Winter...don'cha just love it!

Whoosh!!! all the snow and ice on the tin garage roof come down on our walk way two days ago!  DH and I shovelled it out.  Snow blower was of little use as it was mostly large pieces of ice. Then we decided to dig out the Barbecue as the weather is so nice, just below freezing.

The result of the whole thing is neither of us could move yesterday.  Old folks should not get that enthusiastic about snow removal.  lol  Job satisfaction was great, but aching muscles was not.  We were even too tired to cook anything on it.

Keeping the pathway open to the bird feeder has bee a chore this winter too.  I just lugged in a 45 lb. bag of sunflower seeds and the Blue Jays think they have died and gone to heaven!!

All this snow is four feet + deep in some areas.  They are predicting major flooding on the Red river this spring.  This does not affect us here in Steinbach, but we have run off to fear.  If all this melts too quickly we will drown.  Those of us in basement suites are particularly nervous.

Mind you it is glorious to walk in the yard when the temperature is only a degree or two below freezing, and the sun is shining brightly.  It seems that spring will actually come this year.  Praise the Lord.

Steppin' Out series...

I have finally gotten busy in my studio.  It has been a while, and lots of excitement under the bridge.  An armed robbery and a 65th surprise birthday party!  So there was good and bad.

There were 42 people at the party, from my life from when I was 13 years old to present!  I am awed and humbled that so many friends are still with me.  Such love in the room.  Friends from my riding days, friends from our wedding party, stitching friends, art group friends, just friends anyway friends, and all sorts of relatives.  A good time was had by all.

But now I am seriously  working on shoes.  I am calling them my Steppin' Out series.  I am amassing quite a collection of shoe blanks.

Steppin' Out...on the beach.  Covered with a tie, a beaded jasper cab and two kinds of shells.  The top pic is closer to the true colour.

This is Steppin' Out....with a spring of pearls.  This shoe (vivid pink cloth) was the first shoe I collected.  It started it all.   It is honkin' huge, but has turned out quite outstanding.  Lots of rat tail and glass pearls on a piece of gorgeous fabric I bought just knowing I would find a use for it sometime.

 All the mechanics are done with Paverpol....what wonderful stuff!

I am now working on Steppin' Out....of the swamp.  Covered in dark moss green upholstery fabric it features three little lizzards, an ammonite, some sari waste yarn and a vast amount of beadwork.  This will take a while to finish.

Going to get right to it now.

Household chores

Well I have finally done it.  I inherited some fabulous hand painted ceramic lamps from my Mom's estate.  They are about 65 years old.  I think the shades were the original, as they were rotting off like confetti.  We had only been using them for 22 years....eeek....lol.

DH finally pulled off all the silk and plunked them in the middle of the worktable in my studio....kinda forced my hand.

We auditioned fabric for a while and came up with a very tasteful cream coloured fabric and a nice narrow cream coloured trim.  Yawn.

This is what I did:

Lots of semi sheer scarves from the self help, and bead fringe. I did not have enough of either kind to do both lampshades, so I combined them...Way funky!

Since the furniture is bamboo covered with blue denim, the only thing that doesn't go well here is the actual lamps!!  But they are beautiful though.  The furniture is as old as the lamps........and me!  Good grief!

DH makes a table centre for the owners of his gym every year.  He is getting quite creative even though we no longer have the flower shop.  We are downsizing the jungle in my studio (which has the only bright window) and the Norfolk Island Pine is over two feet tall, so out it goes set in an artificial wreath decorated with chocolate and candy.  An edible Christmas decoration that they can keep year round.  I hope they have a big house.  My mom had one that grew to 16 feet!  It outgrew here cathedral ceiling.

He is in the process of unpacking his egg carving studio.  I swear he had as many boxes as I did.  He and one of his friends insulated and carpeted half the garage just off my studio.  DH didn't like the idea of working in his studio waaaaaayyy far at the other end of the house and down a flight of stairs in the spare bedroom.  He wanted to be near me......isn't that sweet?  We now use the spare bedroom for my extra bins of fabric which had been in the front half of the garage.  These bins are getting a lot of mileage on them, all up and down stairs!

