RedBarn Studios

i realized recently that these lazy days of summer are the last all of my kids and i will spend together living under the same roof
(barring any emergency “mummy help me puh-leeze” phone calls).

one of them, #1 child, will be off on his own life adventure (basic training) come september and it’ll be only a short while before #2 child heads back to college for her next phase in life.   that leaves one more left to make the house feel lived in.

i’ve been looking through photographs old and new of late and reminiscing, not believing how much they have grown and changed, remembering each one’s entry into my life.  what are journey!  guess it’s time now to really test those wings and the pull of my heart.

here’s who makes me smile each day..

what makes you smile?

♥

who fills YOUR heartspace?

toodles,

Tags: family, life etc., ponderings by grace
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so i got this idea from cathy zielske about interviewing your kids at different ages, each time using more or less the same questions.

the other day connor and i were sitting at the table doing our own thing.  he had just come home from school and was was busy doing his homework.  perusing cathy’s blog at the time i thought there’s no better time, so i decided to go for it and started to ask him questions (the questions i asked are in bold and his commentary is in italics).

Be aware…..he has a dry sense of humour.

Connor at 10

favorite colour: blue

favorite song: we will rock you, jerk

favorite subject: reading books and writing stories

favorite time of day: afternoon and night
‘morning is NOT my favorite’

favorite thing to eat: cookies and cream hershey bar

what do you want to be when you grow up: soccer player, engineer, artist
‘I have three cause I’m a kid and I don’t have to make my decision yet’

if you could change your name, would you and what would you change it to: (pondering answer then…)
‘I like my name but if I changed it, it would be Dylan or Jordan’

what’s your best trait: my kindness and humour
‘that was easy’

if you could spend the day with anyone who would it be: my best friend Will i am.
‘not the other william…..i mean William Y

what is something that frightens you: spiders
‘definitely spiders….spiders really get me frightened up no matter what size….I don’t like spiders’

what is the BEST show on TV: avatar the last air bender, sponge bob, my wife and kids
‘sorry….i have 3 again’

…’are the questions done now……..no, it’s fine, let’s finish it’

who is the coolest person on earth: (after asking the question below) my family and Will i am
‘don’t have one but can it be my family?’

the one food that makes me want to puke is: eggplant
~ i had to put this one in…..he’s a boy after all ~

when i was little i used to: (no answer)
‘that’s a trick question…gotta be a trick question’

what was the last, most awesome book you read: Warriors…Into the wild

what are my parents too strict about: (no answer)
‘not answering this one, think it’s too rude’

and that’s my boy

or rather….that’s all i could get out of him in one session.

Toodles all,

Tags: Art, captured moments, family, life etc. by grace
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the other night as the house grew silent and each person settled into bed i began my nightly ritual.

….i straightened up the kitchen, checked the doors were locked, turned off the lights, tiptoed upstairs, looked in on Cman (to make sure he wasn’t sneaking a book to read under the covers the little bugger) closed the door to my bedroom and snuggled down under the covers waiting for the sleep fairies to sprinkle their pixie dust.

sleep, oh wonderful sleep…..claim me now.

yeh….RIGHT!

some 20 minutes later, right on the verge of a deep slumber, I hear a noise. I raise my head and turn up my SuPeRpOwEr ears…

~ you know what i’m talking bout, when you tilt your head up with one ear facing the direction you think the noise is coming from and mentally send all nerve ending into that one ear so you can hear better, you know (wink wink) ~

yup, i hear it….. a distinctive chirping sound was emanating from somewhere beyond my closed door. i tried desperately to ignore it but it crept ever so insistently into the “you must hear this” part of my mind.

I am now fully awake…

and have to investigate to find the culprit so i can get back to sleep.

And here then is the dreaded NOISEMAKER…

it’s the flipping smoke detector…with a dead battery!  I traipse downstairs to quickly rummage thru the junk drawer only to find that that extra 9 volt battery I just know is there is NOT there.  nope.  not a single 9 volt battery in sight.

ei yi yi!

defeated, i head back upstairs., quietly close the door to the offending noise and get back into bed, wishing my ears had not perked up and heard the noisemaker cause i’m definitely hearing it now!

I don’t know how I eventually got to sleep that night but I did and woke up to wonderful (NOT!) chirping sound once again.

btw, no one else got up…not even the hubby.  so for that…i made him go get the battery, real early.

i think i’ll leave the chirping to the birds.  at least they sing in harmony instead of a monotone.

toodles

Tags: life etc. by grace
3 Comments »

paper than i thought…OMG!

here’s a picture of my worktable today. All of this mess will turn into a wonderful gift for a friend, believe it or not.  finished pics later.

yesterday was the 2nd day home from school for my son.  here in the charlotte area we don’t get regular boatloads of snow like we did this past sun/mon but this– this one was a doozy!

