HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE. I hope it's as happy as mine. I dont' know if we are going to the invite or not ..depends on how we feel after dinner lol. I have been cooking. The pork roast is almost done, it's marinating since morning....


The pot of blk eyed peas with the ham bone etc.....



I made rice and peas with it..it is yummy....



And a big pot of collard and mustard greens....


I aso make apple sauce and when the pork is done I'll throw some of the gravy into the rice and peas. So I'm done cooking for the New Year. I have already started on Melody's Tulips...so that's where I'll be for the new year.

I had such a good time doing Melody's pattern that I decided to do another one today. This one is called Garden Cat. I don't travel much anymore so my chances of taking a class with her are almost nill. So I figure if I do at least 3 projects one after the other, I'll get the hang of it lol. The next one will be her tulip pattern. I left the best for the last lol.




There were a lot more flowers but I always change things ...for instance I like grass...so I put some in and took some flowers out. The tree to left sort of disappeared in this pic but it's there and some of that free space will disappear when the binding goes on. When it is quilted it will really look super. Here is another view. It's just fused right on to the batting. I will quilt it like a regular quilt with the backing and then bind it.

I have been busy creating one of Melody Johnson's creations...Pinwheels and Cornflowers. This is the first thing I did after Christmas so it's looking like a good beginning of creating for the coming year. I make no resolutions. I just do what pleases me and at the moment Melody's bright and happy designs please me a lot.



Another view....and now for the quilting. I put the pattern behind a release sheet and taped it to my table. I then proceeded to put the pieces together changing it a bit as I'm lazy and didn't want to cut patterns for everything so I improvise a lot. I like it. It is now fused to the hobbs batting and I might put it on the longarm and do my thing and repost when it's done....

I have been busy shopping and cleaning and decorating. I decided to do the tree at the last minute because hubby was pouting and saying things under his breath, you know? But it's nice to give a good cleaning and that's how I found the damn mango seed that dear Molly hid between the chair cushion. Just to give me more work. See the lil bitch here? Getting into the pic, nosey as all-getout. Anyway, that is a good view of the dinning room, next year that will totally change. I already have the wall paper and border and just need to get the paint. It will be a totally different look, a bit darker, it's time for a little change. We have lived in this house for 30 years now. We have changed just about everything. I want a new front door and new windows. I hear hubby bawling hahhaha....



Another view of the tree and parts of the parlor.


Another view.


I decided on green, gold and purple in the dinning area.....


A close-up of the Clauses....

I went outside tonight to look at some cactus blooming. Well that's what hubby said. I don't have a clue what the name of some of his plants are. Well anyway, this is beautiful. It was kinda dark but it seems the picture came out better. Here is the cactus blooming.




And then there is this fusia looking thing that is pretty as well....

I still haven't cleaned and decorated for christmas..oh well tomorrow is another day hahhahaha.....

Today was cook day. I usually cook a huge pot of beans and freeze some of it for later as I need it.



Stewed chicken, big fat roasting chicken. I saved the breast for some chinese later on during the week...


Fresh tortillas. You eat the beans and the chicken with the tortillas. Real Mexican style.

Here I am with lots to show. I have been so busy sewing doing and etc, etc, etc....I have finished the Pineapple quilt and here it is in all it's glory. I am really beginning to develope a fondness for quilts out of christmas fabric. They are so joyous and happy to me.... I must add that I have gotten this pattern out of Block Base. A software program by Babara Brackman and sold by the Electric Quilt Company. It is a stand alone program. It is wonderful to be able to get just about any block and make it any size you want and print it out right at home at your convenience. You know I stay up all hours of the night. I don't know when night comes lol....

Here is another view...



Another view...



Here is one of the doll heads that I paint, on a body and all with a crazy quilt coat...I love to paint big eyes and pretty faces. I actually went to school to learn how to. lol...



A full view of the doll. The head is actually make out of wood. Turned to specification. The hands are wood also and the body is a compination of wood and cloth and stuffed...



A back view of the crazy quilt coat..



I started making the christmas wine cakes today ...this is the batter all mixed up..

And that made this many cakes. Take note of the tester. It has already been tasted lol. Tomorrow I will pour the wine sauce over them....

THE STORY OF MY STUDIO

I used to have a studio where I taught Folk-Art years ago. It was in the historic downtown Longwood area, just 3 miles down the road from my house, in an old historic hotel, call the Langford Hotel in it's hayday.
I also had a 36 by 12 ft. porch on the back of my house not being used. It was either too hot for 8 months of the year or too muggy and cold the rest of the time.
One day my brother offered to enclose the porch for me and air-condition it. At the time he was living with me (oh goody). So for about 2 grand, we enclosed aired, windowed, electricfied, insulated this lovely room and it has saved me from paying rent for many years...as I brought my students to my home studio.
I have had many classes here, and many happy happy times with so many friends. As the years went by I would do different things to enhance the look of the studio. One of the things was the floor. It always bugged me. I had put some vinyl down and it soon went all to bits as there is a concreted floor underneath. Well I decided to paint it. I had no idea of the work involved...well here goes. The floor had to be painted in four parts because of the furniture and the dogs. We moved everything to one side and I basecoated it first with patio paint for the hardware store..allowed it to cure for 48 hours.... here you see a quarter of the floor, basecoated and a few bricks painted. I used regular acrylic artist paint.."Deco Americana"



Here is the entire quarter side bricked.

