She Brews

Don't Sweater the Small Stuff.....

Oh, my! I got a stash of wool sweaters from the Goodwill. Lovely things. Does anyone have a problem cutting them apart? Oh, boy, that was painful.

The white ones I got are in the dryer while I am taking these photos. I need to felt these a little more before I use them. I am anxious to make some of those cupcake pincushions of Betz White's Warm Fuzzies book. There are a few more ideas I have in mind, too. But, I have to say----I had to look the other way while I was cutting them up.......*sigh*, is recycling always like this?

When I took the whites out of the dryer, it was exciting to see the results........these I am showing are not done yet.

I would love to see if you have done any work with felted wool sweaters. Direct me to a link in your comments if you have any. I think I picked out some special sweaters........If you must know my favorite sweater artist, here it is: Cocoon Design on Etsy. Oh, my gosh---she is amazing! I will never be as creative as she is, but she sure is inspiring! Unbelieveable! For Valentines, maybe I must have these!!! Oh My! I mean it, I have never seen such cool sweater art! She might very well become my favorite Softie maker, also.

Beautiful Vintage Wallpaper

So, I listed a few offerings of this wonderful wallpaper I discovered a few years back while antiquing. I put them in small groupings in my new etsy store.  I hope that someone will find them as delightful and useful as I do. I often thought about printing them onto fabric and using them that way. The colors are unique and interesting. I got these from a Sears book.

I will be adding some every day, I wanted to space them out for better exposure. They reproduce really well, and when I was doing a lot of my work with paper, these were great to work with. They are small, but seriously, you don't need very big pieces to create something really special.

The backs of the papers are just as interesting, and it sometimes was hard to decide which to use. I love the thought of knowing what they cost, and the patina of the paper. These are approximately 7 inches by 9 inches, but that is great for the little postcard size art everyone is doing now.

Check out the store and see if there are any you can use in your work, I know you will love them.

Some Christmas Decorations

Every Christmas I get to take out my collection from Hophopjingleboo, my friend, Debra Schoch. I wish I lived close enough to have her teach me paper mache..........her figures are always so delightful. I am lucky to see her once a year......and then, I want everything she brings.

Some samples of her work are here. I especially like her Halloween things, but her Santas are something else, too. I found some Easter examples here.

Here is just a little sample of my collection from Hophopjingleboo.

You have to bear with me for four more weeks as I won't be able to sew or draw or write or embroider with any ability that I want to photograph. But I will do my best to write some interesting posts for you..........

Soda Pops

You know, I am not really a risk taker type person, and when I do risk something it's usually all kids stuff to  the really daring person......lol. Well, discovering this Soda Pops store in Eagle River has been delightful, and I chose this risky drink to show how daring I can be. I forgot to take a picture BEFORE I drank all the brew.....what if it really did turn me into a pirate? lol.

Its just nestled between a diner and a bar on Railroad Street. There is another store around the corner where you can buy the soda by the bottle or six pack or four pack.......you can mix and match all the flavors and companies they carry. Such fun!

ookay, somehow I got two pictures and I don't know how to delete just one of them, so here ya go! Anyway, these varieties line up along the walls. It would take you awhile to try them all. (Their burgers are really, really good, too).

Lots of oak and hardwood floors and tin ceilings.......

Well, that was one of the highlights of my four day art/craft weekend. There were other things, but I didn't have my camera with......the weekend turned out to be profitable after four days. Today, being the best sales day.......I was up at 3:30 am to wait in line at 4:30 for a good spot.......didn't rain all day. Here is a picture from Friday, Sat. and Sun show......

I was really surprised at how little I had to pack up today. The framed stuff really sold well. I have been encouraged once again and will find going back to work exciting. I am supposed to go to St. Germain for a show on Thursday, but we are having issues with our truck, so we might have to wait and go for the show on Saturday at Arbor Vitae........I will let you know what we decide to do....

More Flood photos from Fond du Lac Wisconsin

As we were leaving Fond du Lac yesterday at noon we snapped these pictures quick on Ninth street of the Football field on Ninth Street. The depth will be appreciated when you see the interior fence in the next picture, taken the next afternoon.

This was taken today around 9 am, June 14, 2008. The water has gone down a little.

Because the river runs north and south through our town, it made traveling from east to west/west to east a little more difficult---there were few ways to manage it, and I snapped hurried pictures as we left town via Ninth Street. This shows water high up the Aquatic Center doors on Ninth Street.

This almost appears worse today. The following pictures are from June 14, 2008.

The river bank being the tree line in the middle of the picture. and the other bank you can see the concrete wall.

This is looking south from the Ninth Street Bridge. The aquatic center is to the left.

The following pictures are from June 13th taken on West Division looking east.

The log on the right hand corner is one of many gathered by neighbors that belonged to a woodpile that floated away from another fellow neighbor. They were scattered for blocks.

