A quiet December for us this year.

Well, it's really always a pretty quiet December for us, with our nine grand kids scattered all over the country and none here in Arizona.  But maybe especially quiet this year. 

First, we promised each other no purchasing of gifts this year--we already bought our Christmas Gift to ourselves.  An acre of piney woods!  So now we're in money saving mode, so it'll be a morning of Christmas Music, lights, and watching the pets enjoy their gifts. 

Second, we've had all our surgeries, and the husband will still be in recuperation mode.  A total shoulder replacement is quite a thing to come back from! 

I did start and finish an Izannah doll recently--one I had slated to start in January.  But with so much sitting around time after my second hip surgery, it just seemed like something good to do.  Creativity is a healing thing, I'm convinced.  All the clothing is hand stitched, because I love hand sewing and never let myself just take the time.  Since I had so much time, why not? 

Not sure where things stand as to our new house-to-be.  The surgeon had to do some reattaching to the hubby's bicep muscle, which might require more healing time than we'd planned on. So we'll find out more in a week or so when he has the post-op visit.  If we don't get to do it this year, the land is ours and it's not going anywhere.  Maybe we'll just go camp on it this summer.  I hope that's not the case, as I'm really ready to leave the desert and live in the pines, but we'll get there, sooner or later. 

Escrow

We are officially in escrow on a little piece of land in Lakeside, Arizona.  We'll close right before the first hip surgery (had to reschedule a bit), and we're going to talk to builders this weekend. 

The place is so quiet and peaceful.  Only five lots in this little section surrounded by woods--the land in front of ours is national forest.  The lot north of us is the volunteer fire department, which in arid climate pines is a good, good thing. 

Ponderosa and pinyon pines, alligator juniper, Gambel oak.  A few native yucca.  Deer, elk, and quail.  I've read from the forest services that there are also bear and mountain lions, but maybe not where we are.  It's remote-feeling, especially since we're the first to buy and will likely be the first to build among the four remaining lots, but actually only 15 minutes to town, same as we are here on our little postage stamp of golf-course land. 

The plan is to get the surgeries done & over, then start putting this house to rights in order to list in April.  Maybe by summer, we'll be out there, living in a travel trailer on the lot while a new house is built? 

Sometimes Escrow is not such a scary word. 

August? Really?

So either I have had nothing to blog about, or too much.  To be honest, I'm not sure.

All that stuff about surgeries was up in the air for a while--Tricare (military health insurance) denied my surgeries, there was an appeal, and now both surgeries are back on.  Along with the hubby's shoulder replacement. 

But in addition to all that, we've decided on another move--not til mid or late 2019, but there ya go.  Because apparently we've been here too long.  So far, four years in one place is our record.  This time, we'll stay in Arizona, and only move three hours away.  Yes, we are nomads.  Either that, or this is the only way we know how to clean house.  Move, get it ready for a listing/showings, and then you know it's clean, right? 

We're looking at the Heber-Overgaard area--pine mountains with snow!  Yeah baby!  We want to buy land and build, and I get chickens!  He gets his big dog, finally, and we'll need a little tougher vehicle than my sedate sedan, because we'll likely live on a dirt road.  It's a tiny town--maybe three thousand total--in the winter.  In the summer, it quadruples with people coming up from Phoenix (and who could blame them?) so that should be interesting. 

The "Summer People" thing is prevalent where we are now, in Prescott, but here the folks seem to be more about antique shopping and festivals in downtown Prescott, so the traffic is horrible in the summer.  In Heber, the summer people are coming up because they want quiet, nature, pines and elk sightings.  An altogether different kind of traffic. 

This photo is a listing for a one bedroom cabin--and definitely not ours--but the pine forest is what we are looking for in our piece of land.  I might have to scale down the iris garden considerably, but a little cabin in the woods?  Snow at Christmas?  I think it'll be a good trade. 

We're headed that way this weekend, to scout things out, talk to a realtor, see what we see.  Maybe we'll see some elk?  It could happen.  See y'all on the flip side. 

