Our Master Gardener meeting was at the Nashville Rec Center this month, and that also happens to be where they hold barn quilt-making classes, sooo... check these out! 

I would love to put one on the Cottage in the back... just need to figure out the design. I'm thinking.... lavender? Off to research quilt squares.... 

It's no surprise that this year all of my art energy has been poured into gifts for friends and family, what energy I've had. Once my days no longer resemble scattershot screaming into a dark night, I will be posting all of the lovely things I want to be making here. 

Basically...
Because my art studio above the garage is on hold, I am focusing on unpacking all of my art supplies, going through them, and getting rid of most everything. Yes, again. Everything is going in the trash... I should be used to this by now.

All of my projects I'm working on now are happening at the dining table, so, at least I have a dining table? I have shelves set up in the front hall on both sides, and on one wall of the dining room. I'm trying not to be obnoxious, but... so far, so good. It's not ideal, but it's working.

A lot of what I'll be working on will happen on the computer anyway -- cover design, ad design, website design (yes, I'm moving the website), and photo editing only need my computer and none of that makes a mess. So, yay?

When I had to leave Oregon, I brought all of my lavender from the last two harvests, all of my beeswax Charley had rendered for me, and about a million hollyhock seeds I'd harvested. Everything else was lost or left behind, and the garden is probably dead by now since they're having record-high temps and there's no way to water anything since I'm 3,000 miles away. 

So. The art room here is coming together. We're finally unpacking our supplies and the room has big closets and a wall of built-ins, plus bookshelves I insisted we bring with us, and that means we will be back in business soon. I've started finding dining tables on Marketplace that will serve as our work tables, and so that part is coming together too. 

Until then, we're going to the Halifax Art Studio once or twice a week and painting pottery. That's helping... I just can't post photos because they're presents for people for Christmas! 

I can't wait to get my wall art unpacked and then hung, because all of it is a source of inspiration for me, and then this place will at least look like home. 

My fancy erasers at least have a lovely home:

First blog post for my new art page.... 

Our new house in North Carolina has this ridiculously oversized main bedroom and ridiculously large adjoining bathroom. So crazy... this bedroom is on the side of the house where my daughters' rooms are, so it's perfect — for our art studio!!!

We'll be using screens to give them a little privacy when they're making birthday or Christmas presents, and then they can decorate their corners however they want. Right now, the room is wall-to-wall almost-white carpet, so we will be replacing that with the amazing hickory-style Pergo I installed in my last house. The solid flooring will be much better against the paint, glue, and glitter heading its way! 

With no more farm chores, and unlimited time, I will be able to focus on my writing... and my art. True to my nature, I have many, many favorite kinds of art I like to do — I love painting rocks, hand lettering, drawing, card design, making jewelry, embroidery, quilting, cross stitch, crochet, sewing, paper crafts, Cricut paper projects, felting wool, calligraphy, photography, just.... making beautiful things. An area I've been craving to start playing with is watercolor. The hours I've spent watching watercolor videos on Instagram.... whoa. If I had a dime....

Recurring themes in my art — always trees. Always, always trees and forests and woodland creatures, the beach, flowers, and kitties. I love cottages and cottage gardens, mountain scenes, dragonflies, butterflies, ladybugs and bees... 

At this point, we're still getting settled in the house. Once the art room is ready, though, watch out.