Bella Dia

1/11/08

Chloe, my snow cat.

On My Bedside Table:
Everyday Blessings by
Myla and Jon Kabat-Zinn
Titanic Survivor by Violet Jessop
On Writing Well by William Zinsser

Next Up from Netflix:
Big Love season 2
Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont
Jonestown: The Life and Death of
Peoples Temple
The Simple Life Of Noah Dearborn

Latest Interests:
learning to be a better writer
one drawing everyday for the year

On My Mind:
converting the garage into my studio
clearing the clutter
organizing my business goals

Learning:
to live more in the moment
to use my new Nikon D40

Making:
new crocheted scarf and tutorial
crocheted coasters

Looking Forward To:
getting back into our regular routine
spring

Enjoying:
hot cranberry cider
my new haircut
playing tennis on the Wii

Amused By:
the ferrets playing and playing and playing
all the snow we’ve been getting

Snoveling Show

Lately my days have been starting out exactly the same: wake up,
have breakfast, get dressed, shovel snow. The shoveling keeps you
pretty warm but when you come inside you realize the tip of your nose
doesn't have any feeling and your lips feel like they've been given a
dose of novacaine thus the title of my post: a slip up I've made on
more than one occasion. The bird is a Steller's Jay. They're related to
the Blue Jay but we don't see many of those here. I think the Steller's
Jay is gorgeous; the head and upper body are black and the
rest is midnight blue.


My solar lanterns have been covered up with snow. I like
how they are like little windows in a snow wall.


A view of one of the mountains behind our house.


Aren't these pretty ice crystals on our back deck?


Another mountain view. And now back to show snoveling...

This was unexpected...

Make Something Today

I'm always a little skeptical of these type of things but I'll take what I can get :)

The Forest and The Trees

Some days I think, Why even get out of bed? Man, I just can't keep up. Lots of people ask me, How do you do it all? Single mom, three kids, homeschool, 17 pets, self-employed... The answer? I don't. The house is a mess, leaves cover the yard, email needs to be answered, appointments need to be made, writing needs to be written, sewing needs to be sewn. I like to complete things but very little that I do is ever completed. You know what I mean? As soon as the dishes are clean there are dirty ones right behind and it's the same with all the household chores and maintenance. Just finished the laundry? Look out, here comes more. The holidays are especially hard since I barely keep up on a regular day and then I hate that I feel rushed and pissy when it's supposed to be a time of reflection and thankfulness and good will toward men. Anyway, sorry to whine, I don't like to do that here - I try to keep this my happy place ;)

Good stuff coming soon....

Softies by Therese Laskey

I'm very excited about this book - one reason is that the author is my friend Terry who had an idea and took it all the way to fruition and it is so exciting to see that happen; another reason is that there are tons of great simple adorable projects that will appeal to a wide variety of people; and, my third reason is that the book features one of my pincushions!

Isn't the photography beautiful?! This is my Scattered Flowers pincushion. All patterns are included in the book too, I love that :)

It's available in all the bookstores as well as Amazon; I hope you'll check it out and give one of the projects a try. The projects, or even the book, would make a great gift too; yep, it's almost that time again ;)

Wildfire

I've been distracted for the last few days. Planes carrying water and fire retardant have been buzzing over our heads and great clouds of smoke and ash block out the sun making it look like a giant maraschino cherry hanging in the sky. Our area has been overtaken by the Castlerock Wildfire. As of now, over 41,000 acres have been burned and 1600 firefighters are working hard to keep it under control. The air quality has been deemed unhealthy and everyone is being told to stay inside and not partake in any outdoor exercise - no problem for me ;) People living in the area just a few miles north of us are under a mandatory evacuation. I don't think it is any threat to us except maybe the smoke. It's making our eyes burn and giving us headaches but we're trying to stay inside with the air conditioning on. This news story makes it seem like people are running for their lives but it's not like that. Everyone's doing what they have to do and in a small community like ours, people are jumping at the chance to help others any way they can. *click on the mosaic to see a larger version

Doodling with Embroidery

Hello, hello! We went on a little getaway last week and went camping. It was my first time to go and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be even considering it rained four of the five days we were gone. My favorite parts were making my little nest in the tent, setting up house - I mean campsite, s'mores by the fire at night and the chipmunks waking you in the morning with their chatter . My least favorite? The bathroom situation and having to get dressed in various yoga positions in the tent. I'll share more about it later but I imagine we'll be going on a regular basis from now on.

