Awesome Art Show Weekend

The weekend sadly came to an end.   It was filled with great sales, lots of laughs, chats with other artists and spending time with friends.  I could not ask for much more.

This was the opening night.  My jewelry table is behind me.

Now I need to figure out how to stay motivated and inspired!  I was on quite a roll producing new ideas and I would like to keep that up.

I joined a new flickr group called "Create - a project a day - february 2011".  Maybe this will help me stay motivated.

Of course I will be blogging about this adventure so stay tuned!

I never got to show you the chair that I did for this auction, in addition to the bar stool.

A very exciting bidding war went on over this chair, and it got the highest bid out of all the chairs.

Pretty neat to watch people react to your work like that!

There were a couple chairs that did not find homes that night and I got elected to paint them so they can be sold for the Bahamas National Trust.  I have all sorts of neat ideas and cannot wait to get started.

At my dining room table I have 8 different chairs which are painted eight different colors.....it is my other fetish besides for the plates!  I am still planning that blog post about my plate collection, so I will include the chairs in that post.

Have a great week and I will see you tomorrow with a new creation for february 1st!

something for me :)

The other night when I took my journal covers over to my mom to ask her advice on pricing, my husband looked at one with a bird on it (i think it was in the last post) and said that the bird needed a sign that said, "eat more veggies".

That night when i went to bed a design popped into my head, and i sat up and sketched it out right then!

Here is the front:

This one is mine for sure!

The back:

The entire cover opened up:

I really love this one!

I am wrapping things up for the show now.  The last pottery load is in the kiln, which just shut off, so now I get to wait for it to cool.  Hopefully late tonight i can peek inside.

This afternoon I will finish the last few pillows and try and get everything in one place so the transport can start.  

If the sun ever comes out here I need to take pictures of my new jewelry pieces which I keep promising to show you.  Hopefully that will happen this afternoon.

back to work............... :)

kiln is FINALLY done!!

The absolute worst part of pottery is the waiting time....waiting for the greenware to dry so you can fire it....waiting for the kiln....waiting for the paint to dry so you can glaze, waiting for another firing!

This morning I was finally able to pull out the platters I put in yesterday morning!

"Morning Song"  This one matches the table, a pillow and some artwork that I have made.

They were worth the wait.  I love all the colors!

"Owl and Friend"

So then I loaded the kiln back up with some greenware that need to be turned into bisque, and needed something to occupy my time  so I made some journal covers for the show this weekend.

These are a few of my favorites.

There are a  few more small projects to finish for the show, price everything, pack up my show supplies and then enjoy the weekend selling and talking to artists and customers.

Hope you are all having a great week!

getting somewhere......

Work continued today on the table and a few other things that I probably shouldn't have started.

Look at how dirty my fingers are.....i dove into the bag of clay!

Now the big kiln is on and I love the smell of that firing!

I guess you all want to see the sofa table.......

It matches one of the pillows I have made and also a few pieces of artwork I have done, but i think I am going to use this to display my jewelry on.  Which reminds me....I still need to show you some new jewelry pieces!  In an upcoming post for sure!

I am still painting away on the chair.....I think I made it way too complicated, but oh well, I have to push thru and finish it now.
I took a few minutes today to make some vegan brownies.....

They are so moist and chocolatey ~ you cannot tell they are vegan.
You can find the recipe here.  They whip up very quickly.  The hardest part is waiting for them to bake!
Enjoy!

work....work.....work.....

I am on high speed right now with my work.  My imagination is on over drive.  This always happens when I have a show on the horizon.  I wish I could stay this motivated all year!

I got it in my head to re-paint a table that I had.....like I need something else to do!  

This table was painted for a special order, I  packed it up and shipped it to a show where the customers were supposed to pick it up and pay me for it....well they changed their mind!  Lesson learned....get your money up front!

The table looked similar to this one, but not exactly:

After I attacked it with the sander and some primer this morning it looks like this:

I have a birdie design in my head......we'll see what happens after lunch!

At the same time I am also painting another chair for the auction, "Take a Seat for Conservation".  This one is going to be pretty funky....with a mermaid....but not all painted.....can you guess what I have in mind?

Then of course, since my creative juices are flowing, I had to be a little distracted and sew some cute little bags that were in the Cloth Paper Scissors Gift 2010 issue.

