My busy, busy life

I feel bad that I haven't visited as many people as I had hoped to visit these past two weeks, so now I'll try to show you why.

Recently my blog friend Caterina at La Dolce Vita showed what was on her work tables.  I thought I would begin with the same.

On my table where I stand to work, I have the Big Kick my friend Kathy gave me when her sister died.  However, she only gave me one die, so I borrowed several of hers so I could cut my fabric and paper before she came to retrieve the dies.  I've been working this die cutter to the bones for nearly two weeks.

I have lots of file folders I'm cutting to size on my guillotine cutter.

I don't have to go far to get to my sewing machine, although I've only accomplished a very small amount of sewing here these past two weeks.

But mostly I've been gone these past two weeks, while trying to finish Norma's tip-ins I showed on Sunday.

A little over two weeks ago I had an eye appointment.

Yes, this place caters to both dental and vision, but it's truly geared to children.  

The first day was all about vision.  They gave me many, many tests for my eyes.

The second day I had my teeth cleaned, whitened, as well as X-rays.

After visiting the dentist, I stopped by the local lumber yard/home improvement store.

I was on a mission and can't believe I didn't take time to pick up some paint chip samples.   Instead, I picked up two toilet bowl replacement flushers.  Both my toilets were in dire need of flushing properly, and I was tired of having to adjust the water every time I flushed.  Of course, this had to wait until I got home, because

I stopped by the grocery store to buy a few groceries,

but got caught up in photographing the spring tulips, daffodils,

and hyacinths.

I thought mine looked better than some in these pots.

The next day I returned to the vision side of the vison/dental center and picked out my new glasses frames.

I wasn't really impressed with any of them,

because they all reminded me of the ones I had in the 1980s.

Three days later

my new glasses were ready.  I only need them for distance, such as driving, but I have perfect vision for close-up work, which includes watching tv and being on the computer.

After I picked up my glasses, I headed to the post office and mailed Norma's package to her.

Early the next morning, I waited in line to get my new driver's license.  Thankfully, I won't have to do that again for another four years! 

When I got home I realized I had not dealt with the fabric I left in my black bean soup.  I can't believe I allowed these jars to sit this long.  The jar on the left had no mordant, while the one on the right did.

After I drained and hand washed these fabric pieces, I hung them on my front porch to dry.  If you look closely, in the upper right, where the wind has lifted the fabric, you can see a bit of lavender. 

Remember, these began as white bed sheet strips.  You can see how wild the wind was (and continues to be every day).

This was one of the pieces that had been mordanted.  The color was a bit more pronounced.

But this one was beautiful.  From suble to bold, the patterns showed up well.  I really like how this piece turned out.

Now you know why I've either been late, or absent from visiting.  From working on art, to running all over town, it's all I can do to keep up with posts, much less art.  Thanks so much for joining me as I recall what I've been up to the past two weeks.  Your visits mean the world to me.