So Far the Storm is Not Too Bad

  How are you fairing with this major storm coming through?  I know the east coast has not gotten it yet-but from the news reporting it's been a rough one for us states that have gotten it so far..

  The temperatures are pretty severe here in the Ozarks, wind and a little snow today maybe a couple inches. We are supposed to get a lot of snow tonight and tomorrow before it moves on. Wouldn't mind at all if we didn't get that-smiles.

Stay safe and warm those of you in the path

  I have seen photos on Facebook with bare shelves in the grocery stores-glad I went early when I did.

Watercolor Practice & Update

   I worked on this one last night.

    Wanted to try painting a cabin in the front-and didn't come out so well-so I mixed up a different brown and turned it into a big boulder haha.

  I need to look for a you tube on how to paint a simple cabin. I had watched a Bob Ross video and he whips those out so fast haha   

   This is another winter scene in Missouri and this area does have lots of rocks and boulders  around the rural areas

  (click to enlarge for better viewing) I am liking this one.

 I ordered a new to me tea and it came in the mail today-I really like it

Friday Morning--Good Morning Friends

    As this arctic storm travels through our country-and Canada-and if you are able to-please check in on your blog to let us know you are all safe and doing ok  I am praying this storm will not be as severe as predicted.   

    The strong winds started up last night and continue this morning. God bless us all

Are You Ready for the Arctic Blast Coming In??

   Good morning, watching the weather forecast yesterday-Wow a lot of our country is in for an arctic blast along with lots of snow and/or ice.

  Where we live on Lake in the Ozarks-we are on a line to either get lots of ice and snow-or perhaps not  much at all. If we do - it will be the first of this winter. However the arctic blast with temps in the minus is scary for sure. I will be praying we and You do not lose our electric  We live in an area that is mostly seasonal for those having homes here-so this area would not be a priority to get the lights back on.

  I did get to Wal mart for food shopping yesterday-it was the warmest day for a couple of weeks now-in the mid '40's and we were in the mid '30's the night before-so I was not too worried about my old car starting. It is a  1999 Mountainer

  This reminds me of the rough winter we had at the woods home over 20 years ago-19 days with no electric service and everything covered in thick ice. We had wood stoves for heat back then and my old Wolf commercial stove did not need electric to use-like gas stoves do now-so we were ok, and we had a generator for a little light in the evenings-and so I could use my computer to pay bills. Sadly over the years I have lost most of my photos-I had some beautiful ones of the thick ice on trees etc.

  Today I am getting all the laundry caught up, and clean up the house-dusting and vacuuming. I may fill up large pans of water for flushing the toilet and doing dishes if the lights go out.

Sending prayers that we all will be safe from harm-are you ready for this arctic blast? and some of us getting lots of ice and snow-thick ice is the scary part.

  

 

  

Painting Practice & This & That

  Good morning Tuesday,

   We begin a slight warm up today and tomorrow-so I will be food shopping tomorrow. After that we are going down into into the low single digits.

  Last night I grabbed the other side of the winter scene in the magazine for inspiration.  I kinda like this one too but my tree trunk needs much improvement for the next try. 

(click the photos for better viewing)

I added some foot prints

The other day when I was going through the Sashiko items-I found two pieces that would make into small pillows. I grabbed the indigo cloth first and stitching with white Sashiko thread. I should have started the other one first (a beige fabric using greens for the dragonflies) so my poor quality stitches would not show up so well-sigh.  

   This is just a simple stitch-a running stitch-but so far I can't get the stitches to be all the same size. I had taken it out so many times-that I am not going to do that anymore going forward. My eyes are not as good as before, and I went through my needles to find one that would work better for me-I did find one. I have watched videos on this and most so an entire line of stitches before pulling the thread through.

  (Sorry about the poor photos-haven't decided if I want to spend a lot of money on a camera or not)

 A couple weeks ago I decided on a layout for the next slow stitch bag-and have it all pinned. I use small quilt curved pins. I do not have much more of my hand dyed fabrics left-so using my stash of purchased and gifted hand dyes along with a few of my own. I used up a lot of my own hand dyes cutting out the lining for the bags.

  Yesterday I pulled out a grass fed organic beef chuck roast-came in one of my meat boxes I had purchased last year. Was saving it for a cold winter day. Cooked it in the slow cooker with potatoes and carrots--soooo delicious!  I have not made one of these in years. We do not eat much meat any more.  I divided the left overs into one for another meal with veggies and the other one to shred and make into peperoncino beef sandwiches. Larry likes that and I have not made it n a long time now.

