• Art - Blog - Creativity

    A second look: Dream world

    September 2, 2016 - By 

    Today I’d like to give a second look to the art piece that I eventually edited to become my blog banner.

    I know I’ve said it before about some of my other artwork but this is one of my favorites. I guess I should say that I have lots of favorites. Different mediums, styles, challenges, etc…they all seem to have a stand out for me. A piece that I’m happy to share over and over. Obviously, I’m happy with this one otherwise it wouldn’t have become my banner.

    Take a look….eyes

    11/9/2009

    I love playing in this board book. I’ve been using a Kelly Rae inspired background technique on all the pages. The book has no other theme or direction. Maybe I should call it Random Inspiration. Hey, I like that!

    The little girls came from a sewing book. The watering can girl reminded me a Alice in Wonderland. It all came together in my mind after that.

    It feels a little trippy to me. All it needs is the caterpillar with his hookah.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    And that boys and girls is how my blog banner came to be. 🙂

    Thanks for taking time out for Second on the 2nd this month hosted by Elizabeth.

    Secondlook

    I know I’ll be checking out the posts that others have dug up from their archives as well.

  • Around home - Outdoors

    T Tuesday: cats edition

    August 29, 2016 - By 

    Last week for T stands for Tuesday I had wanted to share a video with you. I am 99% sure it will work but first I want to give you a little back story.

    We have a stray cat that keeps coming around. It’s really friendly to a point…such as it rubs itself all over you but if you pet it “improperly to its standards” it will spit at you. I have yet to figure out if its a boy or girl or if it still has front claws. Close inspection is definitely not allowed with this one.

    pumpkin

    Look at it’s funny tail. It’s curly like a pug dog. So weird and cute at the same time. We’ve taken to calling it Pumpkin for the gender neutral name. We do feed and water Pumpkin when he visits usually once a week. It comes when I call to it so it makes me think that it has a home but for goodness sake…keep it inside then.

    Marvin is an inside only cat so these two have only met through the window screen. I think Pumpkin wants to be friends….

    [KGVID]http://www.halleshobbies.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/catmeeting.mp4[/KGVID]

    We’re thinking about building some sort of shelter for it as we are not sure if this cat has a safe and warm place to overwinter. Since Pumpkin is quite feral and possibly belongs to someone we hesitate to bring him in as well as the fact that we know nothing about his health.

    We are in search of another kitten though. We’ve visited a few and fell in love more than once. Who can resist a fluffy, playful kitten?!?

    I’m battling a sore throat currently…more tea with honey and lemon is in order.

    IMG_0912

    What are you doing today?

  • Blog - Creativity

    DIY workstation ironing board

    August 28, 2016 - By 

    Lately I’ve been feeling the urge to make another quilt. A fun, random scrappy quilt. A real scrap buster quilt.  I have several totes full of fabric. I’d say about 1/3 of it dates pre 1980’s. Of course not old enough to be really cool retro fabric…just that awkward 70’s fabric that really doesn’t mesh well with today’s patterns. However I do believe it will work well in a scrappy quilt because it will be small pieces and hey, its scrappy.

    One of my main issues with quilting in my current space is that I don’t have room for both a cutting station and small ironing board. It’s one or the other so usually I set up my tabletop ironing board on the game table and am constantly walking back and forth.

    sewing space

    Marvin is also an issue. He is not good about obeying the rule of no cats on the table. It’s a constant battle with him. I’m afraid he’s going to either burn himself or knock the iron down and have it burn the carpet. Either way it’s bad.

    While browsing around at Goodwill I saw this wooden TV tray for $3.99 and was inspired to create my own ironing board that is perfect height for ironing while remaining seated and folds away when not needed.

    DIY workstation ironing board

    I knew I needed special batting for this project. I researched a bit then found the product I needed on Amazon.

    DIY workstation ironing board

    At this point I turned my TV tray upside down onto the batting and traced around. I then cut another piece of batting about 2 inches bigger so it would wrap around the outer edge of the tray. I then cut a piece of vintage tablecloth about 3 inches bigger than the previous batting piece. I just eyeballed all the pieces….you know me, I hate measuring.

    DIY workstation ironing board

    I used a staple gun to attach it to the underside of the TV tray in the same way you’d upholster a chair seat. You basically alternate stapling from side to side pulling the fabric tight as you go leaving the corners for last. The corners are mitered by folding then stapling. There are lots of tutorials and how-to videos out there for this if you’ve never done it before.

    DIY workstation ironing board

    After getting the fabric stapled down good and tight I used my scissors to trim away any extra. The underside isn’t really ever going to be seen so I don’t care if it’s perfect.

    DIY workstation ironing board

    Ta-da! Now I have my new work station ironing board and no excuse not to get to that scrap busting quilt.

    DIY workstation ironing board

    Or have I just made an upholstered cat stand? What a turkey!!