Upcycled rug

Completed my first upcycled rug. I have also been sewing and painting, but instead of posting all the details here, I have started a craft blog where I will post. For here, for now, all you get are pictures!

Finished Rug

little bits of craftsy stuff

Tuesday my sister and niece and I spent the day together and we experimented with fusing plastic. First thought - this is not as easy as it looks. It is not difficult but it takes some experimentation depending on your iron, the thickness of the plastic bags, etc.



Different plastics have different thicknesses and different flexibilities.



I have a lot of practicing to do to get this the way I would want it... and also, I don't shop enough (outside grocery stores) and I try to take my own recycled bags whenever I can remember, so I don't have a lot of colorful bags. The whole point of this craft is to recycle what I have... so I need to put some more thought into this.

Slightly more successful is my crocheted rug from old sheets. When I finished slicing up one sheet this is what the ball of 'yarn' looked like:



I have started the crocheting process but no pics yet.

House improvements

Two weeks ago my mother came over and helped me finish pulling up the carpet in the main portion of the house. Here are pictures of the floor:

I still need to repaint the baseboards and put in quarter-round but progress is being made!

Many little things and pictures (mostly craftsy stuff)

Right now I feel like my life is made up of many little things that I enjoy - none are life changing or magnificent but they reflect who I am and I am liking myself more and more as I get to know me.

About 2 out of 3 Sundays my friend Sushil and I go to church together. Sometimes we go to UCity (where he usually goes) and sometimes we go to Warehouse 242 (where I have attended for the past 8 years.) It is nice to go to church with someone. Afterwards we usually go get lunch and this past week we went to Pinky's which is my favorite spot on my side of town and I had this:
Yummy Margarita. This was a small thing that made me happy - kind of like feeding the swans a few sundays ago did.


























I have been painting a little bit again lately which is nice and therapeutic. Last week I finished this one:
Faith.

Friday I did this one:
Tree




























And yesterday and today I worked on this:
In Progress Which became:

Holy Ground which I need to take a better picture of since the glare is so bad, but the canvas was still wet...



























I have also been crocheting. Here are three of my latest projects:

Cap

baby hat (which I am going to send to a friend in Austin who is expecting her first little boy.) and
Sushil's hat.

And this is me tonight... in my big fleece, enjoying quiet time at my house.
lazy me.

Painting

I have started painting. Meager novice expressions of things - concrete and not. I am trying to practice some skill-work (learning to paint landscapes etc.) but I find the most comfort in painting the things I am meditating on - like the fruit of the spirit. So here are a few of my recent paintings:

love


Patience

Joy

And this was for a friend for Christmas:

Volunteering

Because I have time on my hands and I want to invest my time in profitable ways, I am currently volunteering on Fridays at 24-7 Prayer Room Charlotte. This place is beautiful, aesthetically and missionally. There is a diversity of visitors that makes my heart smile and the peaceful quietness of being here refocuses my heart and desires. This is a great place to intercede and seek guidance. I am thankful that for this season I have the opportunity to be here and that by doing so I know that each week will have quiet and focused time to re-center.

A few of my favorite things

The salt and pepper pigs were given to me by my friend Liz last Christmas. The candle holder on the right I picked up in Thailand in 2001. The pineapple ornament was a house warming gift from my friend Jess in 2009.




These are my 2 favorite coffee mugs. The brown one is hand made and I picked it up at the farmer's market in 2011 for $5. The tigger mug my parents brought back from Disney World for me several years ago. It is extra big so it holds the right amount of coffee!



These are two of my favorite coasters. I bought them from the Z Gallery at Northlake 2 years ago for $1.20 or something a piece.



This is my dining room during the great carpet-pulling this past week. I pulled up the carpet in the dining room, living room and hallway to reveal these beautiful wood floors.