birthday is this week, so I'll show you the finished product after I give it to her . . . .just in case she's peeking.

Happy Saturday!

Have you seen this? It totally made my day! (be sure to silence my music playlist first!!)

Anthropologie Wanna' Be

While cleaning out the pottery room at church, I found these in the discard pile and brought them home. Everyone pretty much thought I was pretty crazy, but I want to turn them into these:

(anthropologie.com)

And this morning, I found one more hidden in a corner in my Sunday School classroom. I'll keep you posted.

Craft Hope for Haiti

As word spread about the devastation resulting from the earthquake in Haiti, Craft Hope responded. An etsy shop has been set up with all proceeds going to Doctors Without Borders. People from all over the country have been donating and purchasing wonderful handmade items. Click on the button below to pop on over and pick up a little something special----and help Haiti at the same time.

One Hundred Photos

Today is really dark and dreary outside, but I had the perfect opportunity to take the first of my "100 photos" today. The Community Arts Program at my church had another work day this morning. We are beginning our second semester of classes and had some brand new equipment to set up. Several of us unpacked and set up the state-of-the-art potter's wheels and then watched in fascination as Brenda (the teacher) tried them out. As she set the clay on the wheel, I loved the obvious contrast in colors. I couldn't resist snapping a few more pictures as she transformed the shapeless ball of clay into a beautiful bowl in a matter of minutes. I want to learn to do that!!

Round Robin --- Condlelight

The theme for this challenge is "Candlelight". Be sure to check out the other Robins here and see their interpretations of the theme. The first is a leftover Christmas scene:

This one is from my 2005 archives, when I lost electricity due to Hurricane Rita:

Scrappers Gone Wild

Last weekend, I joined Valine for the semi-annual Camp Crop-A-Lot, sponsored by Memory Mania. I went down on Thursday afternoon, since we were out of school and Kirk fixed a wonderful steak dinner that was such a treat!! The next morning, we got up in the frigid temperatures and drove into town to begin the retreat. We had such a good time working on layouts, visiting, drinking, eating and just having fun. Of course, we stayed up much too late both nights, but fortunately we could sleep in and had no responsibilities other than getting as much done as possible.
I enjoyed getting to see my "scrapping friends" again--I met them several years ago at the retreat and now we request to be seated together each time.
The theme this year was "Scrappers Gone Wild" and I made our table decorations, which looked pretty cute. I made scarves for each of the table-mates, along with zebra pens and clips. Valine made great "Oops" envelopes and we packaged them all together in boxes that she had on hand.
Once again, we had fun posing in the photo-op area and had our pictures sent to Walgreens so that we could go ahead and get them in layouts.
Valine was even able to find zebra print glasses!
I was able to complete my December Daily book---from start to finish and really like the way it turned out. Now, I only need to decided how to embellish the cover. I'll post pictures of that later.
Can't wait until July!

Contrast

Lisa Leonard's blog post this morning inspired me to take on a new challenge. She referenced the "One Hundred Photos" Challenge where you pick your own theme, take a few photos each week over a year and concentrate on honing your photography skills within the theme. You can find out more about it here.

I've decided on the them of "contrast"---with the interpretation of that being wide open. So, I need to go get my camera out and start clicking. Want to join me? What will your theme be?

Round Robin - Roots

Oops! Technical problems (me being the technician, of course). Taking the theme literally, here are a few "roots" I've encountered. These first two were taken a couple of months ago at Caddo Lake when the park was flooded.
And these were taken on a hike that Callie and I took in Vermont a couple of summers ago.
***And last, but certainly not least, I just found the photo that I'd been looking for: These roots at Balboa Park in San Diego. My girls and I visited there in 2003 with my dad and were amazed by the forest of these giant trees.
Be sure to check out the great photos by the other Round Robins (click here).

Word Of the Year

I've been inspired by the posts of Ali Edwards and Lisa Leonard to choose a word for the new year that has the potential to make an impact on your life. Ali states that "The key is to find something that has personal meaning for you. This is not your mother's word or your spouse's word or your child's word - this is YOUR word. One little word can have big meaning in your life if you allow yourself to be open to the possibilities." Of course, the process doesn't end with choosing a word. It really requires some sort of action to be effective, whether it be a way to put the word into action or an action to keep the word in the forefront of your mind. Actually, it might require both of these for me.

So my word for this year-----RISK. For me, that's a really scary word, but one that keeps appearing in my thoughts and one that I think will help me to continue to grow, physically, spiritually and mentally.

Now that I've blogged about it, I have some degree of accountability to take action. So here goes--- ---printed and posted on the prayer board above my computer.