The pattern is by Jennifer from Jangles.

I used the little houses from my fabric fritters for this one.  Been wanting to make some of these since before Christmas and finally did it!

Okay....going to grab lunch and get back to painting!

Have a great weekend!

Cooking and Creating

I have been pretty stressed and busy preparing for my upcoming art show next weekend, which means I have needed some comfort food, and boy did I ever find it!

Vegan Eggnog Cheesecake!!!!!  This was so amazing!!!

I found the recipe at the Fat Free Vegan website.  Go and check out this recipe and others on the site.  There are lots of amazing recipes!

This beauty sliced up better than any non-vegan cheesecake I have ever made in the past and you could not tell the difference.  I am now inspired to try out different vegan cheesecake flavors also!

One of my latest creations for the upcoming show was a bar stool that I painted for an auction that will be held at the show called, "Take a Seat for Conservation"

There will be almost 30 chairs and bar stools, painted by artists, up for auction.

I am looking forward to seeing all the chairs and stools all together.....what a pretty sight that will be!

The art show is a show called, "Art for the Parks".  It is put on by the Bahamas National Trust and is January 28th, 29th and 30th at the Abaco Beach Resort in Marsh Harbour.

If you are in the area I hope to see you at the show.  There will be so much more there than art......crafts for children to do, a mural painting area, chalk art contest, an awesome food court, the art booths and much more!

a few new things......

I told you a few posts ago that I am feverishly working towards an art show which is in less than two weeks now!!  The show is called "Art for the Parks", and takes place January 28th, 29th and 30th.

Over the next week I want to show you a sampling of the finished products that I will be selling at that show.

I am still mad about owls and now that has grown into other birdy designs as well.

Couple this with my love of pillows and this is what happens......

And the ideas are overflowing from my head!  There are some mermaids pillows in the mix as well......I could never forget about my mermaids!

At this show there will be a silent auction called "Take a Seat for Conservation".  Each artist entered in the show is asked to paint a chair or a bar stool and these will be auctioned off during the weekend of the show.

Along with sewing and making jewelry I have been trying to finish my bar stool, which I hope to show you very, very soon.

So keep checking with me for more sneak peeks of jewelry, bar stools, chairs, and what ever other creative items are born :)

I GOT IN!!!!!

Sign ups for Doll Quilt Swap 10 were a few weeks ago.  Many, many flickr members sign up for this swap but not so many get in.  Members are chosen by a lottery and I found out yesterday that I made it!!!  I was over the moon!

I am so excited about who I got for a partner!  It is a secret, but I am going to have a blast making her quilt!  Our *likes* are very similar. 

The deadline is March 31st, so after my art show in 2 weeks I will start designing this new quilt.  Go ahead and follow along in the fun by clicking on the Doll Quilt Swap tab on the right sidebar.  You will see some fantastic quilts made!

For Doll Quilt Swap 9 I made this quilt for my partner:

And I received this beauty from my secret partner:

As some of you know, along with my dogs and cats I also rescue fresh water turtles, so this little quilt was perfect for me.

It has been pretty cold here and my turtles are not liking it.  Here are four of them all piled up trying to soak up some sunshine.

Have a great week!

Sweet Potato Pie Smoothie

The breakfast of champions!!!  Most people I know love sweet potatoes (yams), in fact I don't think I have met anyone that does not like these little gems.  I am not a breakfast person at all.  A few years ago if I did a long run, then I might have been hungry when I got back, but that doesn't happen anymore.

So one day my friend Amy, from Lubbers Landing, told me about this smoothie that she makes sometimes and I tried it and now have been drinking these almost every morning ever since!

Amy has tried it with pumpkin as well and that is also yummy!  I started out making about 2 cups of this but now I drink 4 cups and that keeps me full until lunch time.

You will need a juicer and a blender for this recipe.

1 large sweet potato (yam)

2 apples ( i use red delicious)

1/2" - 1" piece of fresh ginger (depends on how much you like ginger)

3 carrots

1-2 frozen bananas

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

a large handful of fresh spinach (optional)

Juice the sweet potato, apples, ginger and carrots.  This should make about 1 1/2 cups of juice.  Add this juice to the blender with the frozen bananas, spinach and the pumpkin pie spice.  Blend until smooth.  ENJOY!!!

