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A blast from the past in a way. I actually finished this painting in March of this year but haven't shown it yet.
This was done from a sketchbook page dating back to July of 2006. Holly and I were at a park in Bellevue on the 4th taking it easy and enjoying the day with a picnic. I brought my sketchbook and she brought a book to read. When I was almost finished with the sketch I asked her what she thought and she said, "Can you put a little white scoty dog in one of the squares?" I did just that and promised her that if I ever made a painting of this that I would include the little white dog. And there it is the lower right corner.

Despite Lots of rain, we had a great time last night at our party. As you can see, we celebrated my Mom’s 70th birthday and Independence day at the same time. Rachel and John made 2 pies with no assitance from me. 24 guests ate an alrming amound of food! Rachel played piano as her friend, Sharon, bolted out some amazing songs. Also, John performed on guitar and sang. Then we had fireworks in our own backyard.

Fourth of July. I know its supposed to be a big deal, but really, isn't it all about the hot dogs? Yes, yes, I'm glad we're free and independent and those guys in wigs did all that fighting and all a couple hundred years ago. I'm very grateful.
Loud fireworks make me cranky is all.

I think I need a blog break. I'm tired.

I tried to take the cats to the SPCA yesterday but couldn't go through with it. I took down their blog and also some of the posts about them here. I will keep them until I can find homes, and if not, I'll just keep them.

I also have some new art incubating which I need to devote some serious time to.
And I need to finish up this book project. So the rest of the summer looks booked.

So I may be quiet for a while. Its an effort to come up with things to blog about, or new work to show when there really isn't anything new to show. And right now I don't have the energy to create things just to blog about. My energies are needed elsewhere.
So if you don't hear from me, don't worry, I'm OK, I'm just hunkered down, either doing illustration work or cleaning cat litter.

Happy Summer!!!!!

As you can see, we somewhat torture our poodle, Gigi. Actually, she thinks she is really cool all decked out like that. Gigi wishes you and your family a fun, happy and safe 4th of July. Enjoy all the F’s of the day - the Friends, Family, Food and Fireworks. (Poor Gigi will not be happy when she hears all those explosions!)

We’ll be back on Saturday with photos of our celebration. In the mean time, be sure to turn on the Twilight Zone 2-day marathon on Sci Fi. It’s the best TV-watching EVER!

Guest Blogger Rachael Walker is the Outreach Consultant for Reading Rockets, a national multimedia initiative which aims to inform and inspire parents, teachers, childcare providers, and others who touch the life of a child by providing comprehensive, accessible information on how to teach kids to read and help those who struggle. Rachael began her career in literacy outreach at Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), has also served as a consultant to the NEA’s Read Across America campaign, and was most recently the Executive Director of Reach Out and Read of Metro DC.

Every Fourth of July I think about Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, and his often quoted words, “I cannot live without books.” That our own democracy has grown and flourished owes much to Mr. Jefferson and his Declaration, but also to the rise of the printed word.

Independence Day is a great time to share books with children. Reading Rockets has a Celebrate America list of recommended reading for children ages 0-9. Use this list to throw together a book-nic to go along with your Fourth of July barbeque and read about real and legendary American heroes and heroines, revisit classic American songs, and follow the adventures of travelers across the United States while you wait for the fireworks.

You can also read aloud the Declaration of Independence together. The concepts outlined in this famous document may be difficult for young children to understand so you may want to consider some strategies for pre-teaching concepts and vocabulary before you get started.

I picked up some great new Fourth of July reading at the American Library Association (ALA) convention last weekend in Anaheim, California, including a proof of Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out which is due out in September. Using the White House as the unifying theme, more than one hundred authors and illustrators help share more than 200 years of American history in this inspiring read-aloud anthology, sales of which will benefit the National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance, a Reading Rockets and AdLit.org partner.

And at the ALA convention, I was also reminded about why libraries are so very important to our country and how they serve to improve our democracy. Check out these 12 Ways Libraries Are Good for the Country. What else would you add to this list?

