Gotta Love the Color!

Since it's been awhile since I've blogged, I thought I should catch up with what I've been up to the last few months. Waaaaaay back in April, Krista and I went to our first Holi DC festival. It's a Krishna fest that welcomes in spring with music, Indian food and color, lots and lots of vibrant, saturated, bright color.

This was how we looked as we entered the festival.

and this is us after we'd had color thrown on us from all sides.

These packets are for sale and they had hundreds and hundreds of them available. Some are chalky and others powdery. The powdery ones are used for the Color Throw that happened at the top of every hour.

There was great music, dancing, food, and fun.

The color is non-toxic and washes out.

 This little girl had goggles on, which we found out was a pretty good idea. 

It was such a gorgeous spring day, cool, crisp with the hint of spring coming. A great day for throwing color!

Home Improvement

Last year I had so much work done on the house, barn, studio and shed.

The house was in need of a paint job and of course the painters found bug damage to the front and had to repair that first. But I chose fresh, new colors and am so happy with the result.

The house stayed white but the trim is a pale grey, the shutters and 3 doors are a delightful aqua and the front door is a sunny yellow. Very cheery and happy!

 

 

It looked so pretty in snow this winter.

The front of the barn got rebuilt and I finally got the letters up that I bought the year before at Lucketts.

Gerardo is my go to painter guy and has turned out to be a very good friend. He painted the front of the barn as a gift to me for my birthday, minutes before my party.

My mom even got into the action! No rest here.

 

The studio got a fresh coat of paint and some repairs done too.

Another winter scene.

I've always wanted to paint the fireplace a dark color and I finally decided it was time.

And of course that meant the entire room needed a makeover. This is the before.

The after. New gallery wall, new pillows (can't resist pillows!)

The walls are a cool grey, can't really tell in the photo.

I also did a little redo on my guest bedroom. I refinished two dressers and love how they turned out.

The low winter light in this room is so nice.

The dogs know how to soak it up!

This is the 'winter' look, with cozy flannel sheets.

And this is the fresh spring look with cheery colors.

The room is available for a visit!

 

 Then as soon as it warmed up a bit, I couldn't wait to tear into this space. What a total mess the garage was in. Couldn't stand it but it was so freezing cold for so long, that I couldn't be out there for long.

Such disarray!

But now it's totally organized, tools where they should be and I can actually find things now!

I think I'll repaint it since I don't really care for the green any longer, but for now it's a joy to go out there and work. I have a few pieces of furniture I need to refinish and as soon as Sheep & Wool Fest is over, I'm tearing into them.

And speaking of tearing into....this was my holiday project. I blogged about it back in January and am finally getting to spend time in here since it's warmed up. There isn't any heat in this room so now I can be in here without seeing my breath!

I have so much storage now, but I've gotten rid of so much stuff that I have room to spare.

 

A quiet nook for reading a book.

This is my organized storage for my pretty things that I decorate with throughout the house. Now I have everything within reach.

I bought the paint for this room (guess what color? Yep, a darker grey. My house will be 50 shades of grey before I'm done!) but I'm going to leave this color for a bit.

I did repaint the kitchen though but haven't taken the pics yet. It's now a very pale yellow.

This is my bedroom upstairs. It's like being in a tree house, looking out at the trees and hearing the birds chirping away in the morning. The early morning light comes streaming in on my face and I love the coziness of the room.

I've had a lot of changes in my life lately and have felt good about making changes in my home too. I felt I've had a 'reboot' and with spring here, I'm feeling like a rebirth too. I've been out in the garden a lot and am doing some changes out there too. Stay posted!

Dye, Felt, Poke

Way back in January, I held 3 classes. Learn to dye, create a nuno felt scarf and needle felt an art piece from a photograph.

In the dye class, the students were studying the color chart to pick just the perfect colors for their yarn.

 

They came up with the most intense, strong, wonderful colors!

 The dyepots were simmering while we discussed color theory, hues, values, what colors go together, what colors clash and what colors people like and dislike.

 As soon as a new color would come out of the pot, we'd photograph it and ooh and ahh over it.

 We accidentally dyed yarn the color of an Iphone cover!

Some of the dyers of the day with their finished yarns. I can't wait to see what they do with them!

Nuno Felt Scarf Class

 Another day, another class. I had 16 ladies come together to throw various fibers on silk chiffon to create their very own nuno felt scarf. I'm so lucky to be able to use our Barnesville Town Hall. It's huge, has plenty of tables and is just a nice space to work in.

 Placing the wool, yarn, glitz, mohair and other bits on the scarf.

 

I tell them not to overthink it, just throw it on and it'll turn out lovely. 

And see?! They turned out fabulous!

Happy artists

Needle Felting from a Photo

Somehow I didn't receive everyone's message about enrolling for this class and I ended up with 13 students. Yikes! This class was held in my house and I scurried around for more chairs and table spaces as more people showed up. It all worked out though and I think everyone had fun poking wool into a felt background.

 

 

laying in the clouds and sunset

To those of you who missed my January classes, I will be holding more in the future. Sign up for my newsletter on my website, and you'll be notified of all events.