Annie Littlewolf Studio

My Weight Loss Journey

2011-05-03T02:43:00.000-07:00

I have decided to not attend any more Weight Watchers meetings. I know their program, have their books, point calculator, and all I need to do it on my own. I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond and bought the same scale that they use on "The Biggest Loser", and set it up in my bathroom, and will weigh myself on the first of every month, and also every Sunday, and every day, just to be sure I see a steady downward slope in my weight. This week, since Sunday, I have lost 3 pounds. So that is pretty good. I am eating healthy, lots of fruits and veggies, a hard-boiled egg with my lunch of steamed veggies, and if I have enough points at the end of the day, then I can have a frozen Tostinos pizza (I add oregano to it, because it is pretty bland without it). On the days I don't have a lot of points available, I microwave an enchilada dinner, organic and vegetarian, and delicious. And if I REALLY don't have but a few points left, I get a raw vegetable tray and use fat free ranch dressing for the dip. My goal during the day is to eat as little as possible. This morning, I'm going to treat myself to a new cereal - an organic whole grain flake cereal with strawberries in it, and 1 cup of it is 3 points, and I put just a smidgen of milk on it (I need to find a low-fat or nonfat soymilk), and have that for breakfast, and 1 banana. And that will hold me until about 2:00. Then, I'll steam a bag of vegetables, and eat those plus a hard-boiled egg. Then, I'll decide on dinner - probably an enchilada. Oh yes, and as a snack, I'll have an apple at some point during the day or evening. Have one of those every day. And I'll drink 8 glasses of water, and have one zevia cola to help me swallow my meds in the morning and one in the evening when I have to take my nighttime meds. They are 0 calories. For some reason, they make downing my meds easier than taking them with water. Perhaps it is the fizz.

So, I am on my own now, with nobody to blame but myself if I do well or not on my diet, but I feel revved up and in charge, and want to make a chart of date and weights, to see that I go down and stay going down. YAY! for me! I can do this!

Trip to California

2011-05-03T02:11:00.000-07:00

I had been planning on a trip to see my dad and mom on May 28-June 4, but with the death of Osama Bin Laden happening yesterday, and fears of retribution, I am reluctant to fly now. I emailed my dad, and he emailed me back and said he and mom were in total agreement with me. They will be moving this summer from Sonora to the San Clemente area, and I will come out in October to their new home there instead. Two bonuses for me are 1) that I'll be near or at my goal weight by then, and 2) that I'll have their Yosemite Quilt finished by then and can bring it out with me. I felt a huge sigh of relief that they took the news so well, and agreed with us that this is a bad time to take a flight. Because I really wanted to be at goal weight when I saw them, and I wanted their quilt to be done, and it wouldn't be either one of those by May 28th. Now I have the chance to get those accomplished.

I'll be taking a workshop on May 19 and 21st, and working on the Yosemite quilt then, finishing up the top of it, and perhaps even getting it to the quilting part of it. I'll be learning how to do upside down applique, so I am saving the applique portion of the quilt for that workshop. And trying to get the rest of the quilt ready to receive those things.

Michael and I are in a mood to clean up the house real good and to rearrange the house. Yesterday and the day before, we worked on the master bedroom, and today we'll get it done.
I've got to wash the mini blinds, then re-hang those, I've already washed the curtains and they are ready to hang back up. When we finish the master bedroom, we want to work on the living room and dining room. Of course, while we are doing that, we'll also be working on the kitchen in baby steps, because it needs some work. I want to make a chocolate silk pie, using white chocolate, for Emily and Chris, but Michael and I each get a piece of it first. Then, I'll take it over to them. I'm going to only have a sliver of it. Don't need the calories of it.

That is it for now!

2011-04-16T04:19:00.000-07:00

I am selling almost all of my quilting books, except for about 4 that give me true inspiration. That is because I want my art coming from MY heart, not some derivative from some other artist. So I'll be working on my own, and seeing what happens. I've started dyeing my own fabric, and love that experience. It is extremely satisfying, but I need more experience with it.

It Is Going to Be a BOY!!!!!!!

2009-08-24T06:45:00.000-07:00

Well, I haven't posted anything here in a while, for I have been so busy with LIFE, that I have just not had time to do anything!
Emily had her ultrasound done, and they determined that the baby is a boy! Chris, her husband nearly did a cartwheel in the room, he is so excited! He wanted a boy so bad! They've picked out his name - Anthony Richard Smith, so he'll be our little Tony. His due date is Nov. 27th - Thanksgiving Day. Now we can start buying clothes for him, and I've started knitting on a pair of overalls and a sweater to wear over the pants for him. I'm going to go looking today for a red striped t-shirt for him to wear under the overalls. Or a red t-shirt if I don't see a striped one. Or dotted one. Something with red on it. Because I am knitting this up in denim blue yarn, and it is going to look so adorable. I'm doing it up in newborn size, so it will actually fit him to come home from the hospital in. Unless he turns out to be a huge baby. The OB told Emily that she was big enough to be able to handle a 14 pound baby being born, and she hopes he didn't jinx her with that pronouncement! Me too!!!!!!! Everything else I have knitted, clothes-wise, I've made in the 3-6 month size, except for the baby booties. And they are all newborn size. Or 0-3 month size. At my local yarn shop, one of the best knitters I've ever seen works there, and I timidly asked her what she would charge me to knit the overalls part of the pattern, while I knitted the sweater, and she said she wouldn't charge me a thing. She said she would do it as a gift for the new baby. I could have kissed her. So she is doing up those, and I'm working on the sweater, and she'll have her part done in no time, she is so expert, and it will take me the rest of August and all of September to make the sweater. Due to my Parkinson's Disease, which slows you down so much. So I am extremely grateful for her help with this. It will allow me to start on the knitted blue jeans pattern I have bought the yarn for. This baby is going to be a well-decked out baby!

