A Productive Saturday

Feels like I've gotten things done today. I've been working out with my husband and I got my own gym membership today so I can go by myself if he's busy. My car is mostly loaded up for the American Made Craft Show tomorrow in Chester, I've gotten some more time in on the sewing machine and I have a 16" x 20" toy telephone painting started. Could it be that I'm a little nearer to finding a reasonable working balance in my life? Of course, it's always a work in progress. It's funny how things can work out. I've been mulling over how to do a top hat for my Halloween costume - the Mad Hatter, of course! But I wasn't thinking about it when I stopped in the thrift store today. We needed a lamp for the living room since the knob broke off the old one and we've been turning it on with pliers. They finally had one I liked, and then it dawned on me that I could use the lamp shade as the structure for my top hat. Excellent since I was planning to keep using the larger shade from the old lamp and didn't need the new one. I use this lamp shade as a swift when I need to turn a skein of yarn into a ball. The skein sits on the shade. I put the lamp on the floor, unscrew the finial so the shade will turn freely and away I go winding the yarn into a ball. My husband and I love Halloween so, naturally, we produced a kid who isn't into it at all. I kinda let that put a damper on my celebration but this year I've decided to get dressed up and hang out with my friend who lives on Main St. in Newtown. It's a trick or treat hot spot, unlike our house. Nobody comes here at all. I was going to take pictures today but I'm having trouble with the camera battery. These pictures are recent anyway. I'm really pleased with the pendants on this one. They are made of the seams that are leftover from deconstructing the felted sweaters. It pleases me that I keep finding ways to use almost every scrap.

Tools of the Trade

This is the painting I referred to in my last post. It's almost finished so I took a picture to get a feel for what else needs to be done. The background needs to be worked on and the raised trim under the crayon window is just a black band at this point. When the box was printed they covered the whole surface in red first and it peaks through the black in places that have been worn. Once that's in, the box will be more interesting. Thank goodness for NPR. I like to listen while I paint. It really keeps my butt in the chair longer.

Doing the Procrastination Tango

I'm frustrated with myself. I have a pretty nice painting nearly finished and I need it done for the next gallery change over. Of course I've been procrastinating terribly, letting it build up into this big thing in my mind. Naturally, I can think of a thousand more exciting projects to work on. It makes me wonder if I just don't want to paint at all but I'm not ready to say that. I've been going to the gym every morning for something over two months now, which is a good thing. I feel much better and I've lost weight. The down side is that I come home so relaxed or tired that I could happily sit and stare at grass growing. I was hoping I'd be past this by now but I did up some of the weights recently. So instead of painting I made two new crocheted hats because they're something I can do in that state of mind. *sigh* Time to pull up my big girl panties and finish that painting. Self discipline is truly the hardest part of being my own boss.