A Little Over It

Hello Everyone!

Happy Summer!  It's been a little over a year since my last post. Once again I managed to fall off the blog-O-sphere after trying to re-establish the SketchyGirlz blog with my best friend last year. It just was a bit overwhelming (to both of us) trying to keep up with two blogs, working full time and creating art. That's how it happened....Now, it is time for a fresh start once again.

How is your summer going?  Are you working on anything new?  Living in south Florida, the average temperature each day is in the 90's so it may seem a bit strange to know that knitting is one of my hobbies.  Most people think of knitting as a winter activity but because of the warmer hot temperatures here, it becomes a summer activity for me.  I enjoy looking for knitting patterns and taking classes online during the summer months and have several knitting projects going.  In the knitting world, these are called WIPs or Works in Progress. My latest WIPs are a sweater knit-a-long (KAL), a few baby hats (charity donation) and finishing up a cabled pattern blanket (almost done with that project!). Any knitters out there that can identify with the WIPs?  I'd love to hear from you.

The Knit-A-Long (KAL) is where you join a group of knitters for a specific project during a period of time.  The KAL is new to me, my first one!  I'll talk more about it in an upcoming post.

On the ART palette are several works that have been completed and another ICAD project (Index Card A Day) which I'll be sharing with you soon.  Each year I challenge myself to do the ICAD for 30 days.  You can see my previous works by clicking on the side bar. Meanwhile here's a glimpse of the recent challenge and I'll be posting more in the coming weeks.

My daughter and family visited recently and we had a great night out at "Painting With A Twist". This was a totally new experience for me, painting in a group setting where everyone paints the same design and it was SO much fun!  We painted a beach scene and every single painting was different! Fun seeing what everyone was doing and how they interpreted the theme.  I'd definitely do it again and would encourage everyone to try it at least once!  Take a group of friends and enjoy the evening painting and having a blast.

Let me know what summer projects you've been working on!  I'd love to hear from you.

Bee Creative,
Suzy

I'm Back...A little of this and that

Hello Everyone!

My, my but the time has flown by since the last post!  You may recall we had a long visit from our daughter and baby grandson from February until just before Mother's Day. It was a wonderful time together and such fun watching our little boy grow and learn each day.  Jackson is now 14 months old and he is standing on his own and climbing on the couch, getting ready to walk (unassisted) any day now.  What a delightful child.  We miss him so much.

Today I received a comment from a new follower, it was just the kick in the pants I needed to get back to blogging again.  Thank you Chris!  It's taken a bit of time to get back into the "swing" of things and getting used to the "quiet" house again.

Right after Amanda and Jackson left we went on a vacation/road trip to see our niece graduate from Virginia Tech and visit my sister and family in NC.   My last trip to Blacksburg, Virginia was the summer of 1970 when my sister and I stayed with our cousins.  You could say it was a different place, barely recognizable except for a few road names that rang a bell.  The weather was chilly, in fact it was down right cold to us thin blooded Floridians.  What a trip that was for a couple of flat-landers like us!  Hubby did the driving until we got into the mountains, then I drove while DH held on for dear life. It was very funny <wink>.

We were lucky enough to have a lovely cottage at Mountain Lake Lodge (it's where they filmed most of Dirty Dancing).  Here's a link: http://www.mtnlakelodge.com/

Our cottage was huge, four bedrooms (each like a hotel room) and thankfully a wood burning fireplace. Very nice indeed to share the cottage with our Georgia family members and extended family from NC and VA.  Lots of fun! We enjoyed hiking, exploring the resort, some fast and furious card games and of course the main event was Graduation.

Casey with Aunt Susie & Uncle Rich

 I took along the art supplies (minimal) and some knitting for down time, there wasn't much time for art but I did knit a simple drop stitch scarf I saw the pattern on a You Tube video by Jenn Wisbeck, here's the link: http://youtu.be/7lf1v6hZFx8.  It was fun, it was quick and a great way to showcase the beautiful multicolored yarn I found at Walmart.  I must say the larger knitting needles threw me off a bit since I had been knitting newborn hats on size 3 & 5 and switched to size 11 to knit the scarf...it was like knitting with harpoons!  

I've been doing a great deal of knitting for our Praying Hands and Hearts knitting ministry at church. When our local hospital needs newborn hats we get the call and the needles start to fly! The little newborn hats keep my hands busy while watching t.v. at night and I just love making them, they make my heart happy.

Newborn Baby Boy Hand knit hat.

Speaking of babies, we stopped to visit my sister in North Carolina and our niece who was expecting her fourth baby any moment!  We enjoyed a visit with the grand-niece and grand-nephews and showered them with gifts for baby Lily (not born at the time).  I painted canvases for each of the children's rooms.  

So there is a little glimpse into what's been going on in my world.  Join me again soon, we'll catch up with the latest projects and what's going on.  What's happening in your neck of the woods??

Bee Creative!
Suzy

P.S.
Lily Jane was born last Thursday, May 29th.  Mama and baby are doing well.