egg plant?

In my list of seeds planted you may or may not have noticed egg plant. Sort of a different choice at least for me, considering I’ve never cooked with or even eaten eggplant. So what is it doing there? Last year my neighbor planted it in his garden, I’m not sure he ever ate the fruit, but I did notice how pretty the plant itself was. Here is a picture of the unique little flowers. The foliage is pretty too. So my thoughts are the egg plant seedlings will go into on of the planters I’ll have around the patio. If I get some fruit out of it I guess I better find a good recipe. That shouldn’t be too hard though, they use eggplant a lot on the Food Network.

Bead update, construction continuing on project flower. Thoughts actually went to what shape/color leaves I should make soon.

starting garden

Last week was a whirlwind that left me not wanting to blog.  Today is Monday and the start of a new week.  This weekend was a ton of fun, and productive.  My parents and brother came down and I cooked a really yummy dinner on Saturday night.  They got to meet Mira and the two kitties had lots of attention.  They are both very squishable, Mira in particular b/c she is quite the fat little thing.  Yesterday I made oodles of french toast for breakfast.  It was soooo good and we had tons.  I had french toast for breakfast, dinner, and then breakfast this morning.  I really like cooking, mom got me a new cook book and I think my next adventure in cooking will be to try the steak tacos! 

This weekend was also quite productive.  I got up early Saturday and planted the seeds I wanted to try and start myself.  Here’s a pic of what I’m growing by seed.  Who knows how well I’ll do, I’ve never done it by seed before.  I have a few other things I want to grow from seed, carrots and some herbs, but I’ve read its best to plant the seed directly where you want it.  So they’ll wait till it warms up a bit.  I’ll probably also buy a few other veggies from the garden center, but we’ll see what we get from this little crop.  The flowers I have in the mix will go in the front yard.  As soon as it warms up a bit we’re going to rip out some overgrown shrubs that line the front of the house.  We face north so this is a very shady area, so I plan to put in a fern garden.  We have a ton of hosta I can transplant to the area, I want to get some ferns, and then keep my eyes out for some woodland plants.  Trillium, and foam flowers are very pretty and would do well there.

Here is also a picture of what it looks like right after planting the seeds.  If all goes well and things grow, I’ll show progress pics here. 

Mom and I also worked on some photography.  A deadline is approaching this week and so we took a ton of pictures.  One of them ought to work and then once this is checked off my list it’ll feel great!  I have a bunch of small flowers that need to be finished up, instead I spent all afternoon yesterday working on a project flower.  I’m enjoying these more and more.  You’d have thought I’d have gotten more done, but construction was taking longer than expected.  And I was having a hard time making decisions.  My burst of creativity resulted in plans for two other project flowers.  I have a feeling I’ll be working on these until one of my butt kicking friends whips me in shape to work on the smaller ones! 

MIA

Here’s another picture from our trip.  It might be my favorite one, even though it was taken inside the car while we passed.  The Owl Creek winery was a fun little drive to get to.  Small bumpy country roads with crazy turns and dips and hills.  We followed small signs to find the little gem.  When driving back to the lodge we turned a corner and both Chris and I saw this tree at the same time.  We both commented on how it was a cool old oak tree, and I quickly snapped two pics.  This was the better of the two. 

I think this tree helped inspire my burst of creativity last week.  It made me think of a lot of things and helped me realize there are few more things that need to be added to my list.  I’ll go into more details as time goes by and as I find time for the new things on the list.  =0)

I hope you enjoy the Old Oak as much as we did, while I’m MIA this week.

Style

First I want to announce that both our kitties are now bug free and healthy. They are both healthy and happy to be off medication.

