It's an Interior Thing - Split Personality

I'm in the middle of painting our family room in preparation for Saturday and putting up our Christmas decorations. If we don't paint this week it won't get done for a few more weeks because I for one don't want to work round our tree. Once all the painting is done we will come to a decision about the fireplace.
The wall looks a bit funky at the moment with the two colors but I am working my way round the room.

I caught our "men at work" recently when they assisted with scrubbing off wall paste in the bedrooms/bathroom hallway.

Our kitchen chandelier created an interesting (I think) pattern on the hall wall and ceiling during the painting process.

Back to the family room. This is the section I will be painting today. There's just enough room with everything pulled out for me to get my wee stepladder in behind the entertainment unit.

Tomorrow afternoon I hope to get the little bit by the other window and round to the fireplace finished off. While I still miss the tone on tone stripey wallpaper from our hallway I am enjoying the new calmer color in our family room.
The other project I am working on is the master bathroom. I'm scrubbing the shower stall area in preparation for new paint and might repaint the rest of the room. Given that it is the size of a small closet it should not take too long to do :)

Artist of the Week - Melani Kane Brewer

I've mentioned on a number of occasions that I am interested in learning how to do 3-dimensional textile art  properly. Melani does some beautiful work. http://melanibrewer.com/ Since her work is under copyright I have opted to show a couple of details from two of her pieces.

Sunset At The Saltmarsh (detail)

Walk In The Woods I (detail)
Melani is originally from Ohio but now lives in Florida. She has a background in biology (teacher) and anthropology which is very apparent in her work. Melani's attention to detail is stunning.

Colourful Friday - SILVER

Good morning one and all. For those of you who celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday I hope you had a fabulous day. We stayed home this year and had a restful day enjoying each others company. Ate waaaay too many desserts (as usual) and don't feel ready for breakfast yet :)

Onwards to the color SILVER which can range from white through dark grey depending upon the light. It's one of my favorite colors and I had a hard time culling photos :)

Darling daughter #2 looooooves shoes and I actually miss not seeing so many round the house anymore !!!!! This pair is still here and for the photo they are resting on top of one of the dresses she made for her flute trio.

Nashville dust has a silver/grey hue to it ..... at least at our house it does :) Wouldn't you know it ....... the shadows look silver/grey and the highlight could just sneak in there too

I make rice pudding from scratch and am currently stocking up on evaporated and condensed milk because Christmas is coming :)

Darling son is reading and DD #3's elephant decided to join in. The book cover has a lot of silver in it that changes color depending upon the light.

Our kitchen has tons of "SILVER" aka chrome, the biggest item being the fridge/freezer we bought a couple of years ago at our local scratch and dent store.

The Hansen great grandparents originally came from Norway and our Viking hangs in the front living room with all our family photos lending a very whimsical look to the arrangement.

One of my flower sketches is on paper that has silver stringy bits in it. For those of you who have visited my blog for a long time you may remember this one from being one of my blog headers last year.

I'm working on a project for Mrs. Moen and need lots of circles.

Head on over to Bev's blog (our temporary hostess) to see some more fun SILVER blog entries. http://kaingahappenings.blogspot.com/ Robyn will be back next week so many thanks to Bev for keeping the party going.

Next weeks color is Teal.

Creative Prompt Project - TWIST

Another photograph for this week. This is what happens to your truck when you slide on black ice, fly through the air and land sideways in a ditch - a lot of TWIST(ED) wreckage :) (The accident was in February and I have recovered quite well. Thanks for the concern.)

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. I for one am thankful for life, family, friends and the beauty around us.

One of my Celtic Knots for a signature block swap event I participated in. Love Celtic knots with all their TWIST(S) and turns

Beautiful Britain - Horse at Water

A few days before John visited London an new sculpture was unveiled (14 Sept. 2010). Titled "Horse at Water" by Nic Fiddian-Green it stands an impressive 33 feet high. It's made of bronze and took about a year to build. It weighs 17 tonnes and currently is the tallest free-standing sculpture in London.

When I first looked at the hubsters photograph I thought "Oh look at all those wonderful little birds. How are they attached?" On closer inspection I realized they were real birds, probably pigeons :) Given that particular birds propensity for pooping everywhere you turn I doubt that the sculpture will stay pristine for long.

To read more about the sculpture and why it came about visit http://artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=40761&int_modo=1 I pinched the picture of the artist with head from the article. Take a close look and work out if he is standing up or lying down :)
Before I forget the sculpture is located near Marble Arch.

Here's another one of the artist's equestrian sculptures, this time it's "Still Water" that was installed at Ascot Race Course on June 8, 2010. It's a bit smaller at 20 feet but still impressive. (This one, I think was a temporary installation.)

An interesting article about Nic Fiddian-Green and his sculptural philosophy can be found at http://www.holmesadamsprojects.com/nicfiddiangreen.php

Artist of the Week - Dog Daisy Chains

Meet the very popular Jackie Cardy of Dog Daisy Chains. An embroiderer who lives in Lancashire, England she specializes in using silk and velvet which she embellishes with machine embroidery. She has developed her pieces into some very interesting jewelry. Some of her work has been featured in Quilting Arts Magazine http://www.quiltingarts.com/Fine-Sewing-Techniques/.
Her hearts and leaves are wonderful. http://dogdaisychains.blogspot.com/ I love the texture and atmosphere (yes atmosphere) she creates with her pieces.

