Tag : T Tuesday

333 posts

Trying something new for this edition of T stands for Tuesday. Mini-me helped make the first batch of lefse for the season. I took a series of photos and linked them as a slideshow. Fingers crossed that this works.

[KGVID]http://www.halleshobbies.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/lefseday.mp4[/KGVID]

It’s been a busy, weird week that has included but not limited to:

~an overnight dog visit that went reasonably well with Marvin the dog hater cat

~two turkey dinners

~precipitation of all kinds and in all directions: rain, snow, sleet and hail

~one panicky ER visit which turned out very benign

~one partially dislocated jaw (unrelated to the above)

~all four of us on vacation for 5 overlapping days plus extras on both ends

~late night scratch made brownies

~4 teen boys Black Friday shopping (for themselves)

~one Christmas tree set up and was still standing in the morning (amazing!)

I’m absolutely positive there was more but that is all I am able to wrap my mind around at the moment.

Kids go back to school after a 6 day break…and a mountain of laundry awaits. Living the dream boys and girls. Actually, that is serious! Yes, we all love to complain about the pesky chores of life but I am so thankful for every day that I am able to be home caring for my family.

What are you doing today?

It’s a two-fer today here at Halle’s Hobbies!

Art Journal Journey

I had planned to do two separate posts on consecutive days but a bout of stomach flu wiped me out completely yesterday. The day was all about sipping lemon lime soda and eating saltine crackers. I’m nearly 100% now…thank goodness…but a little slow to get my post up and running.

ajj collage

After going a bit wild with the colors, I went for maximum texture with this journal page. I feels a bit ’80’s to me with the dayglow colors.

ajj collage

I didn’t add any personal journal thoughts on this one just some found text that spoke to me at the moment. Once the words were determined. I sought out a square brad from my stash to bring the idea home.

new journal

This was the first page in a new journal. It won’t be long until this one is full since there are very few pages. I removed about half the bulk before starting but the pages are quite brittle from age so each spread will definitely have to be glued to the adjoining page.

I’m getting caught up on tasks I failed to do yesterday while watching the rain change to sleet and snow and back again. I know eventually it’s supposed to be all snow…just hoping the teen driver gets home first.

What are you doing today?

The weather is definitely turning here in the upper mid-west. I’m drinking more hot tea than iced tea. They are saying snow possible on Friday and Saturday. Not that it will be much or even stay around long at this point.

tea season

Enough about the weather. I wanted to share what I did to make my abstract paint complete. Let me backtrack by saying that after initially hanging it on our room we kept hear this weird clicking noise in the night. When the fan would hit the light weight canvas it would make noise!!! UGH! I took it down in the middle of the night and had to reevaluate.

I remembered that I hadn’t donated the old print yet and had an idea of how I could use it. Out to the minivan I went to retrieve the framed print.

reclaimed and renew frame

I tore random chunks and strips of kraft paper and soaked them in water while I got out my vinyl table protector(aka old ugly tablecloth). I used Golden polymer medium as adhesive to cover the chrome frame. This is the same stuff I used to renew my fridge and recycle cabinet with dictionary pages and it’s the same bottle I got for free at the recycle center!

reclaimed and renew frame

I slipped the edges between the frame and matte for a nice crisp edge. I then painted the matte black a few inches in all the way around. I poked holes through the print and attached the canvas using zip ties around the wooden cross bars and back through the holes in the canvas. I used a little dab of hot glue in each corner for a bit of extra security.

reclaimed and renew frame

Ta-da! Worked like a charm.

reclaimed and renew frame

The piece is substantial now and makes a statement.  I like it even more now…and total cost…nothing!!!! We’d even gotten that print for free about 20 years ago from Mr. G’s work. The glass had been broken on the print so they were throwing it out. He brought it home since the colors matched our old bedroom decor. It had hung over our bed ever since.

I’m waiting on a call from a friend as me might meet up today so my day is still a bit up in the air.

What are you doing today?

I’ll have to be quick this morning…I’m heading out to get my mom for a shopping expedition. My list is made…hopefully hers is too.

list and coffee

Hope everyone had a nice Halloween. We almost ran out of candy even after going back and buying a second bag last minute. The number of kids at the door doubled from last year. I guess the neighborhood is changing….lots of new families with younger kids.

Several of you commented on my photo from yesterday with all the pumpkins. Mr. G was able to bring them home from the auto shop next door to his for free. They’d had an event and ended up with about 50 leftovers that they were begging to get rid of. Score!! Now is the chore of digging all the seeds out to roast…love them but hate the stringy, smelly insides.

What are you doing today?

Neighborhood that is.  Over the weekend one of our neighbors hosted a chili cook off.  Eight years ago the same family hosted a similar get together but our numbers have drastically changed in that time period. The majority of the kids are either gone off to college or working now…although we have added to the adult total with new families.

chili

My white turkey chili was not the winner but I’m not at all sad. It was a fun day!

A couple days previous to the party I returned a scoring plate that I had borrowed form my crafty next door neighbor.  One of these days I actually finish the card I started using the board. Anyway…I never come away empty handed from her house. She has a vast network of folk that are always looking out for each other and trading this and that.

goodies

She had a huge bag of stamps for me to look through, bottle caps from a former co-worker that saves them for me and some tea her DIL didn’t want. Look at the awesome stamps! Can’t wait to play in an art journal with them. The Passion tea by Tazo is a favorite of mine. The Calm I’ll likely use for tea dyeing as I don’t care for chamomile but I do enjoy lemon!!

