How did October slip by me? I thought this was still September and I had so much time to get so many things done . . .
One of the most "fun" things I've done is to spend Fridays with Bethany in my studio. She is three and a half, loves to draw and make beaded necklaces, and running her hand through a bowl of threads is her idea of a contemplative moment. She isn't ready to stitch, though, but I'm ready when she shows the first interest. She asked, immediately, to have an apron like mine, so I decorated the canvas apron I'd bought for her (before she was born) with her name in big pink letters (she chose the fabric for each letter), and each time she comes, we add buttons and ribbons to it. She is in the garden, here, taking a break from a hard morning of drawing and counting wooden beads.:
Two weeks ago we went to Burt's Pumpkin Patch to find that perfect pumpkin for her dad to carve, and after being overwhelmed by the ocean of orange, I found the shed with gourds and corn, where the texture was so compelling I had to be dragged away:
And this past weekend Charles and I were invited to go camping with them to Hiawassee, GA, to an Airstream Rally. We have no Airstream, of course, so Jordan loaned us one of his. We stayed in the Silver Pickle (1959), Jordan and Julie and the children stayed in the slightly larger 1964 Airstream. He has a penchant for finding old Airstreams that need TLC and ripping in to them to bring them to life again. It was rainy and cold, but the mountains and lake were still a beautiful show of color.
We old folks think this might be a bit more fun in the spring. The time with family and meeting their Airstream friends was lovely, though. The most rewarding thing a mother can experience is the moments when total strangers come up to you and take your hand and tell you what a great son or daughter you have, and my buttons were a-busting with pride this weekend! I also got some lovely photographs to use as models in the pastel painting classes my sister and I are taking with Karen Margulis. My sister is the artist; I am along for comic relief.
I am working on two projects, now. One is a weekend class at the Campbell Folkschool I will teach in December on making Holiday Postcards in fabric. (Anne and Beth: I agreed to do this in March of 2008, before you two took up the Fantasy of Trees project with postcards and ATCs!) The other is to put together a proposal for a class to be taught at the EGA Regional Seminar in Birmingham, AL in 2011, also a weekend class. I am typing handouts for the Campbell class now, and making samples of 4"x6" cards. The EGA proposal has to be in by January, and if it is accepted, I will offer it to my Freestyle Group friends to do a test run on it and to tweak it a bit. So I have a few things to keep me busy for the next weeks-- including Thanksgiving and Christmas family dinners. To be with my family was the reason to return to the Atlanta area, and even without all our furniture, it is a pleasure to have us together for the holidays. Julie and my sister, Michelle, are ICU nurses who will work Thanksgiving Day, so our family dinner will be on Friday. I would like to have the dining room painted by then-- no small feat, because it was brown until I began covering it with Kilz (two coats and it is just a lighter, spottier brown), and a coat of white (still spotty, but more cloudy than brown). Fortunately, it is a room with an 8' ceiling, and I won't need scaffolding to get it done like the living room, sun room, and master bath. We need the pros for those rooms. And something stronger than Kilz. Anyone with experience in primers?
Plans for the next few weeks: to get over this miserable sinus infection and begin my crochet projects for Christmas. This is perfect weather for working on something woolen and heavy that drapes across my lap as I add to it.
