Books, Doll

Hello Readers!

I have been a tad under the weather the last few days so there's not a whole lot to show in the art department. I went to see the doctor today to find out what the heck was wrong with me. I have pneumonia. It isn't conducive to productivity but it was caught in the early stages so I shall live. Though yesterday I was certain I was on my way out. 

There is evidence of that in this, my latest coptic sewn book. I made these two postcards back in 2010. Both are magazine images on cardstock, decorated on both sides of each. I put 5 signatures of 5 sheets of copy paper for the pages, sewn together with teal colored embroidery thread. 6x4 inches. There's really not much creativity in cutting paper and sewing. I have the paper cut and holes punched, ready to go for another book just like this one. 

I played with the acrylic inks and gold marker on thin chipboard. It's 7 x7 inches.

I cut some more paper for some more postcard books from postcards made way back when. And I sat in front of the computer one evening, watching something or another...it escapes me at the moment...drawing up the zentangle peeking from beneath the paper. I do believe that bird zen will end up on the cover of a book as well.

Little white haired girls are multiplying at the kitchen table. I made this little leather clad lady a couple nights ago when I was cooking some supper. She's made just like the fairies from a few posts back. Glass vial, copper wire, leather, curly doll hair, a big plastic bead for her head.  She has no wings.

Fairy making parts are still on the table so more of these little girls will probably appear in the future.

I have a cat curled on the top of my desk between me and the keyboard. Typing is a chore when your arms are pinned down with a furry body.

I have sewn the shrimp cocktail book together again. And once again, I've sewn the back cover on backwards AND upside down this time! I believe third time will be the charm on this one! We shall see.

I leave you with Miss Lola and the soybean field out north of the house.

Be good to one another!

Remember...

it matters!

Peace

831

The Moon, A Couple of Baskets, Books and Sleeping Old Dog

Hello Readers!

The moon was beautiful last night. I don't really like it that I can see the moon from the front porch now, but nothing I can do about Mother Nature's wrath from last June. As you can see the trees are a broken mess from that June storm.

The little orange spot at the bottom of the picture is my yard light. I need to call the electric company and tell them the bulb needs replaced. It's fixing to burn out soon. For the last couple weeks now the light comes on and goes off at regular intervals throughout the night. And let me tell you, it is dark as dark can be when that light is not on! So dark you can barely see your hand in front of your face dark! I just wanted to show you how pretty the moon was last night!

As usual the old hands have not been idle!

I made another basket. This one is about 5 inches across and three inches deep or so. It is crocheted with light blue novelty yarn. The picture isn't right in the color of it at all. I used yellow poly rope for the core of this one. I didn't know what else to use that yarn for. I had less than a skein of it and ran out of yarn before I ran out of poly rope. The basket is really soft to the touch.

And of course there are more books! 

I was playing around with the acrylic inks to do these. They both come from the same sheet of cardstock that I painted in one go. They're about 3 inches by 4.5 inches. Tied together with nylon cord. The pages are single sheets of copy paper folded into booklets using this tutorial. These two have sheets of paper that are used on one side. Folded so only the blank sides are visible. I use these little books as my weekly planner. Each one has seven little booklets tied inside. No sewing involved! And just the right size to record what needs recording for each day of the week.

This is a crocheted basket also. The core of this one is sisal rope with the orange yarn crocheted around it to form the basket. This basket is about a 9 inches tall and 6 inches across. I tried crocheting this yarn by itself. I was going to make a little phone pouch out of it but crocheting it alone wasn't working out at all! The sisal rope didn't exactly play nicely in this endeavor. The yarn kept getting hung up on the rope as I was crocheting it. This basket is floppy even though that isn't how I intended it to be. There was no way to keep a tight tension on the yarn to crochet the basket tightly. Floppy works for it. It is by no means the prettiest basket I've made, but it is functional. The yarn in the picture is to show you what the yarn used to make the basket looks like. There will probably be another orange basket made from this yarn made in the future. I still have one skein of this yarn. I do not however have anymore sisal rope so the core of the basket will probably be poly rope which I still have a boatload of!

The drawing muse has been in attendance.

Drawing and painting. This was done in markers and acrylic ink on thin chipboard. I then adhered it to painted game board to become a book cover. The entire thing measures about 8x6 inches.

Here's the back cover for the same book. I actually sewed this book together already but had to cut the binding strings and start over again because I sewed the back cover on wrong and the string I used to bind it wasn't really strong enough for the three signatures of paper I put in it. As soon as I sew it together again, you all will see it in its finished state.

I've made a bit of progress on Annie's lantern. I have till the middle of August to get this done so I'm in no hurry on it. I work on it a little each evening while I'm cooking supper. 

I leave you with a sleepy old dog!

He hates having his picture taken. You can usually get one shot off but when he hears the click of the camera he turns his head and won't look at you from then on out. I caught him sleeping on the sofa a few days ago. I got more than one picture before he opened his eyes! He's such a goofy old critter! 

Thanks for hanging in there!

Remember....

be good to one another!

It matters!

Peace

831