The Buhlawg (I'm Nothing if not Southern...)

2008-06-10T20:50:00.003-04:00

Fresh off the pillow! Lobelia bookmark from _The Bobbin Lace Manual_ by Geraldine Stott. There are definitely some tension issues, but hey, I'm learning. ;-)

Mark, I'm gonna have to fire up Bimboburg soon!

2008-05-21T20:33:00.008-04:00

Okay-I haven't been here in a while so I have to post some things that have been going on behind the scenes. We went to visit Pam and Jerry in SC, and what a deeeeeelightful time we had! Much foolishness went on. Here's a pic to sum up some of the events.

Yes, that's our Sue. She's wearing Pammy's hyacinths that one of Pam's darling grandchildren made for Easter. Oh, Sue, what will we do with you? heehee!

I put this one here for Gina. I found a use for my lace heart! Just wait until Halloween!

Sherry...this is for you. It awaits. I was about to wet my pants.

I almost forgot. Here is one of my paintings from figure painting class several weeks ago.

Uplighting. A new challenge. I'm afraid she looks a little stiff. Those shadow colors are kind of funky as I was painting in the dark. I kept telling myself, "It's all about value."

Heh.

2008-04-23T20:24:00.003-04:00

At last! I finished it! It looks like crap, but I don't care because my pillow is free!

Look Sherry - lots and lots and lots of booboos, but I don't care! I can do something else now! I think I'll make a snake! Or a bookmark! Anything but this curvy, swervy heart!

Yay!

2008-04-07T19:51:00.004-04:00

Okay - I haven't written much lately. I've been really busy. We are in the midst of reorganization at work (big one from the top down) - my boss of 20 years retired and all manner of chaos has followed.

Mattie's little dog, Mopsy, became terminally ill. I had to have her put down. It was tooooooo sad. Poor little dog. Poor little Mattie.

Mattie had to have another doggie, so we found her a puppy. Her name is Selly, short for Celestine. You can tell I didn't name her. My kind of pet name is more like "Listerine" rather than "Celestine". Oh, well. She's a cute little dachshund and I feel certain she'll keep Mattie off the streets for a little while. Here's her pic:

She's already trying to play fetch and hasn't pooped in the house in four days! Woohoo! She's a wonder-dog!

I've also been painting lately. Here's one of the results. Can you tell I had been feeling color deprived?

This is 18x22. Where on earth will I keep it?

2008-02-07T22:45:00.000-05:00

Heehee! Sherry, here we are. So near and yet soooooooooooooooooooooo far.....

2007-12-31T12:22:00.000-05:00

Here's the big year end post that will hopefully catch me up a wee bit with folks. I've been doing more things and computering less - I found that I was in a spot where I either had time to play on the computer or make things, so I actually did some things instead. Did that make sense?

This past spring I did the Tom Lynch thing. I also did some painting over the summer. Here is a posting of the three 15"x15" roses I did. One was a gift for my sister's friend (and in-law), Sue.

One ended up with my other sister, Amy,

and the third needs further work or cropping.

Amy and I made egg ornaments for the nieces and nephews before Christmas. This was our first foray into egg art. I am using the term "art" loosely here. We had a delightful time making these. We did them at my mom's house and made what is quite possibly the largest mess ever made in her kitchen. Egg flew everywhere. Glitter flew everywhere. We laughed hysterically, too.

Here are the not quite complete fruits of our labor.

Keep in mind there are only twelve of the 36 we did pictured here. We got glitter-happy, to say the least.

Hope, this next picture is for you. Little Nedsel in all his glory.

2007-10-22T19:37:00.000-04:00

Egads! I have bats in my belfry!

Ruth Perry has done it again. This is her "Tootie the Frootie Bat" which can be found at Ruth's Blog. She also shared it with the online tatting class. Such fun!

2007-10-10T20:44:00.000-04:00

Oh, Sherry. . . .

2007-10-04T06:13:00.000-04:00

Bliss.

2007-10-03T18:21:00.000-04:00

Mark made the neatest bag for Sherry. He used traditional bobbinlace technique, but a very nontraditional fiber. Sherry looks so proud.

But Mark looks funnier with it.

And here Sherry shows off her tattoo of Keleigh the Keltic dragon that graced the cover of the IOLI newsletter a while back. Or would that be a tat-too?

Now I'm confused!

2007-10-02T20:47:00.001-04:00

So here I am again. I have tons and gobs of pics from Palmetto Tat Days that I haven't posted at all. I am sooooooo bad. Sherry came down to visit a couple of days beforehand. We had such a gooooooood time! Sherry, you have to come back!

Here we are in our festive hats. Sherry's is actually tatted. Mine is pretend. Or at least that's what it looks like next to hers - heehee!