we ventured out yesterday and when we drove over a large patch of ice the car started skidding.  all of us gripped our seats then immediately had the same idea.  we needed to turn around and get the heck off these roads, but of course, that entailed driving over more icy roads.

when we eventually got home, let’s just say i exhaled forcefully….okay, okay, i started to cry, i was shaking so much cause i was so flipping glad i got everyone home safe. NOT EVER AGAIN!

well — that ain’t so cause my daughter just came into the room in her work clothes and i remembered i have to drop her to work.  THEN, darn it, go pick her up again. better get used to driving on the ice huh. Yuck!

toodles all,

Tags: life etc., road trip by grace
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“Some people move our souls to dance. They awaken us to new understanding with a passing whisper. They come into our lives, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never the same.” – unknown

today i went back and re-read more posts from one of my favorite, inspirational bloggers.  some of you may already know her….kelly rae roberts. she is exceptional at letting go, showing her vulnerable side, being her authentic self and still creating in the midst of chaos and deadlines (see this recent post as an example).

between her and a few other bloggers i read regularly (christine kane, karen walrond, brene brown to name a few) i find i am able to ask the questions of myself that reveal the truth of who i am, bit by bit.

in one of my last posts i listed some the things i resolve to do this year. one of those is to write more personally.  one reason is so that my connections are felt more deeply.  in the last few months i kinda went into this hibernative state without ever know that it had occurred until it dawned on me a few months into it that i was seeing no one and no one was calling.

i’ll be honest, this decision of mine to write from a more personal level has left me feeling absolutely scared and very vulnerable.  i know that it will scare some away and, guess what, i am okay with that. I’ve always been an extremely private person, having a couple of good friends i confide in but, STILL,  i always seemed to remain stagnant creatively.

re-reading kelly rae’s blog these last few weeks (sometimes going back as far back as 2006!) i noticed something…..she wrote about life. Period!  she didn’t constantly edit out her what happened in her life.

so, in order to put my life in more order I will be writing more about me — my thoughts, dreams, wishes, ideas AND life happenings — along with sharing more of my creative work as i work and when pieces are completed.

Yippee for me.

p.s. as you can see from the date and the post title it took me 3 tries to get the gumption up to push that send button.

Tags: Art, Inspiration, life etc., monday posts by grace
2 Comments »

yes….life interrupted once again.

and will continue to for the next few months but am feeling the need to get back to regular  picture taking and blogging and writing.

it’s been a whirlwind this past week with my family here for Christmas….laughter and laughter and even more laughter.

tonight we will take some time to bring in the new year together before they all head back home and my new normal begins.  so…

happy new year to all.

may the year 2011 be wondrous and wonderful for you and yours.

Tags: down time, life etc., New Year by grace
1 Comment »

most days i can see the sunshine of a new day and don’t mind driving around taking in the views of my neighborhood and town but……..yesterday was not a good day to be on the road.

now, truth be told, I drive at a fair speed (okay, i’ll fess up…faster than most) but when it rains like it did yesterday it’s like i’m a little old lady behind the wheel…..and i had to drive into charlotte!

was i ever glad to get home a couple hours later.   so instead of pouring rain with almost zero visibility i choose to think of all the  lovely autumn colour that that surrounds us this time of year.

enjoy your bit of sunshine!

Tags: captured moments, life etc. by grace
2 Comments »

Today I went for a change…from the neck up that is.

The Back Story

One of my blood pressure meds was discontinued (did the manufacturers bother to ask me first….NO!) and for the last few months have been going thru the rounds trying to find meds that worked with my body without making me dizzy or lightheaded and a plethera (love that word) of other side effects.

Now I’m on one that just makes my head feel thick (one step down from dizzy I suppose) but it also dries out my skin. This last bit, a too dry scalp, is what has led to my from-the-neck-up transformation today.

Because of the dry skin issue my hair was a mess (those who regularly see me know this as the honest truth,) and, it was continually breaking off. So today I told my hair stylist to chop the darn thing all off! I was done with the bad hair I was bizarrely still trying to hold on to, as if having that hair was what made me who I am.

Today

After leaving the salon, feeling good about my decision, I headed to the vision center to pick up my new glasses. When I got back home I went around to my neighbors to see if they recognized anything different.

I got all smiles, everyone seems to love this new look. My best friend kept smiling and hubby, well he kept peaking his head back in the room to check me out again and again.

Wow!!

Who the heck knew this little change would affect people so darn much, not to mention how good I would feel about myself.

Here’s a before…

(looks like a lock-up pic doesn’t it…all I need is the number plate)

and here’s the after shot…..ta da!

I heard somewhere that as we women get older, shorter hair is better (never found out the reason just know this is what I was told…Ha!).

Most of you know I rarely post pictures of myself…that self conscious thing coming into play I guess….and besides, I like to be behind the camera. Today, though, I thought I’d step in front for a moment. Tomorrow I’ll be back in my role as amateur photographer.

Thanks Cassandra (of Ce’mour’s Hair Studio), you did good.

