Christmas Tradition

 For four years now Ann and I have been traveling over the mountain to see the holiday window displays in Shepherdstown. We pick up Judy at her sweet little cabin near Sharpsburg and whisk her off for a holiday treat.

 One year Judy had fallen the day before our little get together and sprained her ankle quite badly. We insisted taking her to a critical care place and they gave her a brace and sent her on her way. We settled her into a cozy little tea place with a pot of hot tea while Ann and I walked the streets and got some shopping done.

 But this year, Judy was good to go.

 Shepherdstown offers free parking during the holiday season. Thanks!

 All the businesses tastefully decorate their establishments.

Indoors the shops are lit up with fun lights.

...and stars.

Back at Judy's quaint cabin, we nestled in for the evening, a slumber party for the three of us.

Judy brought out her whackiest purchase of the day, bird legs. I just love these little talon sculptures.

Judy is a web designer but also an artist. 

Another year, another great time sharing time with girl friends. Happy Holidays!

Rock On!

Waaaaaaaay back in June I had a big truck deliver a few tons of stone for a rock retaining wall to go up our newly paved driveway.

 

 A large crane picked up that ton of rock and gently....

 

put it on the ground. Boy, could I use one of those things around my yard!

So all this rock had to be laid out really, really nice to curve up the drive and keep the grass where it should be and the cars off the grass.

While digging the dirt away, I discovered that we were oh so dumb and hadn't considered the electric fence wire that had been barely under the gravel driveway and now it was paved over with 3" of asphalt. Doh! We worked for over an hour feeding the wire underneath and having it finally emerge on the other side. yay!

I hired a friend of a friend of mine and they worked diligently building the wall....
until they didn't. It remained unfinished for over 5 months. I looked out of my kitchen window at piles of rock, cement, sand, buckets, tools  and debris for those long 5 months. I hate messes and this was messin' with my tidiness streak. (Trapper was telling them to hurry it along!) They left all their tools behind, including a stone cutting saw (not cheap). I called repeatedly to please come finish, to no avail. I even owed them bunches of money. 

So I called in another contractor. They fixed everything, made it all pretty and completed the wall in two days. Yay for guys that show up and do the job! Now we just have to fill in with good dirt and plant grass seed (next spring). I've since gotten solar lights to cast a nice light up the drive. I smile every time I pull in.

I'm NOT a Chicken!

 

 For the last two weeks I've had a date with a needle. Right in the ol' knee. And I'm just a little bit chicken beforehand. Needles make me nervous. What's going into the joint is rooster comb. The comb is just a big flap of skin and it swells with a substance called hyaluronan due to heavy testosterone in the rooster. Cocky guys! Hens also have hyaluronan but not as much.

In the 70's it was injected into the arthritic knees of racehorses to reduce inflammation.  And now it's used in our knees. When scientists found out they could use this stuff for arthritis, they started raising roosters to have super huge combs, so big that the chickens couldn't hold their heads up. But now with all the chickens we eat, the combs are saved for this purpose.

It turns out that 3 injections of Synvisc (the commercial name) a week apart, seem to work the best. I have one left and haven't felt like crowing yet. I even sleep past 4:00 a.m.!

 I am spending more time in the coop though.  And my chickens seem to like me better.

Studio Tour

I am just now finished with my own studio tour (did you hear a big whooooppppeeeee!) on this Sunday night. I can't tell you how happy that this tour season is over. As much as I love what I do, crating, hauling, setting up shop in many different venues (including my own, 3 times), dyeing, skeining, creating, fusing, wrestling sheep, bookkeeping (ugh!) and everything else, it's nice to be on the other end for once.

 I visited a studio in Garrett County a couple weeks ago with my friend, Macee.

Annie has a separate studio near her farmhouse in a rural area.

She seems to love poppies as she had these large metal sculptures made and much of her work depicts thise fun flowers.

 The ceilings are covered in pinched tin metal, so awesome.

Annie makes her own paper then tears it apart and uses it in her original designs. She also stitches the designs with this old Singer sewing machine.

 Macee was one of the guest artists, displaying her metal jewelry.

 And delicious smelling soaps made it home in my bag.

A pillow even made it home with me and fits right in with my other pillows on my bed.

 We left as the sun was setting on another fine day, a day that I was able to shop instead of sell. Fun!

Window Shopping

After a couple of days of selling yarn, fiber and jewelry in my studio, I got out at night to see some art and do some window viewing. I love window displays and the merchants in downtown Frederick have done an impressive job of creating a festive mood.

 A few of my girlfriends and I walked the streets at First Saturday, listening to holiday music, played by various musicians on each block, flitting in a few of the shops, taking advantage of free nibbles and wine, and enjoying the holiday spirit in the air.

For about 10 blocks, the trees on both sides of the street are wrapped in lights. A light falling of snow would have put a nice touch on the night.

We tucked into a nice little restaurant to end our evening with a delicious meal. Now just one more weekend of studio tour and I can officially kick back for the year and get my Christmas on!

Come On In!

 
People can now make their way into the door and there's even floor space to walk! That was NOT the case this morning. But yarn got put on the shelves, the decorations went up, cookie plates put out, so I only have about 10 hours worth of stuff to do. Too bad it's 10:30 the night before!

 Sneak peek at the new felt brooches

 They'd look cute on a scarf, shawl, coat or cardigan. Even a hat.

I used my felting embellisher for these. It's just like a sewing machine except instead of one sewing machine needle, it has 7 special felting needles. Works like a dream!

I learned how to make these felted pins a few weeks back and now just want to make them all the time.

 A few skeins of 'Frilly' yarn are ready to go. This yarn sells out so fast and it's really hard to find, so get it while you can!

 I made a 'tree' out of my old, rusty milk can, 2 corbels and some holly.

 These little gossamer bags filled with vintage notions are great for doing art cards or collages, scrapbooking.

Hope to see some of you this weekend or next. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, 10-5 this weekend and next. Happy Holidays!