And I have started another blog = http://anniesweightlosstrail.blogspot.com detailing the drama of weight loss at a snail's pace. I hope to reach my goal weight by next Christmas.

I got my hair cut off the shortest I've ever had it in 35 years. I like it, and would actually like it just a little shorter. I go in on Tuesday (tomorrow) for a trim. I'm going to tell her not to hold back on cutting it. Never thought I'd hear thoughts like that coming from my brain. Guess I'm just getting older.

Well, I'm going now to Yahoogroups and dropping some of them out of my inbox. Don't want to have so many to sort through every day. More important things to do.

2009-05-08T08:34:00.001-07:00

2009-05-08T08:31:00.001-07:00

I get all my paper at The Paper Temptress:

Boy or Girl?

2009-05-08T04:43:00.000-07:00

We don't know yet if the baby is a boy or a girl, so everything I make has to be green or yellow or a neutral color - no pinks, no boy blues. Thus the hand-dyed green yarn for the sweater and booties. It is much prettier in person than the scan shows. Hopefully she'll be far along enough soon, to be able to tell if it is a boy or a girl. Meantime I am knitting for either, with greens, and creams, teals and yellows. I am so excited about this baby! Mom is doing well - hungry all the time. Better than the opposite.

Knitting for baby

2009-05-08T04:28:00.000-07:00

I've put other projects aside and started knitting for the baby. So far just a sweater and matching booties. Also on the needles is a little hat. And in the bag are 3 skeins of blue denim yarn by Rowan for making knitted jeans, and another beautiful teal yarn to make a baby blanket out of. I do need to make more baby booties, though. They can go through alot of them. I'm enclosing two pictures - hopefully, one of the sweater I finished and one of the matching booties.

Ultrsound

2009-04-30T05:43:00.000-07:00

I went with Emily and Chris on Tuesday to see her obstetrician, and he did an ultrasound of her baby, and they called me back to see it. Oh my, I teared up, seeing the wee one. You could see its heart beating, and Emily said I had just missed seeing it dance - it did a little shimmy dance for her. The doctor said it will grow about a mm per day, and her next appt is May 29, so it should be a good bit bigger by then.

I had to rip out part of the sweater I am knitting for the baby, due to an error I made back aways, and caught. So I worked ysterday and got it back to where I was, and plan on working on it today also. I also got tempted by another yarn in a very pale pastel teal color for another sweater, so bought the yarn for that. That baby will be well clad. I'm going to have to make the baby some hats (I've already made one) since it will be a December baby. Dec. 2nd is the due date. We are all so excited about this. The doctor gave us each a picture of the ultrasound and it will go in the baby's scrapbook as its first picture. Won't that be amazing for him or her to look at in 21 years?

I'M GOING TO BE A GRANDMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-03-28T06:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, when Emily and Chris came home for lunch, they called Michael and me to the den, and told us that Emily was pregnant!!!!!!!! We were stunned, and delighted, and deliriously happy! ; So we will be Grandpa and Grandma. Her due date is approximately Dec. 5th. We'll know more when she has her first maternity check-up on April 28th. The doctor has already started her on vitamins and supplements. We've been making up lists - things to do, things to buy, etc etc. We're going to be grandpa and grandma. Emily and I are going to Mosaic Yarn Shop this afternoon to pick out some yarn for a baby blanket for me to make. We'll use green, yellow and ivory tones right now, until we know the sex of the baby. They haven't decided if they want to know, or want to be surprised at the birth.
With a December birth date and Emily getting 6 weeks maternity leave will give us a very happy Christmas!!!!!!!
We are so happy and so excited. I can't believe that MY BABY is having a baby! We've got a ton of things to do around here. So lists have got to be made. I'm a good list maker. And I have a ton of things to knit. That will take over right now over other crafts and art projects. I'm so glad I'm on my Parkinson's medication, so it allows me to use my hands to knit with.
Happy and Joy filled!!!!!!!!!

Music once again

2009-03-23T01:54:00.000-07:00

Volume control is to the FAR right of the play button - it is on the far right edge and shows a vertical stick with a horizontal button you can push up and down for volume. Personally I play everything on HIGH, but that's me. You do need it on HIGH for the second song on the list - Dust in the Wind - for it recorded very softly. The rest, you can choose your volume control as you wish.

Music again

2009-03-21T12:20:00.001-07:00

Forgot to tell you to push the big "play" button to start the music. Volume control is to the right of that.

Music

2009-03-21T12:15:00.000-07:00

You will notice that I have added music to my blog. These are some of my favorite songs. There is something wonky happening to "Sister Morphine" and I'm trying to get it fixed. Meanwhile, enjoy the other toons!

New Paris card

2009-03-15T08:45:00.000-07:00

I corrected my errors in the previous card - or at least some of them which you can see here. Still working on another card, with more color. My daughter is helping me. I'm glad she is taking an interest.

April Showers

2009-03-13T06:48:00.000-07:00

Good Morning! I'm a little bleary eyed this morning. Got up too early, and then laid down on the couch and caught another 2 hours of sleep, and just now woke up. Grabbed myself a diet coke and looked outside and it is snowing - not much, but it is snowing. Pretty.
I've been working on my stamping. Got a new image to play with. Got some constructive criticism on it, so I am going to rework it today - you can see it above this post.

I'm going to re-do the whole thing, taking into consideration the criticism I got on it, and hope the next one will be much better.

This one is called Eiffel Tower/April Showers.