I’ve also been working on a couple…well, three, oh maybe four projects over the past couple of days. As soon as they come together I’ll be sure to share. To my T Tuesday gals…sorry I never made it around last week…Tuesday got away from me with numerous things including these….

busy-night

Mini-me’s first season of competitive volleyball is done with the exception of the end of season banquet. Choir concert season has just begun for J. The concert was wonderful.  Did I mention they will be traveling to Manhattan in the spring to sing at Carnegie Hall!?!  So excited for them.

Today’s schedule has yet to be determined for me. It’s kind of nice to have a fairly blank slate for a change.

What are you doing today?

Welcome to T stands for Tuesday! This week I wanted to share the progression of a painting…from blank canvas to hanging on the wall.

size comparision

I’ve had a 30×40 inch canvas standing in the corner for a good month waiting for me to get inspired or brave. My original thought when I got the canvas (at 70% off) was to do another poppy painting. After some time had passed, my excitement for more poppies dwindled.

Since last week we had a couple of simply perfect Fall days, I decided to set up outside. I tried to hang it, brace it, stand it etc but in the end I set up on the ground on a sheet with it leaning against a tree. I used latex wall paint…I know…crazy right?! But I had 5 small partially used cans of paint tucked away in the storage room.

I started out using brushes and a large plastic lid as my palette…soon I was dipping my hands directly in the cans.

painting progression

At this point I knew things has gone terribly wrong…I hated every single bit of the painting. I went in, washed up my hands and grabbed my phone to snap the photo. I decided that this was going to be a good learning experience.

Next I got the garden hose…yep…the hose. I sprayed off the still wet paint and scrubbed the canvas with a rag.

painting progression

It was already looking better and had some amazing texture. I left it to dry for a good hour and thought about what I might want to do next. Since I was experimenting I thought it was a good time to use the brayer I bought over a decade ago and still hadn’t used.  Keeping the rule of thirds in mind I painted the bottom two-thirds a grey tone and the top off-white being careful not to completely cover the background.

painting progression

I then added some red iron oxide (actual artist paint) then some little touches of black craft paint with a palette knife. At this point I was totally happy. I let it dry completely and brought it inside. It stood in the livingroom for a couple of days and kept bugging me…I liked it but…  Finally, one evening staring at the painting while chatting on the phone with a friend, I envisioned something curving down through the empty space…but what? Circles of course…I love circles!!

30x40 abstract acrylic painting

The next morning I added the circles at the kitchen table. I was so excited about the way it looked I couldn’t even wait for it to dry before photographing and posting to social media.  I had to stand on a chair to get the whole canvas in frame. :)

painting progression

And here it is on the wall above our bed. In reality, it’s hung a little to high but I was just reusing the nails already in the wall. The previous framed print we had there was a little larger, I also really want to repaint our bedroom…since the painting doesn’t especially “go” with the icy blue wall color…it’s a good excuse to make that happen.

t tuesday new wine

I congratulated myself for a job well done with a glass of new kind of wine. I almost forgot to snap a photo before it was gone.  It was a prosecco in a lovely gold bottle. Honestly I think I bought that particular one totally based upon the pretty bottle. It was good but not something I’d bother with very often.

Tuesday has the last volleyball game of the season and the first choir concert of the year. A day of firsts and lasts. I’m excited for both! At least they are in the same building and won’t overlap time wise. Of course, fitting dinner in for all will be a challenge.

What are you doing today?

I’m happy to say my quilt top is complete! I’ve set my sewing aside for a little bit…I’m sure it won’t last too long but it is nice to have my sewing table free of clutter again.

scrap quilt top complete

It’s a throw quilt not a bed size. We are a family who likes to curl up on the couch or chairs. There are always the couple favorite blankets such as this flannel one I made a gazillion years ago and the least favorite one, a small crochet throw made with acrylic yarn. It was made by my great aunt and I haven’t had the heart to get rid of it even though it matches nothing, isn’t that warm and no one really likes it.  I’m staking claim to this new one as soon I finish it…at least for the first few snuggles.

quilt label perhaps

I ended up with 2 extra blocks that I cut and resewed to make this small block that I’m thinking I want to use as a quilt label. I’ve never labeled any of my quilts in the past and now kind of wish I had. I have a hard time remembering exactly when I created most of them. I’m not sure what sort of pen I should use to write along the white fabric. Obviously I know it needs to be a fabric marker but I also need to make sure it doesn’t bleed or fade. Any suggestions?

dark coffee or coffee in the dark

I was contemplating the backing for the quilt this morning while having my coffee and making lunches. I have a bedsheet that I dyed long ago as a tablecloth in our first house. My folks had given us a large table to use but it was not very pretty and was extra wide. A bedsheet seemed the most affordable option of a tablecloth at the time. I also am thinking about the binding…I’m thinking scrappy might be fun for that as well but only if I sew a plain border all the way around the outside to give some rest to the eyes. Oh well…it’s not like I have to decide yet but Winter is coming.  :)

I’ve got a few pesky household chores on the list for today but first I’m going to go for a walk…got to enjoy these warm Fall days while I can!

What are you doing today?

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