Mark was such a sweetie - he brought me the most incredibly beautiful cookie pillow! Now I can start my manufacture of Bimboburg Lace! I was so joyously elated I did a little dance for Mark and Sherry (Raymond recorded for posterity in photo-form).

And what did I give Mark in return?

Closer look for the myopic. . .

2007-06-03T21:54:00.001-04:00

Here's a little painting I did for my sister's birthday. It was much fun to do!

2007-05-15T23:18:00.000-04:00

Hi, Sherry. Here it is.

2007-05-09T19:44:00.000-04:00

I've been working on Jade Starmore's Beadwork sweater for a little while. I'm using Harrisville Design Shetland wool in Purple Haze. It's a lovely color. I did swatch to gauge using size 2 needles. Here's the back thus far. Sorry for the crappy photo, but this is the best I could do inside at night.

I took a pic of Raymond, too. He's been "pumping metal". Can you tell? Hopie, this is for you:

And I have a picture of me modeling the sweater thus far. Dig that schoolteacher arm thing I have going on - it counterbalances the post-afternoon-walk-in-90-percent-humidity frizz thing I have going on. My, I'm frightening.

2007-05-02T20:32:00.000-04:00

Okay. I've been away way too long. I just spent half an hour trying to log into this blog - yikes.

Here's a pic of my nephew and Mattie. Gee, wonder where he gets that hair?

2007-01-20T11:41:00.000-05:00

Woohoo! Two posts in one day after two months of nothing. Well, I'm just trying to catch up on all the excitement and lovliness that was my holiday.

My secret santa as you see below was very generous with chocolate, bath salts, soothing accoutrements and a beautiful doily she picked up in Aruba! Santa's been to Aruba. Hmm. There's a big hint. Oh, and Santa is from Canada.

From my dear pal from across the pond I received the sweetest unexpected gift - these dainty ear bobs! And they're pink! Those bells may look small, but they've got a loud jingle! I love the clever way she tatted on a headpin that holds the entire business together. Makes the earring much sturdier. Since they're pink I can also wear them for other events like Arbor Day! Thanks so very much, Sue!

2007-01-20T10:24:00.000-05:00

Hey - you talkin' to me? You talkin' to me?

Yes, that's little Nedsel who isn't quite so small now. Oh, they just don't stay babies long enough. But he still looks pretty retarded hanging out in the bathroom basin. He still likes to help in the mornings whenever someone has to do something like brush their teeth or wash a face or hands.

I think I may finish up my Christmas tatting soon. Then it'll be time to start it all over again. Heidi, one of the Tattinggoddess goddesses, informed us a day or so ago she just finished sending out her Christmas cards and took down her tree. Heidi, don't feel badly. I still haven't finished with either yet. In fact, I never really finished getting all the Christmas decor up. Some of the items came downstairs in their boxes where they still sit. Oh, geeze. Well, I just had some things happen which had higher priority. That's life. And so it goes.

I haven't shared all the beautiful things I received for Christmas this year. I participated in the "Secret Santa" exchange on Tattinggoddess. What a wonderful group of people. I'm still trying to figure out who my santa is. She's certainly got a sense of style and humor! I love what she made!

She sent some beautiful candles for the tree. They don't show up so well here, but they're simply stunning.

On the right is the wildest pink ball - I love it! It speaks for itself - and the ribbon rosette on top for a hanger is genius. Ms. Santa also sent some very lovely bells she made from golden thread, and a gorgeous little sachet (smells so sweet, too!) with beautifully tatted roses.

You can see I'm not the only tatting fan here.

2006-11-13T20:44:00.000-05:00

Getting to be that time of year again. Here are the results from efforts of a couple of years ago. Of course, they're all gone, now. Time to make more.

2006-11-06T21:14:00.000-05:00

Here I am with my siblings. From left to right - Amy, Rusty, me and April (mother of the bride).

This is my brother-in-law, Al, with his "posse".

2006-11-05T20:22:00.000-05:00

And the flowers I initially made for Liza's cake became a little snack for Nedsel. These were the replacements and I wasn't nearly as happy with how they turned out. Isn't that how it goes? I made the first successful batch on a Saturday. I left them on the stove to dry. All that was left the next morning was a few stems. Nedsel even ate the silk stamens. Gaaaaa! How can you scold a cat with a face like this?

2006-11-05T17:28:00.000-05:00

Here comes the bride in the necklace I made. She ended up not liking the dangly bits (well, they were a bit over the top) so I took them off.

Liza is, after all, a minimalist.

And here we have my mom, Mattie, and my oldest sister, April. I'm thinking they look like two little fall princesses. The fur belonged to my great Aunt Ola, the family milliner. She was an interesting person. We'll not go that direction now, however.

