Everyone needs a hobby. I finally get it.

I've never taken much time for hobbies that didn't produce something you could eat, wear or use so I assumed that people that weren't into arts, crafts or gardening weren't doing anything or didn't have any hobbies.

It just occurred to me that reading, traveling,playing games or watching sports provide the same diversion, pleasure and challenges for the people that enjoy them. The pay off is just different. The experience is the same. Everyone is doing something that is important to them.

Finishing Slippers with Pom Poms

There are many types of pom pom makers available. The circle type come in a set of 3 sizes. For slippers I use the middle size. It's a simple matter of holding the 2 pieces together and wrapping the yarn around and through it until it's full, then you clip between the 2 pieces and tie it together before pulling the plastic pieces off.

If you can't find or afford a set of pom pom maker circles you could use a set of washers from a hardware store or salvage them from a junk yard or dump.

There's always a way to create the things you want in life, your imagination and determination are your very best tools.

Happy Crafting!

Step by Step to Finishing a Crochet Potholder

 You'll know your potholder is ready to finish when you place it on a table and the edges meet in the middle. At that point, do a slip stitch, cut the yarn about 3 feet from the end of your potholder and pull it through the last stitch.

 Thread the tail through a yarn needle and use it to sew the potholder together.

 Once it's sewn together you can work in the tail as it is or add a hanging loop. There are two different ways to add a loop. You could just crochet a short chain and sew it in place or you could finish them the way that I do.

 I sew through the corner of the potholder and around my thumb 2 or 3 times to make a loop the size I like and then I wrap and finish it as shown. It's a lot like a blanket stitch in embroidery but a lot closer together.

If you have any further questions on how to do this be sure to leave them in the comments and I'll try to explain further.

Still Horsing Around

I'm still working away on these ornaments and may be at it for some time, each time I think I've finished one, I think of other things to add to it.

Another Day of Dala Horse Christmas Ornaments

I realized a couple of things yesterday as I worked on these ornaments. First that I hadn't given you clear pictures after the carving and sanding so I'll start with that today. The second thing was that I'd missed a learning opportunity by just starting to paint without researching Swedish designs and finding my own way to combine them for an original twist on tradition. When these are finished they should be much better than my first attempts shown in the next few pictures.

Dala Horse Diary

 Dick got us started by cutting out the horses, next Doug and I did a bit of carving on them before they were ready to paint.

 I'm just "playing" around with them, getting ideas for designs to paint on them.

I'll keep you posted on how they turn out...

Warmer Weather and a bit of yard work

 Our weather warmed up a bit so I thought I'd deal with some more of the leaves again. By the time I'd raked them away from the house I've got to say that It felt good to run them over with the lawn mower to break them up.

 About the third time I ran them over I was thinking that this basic feeling explains a lot of games and activities. (The pleasure of running over anything that annoys you or gets in the way). Just last week one of our local newscasters was talking about it being great that we have a place where anyone that can afford it can drive a tank and even crush cars with it.

 I began to wonder if it doesn't say something about the attitudes of a lot of people in this country...instead of relaxing and enjoying the yard we're all busy running all sorts of power guzzling machines over and through it.

I went back indoors looking at things a bit differently and beginning to wonder if it will change the way I handle problems in the future.

Not exciting but useful

 I finished another potholder and scanned both sides so you can see how differently they work up. Using all the scrap bits of yarn helps keep my supplies organized and untangled so feel good about this little project.

Watercolor Tulips from Garden Photos

Projects for a Short Attention Span

I finished this hat but that's easy, there are only 10 or 15 rows of Double Crochet
depending on the type of yarn you're using and the size of the hook. There are a lot of patterns like this out there. (I'm not posting one because I'm not sure who wrote the one I've been using and I'd want to be sure I had permission before I did)

My brother says that watching me move between projects is like watching the ball in a pin ball machine. He's got a point there but it's not necessarily a bad thing. Work continues on the watercolors I started last week, that dot acrylic painting and the Dala Horse ornaments. The beauty of those projects is that you can walk away at any point without having a lot of clean up or things to put away.

I'm taking some time today to make some more repairs on one of the back buildings but I'm looking forward to coming in from the cold and picking up a project or too.

I'm wishing you a busy, happy and creative day too.

Dala Horses with hats

 A friend cut the blanks for these tiny Dala horses and I'm learning how to carve the edges so of course I couldn't resist painting them too.

 I'm still crocheting a lot of hats and potholders too.