I realized I have been talking a lot about being inspired to bead, but I don’t really have anything finished to show from this inspiration. The majority of it is still in doodle stages, I’ve made petals for a few but nothing constructed. They’re growing, just not ready to show themselves yet. This is a flower I made last week right before our trip. I used this photo as inspiration. My intentions were to really truly try and copy this flower…but my style has dictated otherwise. Originally this was going to be a larger flower, I had every intention of going that route. And while it ended up having more petals and layers than my normal flowers it is about the same size. I’m not a bead counter, I find it tedious. So when I start to eyeball the size of an approximate petal the size that I made was the one natural to my hands, eyes, and brain. Large flowers use more beads, get very heavy, and are not my taste.

In the past I’ve read threads on forums discussing how eventually a person will develop their own style. You can look at a flower, well usually they say jewelry, and know the artist who made it. I’m not sure I’m to this point in the beaded flower world, but I’m getting there. I have distinct finishing techniques that I don’t see on other people flowers. The size of my flowers is often smaller than others. This has pluses and minuses, details and shading can be harder to make look natural, but then to me several smaller flowers together look nicer than one large. And possibly one of the larger differences is that I don’t often try to make a flower exactly how it exists in nature. And when I do it doesn’t ever look like what it is supposed to. I don’t think this flower above looks anything like the one from Mom’s flower pot last summer. The shape is similar, colors are similar…but very different. I try to take the ideas of shading from nature. I think its amazing that a flower knows just how to shade itself to attract pollinators. From searches that I have done and books that I own the majority of beaded flowers out there are based on natural flowers. Many are done wonderfully and realistically. But I think this sets me apart and is part of the definition of my style. Granted this definition is in no way set in stone, I’m definitely still working on it, and it will always be evolving. I’m just happy to see that I’m starting to see and realize that I do have my own distinct style in the world of beads.

This weekend we’re heading to Chicago to make the rounds. I’m bringing beadwork, but probably won’t have much time. Next week I’ll have more time, but I’m not sure how much I can dedicate to beadwork. I have somethings on the list that have deadlines looming.

bursting

Much like the flower bud in the pic I’m about to burst!  =0)  This was the not effect I was expecting, I knew I was re-energized, but last night I had such an overflow of ideas my hands couldn’t move fast enough to keep up.  My fatal mistake was actually going into the bead room to work.  I only had an hour or so and I went to the bead room to look for just the right shade of blue.  I came out with literally over 10 ideas for flowers.  Many were partial ideas, color combos that need to be put together, or a style that needs a color palette.  But at least two large flowers are fully formed idea in my head right now.  One of these will be either turned into a table piece or formed into a large bouquet.  The other might be loose but always shown off with just the right accents. 
Now I’m restless, thinking of color combos at work and helpless to actually feel beads in my hands.  Whats more frustrating is that work is horribly slow today.  So for the tenth time today I’ve sorted out the game plan for after work.  It consists of going to the Vet to see if the kittens are parasite free, coming home and cooking a frozen pizza, and going into the bead room to work on the first flower to fully visualize itself last night. 

shadow

On the first trail we hiked we hiked to the top of a bluff, and walked around in the snow.  It was probably about 930 in the morning and so the sun was casting shadows of the trees on the snow.  I snapped this pic of a very young tree growing up through the snow.  It is my favorite photo that I took over the weekend. 
Since we got back in town I’ve made four flowers.  One larger flower that will be come a single flower and three randomly colored smaller flowers that will used in hand bouquets.  I have color combos and some vague ideas for several more smaller flowers.  And I have lots of stringing to do for my next table piece.  Or I can be working on leaves to finish up three bouquets and two single flowers that are so close to finishing.  But the colors are calling to me.  Tonight is dinner with some friends, if there is time afterward maybe I’ll get another flower in.

Re-Energized

What a fantastic get away weekend. I really do think we may have found a great little place to escape to now and then. There’s still a bunch of stuff in the area we didn’t have time to check out, which means something new we can do the next couple times we decide we need a small escape.
We got down there (Giant City Lodge) in the early evening on Friday. It was a good 4.5hour drive and Friday night the weather was starting to get nasty. By 7:30 the wind was blowing and it was snowing pretty good. The cabin was nice and cozy. An electric fireplace, two comfy chairs and a couch. A small fridge and wet bar area. Just what we needed. We had a nice country dinner at the Lodge and called it an early night. Yes we are bums, or morning people, we went to bed early.