Toodles all,

Tags: life etc., pic of day by grace
9 Comments »

I  have been lax of late when it comes to my blog and my Facebook and Twitter pages. Let me give you a heads up on what’s been going on.

Last year in October I made a video of my studio for Cloth Paper Scissors Studios‘ virtual tours (check my studio tour here). I had so much fun taping it and even more laughs trying to put a cohesive video together with all the retakes I did.

Anyway, I knew I needed to clean –REALLY, REALLY, REALLY clean my studio (a 2nd floor bonus room).  Of late I’ve had to search high and low for items that were always readily available and that has made working on new art pieces a hit and miss thing at best.

So I mentioned to hubby in February  (okay, okay…..I whined about having to CLEAN) and he approached me a few days later about completely revamping/redoing my studio (now that’s what I’m talking bout!)

So he started redesigning use of the space and I started on my closet…figuring that in order to effectively and efficiently redesign the  studio I had to tackle the closet first.

Took down the regular wired shelving, bought 2 new heavy duty shelving from local DIY and put those up. I did not, however, like the gun metal gray so I also bought a couple of cans of spray paint to change the colour to white.

Next step is to start on one corner of the studio and work our way around so that I could still work even if I had work around things for a bit. Now that I have the shelving in the closet, a lot of my “stuff” can be housed in there, freeing up some valuable space in the studio itself (are you seeing the BIG picture yet?)

As well, this will give me an opportunity to inventory ALL my supplies for business purposes of course (whooee…getting faint just thinking bout that task)…been a recent conversation on one of my art list about that. So that’s the long reason why there is no artwork to show you.

But there’s more…..

What has kept me from really pushing forward with the studio revamp is my position as Co-Chair for the 2010 NC Quilt Symposium, to be held June 3rd – 6th. This is a big event for our fair state of North Carolina AND, our guild, Charlotte Quilters Guild, is hosting it this year…..in 5 weeks! Yikes!!!!!

As well as being one of 3 co-chairs I am also the Teacher Chair so I’ve been working with a great bunch of teachers who will be teaching at Symposium this year. Look at this line-up (names are clickable):

Charlotte Angotti
Cynthia Corbin
Melody Crust
Patti Culea
Kim Diehl
Karen Eckmeier
Ellen Anne Eddy
Robbi Joy Eklow
Flavin Glover
Bonnie Hunter
Janet Lasher
Susan Purney Mark
Velda Newman
Jenny Raymond
Paula Scaffidi
Pat Sloan
Karen Stone
Carol Taylor
David Taylor
Laura Wasilowski
Elin Waterson
Terry White

We are all racing to get things finalized so that we can put on a fantastic event. We are soooo very excited to have everyone over our way.  There’s still space available in some classes so be sure to check out the website.

So now you know…I am officially tired but still keep trucking on. Ideas for art pieces still flood the brain but it has been told to put them on hold…at least till I can catch my breath on June 7th. Ha!

Toodles,

Tags: down time, life etc., monday posts, organization by grace
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I have been a bit absent of late….blogging in a rather hit & miss manner (no kidding, you say!).
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Although I have been working on my fiber art and journal projects
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(above – new canvas journal I’ve been working on & below – cropped photo of orchid quilt for group exhibition…see, told you so!),
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and taking pics of in progress work,
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and pics of cool and interesting things,
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and thinking and sometimes starting blog posts (new post from my Inner-views with another fiber artist in next few days)
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but….for some obscure to me reason…..never actually sending these thoughts of mine out into the blogosphere.
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My thinking right now as to why that is?\’a0 To some extent, it’s that my art is evolving/changing enough in what I’m producing, probably more than I can keep up with or formalize a goal for, so catching you up in blog posts is almost near impossible. New year…new habits (maybe, sorta kinda…mmmh).
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Also been thinking A LOT about my Word For The Year (a la Christine Kane). I’ve gone thru at least 7 different words that I thought might be good to implement as I go forward but none have captured the complete essence of where I am in my life and in my art at the moment.
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I also didn’t think any of the words I came up with would propel me to excel or push me forward any……that is until a few days ago\’a0 while reading a blog I ran across…
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…you know, you click on a link on someone’s blog list and when you get to that blog, as you read you click on another link in their blog list then another and another and before you know it you are at a site you’ve never read before but it resonates with you then you have another blog to add to your RSS feed…(deep breathe here..ahhh) — but I digress, big time!
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So, with ALL that said, I’m still here, plogging along, doing my thing. **Just a heads up…this post became way toooo long (a lot to say after that absence huh) so I’ve divided it up into 2 individual posts. See next post for my word of the year**
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(Note: please take the time to read Christine’s post about your 2010 word, she explains it so succinctly and has a tool that you can use to help YOU choose your word).
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~
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See ya next time “In the Hayloft”,

Tags: Art, defining one's art, life etc., New Year, year of me by k grace howes
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