JUNE 2017 - part 1

I was out and about this month, and Dave got a lot of yardwork done - 

Mr. Raider prefers to do this:

his favorite spot to rest up - Dave's lap!

Mid-month (the 16th and 17th), Reid and I volunteered at the Santa Fe International Folk Art Festival in Arlington - about 30 artists from the Santa Fe (in Santa Fe) festival set up at UT Arlington.  On the 16th, there was a VIP evening and Reid and I worked the box office - not much for us to do except give out Will Call tickets - 

Reid captured this shot just as the sun was setting

On Saturday, we had a larger crew - it was busy and HOT HOT HOT!!! Thankfully, the wind never stopped blowing, so at least the air was moving around -

Ernest was able to catch a shot of the gate before the festival opened

and Reid had someone take the photo of the Saturday Box Office crew on her phone

I timed a trip around in time to get a shot of all of the artists having their picture taken.

the artists from Nigeria (the one in blue has a studio in Santa Fe now)

and yes, I purchased some of his batik fabric...I LOVE it!

Also made sure I got photos with the police and EMTs working the event!
Men at Work!

and it was fairly uneventful for them - we only had one
volunteer down with the heat - they whisked her away to the ER...

You never know what you will see at one of these events!

photo by Reid

photo by Reid

It was very bright, and all of the artists were wonderful - but the heat was horrible - so I was able to make it back and forth to the port-a-potties but just couldn't bring myself to be in the sun and take a lot of pictures of the artists.

The week of the 18th, our son Mike came for a visit and to help Dave with stuff out in the yard - first with the fence...

and then helping replace/create steps up into the side yard and down the hill -

before

and after

Bless his heart, he really worked hard - not much of a vacation for him!

but he was rewarded with our gratitude & love, meals out, and being accepted as a member of the pack by Mr. R (even though the dog continued to back at him every time he came into the house!) -

next up - tree work, art reception, art and wildlife!

MAY 2017

Wow. Time flies quickly. I like this blogging once per month - I don't feel guilty if I haven't written anything and I can add to the post as I can - sweet!

The month started with the Quilt Guild meeting - presentation was by Mary Lou Weidman (www.marylouquiltdesigns.com) - very creative and fun -

On the 6th, Dave and I went to Fair Park to see Lisa Covert's show -

It was beautiful and I was so happy to see a good contingent from the Fiber Artists!

Lisa and me

DAFA members

We also went to a couple of estate sales during the month (looking for just the right piece of art for the living room), but I was the only winner - scored a couple of cool quilts and a wonderful sewing box!

Mr. R checking it out...

Art for the month -

Made a postcard for Lu using some of the scraps she had given me -

Spent some time using shibori techniques with Tsuniko ink -

and I attended the monthly SAQA meeting at Jules' house, where we spent most of the day using powder reactive dyes - such fun! (I didn't take my camera because I was certain I would get it covered in dye and my phone had almost no battery power left!)

photo by Deborah Boshert

photo by Jaye Dodd

photo by Jaye Dodd

photo by Jaye Dodd

photo by Deborah Boshert

My results of the day, in addition to the navy one above:

I love the vibrancy of the powdered dyes, but (due to space), I'll stick to the small container dying for now...

and last, but not least...

#30 Heraldic Cross-stitch chart

#31 Heraldic Cross-stitch chart

APRIL 2017

This month began with an art show of Flo Berry's work - she recently passed away and her family felt it only right to honor her work with a show...and a small group of her DAFA friends attended...

Lu saying a few words about her good friend...

a very small portion of the art...

Flo's friends from DAFA - behind me are Carolyn, Lu, Mary Ruth, Brenda, and Sara..

Afterwords, we went out to lunch/early dinner and enjoyed visiting and saying goodbye to Sara (she is moving to Santa Fe).

After Stitchers Play Date, Mary M. and I stopped by CC Young to see the DAFA Art Show - it was staged very well and I like where my pieces were placed.

the groundskeepers had just put in pansies at CC Young -
such a pretty purple!

I was excited to see that my bowl made it onto the poster

For some reason, this was on a table, rather than hung on the wall...
they must have needed to fill a space

my Obtainium Challenge entry looked good next to Sheila's doll

And Mary took my picture next to my Fiberlicious vessel

The same day as I went to the art show, Dave gave his lecture on Genealogical Tourism to the Cedar Hill Genealogy Society.

On the 14th we celebrated my birthday with Turkish food -

ahhh...dolmas....

and falafel, white beans, grilled vegetables, humus, and rice.
Yum.

Before going home, we stopped at the Cooper Street Antique Mall.

it's nice and we are looking forward to returning

these, of course, made me think of Reid...

and this made me think of Valerie...

my friend Tim said he was glad I could
reconnect with a childhood pet.
I haven't seen a Sinclair Oil dinosaur in decades,
but not as long as he implies!

Since Dave had the opportunity to speak at the Genealogy Conference in Salt Lake City on the 22nd, we took a few extra days to visit with some of the kids and grandkids. We drove so we could take the dog - I always find New Mexico fascinating -

Road construction was everywhere...I had ample opportunities to get pictures of Men At Work...

I love how parts of the landscape make you expect John Wayne to ride over the horizon at any second...

 The Herbal Alternative in Cortez, Colorado

These made me think of Deborah's "Y" stitches on her artwork

Mr. R was not even near happy until he was in the front with us!

We are so grateful to Blaine and Shera for letting us stay with them and allowing the dog - Mr. R kept strict vigilance while there and overall was very well behaved.

 He got along with their dog and everybody enjoyed sitting together on the couch and watching Dr. Who.

He even decided Blaine was an okay guy before the end of the episode!

We got to visit with Jim and his family, Melanie and Aaron, Mike and Sheldon and, of course, Blaine and Shera and their kids and Dave got to see Joe and his kids. So it was a great family visit, even if (for some unknown reason) we didn't take a lot of pictures.

We both got to spend Monday with Shera and stopped at JoAnn's, then lunch at a wonderful Lebanese restaurant and then visited a great bookstore.

The weather for the trip back (Day 1) was miserable - it rained...

 sleeted, snowed and hailed (you can't see it in this picture where I tried to get the hail)...

 and visibility sucked.

Needless to say, we were very happy to arrive on the North side of Albuquerque, grab dinner and go to bed!

The next day was beautiful weather - we even saw some balloons over Albuquerque!

 And, while it was a great trip, it was great to be back in Texas...

Art for the month included:
#27,

#27 Appleton Studios Heraldic Cross-stitch charts

a sweet small design by Vicki Hastings (it's about 5" x 7"; I think I will add borders and turn it into a charity mini-quilt),

 #28

#28 Appleton Studios Heraldic Cross-stitch charts

and #29

#29 Appleton Studios Heraldic Cross-stitch charts

Looking forward to seeing what May will bring...