I took this not far from my son's house as he was pumping water from his basement. There are stranded cars too far away to see. People who tried to make it through the deep water and stalled.

For more and different pictures, visit my daughter's blog Cutfingerproductions as she posted some today.
If you are wondering, I came home from Rhinelander as they announced thunderstorms and wind all day and I am pretty much sick of doing shows in the rain.........talk to you later.

Before the Flood.......

yeah, that's right, I am in the town that got flooded last night. I haven't left the yard, so I can only show you pictures from my porch......

We spent quite a bit of time in the basement during the tornado warnings, but the basement began to flood, so we had to come upstairs. That's when I decided to take pictures. Although our basement was flooding, it didn't look too unusual yet....

The sirens continued to blare as the tornado activity swirled the outskirts of the city. The water is slowly building......

At this point you can still cross the street. I had no idea how far this was going.....

The kids were playing in the street and it reminded me of doing that when I was a child. I don't remember thinking the water was so dirty, though......

At this point, we can't cross the street and it was beginning to threaten our appliances in the basement. Our furnace especially was vulnerable......

The thing that creeped us out was that there was more rain coming yet......we are not even near the river that overflowed its banks.....

I am not sure what people were thinking driving around in it......there was high school graduation going on which they eventually cancelled, but a lot of people got caught in the storm because things didn't cancel when they should have.....

My backyard neighbor's yard. My yard had some water in the low spots, but hers was almost completely under water......

People needlessly speeding up and down the flooded street........my son was not at home and couldn't get to his house because he lives close to the flooded river.......this morning he found his basement completely flooded and stuff floating in the water....it will be a busy day.......

I am supposed to leave for Rhineland show tomorrow, I am not sure it will be worth it.....take care......

Wisteria

I have patiently been waiting for my Wisteria to appear......I think it is mad at me......I tried to save it, but the men of my house insist it is a nuisance......



It starts out innocent enough, but this year I haven't even seen these fat buds......*sigh*



What happened is that it didn't have enough stuff to support it, so it grew to the top of the house and under the eaves and wrapped around anything in its path, went under the porch and came out the other side......last year after the bloom, they cut it waaaaaaaay back, but it didn't stop it.



I wish I had a picture of it on the peak of the house, I couldn't find one this morning---I think I have one somewhere......but you see how beautiful this thing is.......even after the blooms, it is a huge plant......



This last picture was taken in July 2007. It had been stripped from the second floor of the house and was crawling along the porch roof......this year we had to get the porch roof redone, so it was cut away from the eaves and house and tossed away from the house.......now, it just doesn't want to do anything and I am worried.....it should be blooming like crazy already......I will be so mad if I lost it. In trying to make things better, my hubby built an arbor for it now, but, it seems to be ignoring it.......I will let you know the progress in future posts. Today, I have to get a lot, I mean a lot done for the weekend..... take care my friends and I love all your comments, I really do.......

Monday Morels

I took the day off and went to the woods yesterday. We picked Morel mushrooms.



Just to get the perspective......



Suffice it to say, we will be eating them for a few days.....speaking of......I didn't realize that I have two shows back to back this weekend,( Baraboo and Kaukauna) and that I leave next week Thursday morning for Door County (Jacksonport) for the show....and, hubby wants to do another on Monday because of the Holiday weekend.....*faint*.....I guess I have been dawdling long enough, now I have to get my "on the road" work done........I will try to keep in touch, regardless.......have a great day!!!!!

I Should Have Known Better......

and I am not singing the Beatles' song, either. I left the flowers on the table with the artwork...........and woke up this morning to this........



My son got up in the middle of the night to find the vase tipped over and all my artwork wicking it up.....so, he cleaned up as best he could. DARN CATS!


We were able to save the ephemera (antique papers), and the fabric will dry, but it sure took the wind out of my sails.



This was on top of my thread boxes, so, they survived the spill......



These are the cardboards, I won't be able to save them, I am just glad that I hadn't mounted the fabric to them yet.......DARN CATS!!!! ARGH!

My whole weekend was filled with difficult and bad news, so, starting Monday with this is not a good thing. I don't want to fill my blog with all the details, but to suffice it to say, it was a very, very bad weekend........

My French Press Cozy from.......

Finally, I purchased something from Patchwork Pottery. I saw on Laurianne's Flickr pictures two French Press cozies. I am always wrapping a towel around mine, because I am the only one who drinks it, and it gets cold before I get that second/third cup. This seemed like my opportunity to own one of her pieces of art!


Such nice packaging!



I never thought of the fact that there are different sizes of French Presses and different makers. Not until I ordered it did I think of it. I am glad that the cozy fits, but the cute little knob for the press does not fit the press I have.....I believe Laurrianne's was from Ikea. \


This is the side that doesn't show and look how beautiful!!!






Tonite when I am watching American Idol, I think I will make myself a  "cozy little French Press........".