As a result of that we woke up early and ready for a full day. There was about 3-4 inches of snow on the ground and it was cold. We were lazy around the cabin for a few hours waiting for the sun to warm up the day a bit. Goofy cartoons and coffee cake was the morning entertainment. The sun was out and the birds were singing, so we bundled up to go for a hike. I’m not exaggerating when I say bundled..I had on two long sleeve shirts, a down vest, a hoodie, two pairs of pants, fluffy socks, and my poofy winter hat. The only part of me that ever got cold was my nose and that wasn’t too bad. =0) The long hike we wanted to go on was closed due to damage from the many ice storms they had this year. So we went on three smaller trails instead. We hiked to the top of some bluffs, and then hiked between the large rock formations. We learned how the glaciers formed the rock and coupled with erosion there are some pretty cool rock formations left. There were lots of icicles dripping in the sun. We were the only ones out there hiking in the cold, but it was far from quiet.  We saw quite a bit of wild life too. Some tiny little squirrel, lots of birds were singing. We saw a couple of cool woodpeckers from the cabin, and another large almost vulture like bird. Then of course there were lots of deer. After a couple hours we headed back to the cabin for lunch, and a nap.

After a wonderful nap we headed out to check out a winery or two. We went to Blue Sky winery first. It was a nice little place with a Tuscany theme. They had some pretty yummy wines and a nice atmosphere. We tasted 5 wines, each had a glass of our favs. I bought a bottle of my favorite, the Villard Blac.
Next we went to Owl Creek winery, where everything was themed with owls. It was a small cute little place down some twisty curvy country roads. If it had been warm enough we could have sat outside on the balcony built around a tree. We were lucky it was cold out though because we stayed inside and met the owner. Brad was a great guy, he told us all about his wines, started us off on a tasting describing each and why they are different. He went into a little bit about the tanins and how they affect the flavor. Turns out he went to high school in the Peoria area so when he found out we were science geeks at the Ag lab, we talked a little bit about the science and voodoo involved in wine production. We tasted his full line of wines, each got a glass, and got a grand tour of the winery. March is still their slow season so it was great to be able to get the tour and smell the oak barrels. This is the experience I always thought a winery should be, Blue Sky was nice and friendly atmosphere, but it felt more like a bar. We left Owl Creek with six bottles of wine, two of the Bald Knob, two of the Blush, one ZenGeist, and a bottle of the Raspberry Framboise. That’s me up above and that’s the happy face of someone that just bought half a case of wine. I would go back to his place in an instant. It’s small now, but they have some big plans, and some interesting experiments going on.

Sunday was a lazy morning. The time change made the morning go a little faster. We had a breakfast at the Lodge then left for home a little before noon. We got home and played with the kitties. I’m not sure they were thrilled with being left behind. After talking with Brad at Owl Creek and how he has the business that you can tell he really enjoys it really inspired me and got me thinking. Last night I made a flower I’d been planning for a couple months now. I’m also re-energized to start a couple other flowers, make some leaves to finish up some bouquets. And to get some more stuff together to get that booth shot I’ve been putting off. I’m very excited, completely re-energized, and inspired. I’m pretty sure Chris is feeling the same way.

