Spinners Retreat & Dr. Who

I spent the last five days up in Park City Utah at a Spinners Retreat.  This group gets together annually to spend time away from responsibilities.  We spin and knit, and laugh and eat, share our lives and have workshops and prizes and more.  It is really the best of times. I hadn't been to this in a long time.

I was delighted to find out my good friend Adrien would be there.  She is such a beautiful soul, I love spending time with her.

Here I am with Adrien and Esther who I got to know a lot better this time.  She is a riot I just love both of these ladies so much. They are both very talented spinners and make exquisite lace shawls with their yarns.

Here I am with my good friend Cyndi.  She always keeps me laughing and helps me stay motivated with all my knitting projects.

Here I am with a Dalek from Dr. Who.  For those who don't watch a Dalek is an alien villain that the Doctor has to fight over and over again.  This is a shell and the alien being is inside this.

Here I am inside the Dalek, you had to squat down to fit the top on and oh was it hot inside there.

I met another Green Bay Packer Fan.  We were comparing things we had to support the team,  I won the contest when I told her I had a Clay Matthews jersey.  He was her favorite too. Here is the scarf her mom made her during the retreat in those great Packer colors.

My good friends Cyndi and Shirley Marshall, the owners of the Dalek. They found it at a garage sale. We sure have had some fun with it. Rumor has it that it might travel to Idaho Falls someday soon.

Jackson Hole Art Festival

When I found out that my friend Jessie Marianiello was going to be a vendor at the Jackson  HoleArt festival I had the perfect opportunity to meet her.  Dave was a willing participant so we planned to go to Jackson for the day.  Its only 100 miles away so it was easy to do.  We spent time at the festival and then headed to Grand Teton National Park for some awesome scenery.

Here we are in front of the most gorgeous painting of a horse.  I was mesmerized by its beauty. She told me the it was a wild horse.
















Here she is next to her beautiful painting. I think she really captures the horse's essence.

After visiting with Jessie for awhile we headed out to see the rest of the show.  I was surprised to run into another friend.  Judy Colvin sold me my first sheep Emily.  She now does nuno felting and became a milliner. She makes felted and straw hats and is a regular at the show.  I love wonderful surprises like that.

Here is what I came home with; a raven for my garden which is mostly weeds this year.  I think he looks quite at home.

You know meeting people on the internet and following their lives for years is quite its own reward but then meeting them in person is like icing on the cake. What a delight it was to meet Jessie.  Her paintings were even more beautiful in person. She is such an amazing talent. You can see her work on her website Stray Dog Arts.  Do yourself a favor and go look in her gallery she paints the most amazing dogs, cats and now horses too.

Pajama Party Weekend

Image credit

Woke up to a couple inches of snow, again.  Its really beginning to be a pattern.  My spinning friends from Salt Lake City are coming for the weekend. I went shopping and decided to make my world famous Spaghetti Sauce for Saturdays dinner.  I usually just pop a frozen lasagna in the oven but felt like something different this time.

I have some other local friends coming, we usually just combine what everyone brings and that makes our meals.  Shirley will bring great bagels with her, CJ perhaps a salad or a pot of soup and then I supply the  main dish which this year will be spaghetti, salad and garlic bread. There will be other munchies along the way. We always make Amy stop and bring some Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream for those late night cravings.  Sometimes we stay in our pj's all day but its not mandatory.  We'll spin yarns, knit on projects, laugh, eat, watch movies, eat, spin some more, eat some more, maybe take a trip to a yarn shop, eat, and so on.  Its always a fun weekend and the time slips by so fast.

My friend Janet just posted this and it is so good I had to pass it on. Its long but read the whole thing it is full of wisdom on the creative life.  Here is the link

I'll be back posting on Monday, have a great weekend

Reconnecting

You remember when I talked about this project that Phoenix Peacock is doing,  Go to this post for the beginning of the story.