Sad News for me

2009-02-24T18:39:00.000-08:00

I heard yesterday, that my first art professor at college, died yesterday. He was 72. They did not state the cause of death. Tomorrow there should be more information in the paper about the funeral, which I intend to go to. For he is the man who got me started in art school. Let me explain. His name was Derek Myers. I was a psych major, having previously being a political science major. I needed an easy "humanities" credit, so I opted for an Art Appreciation class - that sounded easy enough, so I signed up for that. Prof. Myers was teaching it. I figured it was going to be an easy A. After all, I could memorize who painted what picture, and what could be hard about that? I came to the first class, and was immediately intrigued by the slides that Prof. Myers showed us, pointing out techniques and why they were used, and who copied who. I was struck dumb and numb. I was totally taken in by what I was seeing. The sculptures I saw were incredible and made me want to stroke them each. The paintings made me want to get up nose-close to them, to see how they were done. Derek asked for helpers to hang the Robert Indiana show that had come to town, and I immediately volunteered (google Robert Indiana, and you'll remember what he did), and so I was the only one to help that Saturday, hanging the show. When we were done, Derek said to me - "What is your major?" And I said "Psych". He said "you need to be an Art Major". And I laughed at him and said I cannot even draw a straight line. He said "Nonsense! I can teach you how to draw!" So I thought about it a long time, and the next semester, I signed up for his drawing 101 class. And was given a supply list to purchase before the first class. It was fun to pick up the supplies (my most favorite thing to do nowadays!!!)
And I went to the first class, and he taught me how to do blind contour drawing, and I was shocked at how good it looked. And we went further and further into drawing. I got an A in the class, and signed up for his drawing 102 class, and learned more about drawing, and realized that I had my own "style" of drawing - that we each have our own styles. And then I changed my major to Art, and it was never the same after that. I took art courses from then on, having gotten the core curriculum done with. And I got straight A's in every art class I took. And Derek was my adviser, and helped me pick out which course to take next and next. Then he got promoted in the art dept. and had to pass me off to another art teacher for my adviser.
But the consequences of meeting Derek Myers is that he changed my life. My life now is surrounded by art, it is consumed by art in all its forms. It is what I think about every day of my life. My screen saver says "Create Something Daily" as a reminder to me to work in my studio. Never in my wildest dreams, did I ever think I would call myself an artist. Yet here I am - an artist. All thanks to Derek Myers. Who believed in me when I didn't believe in myself. Thank you Derek, you changed my life. You will always be remembered.

A Thing A Day

2009-02-18T04:49:00.000-08:00

I had to sit at the neurologist's office yesterday and brought my mini moleskine book with me, but forgot a pencil. I asked the receptionsist if she had a pencil and she did, so I made a few sketches while sitting and waiting for my husband to get finished with his appt there. These images are the best of the ones I made.

sketches

2009-02-07T22:55:00.000-08:00

I find myself signing up to sketch every day and posting my sketches on "thing-a-day", through my group "Everyday Matters". Here is what I have posted so far.

More Scenic Stamping

2009-01-27T08:45:00.000-08:00

I'm still into this scenic stamping. Here is a card I made for a friend from my Alextamping group. I made a similar card for my dad's 87th birthday on Jan. 29th.

Sunrises/sunsets

2009-01-14T16:28:00.000-08:00

I've been exploring scenic stamping, and have learned how to do sunrises and sunsets. I'm enclosing some photos of my recent efforts.

Which Tarot Card Are You?

2008-12-26T15:38:00.000-08:00

You are The Wheel of Fortune

Good fortune and happiness but sometimes a species of
intoxication with success

The Wheel of Fortune is all about big things, luck, change, fortune. Almost always good fortune. You are lucky in all things that you do and happy with the things that come to you. Be careful that success does not go to your head however. Sometimes luck can change.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Quilting

2008-12-23T15:02:00.000-08:00

These are some blocks, well, circles, that I designed, and picked out the fabrics for, that my friend, Diane stitched up for us. We were going to start selling our patterns, but the idea kinda petered out. Now I have them on my wall in my studio under my wolf plates. The lighting is not the best, and I'm not real good with my camera, but you can probably get a fairly decent picture of what they look like. I may go back and take individual pictures of each. I think they are beautiful, and would look beautiful made up into a quilt. Or one into a wall-hanging.

Christmas 2008

2008-12-20T22:13:00.000-08:00

I finally managed to get our Christmas cards done, and have posted one here for you to see. To me, they scream "BEGINNER!", but hopefully next year's cards will scream "SHE GOT BETTER AT IT"! LOL! I grossly underestimated the time I needed to make the cards, and they didn't get sent out until the 19th. I can only hope they reach their destinations by Christmas time. Next year, I'm going to start my cards in November - the BEGINNING" of November, so I am not rushed like I was this time. I was caught in a frenzy of stamping to get these done.
Today, I've got to make jewelry - earrings for Emily, and a necklace for Febe, and earrings for Jeanne, as a thank you for some items she sent me to help out. Febe's necklace is also a thank you for 10 ink pads and a huge stack of paper in different colors to help me get a start on some colors to use to border my stamps with.
I did good the other day, and found an eBay site that had a ton of great house scenes, so I bid on them, and won them all except for one. So I am pleased with that. I can hardly wait to see them. Some of them are wintery landscapes, so they may be candidates for next year's Christmas cards. I'll have to wait and see.

On a different note, I have hired a life coach, and we'll be starting on January 5th. My goal is a perfectly clean and organized house by this time next year. And I especially want to concentrate on my studio. So that I can go back there when I need a break, and work on something or straighten up something. The whole house needs a good spring cleaning, but I'm starting in January on it. And working through the entire year on the house. It should be sparkling by next Christmas. One of the things we have to do is to do SOMETHING every day on our main goal. I intend to make this work for me. So, I'm going to do the work, even when I don't feel like it and remember that ACCOMPLISHMENT FEELS GOOD! Well, it is almost a quarter till 2:00AM. And I'm getting sleepy. Woke up at 12:30AM. I guess I'll try going back to bed in a few minutes. Cya soon!