that was Fierce

Last night we had friends over for dinner and so I missed the majority of the season finale of Project Runway. I wasn’t able to really keep up with the season as much as I wanted but through reruns I caught the majority of the episodes. I really enjoy the show, I don’t care for the “reality” bit of it, I like to watch them draw a dress or outfit and then it just amazes me that in a few short hours they have it sewn and put together. Color combos, textures, the works. It’s nothing that I would ever wear, but that doesn’t matter b/c most of the time I don’t think that’s the point.
At the beginning of the season I thought Christian was this little annoyingly full-of-himself guy, and he is. But by mid season I was laughing out loud at his comments and his egotism. “Fierce” is the new word of the day. He can always make me smile b/c I think he’s really a sweet guy, he’s just a bit over the top. Anyway I was excited to hear he made the final three and would have a collection at fashion week along with Jillian. I like her style of clothing more than anyones. Rami also joined the final three. His clothes are very elegant, but I don’t really care for him. I caught the last half hour of the show last night, just enough to see the runway and who won. Based on the judges descriptions I thought for sure Rami had it. But I was very surprised and kinda happy that Christian actually won. The guy was almost speechless! I’m not sure why that made me happy but it did. I would have been thrilled if Jillian had won it too. You can tell all three of them but a lot of thought, time, and a bit of themselves in each piece.
Top Chef starts next week, I also really like to watch people cook. One of my goals for the year that I’m doing fairly well with is to cook more. I’m learning tons from the food network, getting ideas, and learning what spices go well together. I guess I enjoy watching people make things with their hands, whether its food, clothes, or who knows what else.

because I can’t

I think it’s because I can’t bead right now, and thats whats making me want to!  Actually I can bead, but I’m glad that I’m not.  We’ve finished up the majority of the woodwork now.  There are two coats of poly on the hand railing and one on the wood in the kitchen.  The railing needs one more, and the other needs two, but that won’t happen for a while.  The real reason beading’s not happening is that so far this week we’ve both been fighting off colds or the flu or something funky.  Beading while sick or not feeling well is not productive for me.
 
I’m hoping we’ll both be better by the weekend.  We’ve rented a cabin in southern Illinois down at Giant City State park.  We plan to do some hiking in the Shawnee National forest, and then taste some wines at the wine trail down in that area.  I’m really excited to check out the wineries, March is Vintage Art month on the wine trail.  So each winery is displaying art from local artists.  It’s been a while since we’d done anything art related so it will be fun to check that out.  Unfortunately the weather is supposed to be cold, we were hoping for it to reach the 50ies but we’ll be lucky to get 40ies.  But then they also said we’d get snow this week…I’m still waiting.  I think I’m going to stop watching the weather man, I don’t like what they say the majority of the time, and when I do they’re wrong.

Here’s another picture from last June.  It’s of Mom’s clematis, she has several really big beautiful clematis growing up a trellis in the back.  The entire plant is covered in blooms in June.  I’m thinking I might get one for my yard, its too bad they’re awfully spindly looking when they first start out.  I think Mom’s is about 15years old.  I love the center of this flower.  It’s so unique, and when the flower is done, the petals drop and the center kinda spreads out a little into a globe. 

watch kitties

Another busy productive weekend! I was craving the feeling of accomplishment and I got what I wanted. Saturday morning we did a bunch of errands which included the vet, and both kitties being put on medication. Orion is so funny, he doesn’t like it but he’ll deal with it. Mira fights it for about five minutes then she’s all pooped out and gives in. She’s cranky for another five minutes then she’s over it. After the errands we got to work, setting up, sanding, and stripping some woodwork around the railing and in the kitchen area. I’d forgotten how much work wood work is, which is probably why it has been put off for a year. At this point we called it a night and Chris worked on music while I finished our wedding picture album. That only took a year and half, it weighs a ton, but it’s finished.
Yesterday the weather was amazing. Warm right off the bat, and got up to 69 degrees! We opened up every window in the house. It felt so good to listen to the birds, and have fresh air in the house. Until we started staining all the wood! That stunk up the house again. We got a layer of stain on everything, let that dry and put on the first coat of polyurethane. While letting the stain dry we made a screen window to put in the front window. This will let the breeze go right through the house and it lets the kitties play watch kitty. We didn’t even have to lock them up while we worked they were so busy watching everything going on outside. And finally the last thing accomplished Sunday night was I pulled out some beads and made a flower. I think I might be getting ready for greens too…which means I’ll have stuff to show off again soon.
Now the weather is turning cold again, we’re supposed to get a few inches of snow. At least we had one spring day, that way we know spring can’t be too far off.