Life, interrupted.

The Autumn wall hanging is finished, and Cat Approved. 

"Man plans. God laughs."  Isn't that how it goes?

We still have boxes of flooring planks all over the house--I insisted we get them way early last spring because it was exactly what we wanted at a price the hubs could countenance, so why not?  But it looks like we'll work around them a while longer. 

Late last summer (yes, 2017), I started having some weird issue with my hip joint.  FINALLY this June, I went to find out what is is.  Just about the time the other hip joined the party.  Turns out to be a combination of two things, one causing the other: femoroacetabular impingement (a bony growth at the hip-end of the femur) which, working in and out of the hip socket, causes a labral tear (a gasket that keeps the femur ball in the socket).  Fast forward to now, and I'm schedule for an arthroscopic surgery on each hip to fix things.  One side will be done on Sept. 11, the other on Oct. 24th.  Each is followed by two weeks of crutches and no driving, then another month or so of physical therapy.  

Hubby will be stuck doing all my work (feeding pets, scooping poop, cleaning the house, preparing meals, etc.) in addition to his for the first couple weeks of each.  I'll do my best to get as much done up ahead as I can--lots of pre-cooked frozen dinners in our future! 

But the fun has just begun.  Phil is due for another back ablation, a two-part procedure in which a doc pokes holes along his spine on one side (and then the other, on a different day) and 'zaps' the back nerves to alleviate pain of a spine looks like a stretched-out slinky.  It works great!  He had it done last year and it lasts a good long time.  But they scheduled the two parts too far apart--first of November and last of November.  In between those, he has two weeks out of town for work.  I'll still have a day or so of crutches when he has to leave, unless we can work it out otherwise.

And last but not least, he has a shoulder replacement surgery in December!  I'm not sure about the healing on that one, but he won't be doing pushups for a while, right?

So for the next four months, one of us will be gimpy and dependent on the other.  I'm glad we have each other!  So...not much getting done on the house, for sure.  But come this spring, I'll be hiking again, and he won't be in pain all the time.  It will be worth it, once we're on the other side. 

In the meantime, here's the Autumn wall hanging again, but without Willie Mae and Tater Tot.



Hope your week is swimming along as you'd want it to!

"Ideas...

sleeted down from the multi-verse, pelting his brain in a constant barrage." 

Something Terry Pratchett used to describe a character, but sometimes I feel like that.  It's not a complaint, unless I'm in a spot where I don't have the latitude to just go make stuff to see if it'll work. 

At such times, having ideas sleeting at you is not nearly as fun.

This weekend the idea that hit me was Fidget Pillows.  I know they exist, along with lap quilts--one search on Pinterest was enough to learn that.  But you know how ideas can occur spontaneously anywhere & when, so the pillow thing was one for me.

My In-Laws came up from Phoenix (hubby's brother & wife) for the day Sunday.  She has her chair by my end of the couch, and I'd put my recently finished crazy quilt pillow in her chair, knowing she likes to have something in her lap.  One side has little charms and tactile bits of embroidery, lace, buttons, etc.  The other is smooth flannel.  During our visit, she sat with the "scratchy" side down on her lap, with her arms resting on the flannel.  But at one point, her conversation ventured into an upsetting personal subject.  I noticed the pillow right side up, the little cat charm and buttons proving an outlet for restless hands.

Today is Tuesday, which (every other week) is a day I clean for a nice lady around the corner.  I clean for another one tomorrow, much larger job.  But maybe this weekend I can come up with a Fidget Pillow Pattern and see if it works. 

I hope your week is fabulous!

They're here!

Well, not here, here, but in my Etsy shop.  Three patterns, I've been monkeying around with two of them for half a year almost.  :)

This one above is a punch needle pattern I drew, with the finished work being just a little over 4.5" x 6", in Valdani Perle Cotton.  I like punch needle because it's satisfying to see the pattern finally begin to pack in and look like something besides a hairy mess--which is all it looks like 'til half done at least!  But once finished, it's inviting to the touch and the colors seem deeper than in wool applique, especially if I've used variegated threads. 

