More Sketches

I have been feeling very lethargic and lazy lately.  Everyone but me was hit hard with the flu the past few weeks.  I have been feeling run down, but that could be from numerous things.  The picture below is how I felt inside.  The picture scares my little girl, Audrey.  I think it is kind of funny myself.

Speaker for the dead, the next book in the Ender series Sci-Fi

I have been doing minimal practice on sketching cute girls and here they are below.

Some flying poses.

Happy New Year!  The year of the Horse!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! & Happy Holidays!

Wishing you a creative and productive year filled with Love and Joy!

Jamie & Audrey

Practicing Sketches of Characters

Adding movement is the next step in Tascha's drawing class.  Not that I've master the front facing, but variety is nice.  I think I can honestly say I probably do more erasing than drawing, but I bought a pack of three big erasers, so I am good to go.  I've only just began so hopefully I will be diligent about practicing and I look forward to seeing what or who shows up on my little pieces of paper.  And I look forward to advancing to bigger pieces of scrap paper in the near future.  When Tascha draws these gals leaning in, they don't look like they have a premature curvature of the spine, they look shy and cute, just saying.

Sewing up a Storm

My husband took the girls to see his folks for the weekend.  I have been having fun sewing up some projects that have been on the back burner for some time now.

The first thing I sewed up was Geta Grama's Twice as nice - Double pouch. here  A nice big pouch for just about anything especially when traveling.

Measures 7" tall, 11" wide at top 3-1/2" deep.

Geta's 19 pages of colorful directions were wonderful

I used fabric I had on hand.  I love the Michael Miller fabric.  It looks folk artsy.  I ripped out the zipper on the big pouch because I didn't think it would open in the same direction as the smaller pouch, but I guess I had it on correctly the first time because both zippers do not open in the same direction.  Oh well, live and learn.  For some reason my machine didn't want to move when sewing the zipper and I really had to pull and/or take out the nest and start over.  I did tell my machine if it didn't behave I would trade it in.  Apparently, my machine cannot be bullied into behaving, fancy that!

Saturday after getting my hair done and getting some Sees chocolates, I started on Noodlehead's 241 Tote.

Saturday evening I had to take a break because I went to see a show with friends and was pleasantly entertained.  It is good to see live performers.

Sunday I finished the tote bag.  I picked the colors I thought would look nice next to mother's face, which is hard to see under fluorescent lighting.  Very cloudy today.

I think I would put fusible fleece in the handle next time.  It is a great bag if you just want something smaller than a big tote bag but enough to hold the necessary items for a day out and about.

It feels great  expressing my creativity through sewing.  I think I have enough time to start laying out the pattern and template for the next project.  I have in mind a small doll.  Stay tuned.

Online Drawing Class with Tascha Parkinson

It was my intention to join the Life Book 2014 starting in January, but after considerable pondering I felt I could give more of myself to the "process" when my girls were in school full time and that would be in 2015.  In preparation for Life Book 2014 I have been practicing drawing faces.

Then I decided to take an online drawing class with Tascha Parkinson, who actually is one of the teachers of Life Book 2014. (check out her flikr, it is amazing and always inspires me here )  I have been having fun drawing her cute little girls with different dimensions.

It is fun to see what shows up on my scrap paper.

I have a long way to go but drawing is so relaxing.  There is a part of me that is feeding off this creative outlet, like a starving man who stumbles upon a Thanksgiving feast.

Crocheting Hats and more Hats

Lately I have had big plans on sewing bags and purses.  But there seems to be some block in my brain (fear of failure?) that is keeping me from sewing them up. So I decided to do some crocheting.  I started a cute Amigarumi called Kangaroo Kira.  There are a lot of parts so I wanted to get started.  Then my  relative who lives in Hawaii and is actually delivering or has delivered a baby girl wanted a boob beanie.  So I made her three.  Not sure of the size head her baby will have so I made several different sizes.  And I made another beanie (not a boob beanie) for my coworker whose daughter is going through chemo.  I hope the beanie I made fits her.  I'm not a beanie fan because they are so tight, and I have a flat head, but it might make her feel better to wear something pretty when the chemo makes her hair fall out.  I feel so bad for my coworker and her daughter. So, so scary.  All these hat patterns I got free off of You Tube.

For my coworker's daughter

St. Croix River at Taylors Falls

I thought this picture was fun and wanted to share it.  We had a cool, crisp Sunday and found ourselves at the St. Croix River.