and melting ice.
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I finished my papier mâché frame. This is the second frame I’ve made based on the instructions and inspiration of Corrie Beth Hogg. I can’t say enough how much I admire her. The way she researches and explores and then shares about art and craft – uhg – I want to be her when I grow up. She has an excellent Substack.
Anyway back to my feeble attempts to be as artistic as Corrie Beth. Here’s the first frame I made. For a mountain painting on canvas.
I have another canvas painting – a portrait that I got for a few bucks at a church rummage sale. I love the painting. It’s been leaning against the wall on top of the hutch in my living room for a long time. And I thought it was time to give it a proper frame.
The frame is made of layers of cardboard so, delightfully, I spent zero dollars on this project. Below you can see how the papier mâché looks before I painted it. It’s tempting to leave it with the newspaper exposed. I could make up a story about the young man being a journalist and distant relative. But no, I wanted it to go with the look of the other frame. I painted it in a sort of graphic faux bois pattern.
Mostly happy with it except it’s rather dark.
Here are the frames together. Its so frustrating to take photos in my basement – everything looks dead.
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This week we had lots of things to entertain us. We watched the Superbowl, then we watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics, then Brian arrived, then we celebrated Valentine’s Day and finally, sadly we had to say good-bye to one of our foster kitties.
I also felt compelled to knit some more melt the ice (mini) hats. I’ve never knit a mini anything but now I might have to try making one of the cute little stuffed animals that I’ve seen. Maybe…
Here are some (unsold) bakery goodies that Claire brought home from work – to help celebrate the Superbowl. She brings lots of things home when she works on Saturday because the bakery is closed Sunday. She said they also donate stuff to a food bank. Anyway – the point is – I’m spoiled by all the scones and bread and danishes and cupcakes and cookies, etc.
Here’s a photo Brian took at O’hare… or was it Minneapolis?
On Wednesday we got a note from the cat shelter saying someone saw dear Lane’s photo on their web site and they wanted to adopt her. So we tried to fit in as many cuddles as we could before we took her back on Saturday.
We no longer have a trio of furballs.
Lane was the one who was always happy to be picked up and loved.
Here are her brothers saying goodbye to her.
Bea sent some more pretty pictures from a hike.
She sometimes feels angry. Ha.
And then suddenly it was time to say good-bye to Brian. We had a nice walk and stopped at a coffee shop before I drove him to the airport.
So it was fun while it lasted but we are feeling a bit sad at the loss of Brian and our kitty too.
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This week has been quiet. We’re having a good winter, in my opinion, with a nice stretch of below freezing temps. The snow has stuck around and that’s nice.
I’ve been working on another papier mâché project. It’s a frame for a painting that I got at a church rummage sale a few years ago. Stay tuned, I hope to finish it in the next few days.
I’ve been getting some great photos from Brian and Bea.
Brian is very eager to be back to his cycling haunts in Switzerland. He has no patience so he takes himself on beautiful rides and just about turns into and icicle. Brrrr.
And Bea has had the week off from her classes – she’s been traveling all around Germany with a friend. Koblenz, Munster, Heidelberg, Stuttgart and Trier or as I like to call it Old Trier.
She continues her habit of sending me swan photos – making a nice collection.
I’ve been trying to finish this cable-knit sweater. Almost time for sleeves.
But knitting is a little difficult with these little stinkers “helping” me. If I try to sit down and knit when they are in a playful mood it’s pointless – they just want to chew on my yarn. Arg!
This is how we wash them.
It’s a good thing they are cute! I have to wait ’til they are napping and then (like with babies) I’m allowed to do what I want.
A funny thing happened last night. Claire sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night and she thinks it’s morning. Well last night it happened and she got up around midnight or 1:00 and thought it was time to get ready for school. She got as far as going downstairs and doing her normal routine of feeding the kitties. She must be only half awake when this happens. She said she didn’t realize her mistake until she put the food down for the cats. They were happy to have a midnight snack and they acted like it was morning. Then when it was actually morning she told me what happened and we wondered what to do about our little charges. Do we feed them again? But they are so routine bound that when I went down and started making my coffee they started their regular feed-me-feed-me song and dance and so they ended up getting an extra meal. Full bellies, they are finally napping next to me and letting me type up these words.
Here’s a photo of a couple cyclamen on my table. A little bit of life to make these winter months bearable.
And now I feel like I might be coming down with a fever…
Olympic fever!
He he.
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It’s not a cat toy it’s a protest hat. This past week I’ve felt compelled to do something about the political situation in the US. Things that I see happening are indecent, corrupt and unlawful.