Tune in, Drop Out, Turn on

2008-12-03T11:58:00.000-08:00

Hi - Well, after a day OFF of doing cards, I realized that I didn't miss it one bit. And I began to question my sanity of spending Christmas time doing these 125 cards, worrying about them, frantically trying to find enough small buttons for the shoes for them, etc. I put on a Christmas CD, tuned in, and began to relax. And a sense of peace came over me, and I began to think. I remembered seeing 2 or 3 emails from people who wanted IN to this swap, though it was closed..........and my mind said, gee, if I drop out, they could have my space...and a little bit of relaxation came over me, and I thought it about a few seconds more, and decided that yes, that sounded good to me. I waited until Michael got up, and asked his opinion, and he agreed with me. Why put that much effort into something during this special time of year? It would be much better spent baking cookies, decorating, listening to Christmas music, making my Christmas presents, so I wrote Margie, the hostess of the swap, and begged for mercy (no, I didn't beg - I just told her that I needed to get out of the swap), and she wrote back, and said no problem. And a huge load of relief came off my shoulders. I will ask Elena to send me her book after a while so I can see what it looks like, and I'll send it back. Same for the fall book.
Now, there is a winter skinny book swap that I would have to do 25 pages for front and back - so that is 50 pages and I'm going to say no to that, even though it isn't due until Jan 31st. I've GOT to get my studio cleaned up before I try to work on anything swap-wise. And I'll take January to do that with Chris's help. And then there is the rest of the house. But I'll bite that off just a little at a time. So now that I dropped out, I'll turn on more Christmas music. And relax a little more.
Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

4am

2008-11-26T00:45:00.000-08:00

Hi Folks,
Tis 4AM, and I've been up since 2:15. Bummer. Michael says I am in a manic phase. He's probably right.
I worked on my ArtTechniques project yesterday. Got all 130 cards cut out, and got 40 bottlecaps flattened, and got about a dozen cards stamped with background stamps. Will do 40 more bottlecaps flattened today and will try to get at least 40 more pages stamped. I might start gluing today also. Here is a pic of a finished page. I am going to get Michael to help me stamp the backgrounds, so he is involved, and helpful. I've got until Feb. 28 to get these all done and mailed out to Betsy. I should be able to be done with these in January. I've also got to make a Christmas card for my secret sister on my Alextamping group - by Dec. 15th. I'm waiting on one stamp to come in before making that. I'll post a picture of that card when I get it done. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Sophia Cards

2008-11-09T12:51:00.000-08:00

Good afternoon!
I finished my 5 Sophia cards (PID images), and here they are. I had fun doing these - they are wintery ones, and made me feel chilly to make them. They are ready to mail out tomorrow. The next one will be of Ralph. I've never done an ATC with a guy as the main focus. So we shall see how it comes out. You'll see soon enough.

I've signed up for a FAT BOOK exchange on recycled embellishments. I'm going to use bottle caps, buttons, and colored wire. So I'll make a background for each card, and then add these embellishments. No two can be alike, and I have to make one for each person signed up. So far there are 36 people signed up.

I'm also signing up for a different fat book exchange - 4 per month, and we mail them in to the hostess and will get back four new fat book pages. I've asked the moderator how much we have to do to the cards, like is this a finished card - background, focal element and then embellishments? I haven't heard back from her yet. I hope so, because that is more fun.

My husband and I sat down the other evening, and discussed the movement of my studio out of the master bedroom space and put our bedroom back in there, and he was against it. He said all we do is go to bed and we don't need a bunch of room around us. So we are NOT going to be rearranging the studio I have now. I want an ironing space set up, so it is ready all the time. And we got some wire cubicle storage bins to put together to help me sort out my stuff. That way we can get my studio together. I think we can do that tomorrow, and bring in my fabric shelves back to the studio - we had gotten them put into Michael's office until we got everything else moved. Now it is just a matter for me to clean up the room, and get a space cleared off for working on my ATCs.

Trials

2008-11-04T06:39:00.000-08:00

I was trying to come up with a new background for my blog, and tried to make a go of it, but it didn't work, this further reminding me of how computer-challenged I am. It said to go to Add Gadgets and follow the instructions. Well, there WERE no instructions for adding a new background, at leaat none that I could interpret. The word "backgrounds" was nowhere to be found. Or desktop or anything like that. So, I'll have to wait for my son-in-law, the computer geek to wake up and ask him how to do it. Or just leave it alone right now. I've got a nice black background, and it seems to be sufficient.

I've got MSNBC on to watch the day unfold as people line up to vote. My DH and I voted early on Friday. Here in this county you could vote early if you had a disability that prevented you from standing in lines to vote, and we both have that.

I am ready to make some more ATCs, and have ordered from Paper Imagery Designs, their collage sheets Lila, Ralph, and Abigail.

I've also decided to NOT move my studio into the other rooms. Just way too much hassle, and using the master bedroom as my studio makes so much more sense. We only use the bedroom for sleep, so we don't need all the extra room. We're going to work on that room today - getting it picked up and cleaned up. Doing laundry, etc. We figure it should take the two of us only about two hours to get it done right. We've got to vacuum thoroughly, because that is where the dogs sleep too, and we have an overhead fan that blows their fur and dander back down on us as we sleep. So we've got a large vacuuming to do. And we are going to move a television in there for sleepless nights. Usually I can pretty much go to sleep easily, but I wake up to use the bathroom. Then it is a draw for me - do I stay up for awhile, or try to go back to bed. Last night, I went back to bed, and fell right to sleep. So that worked out good for me.

After we finish our bedroom, I want to tackle the living room/dining room area, because I want to be able to put our tree up after Thanksgiving, in the living room, which is blocked off from the dogs, so that they can't get to the ornaments. I have mostly glass ornaments on the tree, so I don't want the dogs to get behind the tree and knock it down, or to get ahold of an ornament and try to bite it - baaaad idea.

While Michael and Chris work in the living room/dining room, I'm going to work in the kitchen, and declutter the counter tops, so I have room to cook. Plus load and run the dishwasher, and then unload it when the plates cool down. So it is ready for new dishes and silverware to go into it.