For my second part of the project I decided to call this friend I had not talked to in twenty years.  I was very nervous, I mean what if she was no longer alive. That would be pretty heartbreaking.  So I got the nerve to call and I got an answering machine.  Figures in this world of technology. Several days later she called me back and got my machine. We were playing phone tag. She left me this long message and it was so wonderful to hear her voice, the memories kept flooding back in.  I called again and caught her at home, at last success.

It was like old times, we talked of the old days and where we were in our lives today.  It was so rewarding that I can not even begin to express it.  We've reconnected and we will stay connected. Sadly she does not have a computer so we'll need to keep in touch the old fashioned way, by letter and phone. After letting this relationship slide once I don't want to let it go again.  I am so grateful to Phoenix Peacock and her project.  If I had not taken part none of this would even have happened.  You really never know where you're art is going to take you.

On this page, I decorated the background with chalk. I searched through my old photos to find some of Vonda and Wes.  That is the two of them at my wedding almost 26 years ago.  Then a pic of Vonda  showing off her new cowboy boots.  She was always the most fun. I threw in the british phone booth because of the distance between us. Its been closed now and I feel so blessed.

Have you lost touch with someone in your life? Maybe its time to reconnect. It is not too late, pick up the phone and give them a call.

Community Art Project

I am participating in Phoenix Peacock's Community Art Project. You can read about it here and in her previous posts.  She is in need of more participants so if you are willing, check it out.

The first thing is to do a journal page about someone in your community past or present who positively influenced your life. That took me back years ago when I met my friend Vonda.

This is the page I did this afternoon to explore that relationship I had so long ago. I met her in college and she was like a mother to me. Her friendship and guidance made me who I am today. It is so nice remembering those times. Sadly I have not talked to her in years.  I think I will remedy that, she's only a phone call away.

Do you have any friends you have lost touch with? Maybe today is the day to remedy that.

Wishcasting Wednesday How do you wish to grow older

Jamie asks us today  "How do you wish to grow older" If it had been any other Wednesday I would write a post about living authentically.  Grabbing life by the horns and hanging on for a wild ride. Today my wish is just to be able to grow older.  I just heard the news that my dear glitter sister and blogger friend Ninnie's cancer has spread to her bones and her brain. With this heartbreaking news and having had my own bout with cancer recently.  My wish is to have the privilege to grow older.  Sure I still want that fulfilled life but to be honest I think I am already living it.  I just want to explore it a whole lot longer.

To see what others are wishing today go here

What a fun day

It is so exciting to find that there is another blogger who does mixed media right in your own town.   I have wanted some local Art friends but just didn't know how to find them and then one found me, I think that is pretty cool.

The lovely and sweet Jolene came to visit today. We planned to get to know each another a little more and work on our journals. You can see her blog here














She brought along this  prayer flag that she made for me to hang in my garden. I just love it.














This Is Jolenes's page, it is in the shape of a question mark. How cool is that. She is doing pages for a journal following the book  Creative Awakenings: Envisioning the Life of Your Dreams Through Art. In addition she has really taken with Ingrid Dijikers article in the latest Art Journaling Magazine. Its all about not having a rectangular shape to your page.












Here is my page, I took her example and made a page with differente edges. I actually did it to all three sides. I started with the pennants by painting them all yellow and then more paint and stamping. Oh what to do next, I thought circles and then I drew the circles and painted them and then I drew some more. They sort of reminded me of river rocks. I cut around the rocks to make that edge different. I had drawn these scallop on the other side and then decided to cut the paper away too. I love how this page turned out.










Here we are after an afternoon of art. Thanks to Sarah for taking our picture. Wow this is fun to sit and journal with someone else. I did this once with my friend Kate but its been a long time. There was an exchange of techniques that was fantastic. Jolene showed me how to draw on metal with a stylus.  Now I have no excuse I may just have to make that journal for Creative Awakenings and begin that book too. I shared a tip for StazOn Ink pads and enticed Jolene with my Tim Holtz ruler. She had a chance to look at all my collaborative books.  We really had a fun afternoon. It is great to have someone to share your mixed media passion with.