The picture above is an embroidery I did a bit ago. My approach to it was just like doodling. I had no pre-conceived idea of what I wanted to do and made random stitches in various colors as it appealed to me at the time. After awhile I felt it was taking a more literal direction and continued with that until I felt like it was complete. A very fun exercise especially when you've been having crafter's block. Ah-hem.

This is my stash of leftover embroidery floss. (The embroidery in the background is a new one I'm working on.) I don't wind leftovers back on their little cardboard I just toss it in this bucket*. Probably 95% of the floss I use for my doodles comes from this bundle and I challenge myself to use as much of it as I can. I've been doing this embroidery at bedtime when I don't feel like reading and find it just as relaxing.

*The bucket is a little wooden one that I found at a thrift store and covered with vintage pattern tissue and Mod Podge.

For the month of August I've created my own meme based on the book An Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. Stop by tomorrow and I'll explain a little more about it and maybe you'll want to do it with me!

Craft Bloggers in Books: A List

The other day I was in Twin Falls at Barnes & Noble and there in the craft section was The Crafter's Companion!  I quickly turned to see my contribution and got a huge smile on my face just thinking, "Wow, look at me, here I am in Barnes & Noble looking at a book with pictures of my stuff in it!   Who woulda  thunk?!"  When I started blogging three years ago it never even crossed my mind that opportunities like that could happen so it really is quite a thrill for me.  Just seeing the whole DIY/craft movement become more mainstream has been exciting so I wanted to create a book list to reflect that.

Here is a list of craft books that are either written by craft bloggers or have contributions from craft bloggers, either way they all began with a craft blog:

The Crafter's Companion edited by Anna Torborg      Seventeen craft bloggers (including me) talk about their crafting life and have contributed a pattern for various craft projects along with instructions.

Softies: Simple Instructions for 25 Plush Pals by Therese Laskey   This book is available for pre-order and will make it's appearance September 6th.  I just know it's going to be wonderful.  I've contributed a pincushion pattern in this one.  For more info you can go to Terry's blog Softies Central

Pretty Little Pincushions from Lark Books   Available November 1 but you can pre-order now.  I have three pincushion patterns in this book.  It sounds like it's going to be great.

Bend-the-Rules Sewing: The Essential Guide to a Whole New Way to Sew by Amy Karol   Of course you know Ms. Angry Chicken - you can find more of her wonderfulness here.

Plush-o-Rama: Curious Creatures for Immature Adults by Lark Books   Plush creators have contributed lots of fun patterns and designs for wacky creatures.

Mason-Dixon Knitting: The Curious Knitters' Guide: Stories, Patterns, Advice, Opinions, Questions, Answers, Jokes, and Pictures by Kay Gardiner and Ann Meador Shayne These ladies are two-of-a-kind to be sure - their blog is here

The Crafter Culture Handbook by Amy Spencer plus contributors

Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee of Yarn Harlot fame

Doodle-Stitching: Fresh & Fun Embroidery for Beginners by Aimee Ray   See her blog and lovely work here.

Crazy Aunt Purl's Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair: The True-Life Misadventures of a 30-Something Who Learned to Knit After He Split by Laurie Perry of Crazy Aunt Purl

Anticraft: Knitting, Beading, and Stitching for the Slightly Sinister by Renee Rigdon and Zabet Stewart of Anticraft.

Warm Fuzzies: 30 Sweet Felted Projects by Betz White Thanks for the heads-up on this one Anna. A great title - Betz's blog is here.

I'd be happy to add any others to this list just as long as the book began as a blog.  I've also created a Listmania! list on Amazon for this one called Craft Bloggers in Books.  Enjoy!