Emily's office had a Halloween Day on Friday and they were all supposed to come dressed as their favorite TV character. Emily came dressed as Abby on NCIS. The picture here shows her kneeling down on the right, with the white lab coat on. She did a great job with her costume.

VOTE

2008-10-29T08:52:00.000-07:00

VOTE this year, it is so important! Don't let the shenanigans fool you into thinking that you cannot vote. They are pulling all the cons they can come up with to make you think that you will get tickets on your cars while voting, or you will lose your scholarships if you are a student and try to vote where you go to school. NONSENSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don't let them fool you! They tried to tell Virginians that due to the long lines, that only Republicans could vote on the 4th, and the Democrats would be allowed to vote on Nov. 5th! Do NOT BE FOOLED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This may be the MOST IMPORTANT vote of your life! So get out and vote. Take nothing for granted. Obama may have a lead in the polls, but that does not mean he doesn't need your vote - he needs each and every vote to keep those leads. So get up and go out and vote. Don't wait until the last minute - the lines will be too long. Try to vote at a time when the lines will be the shortest, if possible. But get out and vote! Even if the news "calls" the election - vote vote vote anyway. You can remember 2000 and what happened then. We need a mandate. If you know someone who needs a ride to go vote, go and get them and take them with you to go vote. Get everybody revved up to go vote. Tell them how important this vote is.
WE CAN DO THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-10-29T08:39:00.000-07:00

Obama'08great free widgetsWidgetbox

Sarah Swap

2008-10-25T13:47:00.000-07:00

Been working today on 5 new ATCs for a swap on PIDSwaps. Called the Sarah Swap. I'm attaching the 5 new ATCs I made for it. It felt good to get creative this morning. I had to work on the coffee table in the den, due to the chaos in my studio, but it worked out okay. I took a plastic bin and picked out what I thought I'd need, and loaded up the bin with cardstock and matboard, and scissors and gel medium, and a foam brush and brought it up here to the den and started working. As I worked on one card, the next card was forming in my mind. I'm glad to finally be posting some of my art on my blog.

Which Jane Austen character are you?

2008-10-22T02:13:00.000-07:00

Take the Quiz here!

2008-10-11T08:40:00.000-07:00

I am a
Snapdragon

What Flower
Are You?

2008-07-01T14:13:00.000-07:00

The Wedding!

2008-07-01T14:06:00.000-07:00

Well, the wedding went off without a hitch. It was a beautiful ceremony, with both Chris and Emily reciting their own vows. Michael got to walk her down the aisle. The reception was fun, and Michael got to dance with her, a special thing for him and her. They are now Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Smith.

Jewelry for the Wedding

2008-05-23T03:58:00.000-07:00

I finished one bridesmaid necklace and earring set. The earrings are flattened out in the scan, but hang straigt in real life. Here is a picture of them.

More quilts

2008-04-23T09:28:00.000-07:00

Good Afternoon!
I joined a Dear Jane quilt group - another block by block group, based on the Dear Jane quilt. I'm going to be doing mine in jewel tones,rather than the traditional fabrics. I think that will be dramatic. Chris has been helping me with my studio, and we are about ready to rearrange it. ooooooooo, you know how fond of rearranging I am. I have virtually stopped knitting for now. Will pick it back up in the fall. Or will pick it back up in the evenings. I just don't feel like doing it right now for some reason. Well,I do know one reason, and that is since I am dieting, I will be wanting to make some sweaters and coats for myself, and I want to wait until I hit and maintain my goal weight before I start making some stuff for myself. I'm a little bit tired of making scarves. But too tired to do anything more difficult.

New Quilting Themes

2008-04-15T18:12:00.000-07:00

Hi! I have joined two new groups to do 2 new quilts, and I am so excited about them. One is Quilting the Women of the Bible, and one is Quilting the Names of Jesus. Both go along with a Bible Study/Devotional, and I will learn as I go along, about each of these. Today they are talking about Jael, a woman who took control of a city when the men left. It was very interesting reading about her. I have to write for the patterns - I may call tomorrow and order the patterns over the phone - to get them sooner. They will make gorgeous quilts. And I will have learned some very new things and will have my faith renewed - always a good thing.

I'm getting my studio cleaned up, and plan on working on that tomorrow and the rest of the week, until I get it just as clean and shiny as it can be. Get everything put away, and be ready for working in it as soon as possible.

First priority will be starting the Yosemite quilt. Will add more later.

Spring Fever

2008-04-02T15:50:00.000-07:00

The day time temps here are fluctuating between the 60's and the 40's, sometimes dipping into the 30's at night time. It has got me into Spring Fever real bad! I'm doing spring cleaning, and that includes my studio - finally. Baby stepping my way into getting it done.

I've signed up for an online class on quilting on paper, and that sounds like a wonderful experience to me. I'm looking forward to that class! I'm gathering supplies, which is always fun!

Still working on getting some photos up of my artwork.

Cheers!!!!!!!

My Artwork

2008-03-18T08:42:00.000-07:00

I need to put up photos of my artwork here on my blog. I haven't done it yet, because all of my photos are on my old broken down computer. I've got to re-take the photos and then load them into my computer. I make quilts, jewelry, mixed media work, do paintings, knitting, collage, etc etc etc. I can't seem to get tied down to any one thing. I will start taking some photos today and hopefully get some good images to post. I love houses, and they figure prominently in many of my quilts.
I went to Lucky Shie's website and would love to take one of her art camps - maybe next year? I can try to schedule one when Emily and Chris have a week off so they can come and stay with Michael, or can check in with him daily. I need to start saving some money for it.
Did Weight Watchers today and according to their scales, I had gained .6 pounds. about half a pound. Dang it! That was discouraging, especially with me adding exercise. Next week I should get a loss or I am going to sit down with the leader and see what I am doing wrong.

Exercise

2008-03-14T16:56:00.000-07:00

I took a walk yesterday with my son-in-law to be. We walked only for one mile - that is all I could do at this stage. I'll work up to walking 2 miles. He mentioned that he wanted to start walking again to my husband, who told me, so I asked him yesterday morning, and he said sure! So this odd couple went walking - he started off with a brisk walk, which I could not keep up with, but he is such a gentleman, so he slowed down to where I could keep up with him. I sped up as much as I could do, but I was getting winded. So we set a good pace to be able to walk and be able to talk with some difficulty. I'm sure the persons walking the other way were wondering how this old lady had managed to get this hunky young guy to walk with her. LOL!

And today, I went to Curves, the gym for women. I was proud of myself for going and doing the workout. This should help with my weight loss. I have stayed the same the last week. So doing the exercise should shake up my metabolism and get some weight loss going. I plan on going to Curves on MWF and walking on T/TH/SAT. Taking Sunday off.

I rejoined the Quilt Art list, and have met Linda Minton, who has been MOST compassionate with me, since I had unsubbed from the list several years ago when they got into a stupid discussion about Thomas Kincaid versus some other artist, and once I asked a simple question and got flamed by a bunch of people. I said I didn't need this, so I unsubbed from the group. So I thought maybe time had healed the group, and I rejoined it the other day, and what did I walk into? ANOTHER discussion of Thomas Kincaid versus some other artist!!!!!!!!! I wrote in and told them my experience of unsubbing before and here they were doing it again, and couldn't we all just play nice? Anyway, Linda emailed me, and said I must have really bad timing! LOL! But she encouraged me to stay on, and I will. I need to get some pictures of my art up here on my blog. I haven't done that yet, and I'd like to get to that soon.

I use the logo at the beginning of my blog on my "business" cards. I list my name, address and email address. If I sell my jewelry, I attach one of my cards to it, so they know who made it. My jewelry is the only thing I sell. I haven't gotten to the point of selling my other artworks yet - they are so personal to me. We are running out of wallspace here to hang things on, but I don't give up.

Now it is up to me to continue my exercise pattern and I'll see my pounds go down.

Weight Watchers

2008-03-09T01:43:00.000-08:00

Hi! I've decided to join WW, and after 2 weeks, have lost 7 pounds so far. I get weighed again either tomorrow afternoon or Tuesday morning, depending upon which meeting I go to. I hope for a good weight loss. I figured it was time to get rid of this excess body clutter and get into shape and then MAINTAIN it, like I never have before. I'm doing it vegetarian style, and that has its rewards. Michael is doing the veggie part with me, but is eating more than I do. At least he tries to.
I've been focusing on whole grain foods and beans right now. I will venture into tempeh and tofu and miso, etc, as the weeks go by. I found a recipe that uses edamame and rice, so I am going to try it and see how it goes. See if Michael likes it. See if I like it.
Emily and Chris picked out a new wedding cake design and I took it by Sue and she said she could do it, with help from the florist. So I went to the florist and she grabbed what silk calla liles she had - it has calla lilies on the top and on the sides of the cake here and there. It is beautiful. I'm SO glad to be rescued from having to make the cake myself. I think everything is in place for the wedding - I do need to call our piano player and let her know about the rehearsal and I think that is all right now. Michael needs to get his black suit to the dry cleaners and get it ready. I think the dress I got for the wedding will be adequate even if I do lose weight. If not, I'll pick something out last minute.
I've been sick with a bad cold or the flu or something for the past 3 or 4 weeks. Thus no updates here until now. I'm finally feeling a tad better. Thanks be to God!
I have the urge to knit something. I think the gals at Mosaic would faint if I walked in the door! I haven't been there in a long time. I just want something easy to knit. Like a scarf for Michael.
And I want to work on my studio so I can get the Yosemite quilt done.

No More Cakes!

2008-02-13T12:35:00.002-08:00

Well, I convinced myself that I am going to be unable to do Emily's wedding cake, and will turn it over to the professionals. That is a load off my mind. That week before the wedding should run smoothly, and having to make the cake was like throwing that whole week into a tornado. Now, I just have to see if the cake lady can do it for us. I sure hope so.

I'm reading the Elm Creek Quilt novels, and enjoying them immensely. I'm also reading, in between, a new author to me - Patricia Cornwell. Very exciting murder mysteries. I don't want to put them down. I read them on Saturday and Sunday and manage to finish them by Sunday night. Luckily she has a good line of them, so I should be set for reading for quite a while. Patricia Cornwell, used to be head of our state's (Virginia) CSI unit in Richmond, and her main character is a detective, Kay Scarpetta. She is a very good writer and makes her characters come to life. Carolyn introduced her novels to me. Thanks, Carolyn!!!

My creativity coach, Paula, has me trying something new: at the end of each day, I am to write:
Today I am glad...................... And fill that in. You can make as many statements of Today I am glad.......... that you want to. I'm going to try that tonight. Right now, I know that today I am glad I decided to not make the wedding cake. LOL Too much pressure.

Blessed be!

No More Cakes

2008-02-13T12:35:00.001-08:00

Fondant

2008-02-09T07:19:00.000-08:00

Thursday night, I took my first class in using fondant on cakes. It was very interesting and kinda fun. It makes the outside of your cake look absolutely perfect. I have to bring an iced cake, covered with fondant, for this next class on this coming Thursday. I also have to bring gum paste, and we are going to learn how to make some decorations for the cake.

I'm also starting class 1 of Course 2 of cake decorating. I just have to bring icing in stiff consistency and medium consistency - we are going to learn how to make more flowers. That will be fun.

I'm getting Emily to email me pictures of wedding cakes she likes so that I get an idea of what she wants me to do. I may have to make a second cake - a groom's cake, usually chocolate, to be sure I have enough cake to go around for everybody. Worry, worry, worry.

Sparky

2008-02-04T10:55:00.000-08:00

This is a photo of Sparky, Emily's Pomeranian. He can do amazing things! He loves to play and will play by himself if nobody will play with him. He is the first Pom that we got.