2006-11-02T19:55:00.000-05:00

At long last! Photos of the Royal Wedding!

Liza and Joe were married at Wintergreen Resort - Joe worked there up until he and Liza married. It's a beautiful place - up in the mountains in Central Virginia. On the way there we happened upon this strange little building which was built to look like a coffee pot. I want one in my backyard!

My brother, Rusty, and I played for the wedding. Since it was outdoors we didn't expect there would be any place to plug things in. There wasn't. And we were attempting to sit on a grade that was at least 30 degrees out of our favor. The wind was rather brisk that day, also. Our music kept blowing off the stands, and then the actual stands started blowing over. I ended up putting my music on the ground (well, we *were* sitting on that rather steep grade). Oh, and it was COOOOOOOOOLLLLDDDD! Well, we were at a ski resort, after all. Duh.

Here is my family along with the beautiful bride and handsome prince of a groom. Aren't they cuties?

This was my favorite of the black and white pics we took.

I was very happy with the way everything turned out. And now I can get back to somewhat more normalcy!

Ahhhhhh.

2006-08-31T21:07:00.000-04:00

Great Googly-moogly! Another entry in the great Blog-o-rama catch up!

The little kitty has grown leaps and bounds. He's about four and a half months old now and is already as tall as Princess Stinky. Here's a little pic Raymond took the other night. Oh, and his name is Nedsel Ford aka Little Neddy.

Cats fascinate me. Every one is so unique.

I promised a tatting pic. Well, here's a sort of bad one of the necklace I've been working on for my niece (among other things).

Heh. White on white on white. I promise when I get it finished I'll put it on some contrasting fabric. I should wind it up sometime this weekend.

I made a hat a while back. It's black velveteen and brocade. The trim is a stoopid scarf from AC Moore's $2 bin that I tied around it for "definition". At least that's my story for now. The coat was my big summer clearance bargain. I got it to wear up on the mountain when Liza gets married.

Here's a closeup of my sister's hat (that would be Amy) for Phil's wedding back in June.

And here's a closeup of Miz Mattie. She's a cutie!

2006-07-10T21:41:00.000-04:00

I am so dismally behind in blogging. I have tons and gobs of photos from wedding stuff and tat-days stuff and projects and cats and kittens and such.

Woe is me.

First I'll start sort of backwards. Here's the new kitty, OpieTaylorChiChiRodriguesNedselFordViggoMortensen.

He's grown a whole lot since this photo was taken about a month ago. I'll update the pics shortly. First I absolutely must finish this post.

As you can see from little Neddy's picture, I started this post on July 10. It's now August 6. Does that say anything about what I haven't been doing?

Back to my summer "vacation". Hah!

My nephew, Phil, got married in June. His bride, Jacklyn, is adorable and we're very blessed to have her in the family. Phil is a scream - he's about to graduate from the university where I work. I am blessed to be able to get the kid a cup of coffee from time to time. Here's Phil and Jacklyn in their wedding finery.

As some of you know, I had to dress a hat for my mum to wear to the wedding. Her eyes are very sensitive to light, but can she wear sunglasses like a normal person? Heck, no! She prefers those little foam visors like they sell in the craft department in Walmart. She had an idea to dress one up with tulle and lace and little bows to wear. I looked everywhere for a suitable dressy hat, but to no avail. This is what I came up with - it's one of those paper hats from Walmart, but I sort of gave it the Krylon touch. And the Erin touch, too. I trimmed the other hats as well. Mattie (my mom) is the one in pink. The redhead is my sister, April, the brunette is my sister, Amy, and the bald one is my brother, Rusty, father of the groom.

I'm the chubby one on the right. What's with that leaning stance I've assumed, I wonder? Too many scoops of ice cream at Tat Day? Hmmmmm.

I love that pair of shoes - I got them at K-Mart for $7.00. My kind of bargain. And my hat matches them! The joy of Krylon! I used "Satin Pink". Who would ever have guessed?

I have some tatting projects and some other things to post. I'm presently helping my sister, April (the redhead) with preparations for her daughter's wedding in October. I just finished her veil. I'm waiting for a pic from April to see how it did. I'm also tatting a few wedding goodies for Liza. I promise updates shortly.

;-)

2006-05-18T20:21:00.000-04:00

I thought I would share more pics from this spring. Here's one of the stunning view of Lake Canandaigua - just 4 houses from Sherry's. What a wonderful trip! I want to go back, please. ;-)

Sherry, I'm starting that "Ithaca" fund. . .

The next is the "Knock Out" rose I planted last fall and the last pic is of some sort of alium looking lily in my neighbor's yard. I wish I could figure out what it is. Pretty, for one thing. Raymond took that photo.