Foreign Books...

 I love to go to our local Friends of the Library monthly book sales.  Even Mr. C attends with me and usually finds a few hard cover books he enjoys reading.  Then each time he returns the books so they can be sold again to help the library fund.  I find lots of books and buy them but I am not so generous as to give them back.  Usually I buy mine for crafting and taking apart.  This month I thought I should expand my horizons and look into some foreign books.  I inquired and the nicest lady showed me right where she had staged them.  In a tiny little nook...smaller than a guest coat closet space...with at least 3 students and one woman camped out blocking the space.  I waited my turn but they never budged.  I finally excused myself and the students did move for me.  The woman however was planted on a small step stool and she wouldn't move or look up or anything.  I squeezed over and selected one of the books off a high shelf...all the while praying I wouldn't drop the lot on top of her.  Do you recognize this language in the photo above?

 Here is another book I was able to reach and it has some great graphic pictures.  Language?

This little book happens to be a recipe book.  In yet another language.  I don't read or speak or understand any of these languages but I just had to buy the books.  Mr. C could not understand why I wanted to buy these if I couldn't even read them.  I at least knew which language each one was. 

Russian, German and French.  So far so good and Mr. C and I are in line to pay.  All is going well until one of the volunteer men says, "You know this book is in Russian?  Do you read Russian?"  I politely say no I do not however I have traveled in Russia.  Now some others are all interested and going on and on about a book in Russian.  I merely want to get out of there and enjoy my books. 
I just couldn't confess that I am buying books to take apart for mixed media art projects.  The library squad would have hung me from my toes or worse. 
Now I am thinking I better not destroy these books as they truly are nice.  Maybe I shall go back another time and look for books in worse condition. 
I hope each of you understands the need for foreign text at times...You do understand don't you?
I am enjoying the beautiful weather and the Autumn colors that are emerging and giving infinite inspiration...
Joyful Creative Week Ahead...

Excellent Read...

One day I got an email telling me I had won this book.  Very exciting and I was very pleased.  Then I forgot about this until months later when I received a package in the mail from the publisher.  Wow!  Claudia of Mockingbird Hill Cottage is the lovely lady who gifted this to me.  Now more time passes by while this lovely book sits waiting for me.  I had previous books to finish before I allowed myself to begin this one.  Last week the time came.
"The Kitchen Daughter" by Jael McHenry is riveting.  I could not put this book down without reading the entire thing from front to back cover. 
I never read much as a child or young adult.  My sister Marie is the reader.  She goes to the library regularly and checks out approximately two dozen books and finishes every one of them before they are due back.  She has always read voraciously.  It is a well known fact that if you want to spend time with her, do not go into a book store as she just goes into another world of reading.  Now that I don't work and am not consumed with other peoples companies I find I am enjoying reading a lot more than ever before.  Now I love to read.  I don't really have a favorite author or style of writing.  I am not especially fast at reading but I am getting more adept at it. 
If you like reading then I think you just might like "The Kitchen Daughter".  As a bonus for those of us who like food or to cook it does involve some recipes too.  I hope you enjoy this book if you decide to read it.
Thank you very much Claudia.  Yes, I will be sharing this with Marie as I am certain she will like it too. 
Cooler days of Autumn are here.  The light is fading sooner each evening and it is a great time to sit and read in a nice cozy chair after spending a wonderful day creating art. 
September surrenders to Fall...

Christmas in June...

This box is truly Christmas in June for me. I was the super fortunate winner of a massive give away by the uber talented Roni of Ink Stains. Please visit her blog if you are not already following her and her incredible talents. Today she has the cutest paint brush charms. Roni never hesitates to share all of her techniques and she makes it so easy for everyone to create amazing art.

I gathered Mr. C and told him this box is Christmas in June. Then I slowly opened the box. What to my wondrous eyes did I see...

More art supplies than I could have ever imagined. And...a beautiful large Vera Bradley tote bag. Each and every item I brought out of the box was just so much fun. Mr. C was clearly amazed at how much was in this box of goodies. We were both overwhelmed with the generosity of Roni. So many of the supplies are exactly what I wanted to buy for my crafting.

Thank you so very much Roni. You are the best! I feel like the luckiest createology gal in the world. I am inspired by your talents and now have lots of wonderful supplies which I can use to create some super fun art pieces. I will definitely be reviewing many of your posts so I know how to use some of these supplies.

I have no excuses now!

P.S. My favorite item in the entire box is a copy of Roni's book titled "Collage and Altered Art". This book is one that you definitely should acquire for your library as it has enormous amounts of techniques and ideas and finished art pieces as inspiration. When you visit Roni's blog there is information on how to get your very own copy.