But I do love the wool applique!  The quilt is soft with the mix of textures, and lots of stitching detail, and I love hand quilting!  These below are Spring and Summer of my wall quilt series--I'm working on Autumn in the evenings now.  But these are ready and in the shop.  I am enjoying having them on my wall just as much as I'd always suspected I would. 

 

Hope your week is going well! 
Jan

Pattern ready to publish, and other news.

Naw, just kidding.  I don't have any other news.  But thanks to a friend nagging me (because she wants to make the pattern) I have finally gotten the Spring Wall Hanging pattern ready to go in my shop--with one exception.  I need to get a good photo of it, with good lighting, for the front cover.  Mary--I could use your photography skills at this point!  It's odd, maybe because the thing is so big and I'm used to small subjects. 

So Maybe I'll hang it outside with the golf course as the backdrop--before the day's wind kicks up.  (We can't even grill after around 9 am, because by then, the seasonal winds get going and you'll have a grease fire on your hands.)  I have a sort of double-tripod backdrop frame thing...maybe I'll use that.  But one way or another, I'll list it Monday in my Etsy store, and then get busy on Summer.  I've long finished the hanging, and I was smarter about the process of making pattern pages as I went along, but it's in no way ready to "print". 

And it's time to cut out the wool for the Autumn hanging, and get stitching on that.  Funny how working with wool (and hand quilting a small blanket on your lap) loses its appeal now that summer is on us, but maybe I'll live through it.  Ha! 

To be honest, it seems lately I've taken a break from all things shop-related.  I have played with crazy quilting--just things I want for my house--and I have totally ignored working on anything for sale or for the selling patterns.  My personal vacation?  Maybe so. 

But it is time to get back to it, and last weekend, the husband helped me a lot by lowering the surface of my work table about five inches.  When I designed it, I set it too high--all so I could get some premade shelf units under the edges!  But it was awful to sew on, even with an office chair raised all the way up.  Now it's perfect, and I have totally reorganized my room with the textile arts as the focus.  Of course paints are still out, and I can sculpt with very little preparation, but I have two sewing machines and a serger taking up the majority of the work table now. 

I don't have any good photos of projects I've been working on, so I will leave you with a few of The Tater Tot in his natural habitat.  Have a great weekend!

This is looking down the back of Barney, our big purple recliner.

He claimed a spot under the serger table.

Not sure if he's hailing a cab, or what.  He sleeps on the dog's bed-spot during the day.

Willie is never happy when Tater wants to share space.  And Tater remains oblivious.

A nap in the office basket while dad works.

I just realized, looking at these, that one would get the idea Tater is always sleeping.  He does sleep hard, and for long periods of time.  But several times a day (and night) and for hours each time, he goes crazy.  He does this impression of John Belushi, you know, the one in Animal House where Bluto jumps around spastic and wide eyed, like a Bluto-Ninja?  Yeah, that's Tater, ready for anything.

Help rebuild my reading list, please?

I need help, pretty please.

Will you blogger friends of mine post your blog address here in the comments--or email them to me, or facebook message them to me?  I changed my email address, and then had to do some finagling to be able to keep this blog.  But now I can't access the reading list I'd built up over the years.  Grrr!

Some of you are friends I do NOT want to lose contact with, and blogs are our primary way of keeping up with one another. 

Thank you.  Sometimes I wonder if technology is really my friend.  My mind knows it, but the rest of me doubts it. 

Early Summer and Simplifying

I am finally closing down the doll making.  After ten years, and who knows how many dolls, I am through. 

The creative urge will never go away, of course, so my work is changing more toward useful things, textile arts, or else y'all would find me posting from a padded cell.  (Do they allow computers in padded cells?  No?  Oh well.)  My reasons for leaving the doll phase of my art behind me are complex, but if I had to sum it up, I'd say a combination of a very weak doll market and a need to stop making things that collect dust and/or take up closet room. 

