All Packed and No Where to Go

My heart is broken. We were all set for the sale of our house to close Monday and ready to move into our new home Tuesday. Then we got the call -- the whole thing fell through. Mrs. Buyer's job somehow mysteriously vanished. She claimed she work there, but her employer told the bank in no uncertain terms she didn't and to never call him again. Pooff! My dreams of having our life settled and moving forward in a positive direction have once again been put on hold. Now I have to put the house back in order and ready to show tomorrow. Needless to say, I am feeling rather discouraged and hopeless at the momment. I did have a wonderful time at Art Fiber Fest before all this blew up and I will blog about it as soon as my heart can recapture some joy.

Art Fiber Fest

Wednesday evening I'm off to Art Fiber Fest in Port Townsend. What a crazy time for a weekend away. The sale of our house closes on the 27th and our new house on the 28th. Then we have two days to move. Then, add Halloween and two of my kids birthdays. Did I say my life is a little crazy. I'm just hoping that it wont take me long to decompress from all the house sale stress and I will be able to relax and enjoy my time away. I'm thinking I might need to sneak a little wine into my suitcase just in case.

I have quite the suitcase of supplies. I spent the weekend gathering everything on my supplies list and also packing my studio to move. I wasn't very selective about what went into the suitcase. I figured I might as well take all my fabric paints and paintbrushes, all my colored pencils and pens, all my painted fabric. My husband was teasing me that I wouldn't be able to lift the bag. I told him it has wheels. Plus, it isn't nearly as heavy as some of those moving boxes of magazines I packed.

I'm very excited and a little nervous about going to, as my family calls it, art camp. I think the only time I have ever been somewhere overnight where I didn't know anyone was back in high school when I visited Boston to check out MIT. I'll only be an hour away from home and I'm familiar with the area this time, so it shouldn't be nearly as scary and lonely. And hopefully fiber artists aren't nearly as intimidating as a bunch of college students to a shy high schooler.

I made a bunch of treasure boxes filled with "dreams" to trade at camp. I love the pile of bright colors and textures and all the wonderful secrect they hold. My fingers love to stack them. I love to play with the beads. They are just so little and fun! Hopefully, others will think so to.

Art-O-Mat Openning in Seattle

Last night I attended my first Art-O-Mat openning at Venue during the Ballard Art Walk. My husband and I were able to drop the kids off with my parents and head to the big city for a date. It was the first time in years that we have been to Seattle without visiting the zoo or science center and I realized how much of a small town girl I have become. We had a great time though. I met Clark, founder of Art-O-Mat and other artists. It was really fun to see people picking out their treasures from the machine. My husband bought a tiny oil painting of birds sitting on a line. He asked if he needed to buy my work, but I didn't really see the point of that. One woman bought a "Bad Boys Pincushion" and let out a scream when she openned it. The machine was very busy the whole time we were there. I, of course, didn't bring the camera and didn't think to have my husband take a picture with his phone. Maybe Clark will have his pictures up on flicker and I can ask to add one to my blog.

These are some more "Dreams" that I am making for them. I haven't come up with names. I have a feeling I wont have a chance to finish naming, labelling and boxing them until after we move, but they have been a fun distraction.

I'm finally starting to have faith that everything is going to work out with our house sale and purchase. It's only two weeks until we close and I'm going to Art Fiber Fest on the 22nd, so I'm going to have to really start packing soon. Speaking of that, I really should get back to work.

Gifts

What fun I have been having my rainbow of fabrics. These are a couple 13" x 18" wallhangings I have made based on the log cabin pattern. I've never really had any education in traditional quilting, so I don't know if the arragement is based on anything tradtional or not. I just put the colors together in a way I liked. They are sewed together with a zig-zag in copper thread. I haven't finished the edges yet or trimmed all the loose threads yet. I think I might try a copper foil binding. It that doesn't work, I'll try a zig-zag. I'm planning on mounting them so they will be ready to frame if desired.

I love the cheeriness the bright colors add to my day. I hope the people who recieve them have the same feeling.

Backpacking ... in Rhinestone Heels

Today is the day for our latest reveal, Shelter, on the Twelve by Twelve blog. For my piece I chose to do a blinged version of Boulder Shelter, a backpacking shelter in the Olympic National Park. If you'd like to read more about it feel free to hop over to the blog. It's also my turn for picking the next topic. I wont give any clues until I post it later today. Now its time to make some coffee.