Hello out there?

Ahhhh, I am the prodigal blogger. Blogging pretty well, then leaving for long extended periods of time without so much as a "see you later..."

I know this is no way to entice new followers, or keep the seven I have. (Thanks seven, by the way, you warm my heart.) I will be back here soon. Very soon. I have some Father's Day love I was remiss in sharing, I have a photography book review, and other things I've been involved with and working on. Hopefully this place will also get a face lift. I will definitely have to work with my blog consultant on that one. It's all coming. Soon...

Spring has sprung...and now it's gone...

Our spring, it seems, was shortlived here. We went from winter to spring, for about four whole days (I'm exaggerating a little but not much), to heat wave and then right back to spring. Or maybe we only get the two really hot days this summer and now we've already moved on to fall like weather. Who knows? I just don't understand how it can possibly be 97 degrees one day and 60 the very next. My dad says, "Meh, that's Wisconsin for ya." These beautiful blooms adorned the trees in our yard but two weeks ago. They lasted a couple days and were blown off by not so gentle spring winds. Pumpkin calls them "popcorn" in reference to a song she loves about "popcorn popping on the apricot tree".

Now school is out for the summer...we have those long, lazy, warm days to look forward to. Yesterday evening a quick storm blew through and we were left with this:

Ahhhhh, I hope there are many more nights like this.

Happy Easter...ummm just a little bit late

I had a little Easter outfit ALMOST ready for Pumpkin but alas, I did not finish it. More on that later. So we resorted to a dress she already had in her closet. One we got from Target after Easter last year for three whole dollars. Yep. Three. It's a poofy, pink, princess dress that's for sure. Usually not her style. But she princessed it up for me big time for about ten shots before she started twitching, jumping, laughing, skipping, circling the tree, looking for bugs, doing her "hot dog" dance, and sticking her tongue out at me. Little goober.

Happy Easter! And happy, happy spring! We tried to fly a kite today but our faces froze off. Still. Can you believe it? Still. Please, oh please, oh please sunshine...stay (for more than five hours at a time) and warm us up! (P.S. in the pictures above I made Pumpkin take her sweater off so I could see her dress and she kept telling me she was cold. Frown, and sigh.)

ABC's

We went to the park the other day, against Superman's better judgement. The weatherman said it was 40 degrees out. My freezing face and hands told me it was 5 degrees. Oh, when? When will you be here spring? We weep for you! We pushed Pumpkin on the swings and tried to slide down the wet, cold slides. And then we gave up and used Superman's camera to take some quick snaps of letters we could find in the playground around us. Here are a few we found:








Superman has a good eye! We had a great time (really quickly because it was so blasted cold), took these pics home, and with the help of photoshop (which I LOVE...It's my fav software EVER) came up with this:





They look pretty cool. (Except that I guess they spell "gisk" which I don't think is a word, but you can see the potential!) And now the creativity begins...stay tuned for more ABC fun...

I've been painting

Here is a watercolor I recently finished. I don't think I can express how much I enjoy watercolor. I know I have mentioned that before but every time I sit down to paint I am reminded once again...it's definitely my bliss. (Or one of them.) I seem to have a hard time, however, relaying that passion to my students. There are not many of them who really understand or like the medium. It saddens me. I've thought about that a lot, especially over the course of this school year, and have tried to think of some other way to introduce them to watercolor only to come up short...I've got nothing. Yet. I'm sure it will come to me in time. Hmmmmm....maybe if I keep painting....

Celestial Bodies, 2011

A thousand words..."Go Big or Go Home"

I've missed a couple weeks on the link party over here at Bugaboo. It's fun. It's my sis. She gives you a prompt to guide your photo snapping for the week. This week's prompt was "Go Big or Go Home". I like it. Here's what I've got:




So what are these you ask? Well, they're Crayola markers it's true...but not just any markers... They are large scale cardboard sculptures created by students in the 3D class at the high school where I work. And they are pretty awesome. I love the things our kids come up with.They are incredibly creative. Every day is a new adventure!









Stop over and take a look! Link up! Have some fun!

My new favorite T

Just wanted to share something else quick before I pack it in and ready myself for work tomorrow...I made myself a tshirt over the break that I really like. I based my top on a post I saw here:

http://sewingin-nomansland.blogspot.com/2011/03/instant-gratification-top.html

The thing I really love about Kelly's top is the amazing and feminine ruffle around the neckline. I modified my T a bit. I put sleeves on mine. I wanted to be able to wear it without a cardi and I don't wear tanks without a cardi. I also didn't extend the ruffle all the way around the neckline. I finished all seams and edges, including the neckline and the ruffle. (Next time maybe I'll go with a more carefree look and feel and leave the edges raw.) And I extended the length.

I started mine the same way she started hers. I used one of my favorite tshirts as a guide. I folded it, layed it out on my jersey knit fabric, and traced. I did the same for the back. I did the same for the sleeves, which was a bit more difficult, but I did it! The ruffle is, well, basically a really long knit casing. I used a loose running stitch up the middle, gathered the fabric, pinned it in place and sewed it to the shirt. I like it a whole bunch. And I'm going to try it again. I really like the extended length.

Pay no attention to my gross hair and no makeup. I didn't go ANYWHERE today.