Taking a Break ~

….no, I'm not going anywhere…

I'm saying that when I take a break from my needlework & folk art

I head straight to the bookstore…

{ok, the quilt shop too}

Libraries and book shops have always held me captive ~ 

I would spend hours in the old Stratford Library ~ 

...digesting and absorbing as much as I possibly could…

gleaning information from those dusty old books,

 that I still can pull out of my childhood memory-bank.

I do love to read.

I am so very weak when it comes to magazines, especially.

{{my family & close friends will now nod yes please}}

So of course when I saw that the new issue of Stampington & Company's

Art Doll Quarterly

was on the newsstands ~

…well, tell me who could resist this beautiful face?

I have created quite a few doll designs in my past ~

making dolls is just. plain. fun.

I find that when I design and create a new doll

I get to do everything I love to do:

sketch

sew

stitch

and paint

working with so many mediums in one project is an awesome feeling :)

so you see where I'm headed with this?

yeah ~

now I gotta make a couple of dolls.

{told you I was weak}

***********************************

The other day I showed you a finish of a wool appliqué I did.

here is the 'almost' finish of another…

eye see you

combining those mediums again,

using wool, thread, and embellishments to bring my work to life ~

love those colors

in the photo below,

you can see at the bottom ~

where I use a stapler to attach my wool & fabric pieces together for appliquéing :

I'm not a fan of loose pins or pricking myself when I work, so the staples fit the bill.

plus, I can roll-up my WIP and take it with me ~ never worrying about the pieces shifting about.

^
see the staple?

*************************

and of course I have to include yet another volunteer vine

this one growing alongside the farmhouse & down towards the back….

another gourd? pumpkin? {fingers crossed}

 the bees were sleepy still when I snapped them in this squash blossom….

I love their little bee-hineys.

shhhhh…...

 the sad-looking flower to the right below, 

is one of my Passion Flowers ~

they are the most strange looking things I grow and I love them…

passion flower has lost it's sizzle

 BUT

when a Passion Flower goes,

it is replaced with….

Passion Fruit!

here are three of many growing up their arbor

(actually an old rusty garden gate)

I've never eaten one, but I hear they are good.

~ I love waking early and stepping outside into the cool morning air lately ~

I'll go grab my bowl of Cheerios and blueberries now, 

and sit a spell on the porch swing.

won't you join me?

* Blessed be *

 Lori