Remember though, your local library is likely to be closed on Independence Day, so head there today to get your books for the long weekend!

I love the 4th of July!  It is hot In Miami at that time, too hot! But I don’t let that stop me from having a lot of fun.  Every year we host a party for family and friends at our house. I always keep the TV on because the SciFi Channel has a Twilight Zone Marathon on for 2 days then and on New Year’s Day. My family is addicted to that show, and we’ve pretty much memorized all the episodes. (I actually made a rolling index of all the episodes, which we use every time we watch it!) Anyway - back to the holiday. Now is the time to plan and invite yor guests. Here are some ideas to make your day special.

Start the Day with a Parade – Buy crepe paper and streamers in red, white and blue from your party store. Let the kids decorate their bicycles, make a sign from poster board and have a parade down your street. The kids can decorate the babies’ strollers or wagons as well. Older children can march with a flag. Be sure to take many photos of the event.

Play a Trivia Game – Search online for some US history facts such as info about the Declaration of Independence, our early US presidents and events of past July 4th celebrations in the US. Write don 20 questions. Ask your guests to answer the questions. The one who gets the most answers correct wins a patriotic gift. We gave away a tall Uncle Sam hat at our last party. Everyone ill have fun paying this!

Make the Food Festive – I always serve BBQ food buffet style to make it easy. Keep the food in the house, even if you are eating outside. It will stay fresher longer, and you won’t have critters flying all over it. I decorate the island in my kitchen with a red checked table cloth and put flowers in vases with flags in them.  I put cardboard boxes of varying heights beneath the table cloth to offer taller places to put food platters. This give you more space and is pleasing to the eye. It is better to serve just 4 or 5 items in large quantity than it is to make 15 different dishes. Chicken and ribs or burgers and chicken breasts seem to please everyone. I always make a great pasta salad so if someone is a vegetarian, he will be happy.  Everyone loves corn on the cob! I always make cupcakes covered with red, white and blue sprinkles for the kids and an ice cream cake.

Host Your Own Fireworks – We buy a big box of legal fireworks from the store, plus some extra sparklers. Only the dads handle the lighting of the fireworks. No kids! We all sit in the back yard with sparklers. Be careful with those, because they can really burn! They are not for little children. You’ll find that your guests will NOT want to leave.

Whatever you plan, have a safe and fun 4th of July!

Check back here at the end of June. When I get home from my vacation, I’ll post a few recipes.

The kitchen is going well, mainly because we had to get things in place for the countertop measurer on Wednesday. It went well, they make cardboard templates of your countertop and glue them in place to make sure they're accurate. Now we just have to wait a few weeks until the countertop is ready to install. Since the kitchen is now more organized I could put away some of the dishes that were in the living room china cabinet I bought specifically for sewing supplies. I've finally organized all my fabric!

The fabric is folded in large squares so that you can see the edge of each one which will make them easier to find. They're sorted by colours of course, with patterns and solids mixed in. I tried to fold them neatly (in thirds if they're big enough) so you can pull one out without messing up the whole pile.

My thread boxes are on top, and the drawers hold smaller items. The lower shelves hold messier remnants of fabric that don't fold as nicely. I want to paint this cabinet white but can't decide. The wood patina is nice on some places but not so much in others. This is the outside of the cabinet: And the inside:
I might just put light wallpaper in the inside to lighten it up without painting. The vintage tins hold things like zippers and bias tape:
I also had some inspiration for my ribbon. I'd already organized it into these metal baskets that came from the dollar store. They are wound onto pieces of paper towel cardboard rolls.
My inspiration was to use some of my vintage thread spools. Finally I have a purpose for them, and it's much nicer than the cardboard. These old wooden spools are just too nice to throw away, but I do actually use the thread so they were empty.
You can wind the lace or ribbon the way you would thread, spiral up and down the spool then secure in place with a pin. I need some shorter pins for this, so if anyone knows where you can find them please let me know!
p.s. the cable stitch from my recent knitting post was adapted from this lovely scarf pattern. For mine, I made the longer cable part shorter and was trying out a double rib for the sides.