Winter Day...

...at our house.  Pictures by Benjamin:

Maximus Giganticus.  Clueless.  Loves him some paper baggage.

Maya, the ever-faithful.  Jealous.  Needy.  Crabby when disturbed.

Sadie-Monkey. Killer Queen.  Does not care if you have to go. 

Wash your hands in the kitchen.  Or else.

Boys with Toys...

....sometimes share with their mothers.























He earned the money himself, did all his own research, and let me play with it today. Oh...and his hair still looks great!

April Day

I'm breathing Spring.



I took this picture:



The rest were taken by...



My Daydreamer.

Easter Basket

My family decided...



...that instead of chocolate bunnies...



...they wanted homeless kittehs.



Wish granted.

Visitor: A Springtime Story

A sure sign...



SPRING has come to this northern land.

Bunny's been waiting aaalll winter for a fresh nibble...




Visitor would like some, too.
 




Our Heroine has a better idea!  C'mon!






Mmmmm....that's tasty.





Wrap it all up with a Great Big Hug.




SPRING has come to this northern land!

Pen, Paper, Wood, Wool.

Howdy!  Here I am, snow bound again after being lured outdoors by a fake spring.  Hopefully, Real Spring will arrive any minute now.

After a day of fussing and gathering and scanning, looking for camera cords and answering to my name, this post is Finally coming together.  Having just discovered the Picassa collage maker, I will proceed to overuse it in one post.

First up:  a truck load of sketches from several Sundays.  You'll notice I've ditched the circle format when it suits me.



Secondly, one of my children went to Arizona to hang out with Uncle Jeff.  Uncle Jeff has a homemade CNC router used for his amazing all-wood clocks.  Said child was given free reign and came home to surprise his mother (moi) with these wooden versions of my mandalas. He gets bonus points and extra pudding.

























The wooden image on the left is less clear because they didn't program the router to cut deep enough into the wood.

Lastly, there has been yarn, much making of yarn:


Something about winter makes me want to spin and dream of knitted projects.  No knitting--just dreaming of knitting.  And in preparation for this summer's Ren Fest, my satellite has pulled out her drop spindle and begun to hone those skills.  I will be sharing a booth at a small local festival and plan to sell fiber of all ilk, including hand made drop spindles.  Our children will be shunted into the crowd and forced to spin in public as advertisement.  We'll pay them in yum-yums and free time to hang out with the belly dancers.

On the left, is my daughter's first hand spun yarns.  The orange merino is her firstest first, the lime she Koolaid dyed and spun herself.  On the right is her current yarn, something not-merino.  She's starting to get the hang of drafting and is producing what will be a bulky two ply, maybe for some leg warmers or fingerless gloves.

So, there it is, Lemon Drops:  a fresh post and a new week. I'll be back soon!

Here it is, my first post of 2011. I am officially sticking my tongue out at last year and looking toward the horizon.

New Year's Eve was a quiet evening with a few friends. There was 'Settlers of Catan', finger food, and fireworks at midnight. My friend Deanna was here. She's an artist (and high school art teacher). We broke out the Mandalas and markers:


This one's mine. It was going downhill fast but seemed to level off and end in a good place.

Deanna's

Pen and ink happens to be one of her favorite mediums, so it was no surprise that this lovely design evolved under her hand. I am inspired by the way she brought color into it. And that's the signature of a creative mind, don't you think?

My daughter's also been caught up in the spirit:

Lots of color! She's responsible for the first picture too. I'm so proud of her for throwing herself into any project that comes our way.

I took a break after this, my head being full of other details. Real life elbows it's way in line and has a way of taking precedence over personal projects and cyber-life. But here I am anyway, Super-Speck in the face of the universe, determined to keep moving forward.

It's Been a Busy Week

400 grade school children with t-shirts, a dozen volunteer parents, 4 full days, two of my children, and me.

Guess how much dye we used.

Garden and Kid Post

Tomorrow, I'll share the stamps I carved today. Tonight, I talk about my daughter and one of my Fiber Heros: My Grandma.

Every year, my Grandma Tanguay comes to life in my yard. She lived for her flower gardens (and her fiber arts). Now she lives through the flowers transplanted from her yard. She insisted that these day lillies and irises belong in the same bed because they bloom together:


She called the lillies "Lemon Lillies":


She had a huge bed of the lillies and these irises all intermingle...30+ years old.


God rest her soul. I miss her, even though I didn't see her very often.

Grandma also passed on the gift of foot dna.

Consequently, in Kid News, the Monkey-Warrior-Elf will be having super powers put in her feet sometime after her 12th birthday. In the mean time, she gets orthotics, $100 sneakers, ibuprofin when they really hurt and a warm rice bag at bed time.


Orthotic Molding: better than mucky puddles.

More Stamps

Behold! Three carved stamps. They're carved into something like E-Z Cut. In pursuit of finer detail, there are several grades of linoleum heading toward me right now.


And then, stamped on paper:

The left sample is my favorite. I like the way the stamp tiled to make an all over pattern. The middle comes in next. It's not an all over pattern, but I like the diamond shape in a half drop repeat. I think the left sample is called a half drop rotation because the stamp is flipped every other row. Half drop patterns amuse me. The sample on the right simply sucks. I haven't yet found a pleasing way to print that stamp.

The Monkey must also carve:

She's planning to use her stamps on a wooden sword her brother carved for her....part of her Elvin Warrior persona.

The Monkey-Elf herself:

Thoughts on Motherhood and Alone Time

These images are not the best, but they do show what I've been up to:

Carving, lots of carving.

The big squiggle is mine, the others were done by my daughter.

Sample print of the squiggle:


My daughter made the letters as gifts for twin highschool graduates that used to babysit for us. I took the liberty of stamping some stationary for them. The tiny stamps were suppose to be lower case A's. They looked like leaves to me.



Sometimes it's hard for me to let my kids create along side me. This causes no end of guilt. I crave creative time for myself, yet am fully aware of the blink that is childhood. Soon they will be gone. There will be more silence than I can stand. So, I carve, she carves. We bump elbows and use the tool the other has been waiting for. She uses up all my stamp material, I order more. She learns the value of a handmade gift, the personal touch. We sing and chat about life. How can I deny the blessing of camraderie with my child?

She fusses with bows:


The gifts are ready and we're off to the party: