early morning

my favorite time of the day; early morning, while its not too hot out yet and the birds are singing away. the phone is still quiet and the rest of the crew are still asleep. i like to bring out a book and a cup of coffee and take advantage of this quiet time. these are pretty views on my back porch, a little oasis i've created of solitude, comfort and tranquility.

Graduation day

Today Dillon graduates from high school. where has the time gone? i'm a bit shocked actually.... I'm wondering if i'll be a weepy mess tonight.......I'll post grad pictures later. I'm off early in the morning to get visit Lesley. Looking forward to it.

i'll leave with this sweet little photo of a baby blue jay who dropped by for a visit this afternoon. I had gone onto the back deck to retrieve my book and saw a blue jay take off rather quickly. Since blue jays rarely come on the deck, i was immediately suspect. I need not look any further as this little guy was staring intently at me thru one of the deck railings. he seemed very sleepy as if to say " fledging is quite tiring and i am stopping for a little siesta". i even watched him close his eyes for a moment. When we returned from lunch, he was gone again. take care little guy.



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update:

the ceremony was wonderful. I am so proud of Dillon!

dyeing with Judy Gula

On Saturday I drove to Scarsdale, NY to partake in a dyeing class with Judy Gula as part of Art-is-You's summer tour of Art in the Garden. This class was about learning how to dye colors in layers versus "precision dyeing". We spent the day learning various ways and techniques in working with dyes. I've done some amateur dyeing on my own, so i had a few troubleshooting questions. There was one technique that we did that i really enjoyed that involved the use of chopsticks. I see me using that one in the future for an upcoming class where I plan on dyeing all the fabric needed to complete a project that I will be teaching in California, May 2012. (more info on that soon enough!) After rinsing and drying all my dyed fabrics, I decided that the pieces I loved the most, were fabrics that were quite textured, like old table cloths and a chenille bedspread.

Judy also discussed "rusting" fabrics - something that i was highly interested in. i had attempted to do it before with minimal results (turns out I wasn't doing it correctly). however, after following her directions, results were still iffy. so i'm thinking variables like the type of material, the age of the material and the type of rusted item being used as a source, will affect the outcome. my best rusting results came from an old piece of rusted ceiling tile.

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in other news:


today was tucker's last day of school until September when he begins the adult education program (usually he will attend school during the summer as well). Dillon is graduating on Wed and Thursday I am leaving for Roanoke, to visit good friend, Lesley Venable. she's arranged for a few of our Nags Head compadres to come over for dinner on Saturday while i am visiting - so that will be fun!

on my worktable (little paintings created over the weekend)

Senior Prom

Flea Market Friday

Off to a late start this morning, but here's my flea market friday post: Jane and I went to Columbus flea market last week and then on Saturday I headed over to Ocean Grove Flea Market. My budget is lean right now, so i didn't go to crazy, plus as Jane and i keep saying, "how much stuff do we need". So it really has to be something quite spectacular, very useful, on the small side or the "cute" factor (which is something so cute and priced at a point that you can't walk away!)

Something is going on with Linky these days - You have to pay for it now, which i'm not gonna do. So if you are participating, leave your blog post info in the comment section.



this blue door was my favorite find from Ocean Grove. love it in my garden.

got 4 of these vintage cement blue birds, which are scattered about in the yard

love the green lingerie? glove box? perfect size for in the studio and great drawers to hold stuff. the box to the left is a wig box that i got to house my handmade Marie Antoinette wig (the one i wore at the Steampunk Convention)

a sweet little dollie and a hand fan. I love these fans. I pick them up from $1-$3 and i put them in my purse. I used one yesterday at Tucker's graduation as the room got really warm and there was no circulating air. My blood pressure tends to run on the low side and keeping a fan handy in those type of circumstances always helps out!

a sweet little doggie, little old "well loved" Steiff lamb, a vintage Asian pincushion (another item i collect)

handmade flowers and a darling little sewing basket

top of the pincushion with vintage pins

a smattering of bling

cool old sampler

yummy linens and lace

my friend, Angela, was selling at Ocean Grove

hooked up with Michelle

ran into my buddy Marlene

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