Celebrations and Publication!

This photo is for all my dog fans. Oatie will be six months on July 2nd! He is getting to be such a good companion. He sleeps on the floor almost under our bed, follows me everywhere, loves to go to the beach and is a good rider in the car! This is his second haircut and he is too cute!



More Swap ATCs arrived last week. Thank you to Meri, Barbara and Marci from the cloth, paper, studio forum! I am busy now making 6" x 6" cloth doodles. I just sent off my painted journal pages for a trade. If you would like to join our group, go to http://www.clothpaperstudio.com/



Symbols of the Beach

My cause for celebration is 3 fold this week. I was published in Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine in the July/ August issue! WOO HOO! Thank you again to Susan Sorrell for the Symbols class! Today is my youngest son's birthday. Matthew is 25 years old and he proudly wore his Bluejays Baseball watch that we got him to the game tonight at the Rogers Center. My third celebration was for my son James' graduation from the University of Toronto Teacher Education. (OISE) He is now a Secondary School Teacher!



Finally I took a picture of my finished 'GO Green' Challenge that was an extreme challenge, using mostly leather and lace. Below are two of my painted journal pages.




My three Dotee dolls for the cps swap!

A graduation Photo: me, James and my hubby Ray. Got to love the coordinated green!

Until next week friends, I'll be on summer holidays!

Busy, busy as the School Year Ends

As the school year ends, nothing gives me as much pleasure as teaching art to kids. I've been at my favourite school teaching cartooning to grade 7, painting to grade 5 and mosaics to grade 6! I am often given the freedom to prepare for the class and teach my own lesson. It is my giving back to my profession and to the kids especially when they love what they are doing! My favourite tool is my sketchbook. Many students love flipping through a little part of my life and art. I hope it inspires these young artists.
I've been busy with entries, street festivals and year end guild meetings. It was a pleasure but hard work to program for the Oakville Stitchery Guild. Last night was our annual general meeting with a potluck dinner, silent auction and slideshow of the Onartio Network of Needleworkers Meeting and show. We had a great year and I look forward to planning next year's program with the theme: 'Celebrating with Stitch'.



I am looking forward to future art endeavours this summer, starting with a declutterization of my house or studio. Which is which? My bookcase is put together and the first job is to gather my collection of books next to an easy chair and out of my sewing area! Then to tackle the dining room or paint studio as I refer to it. I want to camoflage the many supplies behind a standing screen. Finally my sewing studio in the basement, to make it more user friendly!




I wish to spend more time stitching at the cottage with Oatie, who loves to play with stings and threads. On the weekend, I was sitting on the deck watching the robins, feeling the breeze and sun. I was stitching my first Dotee doll for the Cloth, Paper Studio Swap. The photos above are from our back deck looking at our neighbour's yard in Turkey Point on Lake Erie. I manipulated then glorious green and red colours on my HP camera. Who knew what that little camera could do!
Last of all, my 'Beach Symbols' finalist piece is on its way home from Cloth Paper Scissors with a complimentary copy of the magazine. I am anxious to see if it is in the magazine! I received a felted picture from Scotland today from Aileen. Thank you Aileen, it is beautiful! A photo is coming soon! Until next time, keep stitching!