“There comes a time when silence is a betrayal” –MLK
So even though the last thing I like to do is express political views here and in my day to day life – I had to do something. My small reaction was to go to my town’s protest, to write a letter to each republican senator and to make this hat.
It’s going around the knitting community like wildfire. Based on Norwegian hats that were a form of protest against nazi occupation in the 1940s. It’s remarkable how quickly I can knit when I’m feeling angry.
Now I just need to pry it out of Avery the cat’s paws and wear it everywhere I go.
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I spent the weekend in Michigan City last weekend – for the the annual crafty weekend that I’ve been joining for the last several years. Just a group of ladies doing their crafting along with lots of chatting and laughing.
We rent the same house each year and it’s perfectly arranged for our group. The woman who owns the house sets up a table and desk lamp for each of us. Plus lots of places to plug things in – things like my sewing machine and iron.
This year I worked on a quilt. A kaleidoscope quilt made mostly of scraps from Brian’s old shirts.
And I also used my prixel press to make. few things.
Claire stayed home and the kitties helped her with her homework.
On the way home there was quite a bit of snow – an un-fun drive. But the next morning I enjoyed shoveling the driveway while soaking up the sunshine.
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Claire and I are all in with the fostering routine. We have had these 5-month old triplets for over a week now. Two boys and a girl. We call them Avery, Lane and Steve.
For the first almost 24 hours poor Steve hid in a corner of our bathroom. But after Claire gently lured him out with a toy he’s made himself thuroughly at home.
Having cats – especially three – can sometimes feel like a handful. They take turns acting aggressively affectionate by jumping into your lap and insisting on lots of pets. They are all loud purrers. But I do love to watch them playing and sleeping contentedly.
If you like pink toes and pink ears and pink noses – we have loads.
Jennifer and Jenna stopped by on their way to Madison. We had so much fun watching them play! At one point one of the cats launched themself into our french doors about five feet off the ground. They must have seen a reflection. It was cartoon-like and we laughed until we cried!
I had our strawberry comforter out so Jenna could sleep on the couch and I’ve left it there because everyone seems to love cuddling up on it. Now we’ve got strawberry background to so many photos. The strawberries match their ears.
They like to pile up together to sleep and they like to play-fight too. With three of them somebody is alway in a spicy mood.
This is the little girl, Lane. She is particularly cuddly and she will sometimes jump up from a chair onto my shoulder. We’re friends.
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One more photo – from Bea. A pink swan! She know I like swans so she always send me photos of them.
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Things are different around here – it’s just going to be Claire and I most of the time – it’s quiet. To fill the quiet Claire and I have been fostering cats. I can hardly believe it. It started as sort of a joke when Brian was just thinking of moving to Switzerland. We laughed and said we would replace him with a cat. But then I came across the nicest cat shelter in Evanston and everything was so easy and so we brought home two cats the day after we returned from Zurich.
There’s Claire when we first picked them up. And on the way home we passed Foster Street!
The kitties were named Froddo and Samwise but since we are not huge Lord of the Ring fans we have been calling them Fred and Sam. They are probably brothers. The shelter takes in cats from all over the Midwest and puts lots of them in foster homes while they get healthy and wait to be adopted. They say the cats can never really relax at the shelter like they can in a home so the fostering process is really helpful in getting the cats ready for adoption.
I am so pleased with how it’s going with Fred and Sam. It’s made this transition easier and happier. And I’m happy to give Claire the experience of being close to a cat – something we just couldn’t do since Brian is allergic to cats. I will note that Brian has been very supportive from afar.
The cats are so fun and sweet. They follow us around and give little squeaky meows now and then. They are only about 8 months old so they are very playful and we laugh all the time at their antics. That’s Sam above “helping” me put Christmas decorations away. And below Fred thinks he is helping me with a sewing project.
They even help Claire with her homework.
On Saturday I got a bittersweet message from the shelter saying they were ready to take the cats back to live at the shelter and get adopted. They said they have lots of people coming in to adopt and they are sure Fred and Sam will get snatched right up.
Sniff.
Hopefully we will bring home another cat or two right away.
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I still have more photos to preserve here on my blog. Photos from our trip to Munich. Bea wanted to take us into the mountains for a hike but I was exhausted and afraid she had a death march in mind. So just she and Brian went to a nearby mountian-y area.
Then. a couple days later she planned another trip for us – a trip to a gorge. I unfortunately had developed a terrible cold. So again I stayed at the hotel.
After looking at these photos again I am very sad that I didn’t get to go. Such pretty snow! I’m glad the girls got some time with Brian and he got some great photos of them.
In other news: we got Bea these boot spikes so she is less likely to fall off the side of a mountain.
She sent this photo yesterday.
Laowai 