I've been purging!

So if one recalls I retired a little over a year ago (June 09). After being an art teacher for some 30+ odd years...I tried during those first few months to purge of my teaching supplies. I tried to pass some of my beloved hints, lesson plans and supplies to buddies or my young teacher friends. But if you dwell in Art one knows it is VERY hard to let go of items you just KNOW can be turned into something fabulous? Also the price of art supplies...??? Well you hopefully get my drift!  SO I just completed another purge now that I've had a full school calendar year come and go and another has begun. Sadly I still do not seem to be able to handle just ONE focus!  I love my quilting YET? have decided I cannot part with my antler basketry nor my painting supplies. In fact one goal this fall is to paint on site the beautiful colors of VA during the fall. NOW on with my post....Once I finally completed my week of working in our basement purging  I celebrated success by a day of fabric dyeing and a few quick cyanotypes which used up my last prepared pieces of blue prints on fabric. http://www.blueprintsonfabric.com/

I decided to use my old dyes from teaching days

What a beautiful day it was...so here's a few photos of my day ;-)

Borrowing the MAN CAVE!

Who can complain about this set up?

It's a great day to be outside

cyanotype

how the 4 blue prints came out.. just have to dry

Washed and ironed dyed fabric

So now onto day two of fabric dyeing..today I will use my newer dyes.....

So as promised...sadly though a day or two later then planned.

Well as promised I want to share some photos from a wonderful exhibit we viewed in Grand Rapids MI at The Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. It was a pleasure to see the Dale Chihuly Exhibit which consists of 15 different sites throughout the park and was designed to celebrate the park's 15th anniversary.  The glass sculptures were amazing.  Made me wonder how they must had looked when all the gardens were in full bloom compared to the end of season blooms we viewed. So here are a few photos of the 15 different sites. It was very interesting to see how the glass sculptures just blended in with the gardens.

Time to regroup!

Wow we made a quick trip to MI and even though we've been back since midnight Tues I just have not been able to regroup? Let's call this my lazy week.  If only there was a way to link up our brains and thoughts to become instant blog posting, just imagine how many posts i would have had in the past two weeks?!!????
Oh well....it's time for me to focus, set new goals and create a to-do list!
First though to report a little on our wonderful trip up north! We headed to Grand Rapids Airport in MI first where we were able to visit with my hubby's family nearby in Rockford MI.  Wow one niece begins her senior year at Univ of Mi (Go Blue!) and the other niece began her senior year at Rockford High School last Tues. It won't be long before there is another empty nest!  We had a great day trip with them to Saugatuck MI,  a cute little city along Lake MI. I got to purchase a little art from a great gallery there,  www.goodgoods.com  if you're ever up in that area give them a little visit.
After a couple days in Rockford MI we headed up north to Harbor Springs for a wedding celebration, the weather turned iffy but as everyone knows MI is beautiful in any weather. ;-)


So here's a few teaser photos...We stayed at the Bay Harbor Resort complex which is where the wedding was to take place that Sat.

Bay Harbor Resort

Our little cottage shared with JB & Claire

Son JB, his wife Claire and Charlotte

We were in a cute little cottage with my son, wife and our grand-daughter Charlotte ;-). The rainbows were on the day of the wedding, which we felt meant good luck to the bride and groom!  I mentioned the weather was iffy, sadly raining off and on on day of wedding so ceremony took place inside versus the original plan to be outside on one of the many cliffs w/ water view. Nothing mattered, the wedding was perfect and we all danced the night away!  I promise to post more tonight about our trip but for now I MUST regroup and get in our basement to do some work with the hubby  (he is only home for a couple more days before he heads to San Antonio for business so we're on a time crunch. So until tonight.....

Lucky rainbow