Quilts to Comfort Christchurch's Kids - update

Three blog entries in one day, now that's a record even for me :)

The sew-in starts tomorrow (Saturday) at Jillianz Patchwork and Quilting for all the blocks donated to Cat thus far. http://catalinanz.blogspot.com/ see her Friday November 19, 2010 posting.

Here's a few of the blocks scattered round the store floor in anticipation of the big event :)

Colourful Friday - BROWN

Brown is such a grounding color. I love it. It goes with almost any color you can imagine.
I have to show you this picture because darling son is having a chocolate themed birthday party tomorrow. Hubbie bought a fountain yesterday so of course we had to test it last night :) Messy but fun.

Oh I just noticed BROWN pretzels and a BROWN lighthouse rock in the background!!!!!

I made some singing reindeer fabric postcards for a christmas swap last year. Ho, ho, ho, who says santa has to have all the fun :)

My daughter took this photograph for a digital photography class project. It ended up pink and round with flowers by the time she was done manipulating it !!!!!!

I received this wall hanging in an autumn swap last year. Isn't it gorgeous. Turns out it was the "dry run" for a design that has since been published by Krista at http://poppyprintcreates.blogspot.com/

If you look really close you can see my happy wood nymphs. They sit on their wood wreath year round. We have lots of brown wood furniture and brown wood floors in our brown brick house but if I showed you all the brown related photographs this post would go on for ever and a day.

And what would life be like without chocolate chip cookies? Yum. Gotta have them with milk. Nothing else works well in my opinion.

I designed and made this biscornu. My first attempt. I eventually gave it away as a gift. I'll be trying it out in different colors at some point. It's also the start off point for a sampler that I am trying to design but have not gotten very far with yet.

And back full circle to that grounding color. Your basic dirt that we gardeners (or attempting to be gardeners) all love. It looks more like mulch to me but who's to argue with what's written on the dirt bag. It worked well and my plants loved it so all is good.
So now dear readers I must bid you adieu. I'm off to paint some walls cream. It'll probably take up a good chunk of my day.
Hop on over to http://kaingahappenings.blogspot.com/ for some more BROWN fun. Next week SILVER.

Patches For Lissa update

The quilt is done and has been delivered. Lissa and her quilt look gorgeous together but the important thing is ...... she is now home with her family :)

To find out more about the update visit http://melsownplace.blogspot.com/2010/11/lissa-and-her-quilt.html Mel did all the piecing for her sister-in-law's quilt.

http://milliesquilting.blogspot.com/2010/11/lissas-quilt.html Millie did the long arm quilting. All the signature blocks went on the back.

and http://janesfabrics.blogspot.com/ (Tuesday November 16, 2010 entry) Jane collected the blocks and signature squares from all of us.

Creative Prompt Project - Sparkle

I opted for a photograph I took last christmas of a little vignette I created. For me SPARKLE is associated with light of some kind. It is a joyful, fun word that brings happiness. Sparkle can create moods anywhere from frothy to drama.
So now that I've said all that I just realized the prompt word is Twinkle. I think my santa covers both words. He sparkles in the mini lights which make his little jewels twinkle :)

Beautiful Britain - Christchurch Mansion

This is about the only house John has interior photographs of and he took a whole lot of them.

Christchurch Mansion can be found just outside Ipswich town center and is a museum of some worth. The area was originally the site of a 12th century Augustinian priory that was disbanded by Henry VIII
during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The Withypoll family bought the land in 1545 and commenced building the mansion. At some point in the 18th century the mansion was bought and expanded by Claude Fonnereau. The mansion changed hands again in 1892 and Felix Cobbold saved the mansion from demolition by turning it into a museum and art gallery under the care of the city of Ipswich. Would you believe admission is free ! With lots of nooks and crannies to explore it's a great place to take all sizes (and ages) of kidlets :)

SewCalGal's Christmas Quilt Show 2010

It's time for another blog hop (with fun prizes), this time at SewCalGal's blog. Her Christmas hop last year was enjoyable.
I have a little double-sided wall hanging (13"x13") that's a wannabe table mat so I had some fun over the weekend and tried out three options for usage. I made it two or three years ago and just love the color combination. The floral was my jump off fabric and then I picked out a few fat quarters from my collection and played till I was happy with the combination. I did traditional 9 patch blocks on the front and free formed the back.

Option #1 probably won't happen since we hang our stockings on the mantel.
Option #2 looks great under my prayer plant and picks up the colors from the leaves.
Option #3 is where it sits at the moment till I get ready for Christmas :)

Before I forget here's the back of my "mat". I might add more stitching but I'm in no rush to do so.

So hop on over to http://sewcalgal.blogspot.com or click on the BIG button on my sidebar and join in the fun.

Project update - it's not quilting but .....

Lucy wants to show you something that's going on at our house. It's one of the reasons I have not done any sewing this week. (The other was preparing to teach a genealogy class at out local YMCA, which happened today.)

See that step stool? We are stripping wallpaper in our back hallway. The top vinyl stripey part is all gone and we are now tackling the paper backing. Our darling son is having his birthday party a week from tomorrow and so we are aiming to have everything stripped and painted before then. I confess I miss the tone-on-tone stripes that were there but life moves on.

And this is the other room that is going to get painted. We've moved a lot of the furniture around and the ratty old couch will be leaving fairly soon. Since both areas run off the central kitchen everything is getting painted cream for the time being. (Sounds kind of boring but given some of the strong color combinations we have in the house it'll be nice to have some calm, restful areas for a while.)

I'm going to be participating in a new project soon. Click on the link on my sidebar and find out what that is all about :) I hope some of you can join it too.