From My Sketch Pad, While On Vacation . . .

 "Willow"

 "Robert"

"Elise"

It's Not Too Soon.........

Many of you know I am crazy for Christmas.  All parts of the holiday, but mostly for Santa Clause.  I have an extensive collection of those but have never found the perfect Santa Clause Cookie Jar!  Behold, he is here on my kitchen counter.  We found him today in a cozy little corner of our new favorite consignment store, "Walker's Buttons and Bows" in Cambridge Springs PA.  Oh my, what a place this is!  We came  home with a big box of wonders, which also included a string of bubble lights for the Christmas tree.  If you would like more information about this fabulous treasure you can "like" them on Facebook where they regularly post  photographs of some of the wonderful and unique things they offer.

Getting Ready For Winter at Arbor Vista ....

Giving our trees scarves for the winter amuses me a lot!  The pieces that appear shredded are those that have endured at least one winter here.  They have developed their own shapes and drapes as a result of the wind and the snow.  I like those the best.  It will be interesting to watch these new scarves develop as winter sets in.

So many trees.....................

Postscript:  find some pieces of yarn around your house, or your neighbors.  Locate those knitting needles or that crochet hook, and make a scarf for your favorite tree.  I guarantee you will smile every time you look at it.  As will your neighbors!

"Garden Variety III "

" Garden Variety III " - stitched painting - 16" X 25" "Garden Variety III " (detail) "Garden Variety III" (detail) "Garden Variety III " (detail)

A New Series of Stitched Paintings ......

This new series includes the use of some actual leaves from my garden and back yard. Using fresh and supple leaves, I rolled white acrylic paint on the back of the leaves ( where the veins are most prominent) and carefully pressed them onto the painting. I stitched around the leaves which gives them a three dimensional appearance since there is a layer of quilt batting underneath. I am liking these! "Garden Variety I" - stitched painting 12" X 14" " Garden Variety II" - stitched painting 12" X 14"

Bellefonte ......Victorian Charm in the Heart of Pennsylvania

Last week we took a few days away and ended up in Bellefonte PA, a beautiful small town of about 6000 population. While we were there we took in the usual tourist adventures and are so glad we did! We visited Penn's Cave, America's only all water cavern and wildlife park, and the only cave in Pennsylvania placed on the National Register of Historic places. The cave tour is about a mile long and is viewed from a flat bottom slow moving boat with a tour guide giving you the history of the cave. Local lore tells of a Seneca maiden named Nitanee who fell in love with a French trapper named Malachi Boyer. Since they could not marry, they ran away. Nitanee's tribe found them and threw Malachi in the cave to die. The cave owners have done a wonderful job of back lighting the cave formations using different colored lights for effect. During the entire tour you will be dripped on from above, with very cold water. The top of the cave is quite high and the year round temperature stays at 52 degrees. We spent a day wandering around Bellefonte and had iced vanilla lattes here at "Cool Beans", a charming below street level coffee house.Roy took many photographs of the architecture around town. He spied this small sign on one of the buildings. I love all the black iron fences right on the sidewalk in the middle of town! While in Bellefonte we toured the Bellefonte Historical Railroad Society and Roy's absolute favorite, the American Philatelic Society . It is housed in a very old converted match factory and has, on site, over 8 million dollars worth of stamps. One night at our campsite we cooked hot dogs over a camp fire and had s'mores. Yep, they were awesome! This is Max, our travel trailer. Some of you may recall we had a large Class A motor home named Mollie. As it turns out, Mollie was not the right home for us after all. Max is slightly shorter, sleeker and more maneuverable. It did rain the first night and the pelting rain, along with the onslaught of walnuts falling on the roof made for an interesting night! Although not yet carved in stone, it looks like our next adventure will be in early October when we plan to travel on to Morehead City NC to attend the NC Seafood Festival. How can that not be anything but good!?!

Yea! A jacket just for me!

How cool is this??

I recently found this denim jacket at a local thrift store. It was quite plain but fit well and looked almost new! So, I got busy. This is my clothing label..... I have used a selection of fabrics, laces, GemMagic studs, a zipper, some beading and turquoise spray paint on some areas. Now I am looking forward to cooler weather so I can wear it! Could I suggest you go to your local thrift store and find a denim jacket to decorate? It really is a lot of fun. In fact, go shopping with a friend and set aside a day to meet up and decorate your jackets! Go do it!

Folk Art Cross ...

Cross measures 27" X 19". Wood, acrylic paints, metal stylized cross pieces, brass house keys, chunks of turquoise, vintage silver buttons and turquoise beads. Email ( judeongley@aol.com) to purchase: $85 plus shipping.