Sunday. NOT a Typical Day of Rest (for me).

The pain was bad enough yesterday that not a lot got accomplished around this house. There was a frost when we went out for our morning stroll. The sun has already burned off all ice crystals within its reach.

There are three partially painted eggs and seven more blank eggs waiting to be completed. Hopefully today will see at least three put in the finished carton.

Hastiness yesterday led to a blow-out of turquoise paint on the palate. Two eggs and a birdhouse gourd benefited. In line with the motto, "There are no mistakes in painting.", the blow-out has been renamed a Happy Accident and the paints were put away for the day.

Have been using tube acrylics by Artists Loft. Their bushes aren't all that great, but the pigmentation of the tube paint is excellent. Notice the tiny drops of paint on the palate. A little bit goes a long way. Am not great at mixing, so bottle acrylics fill in the palate. Still nice to have that kind of rich density on only one coat.

Here's hoping your Sunday is filled with blessings. If you can't see one: be one.

Busy, Busy, Busy.

Most of my time prior to the Easter holiday was spent painting Easter eggs to give some friends and family. Spent time with a close friend. Luckily, she's crafty too and we spent our time listening to Bob Ross, painting and laughing at stupid stuff. Was lucky enough to spend some time with family as well. Time shared with family is always precious. People change so much over the years. It was great to get away even though it was only a couple days.

Back home and back to reality with another dozen or so blank eggs waiting for paint. While I do that, here are some of the finished eggs that weren't given away.

Can you believe a full dozen eggs were gifted?

Speaking of given away... Would you like one of these hand painted Easter eggs? Comment on this post with the number of your favorite egg. CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES ONLY!! Winner will be selected at random on Sunday the 23rd.

Good luck!

#1 - Purple Flowers

#2 - Blue Flowers

#3 - Pink Dogwood

#4 - Purple and Cobalt Flowers

#5 - Pansies

#6 - Mixed Flowers

#7 - White Tole Flowers on Red

#8 - Blue Tole Flowers on Cream

#9 - Orange and Yellow Flowers

#10 - Tole Flowers (Side 1)

#10 - Tole Flowers (Side 2)

#11 - Red and White on Cream

Freezing Friday.

Sheesh-kabob. I scoffed when a friend spoke of snow in the weather forecast. Sure enough, a light, white blanket carpeted the grass as witnessed by our sleepy eyes this morning. Not enough to make driving hazardous. The cold breeze that came with the snow was bone chilling. Still, it's good to see how much the grass has grown since the days began to be longer and brighter.

Too cold to do anything outside. Had a friend help me with some Spring cleaning. Took down all the knick-knacks on top of the kitchen cupboards, cleaned them, put down fresh shelf paper and put them back up -- rearranged, don't cha know. Was nice to have someone to help hand stuff up and down. Would have taken me days to do by myself.

Here are a few ornaments that are ready to go (except for a border around the black one).

Of course, more are in the making. Gifts for friends and family this Easter. Hope I have enough made by the time I see everyone. Only really have this weekend then the visiting will start. Looking forward to some good times spent with good people.

Back to work for a while. Wheel of Fortune and next Jeopardy. The background music for a single life.

May your evening be restful and tomorrow filled with joy.

Blessed be.

Thoroughly Thursday.

No photo today folks. The morning and afternoon were spent on errands and chores.

Rain. Rain. Rain. Even our evening walk was in the rain. Poor puppy dog.

Painting has begun. Unfortunately, there were a few mishaps.

One of the eggs (a nice green one) magically sprouted a second hole. Painting the shells with regular acrylic was more trouble than it was worth. Three layers and still not a uniform depth. Streaky. A switch to acrylic enamel solved that particular problem, but added to the dry time. An experiment painting on top of a base coat of pysanky ink was a total waste of time. Another experiment -- one of those 'DUH' moments -- we'll call it, "I wonder what it will look like if I do this..." Yeah. DUH. One egg that is probably beyond recovery, but I'll try to save it if at all possible. For now it's in the reject pile.

