A blooming mess

 

It seems like wherever I go I make a mess.  It's the same in the kitchen--where I reluctantly cook.  And the endless end tables where I have my piles of interest. When I'm done with whatever I've been working on, I always wait a couple of days to see if anyone will stop by and clean up after me.  No one ever does.  Life is so unfair sometimes.

I've been making more needle-felted flowers.

I'm thinking of adding some beads.

For anyone who's fond of beading, here's a wonderful book I discovered recently.

Thom Atkins is the author and beader and he's a real master of the art.  There's lots of inspiration, and instruction too, for anyone with an inclination.
I would love to do more beading, but at the moment I'm mired in this blooming mess.  

So Mr. Gadget and I are getting ready for our summer trek out west. We've done this trip often enough now that we have the preparations down to a science.  I arrange the mail forwarding and he reserves the rental car for the trip to the airport.  He hauls the suitcases up from the basement and I clean out the fridge.  No matter how fastidious I am about that last job, my eyes always seem to slide right over something that ends up growing mold while we're gone.  Sometimes I'm lucky enough to discover it before Mr. Gadget goes looking for a beer.  If not, I just tell him, "Oh, that.  I'm saving it for a craft project." 

The mermaid train

Mr. Gadget and I had a very nice trip to NYC on Saturday, and we returned home together on the 3:48.  Several flamboyantly-clad young women caught our eye on the ride into the city.  This is not unusual.  It's more usual than unusual.  NYC is a place where just about anything goes.

After we arrived Big City Girl told us that Saturday was the day of.......

.........and then it all made sense.  This is an annual event that takes place at Coney Island.  Here are a couple of frisky parade-goers who I can safely show you without earning my blog an "R" rating. Most of the others were wearing tassels.

We met BCG and her boyfriend at our usual lunch spot.  It's our go-to place because it has good omelets, reasonable prices and a little bit of character--always a bonus in my book. 

After lunch we walked to this place, where I bought some stamens for my felted flowers. But the stamens were quite pricey and one set has little green fuzzy things that shed onto the felt.  Not a good choice, but of course I didn't know that at the time. 

Then we strolled over to Bryant Park, next to the NY public library....you know, the place with the lions.  We found a little table in the shade and talked until it was time to catch the 3:48.  We tried not to ask BCG too many questions....like, do you have any marriage plans....because we know that if we want to see her again soon we should steer away from questions like that.  Instead, we asked about things that didn't interest us in the least, like 1) Is your air conditioner working well? 2) Are you doing much cooking?  and, 3) Your hair looks great...did you just get a haircut?

The real reason for our trip was so that we could give her the eyeball test.  She doesn't realize this, but these trips to the city give us an opportunity to look her over to make sure she looks happy, is eating regularly, and has no obvious bruises.  It's also a chance to discern whether she has any new tattoos or piercings.....well, at least any she has decided to show the world.

As is usually the case, she passed with flying colors.

 

 

 

 

Rising and shining

Good morning all!  Oh, wait a minute....It's 2:30 in the afternoon.  I just took a little snooze on the deck.  Being retired is hard work, and when Friday comes along I'm pooped.  While I was out there....well, part of the time anyway...I was reading.  Have you read Wild by Cheryl Strayed?  It's the story of her trek on the Pacific Crest Trail from Mohave, California to the Oregon/Washington border.  I love reading about people and their exploits, so I'm finding it very entertaining.  But not so engrossing, apparently, that I would avoid a nap in the sunshine. 

So while I'm sitting here drinking my second cup of wake-up coffee, I'll tell you what I've been up do.  First of all, the creativity day was a success.  I had hoped for more lookers, but we had a decent turnout, and everyone who stopped by seemed quite impressed with our work.

 

 I've been doing more needle-felting.

This is stickman with a felted pumpkin head.  I might shorten his stem, and give him more teeth.  Then I guess some clothes are in order.

This is a witch-in-progress.  The yellow area is just the core wool that I will use as a base on which to felt a pale green head and face.  I'm learning this technique through trial and error, and by watching youtube videos and reading felting websites.  There's really no end of things you can learn how to do that way.

So, tomorrow Mr. Gadget and I will be taking the train down to Grand Central to have lunch with Big City Girl.  Mr. G is not a big fan of the train, and I'm not fond of taking the car.  This time I won, and I hope Mr. Gadget won't moan and complain and spoil a pleasant ride. It has been known to happen.  If it does happen, I have a good plan in place for the return trip.  He'll be on the 3:48 and I'll be on the 4:23.

Father's Day felting

I've gotten a little carried away with needle felting.

It's addictive.  There's just something about stick-stick-sticking that little barbed needle into the fiber that carries me away someplace where there is no dusting, vacuuming, grocery shopping, or toilet scrubbing.

The Santa on top is just the right size for an ornament.  The other one is slightly bigger and will stand.  Both need a little bling, but I've got plenty of time to figure that out.

Mr. Gadget is having a nice Father's Day.  We went for a walk in the park this morning, then had lunch out on the deck.  While he was at the gym this afternoon a delivery came from Big City Girl.  It's one of those edible arrangements with fruit and chocolate.  I've decided he can have the fruit.  I'll have the chocolate.  After all, I made him an apple pie.  Sounds like an equitable arrangement to me.

Gettin' our creativity on

Mr. Gadget and I are getting our stuff together

for the long-awaited, much-anticipated

creativity day tomorrow.

My stuff is on the coffee table.

His stuff is in the basement.

See that neat wine rack?

He had to evict his wine bottles.



Here they are.

Awaiting its return...

like patient little soldiers.

 

It will be interesting to see how my experiment goes.

"Are you nervous?" asked Mr. Gadget.

"A little," I said. "You know I'm really sticking my neck out.

Maybe I'd rather just sit home and knit."

 

There will be food.

There will be a bright colorful banner.

There will be fair weather...

the weatherman promised.

How bad can it be?

 

I'll be back soon with a review

of my directing debut.

As they say, "Break a leg!"

Better that than

"Break a hip!"

 

Fuzzy feathered friends

 

I haven't been in a writing mood lately.

Sometimes it just flies out the window.



It's usually not gone for long.

Kinda like a homing pigeon.

Meanwhile, I've been needle felting.

It's fun and really not very difficult.

All you need are the right tools:

A foam block, a felting needle, and some wool roving.

My friend, other Marcia, gifted me

with a huge bag 'o roving

that she had in her stash.

This was for making felted flowers,

but I got a little side-tracked.

So I'll most likely be here making birds

until that writing mood comes home to roost.