Art Show

     I've been to the Waldron Art Gallery twice this month.  I went to see a 40 year retrospective show of the employees and former owner of Pygmalion's Art Store.  The store always advertised itself as the Art store owned, run and staffed by artists.  My Daughter worked there for years.  So two of her pieces are in the show.  It was a lovely show but I hadn't taken my camera and the place was really too packed to make picture taking feasible.  So Eliyah and I went after school.  However, my photography leaves a lot to be desired!

"Tree" by Jude Heichelbech

Artist - Jude Heichelbech

 

 This wet-sculpted cement dog was the work of Tom Zeta, I just love the look this dog gives you!

All in all, a very successful show!

     I have put my sewing in the downstairs closet.  I confess the picture makes it look cluttered but I feel very comfortable in there.  My projects are lined up in hanging shelves on the right.

     I have cut out a pink dress to sew.  I'd like to finish it this week.  I have a pink and white shawl I want to wear with it.  It's a very simple pattern with only three pieces.

 

Making my own clothes!

          I have been thinking about clothing myself without the second-hand option.  It's funny but I don't feel the same way about the clothes I buy and those I make.  When the children were small I made many items, pajamas with feet, frilly dresses, curtains and slip covers, even some underwear.  When my oldest son graduated from the eighth grade, I made his suit, of dark green polyester blend and it was not my best effort.  I had never been taught to tailor things and I didn't know how it should have hung from the shoulders.  However, it couldn't be noticed on a trotting horse and I'm sure he wore it only a few times.  The point is, one looked at patterns and fabric and there was no limit how much trouble one would go to in order to have the thing wanted.  But buying retail, I tend to look at the price tag first and then consider if it's ok.  Ok enough to wear.  Maybe goes with something I already have, sorta.  I don't seem to see the manufacturers of clothing as asking my opinion.  In fact, I have bought some items that sort of dismayed me but seemed trendy enough.  Buying second hand, even the trendyness goes.  So when I thought about sewing some things, I was perplexed.  I didn't know what I wanted!  I did some research on line.  I found articles about fashion, especially for older ladies, that mentioned classic styles, shawl collared jackets, 40's style tailored slacks, the little sheaths and full-skirted dresses I made in High School are back in style and flats but with little white socks now.  But I could not find outlets that sold these items.  Not in my price range anyway.  I began to go through my collection of Victoria Magazines, they don't show many fashions but what they do show are very classic.  I took a girlfriend and went to the fabric store.  Patterns were on sale for the same prices I used to pay, just $1 or $2 apiece.  I had a coupon good for 1/2 off a piece of cut fabric.  I looked at linen and linen-look, hunting for Taupe.  I had to settle for a medium brown but I like it.  Then a piece for a dress.  I already had some white linen for blouses, some green denim for shorts, some plaid for a casual top.  I spent $43.   When I got home I spread them all out on the bed to gloat over!

     It was not so easy to get back into the sewing mode.  I made the green shorts first and made a slight cutting error.  The same thing with the plaid blouse but I fixed it.  The button holes aren't as nice as I wanted but practice makes perfect, or at least better.  Now I'm working on the first white blouse and it's coming along nicely..  It makes me feel happy to be working on these things for myself.  And already I've become picky about what I'll wear of what I already have.  Also I've hemmed up good pieces left languishing for lack a little hand-sewing.  This is gonna be fun!


     Friday I took the day off and went with a friend to see the Indiana Pioneer Mothers' Memorial.  It consists of 88 acres of virgin timber just south of Paoli, Indiana.  I took pictures but it was a cloudy day and virgin woods are dark always but here is a view of the Memorial wall in the center of the woods.  Quite a walk for these old legs.  But I loved it and thought it well worth the effort.  Afterward we had lunch in Paoli, came home and took a nap!

     There are no menus this week,  I've been busy so Bill did the shopping and I've just been making easy things.  Meatballs and tiny bits of pasta tonight!

We are not less busy!

 I am still having my friend Eliyah visit me after school several days a week.  I decided to make some oatmeal cookies for him, and for the hungry guy who lives with me.  I rooted around in my several recipe boxes for the recipe.  Actually, I discovered I had three in use at the same time.  An excellent time to combine them all into one.  The recipe I wanted was for "the best Oatmeal cookies ever" on the circular insert from a small can of Quaker oats.  At last I found it.  I have chosen the painted box for my only, albeit stuffed, official recipe box,  In addition to sheets printed off the internet and stored in a loose-leaf binder, of course.

 The cookies were deemed a great success and were eaten in about 3 days.


While eating lunch out with a friend, I made the acquantance  of a young lady staging an art show.  Somehow I ended up helping her sew some curtains.  10 and 12 foot curtains!  It was quite a project and had a short time-line too.  Soon the whole house was draped with white fabric.  All the furniture was moved to provide enough space to measure and cut the pieces. 

The curtains are hanging from our balcony.  It helped to keep them from being wrinkled.

Incredibly the 18 curtains got rolled up onto these tubes, though it was very acrobatic for my Husband and I for about an hour!

Delivery to the head of the project.

It's a large room and very tall and the curtains will be hung from the ceiling.  I spent a while on a ladder recently, cleaning the gutters and found it very tiring indeed.  These people are younger than me so maybe it won't be so bad.

The beautiful decorations in the background are made of butter.

 The show, "Bloomington Katmandu" opens on May the 28th at 5pm.  I hope Eliyah can come, the Tibetan Cultural Center on Snoddy road is very impressive and there are Prayer Wheels and small Temples outside among the trees.  We plan to go on the opening day.  The show lasts for three weeks.  You are all invited, and not to look at all my white curtains!


Mother's Day was lovely.  I received a dozen roses on the Friday before and they were beautiful all week.  I got  a coupon for a free ticket at the Museum in Indy and a $25 gift certificate to the restaurant there,  a wonderful amber and silver ring, a song, $25 on Amazon, where we frequently order stuff, and a gift certificate to our local butcher's!  Also many cards and letters and phone calls.  My local Daughter and her partner came over and had tea with us around four in the afternoon.  They brought a new-to-me jam called F.R.O.G.  That's fig, raspberry, orange and ginger.  I have been "lasting" it but it is almost gone.  Really yummy! A wonderful day.  It is good on Mother's Day to have seven children!

  Eliyah and I went to the Butchers' Block on Wednesday afternoon.  I could not resist spending the whole thing at one time.  I bought four pounds of their Indiana Platter bacon, four pounds of their special, ground sirloin,  two pounds of pork tenderloin, and the rest in beef stew meat.  Then I geared up to put it all into the freezer, in individual portions, of course.

Getting it out.

The bacon and the pork.

The ground sirloin.  Two scoops weighs about four ounces.  If we are having hamburgers, I may get out two bags and we may have quarter pounders but in the spaghetti sauce I only put four ounces and it may do for two meals.  In theory, this eleven pounds of meat will provide us with about forty-four meals of the very best quality meat available in this town, I believe.