P.S.S. When I set the cigar box on the table Mr. C immediately opened it hoping for a cigar. Not. More art supplies. He said, "This is a really old cigar box. Look at the price, 2/27 cents!" Too funny Mr. C.

Spring and Quilting...

Here we are April 1st and our weather has given us a glorious Spring day. The sun is shining and the frogs are croaking their mating songs. The Robins are searching the grounds for just the perfect things. I have spent the better part of the day working in the yard. I decided to put my blinders on as we still have some snow on the ground in the yard and also so I wouldn't get overwhelmed with the massive job to do just cleaning up the debris from such a harsh winter. I chose a small walkway near the pond and merely worked in a small circle hand raking and picking up pine needles, oak leaves, old acorns and heavy wet soggy mushy plant stems. After a few hours I had finished with my little piece of heaven walkway. I have daffodils blooming and there are even hopeful tiny new green sprouts on a very dead looking geranium I didn't think would survive the winter. Life is good. Now for quilting...my small little patches of cleanup work remind me of how quilting goes. In small little patches of fabric that eventually become the finished piece to be proud of. The photo above is a small piece of Cathedral Quilting I did all by hand about 4 decades ago. It was tedius and took forever because I wanted my stitches to be as tiny as possible. Now all these years later it is still perfect...in my eyes. Oh yes, I can see flaws however these only make it more cherished to me. Now days I don't quilt however I know that someday I shall...when I am ready. As I follow blogs and find things that really speak to me I was super fortunate to find Terri Stegmiller. I know many of you already know Terri but for those who don't here is her link. Terri is also part of 3 Creative Studios and you will find lots of inspiration there. From Terri's blog one day I visited the Twelve By Twelve blog. I was intrigued by the quilts that various artists were creating. They were each only 12 inches by 12 inches. Hmmm...now that seems much more doable than some huge king-sized piece that is montrous to work with. I digress but back in the 70's Dear Grandma and I each made king-sized crazy quilts out of small pieces of double knit fabrics. What were we thinking?!! And I don't even still have that monster...me who never gets rid of anything! I do hope you visit both Terri and the 12x12 just to see all the amazing art that is created. Twelve By Twelve had a lovely coming out party online for their book they published and I was super fortunate to be selected one of the lucky recipients of a copy. The book is published by Lark Crafts and Terri actually signed my copy that she sent to me. Thank you very much Terri. This photo above is the front of the book cover. This photo is the back cover. I have perused this book from front to back and it is so beautifully done. Each of the twelve artists who participated and created twelve quilts in the 12x12 inch size are featured. How fun and challenging that each quilt had a theme and it is amazing to see how each artist represented it in their quilt. I will definitely be devouring this book for a very long time. Each time I look I see something new and different. Who knows...maybe this is the catalyst for me to make a tiny little 12x12 inch quilt of my very own to be proud of for decades to come. How are you enjoying your weekend? Maybe a little outdoors and a little indoors creativity? This sunshine is definitely re-energizing me after all the gray, cold, wet and snowy days we have had. What?!! Rain is predicted for Saturday???

Powell's Book Store...Portland

This is a bonanza of my visit to Powell's Book store in Portland Oregon. They refer to it as a city of books and I completely agree. Hours of browsing are not enough to see even a sampling of all the books they carry. I merely focused on beading and found so many books I got overwhelmed very quickly.

While in Barcelona Spain Mr. C and I were quite enchanted with Antoni Gaudi and his amazing architecture. We visited the Familia de Sagrada however did not buy any books while there thinking we could get them once we were home. NOT! Well not until we found Powell's and their rare books floor. This is just one of the many selections they had for us to choose from. Now we can enjoy what we saw first hand while looking at this book many times over.

This is a very large book on beading that I could not resist. It is like an encyclopedia of many different styles and types of beading techniques. I was happy to buy this for my studio library. Just a note: books can get very heavy and I bought all of these early in the day and then had to carry them all over as we rode the MAX public transportation to visit our other points of interest. What was I thinking?

This is another beautiful beading book that I could not resist. It is an amazing reference for numerous types of techniques and styles to put beads to use in my jewelry and wearable art.

If you have not ever been to Powell's Books in Portland it is definitely worth the visit.

I merely wish I would have had more time to really scour the different book sections.

What section would be your favorite must visit?

More on my visit to Portland coming soon.

Now I must bid goodbye to my favorite month of August and welcome September and all that it brings.