Finally, three eggs are finished. Except for the sealant. Simply too tired to do much more.

That's all for tonight, ou. I'm off to dreamland. May your dreams be happy and you rise in the morning refreshed and ready to start the day.

Counting blessings. Wynken, Blynken and Nod. Here I come.

Wednesday Worktable.

It must be Easter...

Getting ready to paint some Easter eggs.

Thankful Thoughts on a Tuesday.

Grandmother used to say "April showers bring May flowers." It's a song, don't cha know 😊

Already the Spring rains have sprouted some early flowers. These pretty purple crocus are right in our front yard. The daffodils along the back sidewalk are about six inches so far and a few have blossoms growing.

Today I'm thankful for:

• Spring Peeper frogs
• Grass turning green
• Friends and family
• Kitty-cats that curl up in your lap and fall asleep purring
• Puppy dogs that play nice with kitties
• Windows open to the fresh air
• Sunshine breaking through rain clouds
• Final chemo treatments
• Remission
• Ibuprofen
• Sit-coms
• Word games

Sweet dreams, friend. May you have many blessings to count as you fall to sleep.

Monday Mini-Project. Owl Ornaments.

 Yesterdays walk was rather pleasant. We went to the local reservoir and did the mile loop. Simply stepping out the the car and smelling the hemlocks along the shore was refreshing.

Unusually quiet there. A few hikers checking out spots along the edge to fish from. Nice to see young folks getting out and about. A few folks fishing along the shore. They'd do better to follow the streams. Trout like it cold.

Time to pick up my fishing license.  Season opened on April 1st.

Come to think of it, the game commission was out stocking local streams about a week ago. Will have to scan the paper to see where it was. Dang. Those babies will hit on about anything... Canned corn used to work pretty good back when Grandfather still walked the earth. We used to go to his brothers hatchery (Uncle Ralph - RIP) and do a little fishing - with permission, of course. All you really had to do was stick your line in the water and wait. Those ponds were full of some really nice, fat fish. The first one I pulled from the water was a nine inch Brook Trout. Many, many moons ago.

Will be finishing up those little owl ornaments today. Three more to go, then the painting can begin again.

Chores first. Then it's project time.

Y'all have a productive, satisfying day.  Remember to count your blessings.

Sunday Funday.

Doodling possible Christmas ornament designs while sipping coffee and waiting for the first load of wash to finish so the hot water tank can recover enough to take a shower before heading out on the trail.

(How's THAT for a run-on sentence, Grammar Police? LOL)

Going to be a gorgeous day. Bright sunshine outside and already up to thirty-four (34) degrees with an anticipated high of fifty-seven. A nice Spring day in Northwestern PA.

Here's hoping your Sunday is full of sunshine and smiles!

Saturday Scatterday.

Seems like all I've been doing lately is sleeping. Perhaps because of the rainy weather we've been having. Perhaps because I'm bored with making small items.

Here are three of nine felt owl ornaments. Shown without their hanging ribbons. From start to finish, it takes around an hour to an hour and a half to make each one. Incredible for something only about three and a half inches high. Too much time for the $5 that folks will pay for them.

Another three owls. Obviously.

Live and learn.

These aren't hard to make. Simply tedious. The hardest part is sewing the blanket stitch around the cotton wings that have been ironed onto the felt using fusible web. So far the fusible web has worked well to stop the cotton from fraying.  


Saw some retro-camper felt ornaments online for $14.99 each. How do those shop owners sell their items for so much? Must be a better market than ours.

Four of these little elephants were cut out. This is the first completed. He's about four inches tall and five and a half inches from trunk to tail. Makes up in about an hour. Hoping the customers in this area will pay $7.50 for them.

Believe it or not, the hardest part of this project was stuffing them.

With more daylight hours, the acrylics and watercolors are calling my name. Time to wrap up all these small sewing projects and paint again. Have several different projects in mind - non-traditional canvas mandala type. "Hippie Art". We'll see how it goes. Wish I knew how to mat watercolor paintings.

Until next time, may your laughter be plentiful and your troubles be few.