Stay warm and safe with this extremely cold arctic air moving through.

Sunday in the Art Room

    I am joining in with Nicole's link up Sunday in the art room

As my readers know I am new to painting so I am a beginner and just exploring in hopes of getting better.

  My first two attempts were bad-haha-However for the first time I loved my sky and lake-but when I tried to paint the sunrise-which we enjoy every morning here over the lake-what a disaster I was sad about that one. My second attempt was even worse.

  So I am up early this very cold morning (11 degrees F)  and thought I would attempt a winter scene. My inspiration came from a photo in the Missouri conservation magazine-the scene looked exactly like a spot at our woods property.

  I used watercolors  I may come back and update with a better photo

  When we first moved to Missouri I did not know that oak trees keep their leaves through the winter-the spring leaves push them off in the spring. (for better viewing click to enlarge)

 

Frigid Weather Has Arrived & Paint Practice

   Good Morning, 

      Brrrrir we have very cold temperatures here since last night. I am glad I changed my dentist appointment as I don't need to start my very old car when it is in the low teens and I don't need to be out in it either.

  Tuesday night I couldn't sleep-I seem to have quite a few of those days, so I finished reading a book, then finished a puzzle on Jigsaw Planet's site and started another Snoopy puzzle-smiles. Still couldn't fall asleep so I decided to start a new practice painting.

  I was very happy with this one. I used watercolor paints and ink for highlights. I did it all except for the flower petals on the lily pads.

  This morning, I finished it up. I didn't do a great job with the flowers but I am still happy to see the improvements.

  I shared this book a couple years ago when I started up learning how to paint and I really love this one. Most of the work is done with inks or watercolor paints. (photos will enlarge just click on them)

 

    

  Here is the page I chose

When I am not using my own handmade inks, I use Winsor Newton

(if you enlarge these below you can see the details better. Any advice on improving the petals is welcomed

 

I was quite pleased with most of this painting-perhaps I should paint tired and into the night more often-haha

   This week I have been setting up stitching threads, and reminding myself what I have. Had not touched any stitches project really for over 2 years.  So when I did that I uncovered the Sashiko threads and a couple printed pieces to stitch. One will make into a pillow cover -so am thinking of starting out with that piece. 

  I ordered some variegated DNC embroidery floss at an Etsy shop-so got those on to the cards yesterday-they keep the threads tidy and tangled free. I had purchased for my slow stitch bags-hand dyed embroidery threads, and also was gifted some-but since I needed more I decided to go with DNC threads and I know they are colorfast too over hand dyed.  

   The post office lost my package of fabrics I had purchased on Etsy-so the seller is sending me out another package. I don't have a lot left in my own hand dyes so am picking up some on Etsy for my bag project.

  I have not started the toothbrush rugs yet but everything for that is ready to go.

Another year has gone by to remember 9-11  I was a phone operator at the time-so that added to my memories of that day. 

   How is your weather this week??

  

Painting Practice

  Good morning, This year I decided I wanted to structure my days a bit more. 

     Going into the third year of home care for my husband, I had pretty much given up my craft projects. I do not make new year's resolutions but this year, I decided I wanted to be sure to paint several days each week, continue reading, and also get back to slow stitching, don't think weaving is in the picture this year, but perhaps more spinning.  I still want to weave a poncho type garment for myself one day.

    I needed more structure in my days even though we are at home all the time. I only go out and about for food shopping or doctors visits these days.  I was never someone that enjoyed shopping just to shop-when living rural easier to shop online anyways. I can search for what I am looking for with a click of the mouse-haha   I never have enjoyed driving either-back when I was working my drive was always 1 to 2 hours each way.

   So last night I painted the background with watercolor paints. This morning I used gouache paints. I have a book I picked up several years ago that shows brush strokes-and this book mostly uses inks-which was another reason I picked it up at the time.

  I am really enjoying the porcelain pieces I purchased for the water, and the stacked dishes to hold paints-I am using those for the gouache paints. click to enlarge photos for better viewing

This mixed media book is almost full-since these pages are all practice-I am painting on both sides of the pages so they are beginning to curl a bit from the water used. I have about a dozen more pages left.

The photo showed a different color for the stem but decided I didn't care for that-I may go over that brown stem with green once dry.

  Enjoy your day -- sunny here but getting colder in the evenings again well it is winter haha  No snow or ice here so far. Thankful for that as I would have steps and a hill to clear.