We were given a huge roll of brand new carpet which did his studio, the now spare bedroom, my wee tiny sitting room (room for a rocking chair, a lamp and a small bookcase) and a runner in front of the washer and dryer.  A very generous gift indeed.



I am now feeling the urge to do more shoes.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

Sale over and sorting

The Art Expo sale was very successful, sold lots and was wonderfully inspired by all the sensational art around me.  I am pumped!  Except.......

We have turned my studio upside down twice!  DH is setting up his egg carving studio, some of my book cases are going in there.  We rearranged everything twice.  I am now trying to classify and sort my stash of gemstones and beads, trying to get like somewhere near like.  Kinda puts creating on hold, but it is fun to fondle everything again.

I have done a few small items for a gallery:

Tie Di bags made with ties and gemstones, beading and embroidery.

Double Credit Card holders, pull the ribbons at the top and up comes your credit card.  Fun!  These are done with ties as well.

I have a bunch more ties pulled and when I get my beads sorted I will be back at it again.  I have a request for more shoes for the gallery as well. 

It is going to be a fun winter.



Shoes as promised

I have done three shoes.  I will do more after Art Expo.  The Paverpol takes two weeks to really cure so I am past the deadline for more Paverpol work.

This is Silver Slipper.  A happy accident in finding a fabric with three shades of the same print.  (A thrift store find.) Conchos are from a leather belt with potato freshwater pearls added.

 This is Bronze Slipper.  Snow dyed fabric and some heavy metal. lol

 Dragon Fly Catcher.  The boot is a bit big but I loved the shape and the snow dyed fabric was two way stretch so is on real snug.  I had been wondering how I would use that super thick spandex-like fabric.  Pink silk is a thrift store scarf, quite lovely.

The working title was Zen, but there is nothing Zen-like about it.  It is now Step Off The Yellow Brick Road.  The orange is a tie, and the blue is a snow dye.

I did have some fabric pulled for another piece, but my dh tidied up and I will have to ask him where he stashed it.  He is a very good organiser and I do not want to discourage him by screaming in his ear "DON'T DO THAT".   He is currently working on establishing himself an egg decorating studio in the front of the garage......pretty soon I will be able to return the favor!

Nap time!  All this creativity has made me sleepy.



Last Hat Done

I have finished the last hat.  It is a journal of ten years of my horse showing days with some of my horses, from my first to my last.  I wouldn't trade a moment of those ten years but every horse I fell off of is speaking to me now!!  lol

Those Were The Days

The hat even looks authentically beat up!

I have managed another beady piece, I Love Imperial Jasper, 9 x 7.  These little guys are actually square and straight.....my camera eats them funny.

The next piece is on the drawing board:

I can see using some ties here.

I have been busy packing up fabric for a sale in Winnipeg on Sunday.  I have ten boxes!  A lot of cotton, Laura Ashley, Jinny Beyer, etc. Some cotton poly some silk and some rayon.  A lot of it is 3 yards or more.  All garage sale priced.  I hope to do large volume, not high prices, and heaven knows, I don't want to have to unpack it all again!

Hope to see you all on Sunday!  lol

or at  ninamariesayre.blogspot.ca



Busy, busy, busy.......

Working in my studio has become addictive.  I find myself jonesing when I can't get there every day.  I am trying to exhaust my Muse......this is a good thing...right?

Here is a detail shot of Sedimentary II:

I love the chatoyance on the Ammonite, and the tubular mesh ribbon is a delight to work with.

These two are an example of less is more:

 Escape

Tipped

These are used dryer sheets, hand painted.  The hangar rings on the back are wildly off centre to balance the weight of the Agate 'vases.

Here is the Fascinator I promised:

Puttin On The Ritz

The hat itself is black velvet and sucks dust and lint.  I figured that this would be a major nuisance to the curators of the shows it will be in so I coated it with two layers of Paverpol.  It is not soft any more, but you can just blow the dust off.

The next hat is a badly damaged, straw, wide brimmed hat with a round crown.  It looks like it might have been a garden hat.  Since we are supposed to do something that reflects ourselves I am thinking a cowboy hat!?!

More to come.......