It's kind of fun to see how the different yarns work up. I'm working on a white one now.

Time Sure Flies

The day shot by fast but I did manage to finish this working off and on in between other projects. Sorting out the worktable seems to be the most important thing these days as I need more space to work on.

I made an interesting discovery as we went back to work making repairs on that back building. For some reason a couple of pieces of painted furniture I'd started years ago ended up in there so we rescued them and are in the process of cleaning them now. I've decided to sand and repaint at least one of them so it's a good thing I had cleared more work space. Isn't it great when things come together?

3 squirrels, a woodpecker and lots of birds

It's cool and windy so I was surprised to see so much activity while taking the trash out to the dumpster today. The squirrels were cleaning up around the base of the bird feeders and the woodpecker was checking out some old stumps out near the campfire ring. The other birds apparently just stopped by for lunch which reminds me that I'd better cook some for myself.
I hope your day is a pleasant one filled with things that interest you too. I'll be finishing that potholder and getting back to that dot acrylic painting so I'll have photos to post later.

Potholder Patterns, Friendship and the meaning of life

 The gal who taught me to crochet these potholders 30 years ago couldn't remember where she'd learned it and I continued to make them and teach others ever since. It got to be kind of a joke that when people were over at the homes of friends and family and saw them they's say "I see Julie's been here". Yesterday I took a few over to donate to the Senior Center Kitchen so of course today I'm making more of them and you never know where they'll go next.

I finally found the pattern in print on page 30 and 31 of this book which should be available at your local library or book store. If you can't find them there my copy is listed on either Amazon or half, I don't quite remember but I'm sure a lot of other sellers have them to so you shouldn't have too much trouble finding it and there are a lot of other great patterns in it as well.

As far as the meaning of life goes, it's different for everyone...for me it's creating something useful and having fun helping someone else do it too.

Having fun with "junk" mail

Like a lot of people I still get a lot of catalogs this time of year and can't afford to buy anything so they're art supplies. A few of my friends get some of the same catalogs so we indulge ourselves in pretend shopping trips by cutting out various pictures and decorating our letters with them. It's fun to see when we agree on something and even funnier when we don't.
Taken with a leisurely cup of tea it's a great little vacation from a difficult day.

Progress Report

Cleaning and Organizing: All of the knitting machine pattern books I won't be using have been listed for sale on eBay, a few of them have already sold.

Recycling: picked up some used siding to get it out of their way and make some repairs on some of our out buildings.

Knitting & Crochet: I'm using up odd bits of yarn to make slippers and hats. Smaller pieces of yarn are being used to make pom poms and crochet flowers.

Painting: Still working on the pointillism experiment in acrylics and 3 of the watercolors that I started on Tuesday.

Design work: Still putting my artwork on stamps, cards, neckties, electronics covers(iPod, iPhone, ipad, Samsung galaxy, blackberry), coffee mugs and lots of other things on Zazzle.

There are lots of other things going on as well but I'm not quite sure where or how to list them. I should have photos and completed projects to show you soon.

Pointless pursuits

I continue to work on my little pointillism project and am amazed how much time can vanish in the sea of dots as I add layers in different colors and sizes. It changes a little every day and as it sits in the middle of the dining room it both commands and receives endless attention.

Art masking fluid tulip watercolor painting

 As you may have noticed I've done tulips in many ways over the years (colored pencil, pen and ink, acrylic paint and watercolors)

 This is the first time I've tried masking out the area of the flowers while painting the background.

 I've begun painting in the flowers, stems and leaves

There's still quite a bit to do before this one is finished but I thought you'd want to see how it's going so far.

Paper scraps,layers and painting pieces

The completed piece is only 5 1/4 inches by 8 1/2 inches and is made up of dozens of scraps of watercolor paintings, card stocks and ink. The medallions are stacked in layers so it's thick and tall in several places too.

Mixed Media Tie by julia_art

I'm really enjoying the way this piece works out when I put it on a wide variety of products. So far the necktie is the one that excited me the most. It's hard to believe that it came from a bag of paper scraps, isn't it?

Working with water colour colourless art masking fluid

 The brand of masking fluid I'm trying this time is Windsor and Newton

 Applying these fluids is always a bit awkward because of the nature of the product. (they're made of latex rubber and ammonia-at least this one is)

 Here you see how it looks when painted over with watercolors

The ease of removal was a pleasant surprise, it rolled off easily and left the paper underneath clean and undamaged