I suggest starting out drinking just 2 cups of this and work up to more.  The recipe above should make about that.  I add more sweet potato and more carrots to increase the size of mine.

I have been crazy busy getting ready for an art show in 2 weeks and finishing up the last of my orders.

I just finished this ring for a customer with a beautiful piece of amber sea glass.

In a few days I will start to post some pictures of items I am making for the art show.  Nothing is completely finished yet, but I am working hard!

Have a great weekend :)

Off to a Good Start!

In just the first week of the year I have gotten some projects finished!!  One of my UFO's is finished, one is on its way but may take a while, and I wouldnt be a creative soul if I didnt start two new ones......which I have finished!!

This is a place mat I made out of one of those house blocks.

I am calling this one "bird and bug house".  I love the scarppy-ness of this!

I am acquiring quite a collection of place mats which go along with my mismatched collection of plates.  For those of you that do not know, I collect odd dinner plates.  It looks so cool when we have a big dinner party and everyone has a different plate.  I'll start working on some pictures of my plate collection and blog about that one day soon.

One of the new projects I started last Monday is a crocheted tissue box cover.  I have had this pattern saved in my favorites forever and finally got to it.

You can find the pattern for this here on the Royal Sisters blog.  Scroll down and you will find the button for the tutorial on the right side.
Everyone needs a pretty cover for those hideous tissue boxes!

I just adore crocheted flowers and found this pattern the other day and, of course, just had to try it out especially since I have a few unfinished scarfs that will need some type of embellishment.

I wish I could provide the link to this pattern, but I saved the PDF pattern to my hard drive and did not save the website to my favorites. 

Remember that blue and green granny square that I was crocheting into a pillow cover?  I got the granny square done for the front and started doing a panel for the back.  I decided to do a single crochet panel with stripes for the back and it is taking F.O.R.E.V.E.R.!!!
I will be pleased with it when it is finished, but it may have been quicker to make another granny square for the back.

So there is my update on my resolution to get some projects FINISHED!
Have a great weekend!!

Christmas Dinner 2010

Happy New Year!!!!

One of the biggest changes I made last year was that I became a vegan.  It is one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life.  I am happier, lighter, a faster runner and eating the most delicious food ever!

I do quite a bit of research online and through cookbooks for recipes.  Some I do not change, but a lot of times I take several different recipes, make my own changes and come up with my own.

My husband has not fully converted, but we still had a vegan Christmas dinner!! I was so happy!!

So throughout this year I would like to share some of my recipes with you from time to time.  I will still be blogging about my jewelry and quilts, but wanted to share this side of my life with you also.

Here was Christmas dinner:

I did a lentil-nut loaf that was wrapped in pastry (a take on wellington), mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes & green bean casserole....all vegan :)

Below is the loaf before I sliced and served it.

I am going to share the lentil-nut loaf recipe with you below.

My cousin, Tara, did a vegan banana cream pie with was OVER THE TOP!!!

I hope I can inspire you to try some of these recipes.

Lentil-Nut Loaf

1 cup cooked brown rice

1 cup cooked lentils (i have also substituted 1 can of  black eyed peas, rinsed and drained)

1 cup uncooked instant oats

2-3 cloves of garlic minced

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 medium carrot, grated

1 red bell pepper, finely chopped

1/2 cup walnuts (or other nuts you have on hand) finely chopped

1/2 cup tomato puree

1/4 cup black olives, finely chopped

3 tablespoons tamari sauce (or soy sauce)

1/4 cup red wine

1/4 cup panko bread crumbs

Juice of half a lemon

2 tablespoons of mustard

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon dried marjoram

1 teaspoon rubbed sage

salt and pepper to taste

In a large mixing bowl mix all the ingredients together until mixed well.

If you are going to roll it in pastry, form into a log and wrap in pastry.  Place on a baking sheet with parchment paper.

If you want to make a traditional loaf, then lightly oil a loaf pan.  Press mixture into loaf pan pressing out any air pockets.

Bake for 40-50 minutes, covered for the loaf.  Then uncover and bake for another 20 minutes.

For the wellington style loaf bake until the pastry is a nice golden brown. This was about 80 minutes, but check it after 45 minutes.

Allow both to stand at room temperature for 15 minutes and then carefully slice.

ENJOY!