It seems the older I get, the less patience I have with things that are not functional.  Please don't get the idea that my home is in ANY way minimalist or sparse--I do still have a smallish collection of antique and art dolls, a million books, and more than enough tchotchkies and seasonal decorations.  But compared to a few years ago, my house is practically bare.  And getting simpler all the time. 

The point is, why make things to sell that I wouldn't buy?  I love the dolls my friends make, and I know I will miss the sculpting so much--seeing that little personality emerge like magic.  But I'll have to live that part vicariously, because right now I'm up to my ears in a world of rug hooking, needle punch, wool applique, and crazy quilting.  I'll publish patterns for the items I make for my home or for gifts I give to others, but with the exception of original small gifty type things (fancy pin cushions, reading glass cases, etc), I probably won't have much but patterns and supplies in my Etsy store. 

I'm finding my own way to the understanding of Mr. Thoreau's words: "Our life is frittered away by detail...simplify, simplify."  This process will take me a decade, but I've made a start. 

Am I equating doll-making with frittering my life away?  NO!  When I was caught in the passion of learning that art, the absolute zen of any particular aspect--from how to make a good hip joint to how to pain Izzy curls--I was building my life.  Building who I am.  But change is part of life, and I guess I've changed with it.  What challenges me now is to see if I can make the things I'd love to have in my home--rugs on my floors, hangings on the wall (that roll up small and tidy for next season), textures and colors with infinite stitching. 

There's a detail to fritter away one's life, eh?  Hand stitching?  Ha!  But it satisfies me the way the doll challenges used to, so I'll take my cue from it. 

Forgive the long philosophical post, please.  Here's the second in the Seasonal Wall Hanging series I'm working on.  This one is Summer.  Forgive the photo placement--Blogger has a big hiccup in its photo adding function that seems incurable. 

Have a fine Wednesday.




 


 

The newest member of our family...

I got a big curly hair up my nose to adopt a cat.  The primary reason (at least as I tell it) is because our cat Willie hates to travel to Phoenix on the occasional times we overnight down there.  She has adjusted to the people we visit--Phil's parents--and loves them once she's down there a bit and settles in.  But the travel itself is a pure terror for her, and causes so much stress.

So I figure if she has company at home, I can leave her here for an overnight, and there will be less stress.  To that end (and honestly, because I wanted another cat), I went looking. 

There's a place near us in town called "The Catty Shack" where rescue cats are housed, awaiting adoption.  A whole house just for cats!  It was a interesting visit, with maybe 20 or 25 cats twining around, climbing on carpeted shelves, and playing with the volunteers.  Some cats were friendly, some were way not friendly (scared), and one or two played so roughly that I left the place bleeding and covered in cat hair.  While I did find a little cat I thought was beautiful and was considering, she was too frightened and shy to actually let me pet her.  There were none that I really felt was "the one". 

So I stopped by PetsMart on the way home to get supplies, and looked at their adoption area.  Three cats in cages, brought to them by Yavapai Humane Society.  So they let me go in, and out came the cats.  There was a small buff-colored tabby with golden eyes who jumped right into my lap, curled up, and began purring his little furry fanny off. 

 

This was The One.  His name is Tater.  Phil has dubbed him "Tater Tot".  He's almost fearless!  So open and approachable.  Just over a year old but still very much a kitten.  Small--only 8.6 lbs to Willie's tubby 14 lbs. 

We're in the process of introducing him slowly to the house.  Slowly not because he's afraid--he hasn't a shy bone in his body--but because Willie is just not sure she wants a little brother around.  Schultz is good with the new guy.  Maybe a little too eager to smell him and check him out, but not aggressive at all.  

It will take time, but I'm betting one of these days, I'll be able to post a photo of Willie and Tater curled up together on the chair the way she and Schultz do. 

Hope your weekend is wonderful! 

It's Friday!

It's Friday!!! Yay!!!

We're going to an agility competition down in Phoenix this weekend with the parents-in-law.  Should be as interesting as the dog shows we like to see, only more active.  My husband has plans after he retires to participate in agility with a future dog that we'll have.  Not as a fiercely competitive do-or-die kinda thing, but for fun bond of working and training.  

