October Update

I’ve been so busy around here getting ready for winter. Most of the porch cushions are cleaned and packed away until spring. I also worked on the basement and the garage. I’ve also spent lots of hours outside weeding and mulching. Right now I have 25 bags of mulch in the bed of the truck waiting for me.

The shade garden is finished. The hostas have been eaten down by the deer. Any remaining leaves I cut off.

Here is how this area looked in June. Much different.

This is the butterfly garden. I’m halfway done with weeding and mulching it. Hopefully I’ll get out there today and finish it.

This is how it looked in June.

We had the local landscaping company come out and work on our front slope. It had been covered in ivy, but for the last couple of years it has been nothing but weeds. We also had the weeping cherries removed. I made a major decision to give up the beds on each side of the driveway. That means no more irises. But with all of the work in the backyard I decided that enough was enough. I guess I can live without those beautiful flowers. Here is how it looks now. I’m excited to see how it will look next spring.

As I mentioned in my last post, I appeared on WEHT Local Lifestyles demonstrating Leaf Printing a week ago Friday. Here is a picture of Ange, the host, and me before our segment. She’s holding up one of my daubers. So much fun. I always enjoy being on the show and sharing my art. To see the segment, check out this link.

I bought some roving recently for another project I’ll be blogging about later this week. Aren’t these colors yummy?

I’ve started preparing for my upcoming Easy and Fun Silk Scarf Dyeing class in November. I always demonstrate several techniques before everyone gets started. I decided to add at least one new technique to the class this time. Here is one of the scarves they’ll be able to create. If you are local, I have another Easy and Fun Silk Scarf Dyeing class scheduled for Saturday, December 10 at Scattered Art. Call Dolly at 812.490.0074 to reserve your spot.

One of the days last week was an errand day. While out I stopped by Burlington Coat Factory. I was on the lookout for new house shoes. My old ones fell apart last year and with the cold weather approaching I needed new ones to keep my feet warm. I found these and the tag said “retail $26.00.” I really hated to spend that kind of money and retail anything, but I really liked these and didn’t want to drive all over town looking for them. When I got to the register, she rang up $7.99! I was shocked. She told me I needed to look on the back of the tag. Yep, right on the back was their price. What a bargain!

Then it was on to Tuesday Morning. I always like to stop there to see if they have any exciting craft items at good prices. I found several of these daubers and a couple Martha Stewart tools. I’m looking forward to playing with them.

With the darker days, I put my SAD light back on my desk. I turn it on for 45 minutes every morning while I’m reading my emails.  I’ll do this until April. It sure seems to lighten my mood during the long winter months.

Meanwhile, the cats are gearing up for winter. Puddin is such a lap cat, but she is even more so as the temperatures cool down. Here she is on Dave’s lap one morning when he came into my studio to chat.

I played a bit last week with mandalas.  I’ll leave you with the two I did for the 100 Mandala weekend online event. Here is the food one.

I’m not real excited about the following one, but I liked the idea of stretching outside of my normal mandala drawing. If you are interested in mandalas, check out this Facebook Group.

Have a creative week!