Hello September

One thing leads to another. 

Way back in March? or April?  I enrolled in an online Art Journal / Mixed Media course called 21 Secrets.  

 I have been watching the videos and following along quietly. I haven't actively shared my work because ,  well,  

 time. 

There is never enough time to take the photos ,

 upload them, tweak them and share them.   

 I have been getting better at sharing on Instagram. 

And I have joined several groups on facebook too. 

 Posting photos here on my blog takes more time. 

And I need that time to do other things.   

Walk dogs, feed dogs, brush dogs, play with dogs, quilt, paint, stitch, knit, cook, hubby time, daughter time, son time, and friend time. 

 Oh and lets not forget shopping. 

There's a lot of shopping going on too.   

Anyway    back to the 21 Secrets.   

As a part of the class I have met some of the most talented people on the planet.  The inspiration has been overwhelming at times. 

One of the talented souls is Kate. 

Now I have seen her on the net before but never had time to get to know her and her work. I have been watching her Art Journal Calendar posts and have wanted to join in. 

This is my first calendar page. 

I hope to be able to create these every month.   

We'll see. 

The stack of white folded pages are for future months. I have started to paint the backgrounds and will be binding them together to form a journal. 

I used gesso to create the spaces for the days. 

rubber stamp  / Tim Holtz

I seem to have joined quite a few 

quilt challenges that are due this month.

so this months page will have a sewing theme.

I will work on this as the days go by 

and hopefully I will have a completely filled in page 

by the end of the month as well as 

a new page started for October.

I used Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils and Pitt pens.

You can learn more about this challenge on Kathryn's blog

The Kathryn Wheel  

Art Journal Calendar Challenge Group on facebook

    if you are a member of this group...

.please add me....

it is a closed group and I am trying to get in. 

thanks

Marianne

irene, mom, and sunny

IRENE

 If you are a new reader you might not know that I live in a forest of very tall

Oaks, Hickory, Poplars and a few Maples. 

 When they say a hurricane is coming....

we listen and we prepare.

This set of photos shows how close the very large trees are to our house.

We did not evacuate, but we did make sure anything that could be blown around,

as in patio furniture, was brought inside.

We also made sure we had enough water, dog food and snacks for us .

Oh ...  and gas for chainsaws and the generator.  

We were lucky...only a few downed limbs and leaves scattered about.

just a day of clean up and we'll be back to normal

MOM

When I was a little girl my mom taught me how to knit and crochet.

I have no idea why, but recently I decided I needed to brush up on those skills.

I have been practicing my basic stitches.

my choice of color doesn't surprise me at all.

I love how the yarns I chose work so well with  my sofa.

Not sure if I will make anything more than scarves or afghans,

but it brings back so many memories of my mom.

 I have been carving out about a half hour a day to work on my stitches.

A half hour well spent....if you ask me.

SUNNY

Last Thursday,  I met a new friend for lunch and a bit of shopping.

Sunny is a wonderful person who shares my love of all things homespun and cozy.

She even wanted to own a B&B at one time, which was also once a dream of mine.

Sunny and I met for lunch and talked away two hours.

Then we drove to a local quilt shop

for a bit of retail bonding

I joined Sunny's Stay at Home Round Robin.

In which we are given an assignment to create a portion of a quilt each month.

I need to get moving on my center block and write a post about it.

Anyway

Sunny surprised me with a gift at lunch

This wonderful pincushion that she said she whipped up the night before.

whipped up?

look at the detail of this monogram !

Thank you so much Sunny.

I am looking forward to a  more lunches and  more shopping trips.

ONE MORE THING

I added beads to the edges of the pages of a journal I have been working on.

I thought since I am rambling on about so many

disconnected subjects I might as well include this too.

Hope your evening is a happy one.

Thanks for stopping by

xo