Greetings from the Road

If you remember, in my last post we were almost retired and were making plans to do some extensive travel in our RV. It has happened!  Handy Randy has officially retired and we have been away from home for over 2 months. Although I am enjoying every minute of it, I do miss not being able to run to the studio and try a new technique that I read about on the many blogs I follow. Even so, I have been able to quench my thirst to create.

So, did I actually do the embroidering for which I had planned? Yep, mostly while HR is driving or watching baseball. Here is what I have done so far on the Dropcloth Sampler purchased at Ephemera Paducah in preparation for our trip. (Please don’t look too closely at the stitching.) 

I continue to make entries in my Bible Journal, but not as often as I had imagined. 

Encouraged to keep a travel journal, I have started one but sadly I am pretty far behind.  It is a bit of an effort to get out pencils, pens, gesso and glue to work a little and put it away to make space on the table for food.

I have done a little tangling.

Missing the classes at Paducah School of Art and Design, I am taking an online hand drawing class; in addition to practicing in a sketchbook I did this charcoal drawing and have another one on the easel. (Handy Randy gave me an awesome travel easel for my birthday, such a thoughtful guy!)

Don't you know it, I have added another interest for my every expanding AADD. While visiting relatives in Kansas, I was gifted a 1953 Singer Featherweight sewing machine that once belonged to HR’s grandmother. It is a sweet machine that stills sews beautifully. To be honest, I was not familiar with the Featherweight and was surprised to find it is such a coveted treasure. I have discovered there is a Facebook page Singer Featherweight 221&222 Sewing Machine. Also I found a lot of information on April’s 1930 Featherweight web site. Can’t wait to get home and actually make something with it!

So this catches you up for now. We plan to be home in about 10 days. I am making a list of things I have read about and want to try once I get back to The Underground. Next week I will share some free tutorials and downloads I have come across.

Oh, if you are REALLY curious about where we have been and what we have done these past two months, you can check out our blog for family and friends at www.livingrichlyinretirement.blogspot.com

Catching Up

So, where were we? Oh, yeah, the last post was about prayer flags (has it really been 2 ½ months since my last post!!!)

A lot is happening in and around The Underground; we are in transition. HR will retire in two weeks!

HR's count down board in front of our house. 

We bought a small RV and have plans to travel! So I had to give up my gig at Ephemera PaducahL

I have made a couple things to make our home away from home a bit more comfortable.

 

Decoupaged box to hold cosmetics.

A sleeve for HR's cell phone.

I have several other ideas just waiting to be hatched.

I need some projects to take on the road, so I got out my embroidery threads and hoops. Since it has been awhile, I am practicing on prayer flags. This one is for my church which is also in transition as our pastor for the past 25 years retired in the spring. My wish is a gentle breeze will bring synergy to the search committee and the congregation.

With one of my soul friends, I have started a Bible Art Journal.  I just started mine a couple of days ago, so there isn’t anything worth showing, but here is a link to hers. I have kept a prayer journal for several years; my plan is to take a theme from my daily prayer, find a Bible verse that addresses it and make an artsy entry in the Bible Journal.

A great deal of my summer has been spent in the garden; while not exactly pristine, it does look presentable. I am finishing my tenure as the Public Relations Officer of our local Master Gardener Association, but have been coerced into keeping the blog updated. We have taken a couple of trips to practice retirement. We had a flash flood a couple of weeks ago, so there was a bit of clean-up in the studio. Nothing was damaged as this is not an unusual occurrence. We know to keep everything either in a plastic container or at least 6-inches off the floor.

I think this catches us up. When on the road I will probably not have much to share about crafting.  I do have a lot of projects in the planning stage for when I am home (HR will be doing the grocery shopping and mowing (Yeah!) so I can spend more time in The Underground!.