Here is the other quarter and that completed half the floor. Now I let each quarter cure for 48 hours and then varnished four coats and let that cure another 3 or 4 days before I moved the furniture over.


Whee, half done and I'm fed up and bored with the same brick over and over so I slept on it. Next day I decided to do some artistic stuff. So I made 12 by 12 art tiles the other half of the floor.



Ahhh that went faster and I'm excited...here is a closer view...oh and I decided I might as well paint the walls pink.


This is the other side with more tiles...I then filled in with bricks and stones and whatever would fit in.... It took one month for this project. I have enjoyed it for 4 years now. I see a few scratches here and there but that is because I have dragged heavy stuff accross it. I will just put an art tile over them when I'm in the mood. That's the great thing about this floor. If I drop paint on it, it's just fine. It just adds to the artwork.



The left side or the right depends which way you are standing...oh and the bricks are getting more colorful?



A longer view of the first set of bricks...

The picture of the week!! Remembet it's a bit nippy here in Orlando? well this is today, Saturday morning, about noon I think. Hubby had disappeared. I was busy working on my pineapple blocks. I went to find him, in my quilt-room, on top of the quilt covered in fleese, with a hood on and all and quilts and of course Molly....




Here is a lovely picture of the Wows. Wows are wild women of the west. We have been friends forever..this pic was taken in Sarasota Fl on one of our little jaunts for better living (I'm the one with the white hair, I'm wearing my cat coat)....The main funny brought back from this trip was as follows: we were looking for a restuarant. We asked this very distinguished gentleman for directions to a good one. Well, he preceeded to invite us to dine with him and was a bit flirty. We declined of course being married women and respectable and all. He continued to talk to us, unforming us that he could handle all of us and that he would start with the short one first (that's me and I'm the oldest)..well, we all started to all laugh all at once. We graciously thanked him and went on our merry way and found this place in the pic. Needless to say I have never lived down the, "I'll take the short one first" statement.



Here is another pic. We were sitting on this bench just before our encounter with the nice gentleman ...hahhahaha

Tomorrow I will show you my studio floor that I painted about 3 years ago.....

It's gets a bit nippy even here in sunny Florida So out comes the big pot and everything get thrown in it that is a veg and happens to be in the frig. Doesn't it look scumptious?




I sewed all day on pineapple blocks, clipped and bathe one dog, took time out to make the soup and the cookies..these are actully real nice wholesome cookies...in fact I'm having one now with my soup lol...


This is how I make the cookies...1 stick of butter, 1 cup of brown sugar, one tabl. vanilla..just kinda mix these roughly...then add 3 cups flour, 2 cups oatmeal (not minute), 1/2 cup oat bran (the kind you cook), 1 cup granola, throw in a handful of chocolate chips, and as many walnuts as desire...kinda just stir these around or fold or whatever...make a hole in the center ..add 2 beaten eggs, 1 teaspoon Baking soda disolved in a little water, and about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of milk or juice or whatever....mix this real good...the doung will be real stiff..you just want to get it mixed. If you have muffin top pans great!....now wet you hands, grap a piece of cookie dough and flatten out in your hand and place in muffind top pan..continue and keep wetting your hands for each cookie ..the dough is real stiff..the idea is to mold the cookie....bake 350 for 15 minutes depending on your oven....these cookies as you have noticed do not really have a lot of fat or sugar but are delicious. They make a good breakfast food or a quick snack and if you need more fiber in your diet? believe me these have it lol....

I got some more blocks done. Here are four blocks and you can really see the pineapples now. I managed to do two blocks today while listening to Andre Reiu's beautiful music...Many time I wanted to get up and dance.... here you can see the motion created by the light and dark fabrics.




Another view.. you can see a secondery pattern forming where the pineapples meet...



Another view... you see fat light pineapples and skinng dark ones and the square in the middle...

Time to make more food people are hungry lol...here is a nice big fat chicken roasting....

Red beans and rice still steaming...


And stewed apples, pears and oranges...

And while that was cooking I started on my other king size christmas quilt. This one will be the traditional pineapple. Here is the first block. I'm pleased with it....

Another view.

Another view.

Too much thanksgiving I think lol...well things around the house. Here is my Lone Star quilt, king size.
















A close-up...

Another close-up...

I'm still re-grouping today lol.