My son-in-law to be

2008-02-04T10:15:00.000-08:00

This is Emily's fiance, Christopher. He's a real doll - helpful and handy to have around. Besides being a computer genius. They are getting married June 21st.

dogs

2008-02-04T10:13:00.000-08:00

This new one is Mickey - we inherited him from my mother - in- law when she passed. He has taken to us real well.

Jewelry

2008-02-03T13:14:00.000-08:00

I make original jewelry by hand, and will post some pictures of it. Some of it is for sale, if anybody is interested. I've got to get the photos done first.

More Roses and Mickster

2008-02-03T12:10:00.000-08:00

I have been practicing making my rosebuds, and they are not bad. I think I have it down. What is next? Gotta make a cake - going to make a white cake with raspberry preserves swirled through it. That is what Emily wants for her wedding, so I might as well try it. I'm going to tint the icing a periwinkle blue, and use purple for the roses.
I also want to try to make some "fire and ice" roses - those are Emily's favorite roses. They are a light yellow and then tinged at the top with a deep red. I am going to tint the icing a pale yellow and then use a powdered sugar that has been already made up, to "paint" the edges of the roses the deep red color.
All the dogs are in, except for Mickey, who likes his privacy, who is still outside. The rest of them are all asleep on the floor around us here in the den. Mickey likes to be called Mickster. He responds to that better.

Roses, roses smell so sweet.........

2008-01-30T14:13:00.000-08:00

Last night, in our cake class, we learned to start making roses. At first, I couldn't catch on to it. Then the teacher came by, and did it holding my hands and moving them the right way. THEN, I got it. AHA! Now it is practice, practice, practice. Because next week is our last class, and we have to make a whole bunch of roses to put on top of our cakes. I am excited to learn how to finish making the roses, and hope I can do a good job. All of this builds up to making Emily's wedding cake.
I start the next cake class on Feb.7th - working with fondant and gum paste. I'll learn how to drape a cake in that class. It puts such a nice finish on the cake.
Hopefully, they'll offer a Course 2 for the regular cake class. The fondant class is an extra class. Four classes, on Thursday evenings. I'll start practicing my roses tomorrow. I need a stiff, yet pliable icing - just right. And one pastry bag for the base, and one pastry bag for the petals.
It sure smells good in our kitchen nowadays. Sweet, and yummy.

"Our Little Babies"

2008-01-30T05:42:00.000-08:00

This is Archimedes.
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This is Darcy.
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This is Oliver.
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This is Sweetpea!
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This is Brownie.
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And here's Madison!
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My Soul Mate, Michael

2008-01-30T05:35:00.000-08:00

Here is a photo of my dear soul mate, Michael, holding Oliver, one of our poms. Michael and I have been married now for 30 years. Hard to believe - time has flown by.
Michael is a retired judge and it is really nice to have him home with me all day.
He is the love of my life!

EMILY AND CHRIS

2008-01-30T05:28:00.001-08:00

This is my daughter, Emily, and her fiance, Chris, who will be getting married June 21, 2008.

My Dad's Birthday - Jan 29th

2008-01-30T04:33:00.000-08:00

My dad turned 86 on Jan 29th this year. He looks and acts like a 60-year old! It is amazing. I hope I inherit THOSE genes! I'll turn 55 in February.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cakes, Cakes, Cakes Everywhere!

2008-01-30T01:45:00.000-08:00

Last night was our 3rd class in the cake decorating class. One more to go. We learned more on how to make roses. After numerous attempts, I finally got it right. All of us were eating our mistakes. LOL Then we learned some drop flowers and how to make a 3D clown to sit on top of a cake. He was cute! But definitely the rose was the hardest thing to master. I got one really right. Next Tuesday is our last class, and I need to practice, practice, practice those roses, because we are going to do our last class, and put a bouquet of roses on the cake we bring in. YIKES!!!!!!!!!! So you know what I'll be doing. A big bowl of icing on my lap and my pastry bags full, and then practice practice practice.
We've figured out that we could have bought two professionally decorated cakes for the price we have paid for all the stuff I've had to buy for the classes. Bah!
On Feb. 7th, I start the fondant and gum paste course. That should be interesting. That will truly be something new.

THE WEDDING! - January 24, 2008

2008-01-29T13:49:00.000-08:00

Our daughter, 28, is getting married this June. We've been working on it for the past year, to get everything in place. It seems like the year has passed so fast. She'll be marrying Christopher Smith, who she has been seeing for several years. He is a good guy and we like himvery much. We have her fitting for her gown in March, and I need to get a date from her, so I can schedule that.There are so many details that go into planning a wedding, that I would have hired a wedding planner if I had known how much work was involved. Now that I have done it all, I would never put myself through this again. Luckily we have no other children, so I won't have to go through this again. It has been fun, but it is tiring also. I want to give my daughter the wedding of her dreams, but reality sets in, and we don't have $100,000 to put into the wedding. So we do the best we can, and bless her heart, she goes along with it. I'll add a photo of her in her
wedding gown when we get that picture taken. And a photo of the two of them together.
Annie

CAKE SUCCESS! - January 23, 2008

2008-01-29T13:46:00.000-08:00

Well, I wasn't the only one who screwed up their cake. In fact, mine was one of many icky looking ones. So I felt less alone. Gotta do another cake for next Tuesday night, plus making up icing and coloring it in the way I want it to do roses, and other flowers. So much to do, and it seems so little time. I've got to go buy a cake carrier today at KMart, after my therapist's appt. Also need to buy some more pastry bags for the class, and a birthday card for my dad - he'll be 86 on Jan. 29th and is going like a 60 year old. He is amazing. Maybe tomorrow I'll tell you how I found him when I turned 50. I've only known him for the past 7 years! It is a wonderful story. Check tomorrow's entry for the story.
Annie

