Joy Studio

On news stands,

T O D A Y !

Winter Issue of

Where Women Create

&

where our

JOY STUDIO

is honored, to be among the featured artists.

Page 38!

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&

We have three copies to S H A R E!

Leave a comment here on the blog

telling us about your favorite work space or place

where you create,

to enter this flash blog

G I V E A W A Y !

By random drawing – Winners announced January 31, 2016

Also,

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Along with the Winter Issue,

we are including one of the hand made produce pincushions

that was featured in out recent

Sewing Seeds II

Quilting Treasures booth at Quilt Market.

&

A Letter Stitch fat quarter!

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We hope you will enjoy reading our family story in

Where Women Create.

~

For you Dad

Christmas Joy

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OH MY!

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Shopped,

Decorated,

Baked & Wrapped.

All in celebration of the greatest gift?

Time to refocus.

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Tidings of Great Joy . . .

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.   Luke 2:11

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All is calm, all is bright.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Best Laid Plans

HomeRenoR E N O V A T I O N !

Upheaval best describes the current condition of our home as well as the studio which is also greatly impacted. It is improving slowly however, creativity has been on the back burner for several weeks as a result of the chaos. I’m eagerly looking forward to regaining the creative retreat, although still weeks away. Our home sweet home is a fading memory, shown above on the first day of packing & moving EVERYTHING (nearly) into the garage. The ordeal continues to take a toll.

First, it was the floor. I decided to go with a natural maple, or so I thought. Here is the sample that I based my decision on and a couple of the boards that we received, laid diagonally across that same sample. How would a consumer know to expect these extreme dark and light boards to be the actual product from this sample? Somerset, character (grade), be warned.SampleFloorBelow, a before and after. After I stopped the job to wait for the back ordered replacement floor, approximately 3 more weeks. Life on the sub floor and no kitchen sink was a little rough. The good news, it gave us time to paint the walls. I understand fully why renovation jobs grow.FloorCompareThe staircase went in like a well thought out, giant puzzle. Watching the installation by a skilled carpenter was fascinating to watch. This job turned out beautiful with no glitches, although with today’s codes the rail is a bit tall than what we were use to. Aesthetically speaking, too tall for my visual taste but safe. At 40.5″ on the landing, no one is likely to fall over. And a long awaited rail, luxury or safety? All that is left on this task is the finish. A clear spayed lacquer has been recommended by the experts. Sprayed? Oh my! btw – I highly recommend In Step Designs.StaircaseRailTurnStaircaseRail

The next major dilemma, the kitchen cabinets. I just found out yesterday that the door I chose, from a sample, was not executed in quite the same color chosen. And 90% complete!!! Again, a manufacturer’s sample misrepresentation? We’ll see, meeting today with the cabinet distributor. I’ll let you know. Ahem, tired.Remodel2014B

We’ ve been doing our best under our circumstances, to keep up with new designs, Etsy orders and new Handmaids.com subscriber freebies however, a few managed to get past us. Thank you for your continued patience and understanding. We plan to be back to business as usual, very soon.Humpty

Feeling a bit like Humpty lately with our home project, or better perhaps, all the king’s horses & all the king’s men.

Best BLT

JoyStudioBLTsDThe homegrown tomatoes are finally ripe, which means, time for BLT’s! Everyone’s favorite summertime sandwich, right? On the new deck too, by the way. What made these taste even better . . .  we used Whole Food’s Seeduction bread. A present from my friend, thank you Annie.JoyStudioBLTsJoyStudioBLTsCLoaded with seeds, nuts and whole grains, a very yummy loaf!JoyStudioBLTsA5SonnyBoy

Two Weeks!

Comfort&JoyYikes, only two weeks until Christmas? What a relief this morning, to be able and take my list straight to the computer and begin clicking away. Now, on to a couple more projects. the wrapping, lots of wrapping, Christmas cards and oh yes, the cookies. Whew!JoyStudioWrapJoyStudioWrap2Oh what joy it is . . .

Decking The Halls

Shopping and decorating has begun. Last week I stole some time to venture out just a bit, with my daughter on a quest for a specific item. Of course, that usually means that I find everything but. One (unexpected) fun find that I couldn’t/didn’t resist were these felt flake placemats. Snow in any form typically puts me in the holiday mode so, my decorating began with my favorite dinnerware group, “Hilltop Snowmen.”DeckingHallsNow . . . let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!DeckingHalls2DeckingHalls3LoDeckingHalls4DeckingHalls5

Turkey-lurkey

This week is dedicated to family and home arts. Lots of gathering, pie baking, table setting, crafting & stuffing!Some of our typical Thanksgiving holiday traditions . . .

S – O   •   T – H – A – N – K – F – U – L – L !Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Henny-penny, Cockylocky, Ducky-daddles, Goosey-poosey, Turkey-lurkey, and Foxy-woxy!

Drought Distraction

Just under 100 is predicted for the next three days with RAIN possible! Hopeful news. Two months down, one to go, for this dry and extremely HOT summer. Lots of outside watering time and moving plants away from the scorching sun, has been somewhat of a distraction from painting.

Fun however, has been keeping an eye on a family of tree frogs that have spent their summer in these cool, wet cans which also house my pretty Gerber Daisies.

Enjoyed watching them both grow.

Inside watering (with color) too & keeping cool in the (Joy) studio – Finishing up our 2013 Christmas collection.

So Much Life

The ‘so much life’ I mention in the last post was certainly felt the second week of our mini art camp. Besides Independence Day falling smack dab in the middle, I began the week by stepping on a sliver of glass going for my first cup of coffee Monday morning. Unable to retrieve it on my own after soaking and searching with magnifiers, I bandaged and hobbled through the best I could.

The second surprise was a phone call from my aunt Lois who was just in from Texas. Although aware of her trip, she phoned to let me know that she had decided on this visit, to bring my grandmothers photos, collected over at least three lifetimes! This, at my periodical requests to document (some day) the rarely seen (Tuesday’s) treasures, with hi res scans (on my equipment) and hopefully gather the accompanying family stories/history. How could I pass on this opportunity, right? Naturally, I could not . . .

Making time for everything was more than challenging but recognizing the rewards in all, I wore myself out trying to keep up. Did I mention, all took place during a period of record breaking heat and drought not felt in Missouri since the dust bowl years? Ten days straight, over one hundred degrees. Whew, brutal!

After most of the work was complete and a major clean up, I saw a podiatrist the following Monday. He successfully removed the obstacle of the pain in my foot. Ah, relief. Staying off my feet for a few days . . . doctor’s orders! ;-D