So that's for future (near and far) but today's to-do list includes: brine the pork shoulder for Sunday's smoker, finish laundry, housework, and water the flower beds.  Oh--and deconstruct the wool skirts and jackets I got thrift shopping this week.  Wool!  Lovely wool. 

My change of focus from dolls to more of the textile arts is strange but refreshing, and to that end, I'm ready to quilt the Summer wall hanging (wool applique on cotton).  Here's a photo of finished "Spring"--a pattern I will have published in...um, some days.

I've gotten brave and started working toward actually sewing my antique Singer sewing machine.  So far I don't even know how to thread it.  Bought last summer, (with much eye rolling at self) and researched to discover: one of 25,000 machines of its type made in late January of 1931.  The cabinet is solid but neglected--a little (lot) of wood polish is in order. 

There is a local group here whose expertise extends to these machines, so I'll beg or barter for a little help, and then--off I go!  This machine was one that used to be in treadle cabinets, but was outfitted with motors in the 1930's--a crazy new innovation.  She's been refurbished and tuned up, and is patiently waiting for me to give her a try. 

So here are photos of Lady Singer...more on how it goes later.  (Wish me luck!)  :P

  I hope your weekend is lovely...whether your weather is cooperating or not.  Cheers, y'all.

Wednesday Words

 Ever have one of those weeks when you know in your head you're getting things done, but there doesn't seem to be any evidence of it? 

That's this week.  I know I've accomplished plenty--took the dog to the vet Monday, got groceries and a small yard job yesterday, got dinners done both nights and cooked the week's bacon for the husband.  I put down eight bags of mulch yesterday on my poor naked flower beds and walked the dog three times! 

But this morning I feel like there's a to-do list a mile long ahead of me and I've not even scratched the surface of it.  I'm sure I'm not alone in this, but it sure is baffling.  This week is the Primitive Handmades Mercantile update, and I need to be getting mine together today.  I think I have a case of want-to-crawl-back-in-bed.  Doesn't happen often, and usually I'm pretty dang chipper.  Hmph. 

So in order to "blow the stink off" (one of my favorite lines from Hope Floats), I am going to post silly pictures.  Hope they make you smile. 

So many new things in the shop!

It's Wednesday.  Groceries, working in the yard, and Cheeseburger Pie for supper. 

But at least I don't have to mess with making listings today!  I don't know why that chore pokes at me so bad, but it does.  It's a helluva lot more fun to MAKE the art than it is to list it.  Some of the listings I made a while back, but never did anything else with them. These are in the store now. 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's almost spring--even here in the desert--so the irises will be blooming in a month or so.  Time to feed them and feed and prune the roses.  This is the first year I've put a "Red, White, and Blue" bed out front along the street.  Interesting to see if enough are blooming at the same time to get the effect I'm after.  :~)  I try to live in the season I'm in, but dang, I am sooooo ready for Spring.  And we don't even have hard winters here!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I mentioned a post ago about a crazy quilting class I went to, the one where I was bitten by yet another art bug?  The block in the top photo  below is one I made before the class--my first block--so I'd know what questions to ask.  You know how you just never know what to ask if you've never tried to do something?  So I wanted to know where the hard parts were to ask about.  Well, the ladies there liked it so much they wanted me to post it on a Crazy Quilt site on Facebook.  I did so, and the editor of Crazy Quilt Quarterly Magazine asked if she could put it in the summer issue!  Cool beans!  So it'll be there, along with a couple of my folk art pieces. Baby steps, baby.

The bottom photo is of two blocks I made in the class itself, and I have patches for two more just like them, which will all go on a big black tote-bag to carry a cutting mat and supplies to classes & stitching meets. 

Now I'm designing small crazy quilt projects, along with getting more things listed on Ebay and Etsy.  If you know anyone who needs doll wigs or eyeballs, there are some big lots on Ebay right about now.  I have to make some room!  :~P

Hope your Hump Day is spectacular, and your weekend even more so. 
Jan