Cake Failure - January 22, 2008

2008-01-29T13:44:00.000-08:00

Oh my! I have my 2nd class tonight in beginner's cake decorating, and was supposed to bring a frosted cake (homemade) in for tonight's class. Well, I made the cake okay, and got it leveled just fine. Then I made up the icing we were supposed to use. We were supposed to make up the batch of icing for the cake - using half of the icing for the cake, and half to bring in to use tonight to learn to make roses and other flowers with. Well, I started to ice the first layer, and it sure took a lot of icing. Hmmm..... I should have thought something was amiss. I put the top layer on, and piled a bunch of icing on top of it, and was starting to spread it, when it hit me. I was supposed to use the giant icing bag and this huge wide tip to spread the icing with. I remembered being instructed on how to do that, so I stopped what I was doing, and I put the rest of the icing in the pastry bag, and proceeded to finish the cake with that. Luckily, the cake icing sets up in about 15 minutes, so you can take some parchment paper and smooth it out with a smoothing tool, and it doesn't look THAT bad now, but at least I know that from now on, I'll never make THAT mistake again. I had to make up another batch of icing for tonight's class to use for learning how to make the roses and other flowers. I guess I shouldn't write myself off of this as a hobby, just because I messed up on my first cake. But boy do I feel dumb. One thing is for sure - I now know how to ice a cake properly. On to class tonight, probably with the worst looking cake there. Sad but true. I got my blood pressure up so high, over a CAKE for goodness sake! Nothing like making a mistake for learning how to do it right next time. I need a drink.
Annie

Get To Know Me!

2008-01-29T13:41:00.000-08:00

A little about me - I'll be 55 in a month (how did THAT happen?), and am happily married to Michael for 30 years. He is a retired Judge. We have one daughter, who is getting married this June. I'm making the wedding cake. We live in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, in a small University town. Which means in the summers, it is nice and quiet, and then in August, the students start coming in, and in May they start leaving. The town really bustles when the students are here. But they keep the town young and hip. I'm a quilter, a knitter, a painter, a jewelry maker, and a mixed media artist. And now a cake maker. I have a nice studio to do all these things in. I'm looking forward to linking my blog with others, and keeping up with this. Right now, it is 9 degrees outside, with a wind chill of minus 2. YIKES! We have 8 dogs - 4 Pomeranians: Sweetpea, Darcy, Oliver, and Archimedes. We have 4 mixed breed dogs - one is a terrier mix, we inherited from my MIL when she passed away, named Mickey, and 1 cocker mix, named Brownie, we rescued from the pound, then 1 Pomeranian mix dog, Alice, that we rescued from the pound, and Madison, a hound dog of some sort, that we rescued from the pound. It is kinda chaotic around here. I fell a couple of months ago, and broke my sternum in half, and it has had a hard time healing, and hurts like crazy. I'll add some pictures in the next couple of days. Annie

How I found my Dad!

2008-01-29T13:30:00.000-08:00

My mother decided to tell me, when I was 16, that the guy I had been calling Daddy, was in fact, NOT my father. He was my stepfather. She told me that she was married before and had me with her first husband but while she was pregnant with me, her husbnad left her and didn't want to know anything about me, didn't try to find out about me or anything. I asked what his name was, and she wouldn't tell me. So I had to wait until I was 21 and could legally get a copy of my birth certificate that showed my real father's name was - Edward Melvin Minium. And it noted that he was 31 at the time I was born and that he was a Chemical Engineer. Well, I had always wondered how come I looked nothing like my stepfather, and not much like my mother, but never thought anything more about it. But with the arrival of the internet, I spent some time searching for Ed Minium. When I turned 50, I finally found an Edward Melvin Minium who was listed as being 81 and living in Sonora, California. I thought that was just too easy -that HAD to be the guy - 31 when I was born, and 50 years later, 81 when I was 50. And such an unusual name. With the help of my therapist, who warned me that these things don't always work out, I set out to write him a letter - all I really wanted was a photograph of him, so I could see if I looked like him. So I wrote the letter telling him the details of my birth, according to my mother and the birth certificate, and why I thought he was my father. I put it in an envelope marked confidential and personal, because surely he had moved on in his life. I put all my contact info in the letter and just asked for a photo. I put my IM names on the computer in the letter.One night, about 4 days after I sent the letter, I got an IM from him asking if he could phone me in 10 minutes -my heart raced - yes, I answered. Then I went into the den where my husband was and told him. I told him to answer the phone for me, and then hand it off to me. My dad did call in 10 mintes,and asked to speak to me, and my voice was all trembly, and I asked if I got it right, and he said yes, that he was my father. And he said he had been looking for me all these 50 years. And he told me the truth - that my mother was pregnant with me, and he was in the process of divorcing his first wife - 2 weeks away from the final decree.My mother wanted to get married right away. And he said lets wait for the two weeks, so he didn't get into trouble being a bigamist. She would have none of that. And when he went home thatnight, he came back the next morning to talk to her some more and she was gone - lock,stock and barrel. They would not tell him where she had moved to or when she left. He was devastated, and he hired a private detective to try to find her, but the closest he got was to see her coming out of a building with a baby stroller with me in it. And that is all. He could not get an address or phone number. My dad finally gave up after 2 years, and he remarried someone else, and ended up divorcing her too. Then he found Leslie, his current wife, and has been married to her since then. He is very happy. Well, he was thrilled that I found him, and welomed me to his family. I found out that I have one half sister, and 2 half-brothers, from his first wife - so they are all older than me. I am the baby of the family. And I was able to fly out and meet and visit with them that summer and we now IM every night, if possible. And the thing is, he wanted me! It was NOT like my mother told me - that he wasn't interested in me - he is interested in all things about me. And although we were not raised together, it is amazing howalike we are. We call it TPIAP -two peas in a pod. And yes, I look a lot like him.And that is our story. And my therapist was amazed - she said these things don't usually work out, but she applauds my willingness to be disappoined, but somehow I knew it was going to be okay.