My weekend

This past weekend my friends Shirley and Cyndi came from Utah for a pajama party and my other friend Cj came too.  We spend the weekend spinning yarns, knitting, felting, eating and any other creative thing we can think of.  Its a pajama party because we never get dressed.  Its a weekend full of fun friends and laughter.













This is my friend CJ, cook extraordinaire. she always makes sure everyone is fed and happy.

This is my friend Shirley   In this pic she is needle felting a little animal. I have known Shirley for almost twenty years. I think we started spinning yarns about the same time. 













This is a shawl Cyndi made me out of an old piece of knitting I didn't like. It wraps around the body and ties in the back. It is an old style pattern that women wore for centuries. Its comfortable and keeps you warm while you work. I feel connected to the women of the past when I wear it.

This is Cyndi I don't know what she was thinking by the expression on her face but she is calmly knitting on a pair of socks.

Here is a tea set Cyndi found at a thrift store for me. There are 2 more cups and saucers. I thought it was so cute.












A close up of the saucer.  I just love it. Cyndi really spoiled me this time.  She also made me a pair of socks which I am having difficulty photographing.  I'll post them as soon as I can get  better photograph.

I love weekends like this, they don't happen that often but I love it when they do.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Its early all the hustle and bustle has not begun yet. I have to make pies this morning before the turkey breast I bought goes into the oven. Sarah is asleep in her bed downstairs, that feels comforting. To have your child home when its been a long time is quite the pleasant feeling. There is nothing else like it. I makes one really thankful for the simple things.

I am grateful for each and everyone of you who stop by to read my blog, to those who take the time to comment and to those who have become friends. You have enriched my life, Thank You.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving. If you don't celebrate that in your country then please have a wonderful day today.

Strawberries and Champagne

image from the web

I had the most wonderful evening last night. I thought I would celebrate the full moon with a bonfire. I just invited one friend to come over. She said she would bring over a healthy snack. It didn't quite end up that way. She came bearing the gifts of chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of champagne. We ended up having a wonderful treat and just celebrating life. I had built a great fire, we did some drumming, visually threw our wishes and hopes into the fire and had the most wonderful time.

Sometimes it the simplest of moments that makes life so special.

This afternoon I am meeting some women friends for a session of free forming dancing. It will be our first try at this but I am hoping to have a wonderful time.

Why don't you try and do something special today that makes your heart sing.

Sacred Life Sunday - Friendships

While in Salt Lake City I got to reconnect with an old friend. Linda now lives in Boston. It was great to spend some time with her.














One of the things I did at GA was to go to the Prom for all ages. That's Diane on the left and then Molly and Jennifer to my right. Don't we all look dashing. We had fun dancing the night away. Diane and Molly and I roomed together. It was like being back in college sitting in bed talking way into the night. It was great to be able to learn a little bit more about these ladies I call friends.

Flag Swap












Other special friends are my art friends the glitters sisters. Although we live far away we really have a close bond fostered by Art and connection. We just did a prayer flag swap.


















This is Ninnies flag and she is from Alabama.


















My flag from Idaho.


















Pam's flag, she is from South Carolina and then Portland Oregon and now she is in Florida

















This is Lorraines flag and she is from Callifornia.


















This flag was done by Janet, who is also from California and it is spray painted.


















This flag was done by Kai who is from Cornwall but lives in Ohio.
















This was done by Cheryl who is from British Columbia, Canada

















This was done by Gemma and she lives in the Phoenix area.


















This is Violette's flag and we all met via her message board.


















Mahala lives in Washington


















Mahala sent me two flags.


















The lovely Lisa Oceandreamer made this one and she is from California.

This group of ladies are really the best. I treasure their friendship and feel honored to have some of their art. Do you have any Art friends to share with? If not join a swap on line. You never know who you are going to meet. lasting friendships start this way.