MAKING PLANS . . .

So much to do! This fall I will be attending a week long art workshop at the Hudson River Valley Art Workshops in Greenville NY. I am enrolled in a painted fabric workshop and my trusty Bernina sewing maching is going with me. So, she needed a new dress, right? Yeah, her yellowed plastic case has been all jazzed up! How sweet is that? I will be blogging the workshop experience as it happens including photographs. But, you will have to wait until November!

The flash on this photograph was reflection as a result of the sealer I applied after I painted.

STATE OF THE GREENHOUSE . . .

Things are growing! I am amazed.....

EVERYONE MAKES THE PASTA.....

Recently Roy and I hosted a pasta dinner party to share a meal with my sister Christine who was visiting from Florida. Here you will see three of the sisters and my Mother, enjoying wine and marvelling at the table of pasta we just made.

Christine and Mother discussing the finer points of something.

Roy chatting with sister Suzanne and our friend Tammy. Check out that lovely table of pasta drying. We cooked it and had a fabulous vegetable sauce with it. In addition, a loaf of homemade bread and salad. For dessert we had tiny chocolate cups filled with a chocolate mousse and topped with fresh blackberries and red raspberries. It was perfect!

INDIAN RUN FARM .......

Or, where everyone goes to buy chickens: We are in the process of accumulating information so we can be informed "chicken people". We would like to have chickens to provide us with fresh eggs. We are not interested in raising chickens. So, we visited Indian Run Farm, the local place for all things fowl. Here you can see a brand new (born that day) baby goose. How cute is that!? In this photograph the farm owners were trying to distract the mother of that new baby so they could take it in the barn for safety. If left outside, it would be in danger from predators, particularly owls. The mother was not happy. She still had nine more eggs soon to hatch. You can see her nest here on the ground.

There were several peacocks, this one sunning himself with no concern for all of us wandering around.

There were several roosters showing off.

This is the fenced in area containing the Emu. Can I just mention here that they have deceptively long necks and love to nip at your arms and shoulders?! They do have the most quizzical look.

Here you can see some of the guinea hens. They have beautiful gray spotted feathers!

I think this is a rooster of the Americana breed. This is the breed of chicken we have decided to have. They produce eggs of several hues of blue and green. We shall see!

Here you can see Roy following the farm owner out to check on all the birds. All the different birds just follow along in a large flock.

Postscript: When we got home Roy generously offered to clean all that "goose poop" from the tread of my sandals. Thank you Roy!

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ANOTHER JOINT PROJECT.......

I have been missing from the blog and I do apologize, but we have been very busy! Here is a photo journey of one of several large projects I have been working on. After almost taking out the corner of the garage, Fed Ex did deliver three very large and heavy boxes. The boxes are resting in the cart of Roy's riding mower and they are on their way down the driveway to the front yard.

We spent a long time opening all of the boxes and laying out the parts of this mystery project! Can you believe all of the screws?

Here are some more parts. have you guessed what the final configuration is yet?

OK, this is a big clue. It took many hours to construct a very level and square base for the project. It measures 8 ft X 12 ft.

Of course, by now you know, we are putting together a greenhouse!

Roy, who is 6 ft 6 inches, has no trouble standing up in the middle.

And here it is! So several days later, and 628 pieces with an assembly booklet of 56 pages, it is complete. Actually, it was not difficult, as long you "FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS PRECISELY."

Right now we have 4 tomato plants (of three different kinds), a yellow squash, two sweet pepper plants, two different basil plants, a pot planted with Kentucky beans, a lot of onions, some spinach, and two pots of heat-loving flowers to attract those necessary pollinator insects! We have more to plant but need more pots. Since we have never done any gardening or greenhouse growing, this will be a year of learning and discovering what does and does not work. I will post additional photographs later in the year to show progress (we hope!). Go plant something!

A JOINT PROJECT . . .

We wanted a privacy screen in front of the large french doors at the front of our house, so Roy made one and I added the fabric panels! We really do well together! The best part is that the panels are on small curtain rods top and bottom so they can be changed out easily. Seasonal motifs, or plain white, or wonderful large graphics are all possibilities. Yea us!

A CHINESE PROVERB . . .

This is the lily project I promised you. It is a fabric wall art piece that contains a Chinese proverb I really like. In addition, it has several large tiger lilies on it, my favorite flower. It measures 23 X 26 inches. I created the piece with the intention of entering it for consideration in the 11th Annual Lily Festival Juried Art Show in the Stonewall Gallery at the Campbell Pottery Store. I hope it is accepted! The only criteria is that the artwork contain lilies. I wonder if it might just be too "me" to hang beside traditional framed and matted oil paintings. I guess we shall see! Regardless, I really enjoyed making it and discovered that I LOVE putting oil pastel colors over basic printed cotton fabric. That is how I made the lilies.

Can you read the proverb correctly? (you can click on the image to make it larger)

The juried part of the show takes place in late June. I will let you know how it goes!

"JUDE ORIGINAL" EXPANSION . ..

Here you will see the newest addition to the "JudeOriginal" repurposed clothing line. These are previously worn T-shirts that have been altered , dyed, sliced, appliqued, stamped and paint spattered!

Roy came up with the name and developed the hang tag for them. I think it is just perfect!

And, here you can see the newest group of Designer Cuffs that will also be put in the Fine Gifts and Boutique. The first few I gave away (grin) to family, my willing test market.

Now that these are finished, I can return to two large projects I will be able to show you in the future. The first one involves tile and the second one involves lilies!