P A I N T I N G S---daily, or almost !

I've been posting daily paintings for over a month now on the sandyhaynespaintings blog.  It's been an adventure, and very fun. It takes a certain amount of discipline to post each day, but that's the joy of it, too.  Kinda like exercise.  Just do it, as the Nike commercials say... and you might be surprised at the results !

Maxine's book signing

Here is Maxine, my friend from exercise and dancing, signing her recent book, Missouri's Wild Mushrooms.  It's a beautiful book, which is a guide to hunting, identifying and cooking the state's most common mushrooms, by Maxine Stone.  It includes 24 delicious recipes, too !!
     The book is available at the Botanical Gardens shop and amazon.com. 

     Maxine is the past-president of the Missouri Mycological Society and serves on it's board of dierectors.  She is a passionate mycophile (someone who is fascinated by mushrooms), and loves studying and teaching mycology.   She is a Master Gardener with the Missouri Botanical Garden and is on the Master Gardener Advisory Board.  She is also a Master Naturalist with the Missouri Department of Conservation and is on the board of directors.

More cherries...

As lots of daily painters do, I've come to realize that when you work with a subject matter, generally you want to do several paintings, due to their size.   Here is my 6 x 8 painting in oil of the second composition, using my complementary scheme of the green apple and red cherries...

Daily Painter? we'll see.....

After not having posted in what seems like "forever", I've decided to try my hand at a series of paintings.  The last paintings that I did were uber realistic portraits,and I enjoyed doing them.  I've been determined to loosen up my style, though, and possibly through a daily (or close to daily) regiment of painting exercises I will be able to that.   Here is the first posting of a 6 x 8 oil on board entitled, "Cherries Jubilee"

Mini Loaves today !

I woke up early ( about 3:45) this morning, and decided to start baking... ( A habit I got into years ago when I had trouble getting back to sleep)  So, this morning I decided to do the mini loaves and try a few new types of quick breads.  (Love the Walnuts).  I made a zucchini with walnuts, cranberry with orange, and carrot walnut, too.   They each had a slightly different consistency, and one of the types took about 10 minutes longer to bake.  I just had to share my newest discovery.  I love this Baker's Joy cooking spray with flour in it.  It enables you to have breads and cakes pop right out of the pan, and NEVER stick !!  That way always something I hated.  Just when you have messed up the entire kitchen, and have been waiting for an hour to bake something, I T   S T I C K S  to the bottom of the pan, and half of it rips off when you try to get it out !!!   NOT with this spray.... IT'S   FANTASTIC !  (I sound like a commercial)  If you like to bake, give it a try !!

F.L.O.R.I.D.A.- 2010

My friend, Jackie, and I went to Florida to visit our friend, Judi recently.  We loved Palm Beach and the view from the condo of the water... The weather was amazing, and we had a delightful trip up to Jupiter to visit one of Jackie's friends.  As it turned out, she was a former teacher at the school where I taught for almost 25 years, so we had a lot of mutual friends, as well.    We took a great boat ride on a tour of all the famous people's homes in Jupiter, on the water.   Homes of Olivia Newton John, Tiger Woods, Greg Norman, Burt Reynolds, Perry Como, and many others were amazing to see.  We spent several days on the great beach in Palm Beach, and had some of the best food anywhere.   A wonderful shopping area called, City Place, is a "must see" if you visit West Palm Beach.   Judi enjoyed our visit, and was a gracious hostess, as usual.  We had a delightful time on our "all girl" trip.  !!  fun, fun, fun !

Tradition...

We have this great tradition at our house. (at least I like it a lot)
 Every year for our anniversary I get a bouquet with one more rose, for the newest year.   This year my flowers numbered 43, and were absolutely gorgeous.  We picked them up 2 days before our trip, so we wedged them into the back of the SUV, between the golf bags, and took them with us, to be able to enjoy for the week with our friends in Savannah.   They lasted a total of 10 days, and still looked decent. (don't ever cut the stems without having them under water) actually, we didn't even cut them, we just added a bit of water every day or so,and they did great... Thanks Dierbergs-- you always do a super job on my flowers !!!

Aprons for Haiti

The word was out..... The "Nannies" who take care of the little ones in Haiti needed APRONS ! They needed them with pockets to tuck necessary things in, too.... Here are some I've made, and am getting ready to send. Mostly they were made with pillowcases that I've found and washed, and some double bias tape and a homemade pattern.... Oh, also, I used my NEW SERGER on the edges..... It's just a dream to use. (got a deal, the Jackman's fabrics is going out of business)

If you'd like to join in and sew some aprons, little girls pillowcase dresses, or make some "ditty bags" to send items to Haiti, click here...... http://haitirescuecenter.wordpress.com/

No Oprah selections here...

My daughter and I have our own little book club. We decided to choose a book, and read it together, talking about it as we go. (She's on the west coast and I'm in Missouri) Our first selection was the diary of Anne Frank. It really is an amazing account of the life of a Jewish family at the time of Hitler's Germany. I'm almost through it, and our next selection will probably be something like Twain or Dickens...

2 More Baby quilts ready to go !

2 more quilts.... they may not look like baby quilts, but I love to use up the fabrics that I have and try to "babyify" them....

The first one is different because it uses a large piece of a dominant print, surrounded by a strip of leftover prints from an earlier quilt. I added the lighter border this morning- to increase the overall size, and because I think it looks better with a lighter edge.

The brightly colored 9 patch one uses a pattern that is new for me. I ran across this bunch of Laurel Burch fat quarters while I was making my bags for Haiti, and thought they would make a fun bright baby quilt. I love the playfulness of the Laurel Burch prints. The prints here are probably 5 or 6 years old, and I was just lucky enough to find an additional 1/2 yard on ebay to add as the final border, to tie the idea and prints together.

Now, it's off to Sally, the incredible machine quilter who finishes my quilts with batting and backing. Then I cut a matching strip 3" wide, iron it in half, and machine stitch to the top edge. I whip stitch the other side by hand. (I do this while watching tv in the evening, when I'm too tired to do anything else !) ha ha !

Bags for H A I T I

I saw the tutorial about the bags for Haiti and remembered putting similar items together in boxes as a child. I don't remember who they were for, but I vividly remember the process, and loving it !!!!

I started making the bags out of my "stash" fabrics for my quilts, and I guess I just couldn't stop. ( It's like my mother used to say, "It's like eating salted peanuts") Anywho- I started sewing the bags and before you know it I had over 50... Then I made some smaller bags, just because I had some fat quarters of material that I couldn't figure out what to do with...

I found the items that were needed, and my sister, Linda, helped out with the granola bars, and toys, as well as other items that we had run out of.... My wonderful dentist, Dr. Michael White in Webster Groves, was kind enough to donate more than enough of the toothpaste tubes to fill all the bags, and then some !!!! THANK YOU BOTH SOOOOOO MUCH !!!

We (my sis and I ) spent all day Wednesday filling and packing up the items for the kids and even some adult bags for HAITI. Now I have to make sure they make it to their destination, in Milwaukee, so they can be shipped to the kids who can really use the items...

Our newest venture is the making of "pillowcase" sundresses for the little girls of Haiti, and pillowcase aprons with pockets, for their moms... Also, diapers for the babies, which can be washed and re-used, over and over again. Can you Help?? DO you have a sewing machine, and would you love to do your part to help? If so, go to the website to see how to make some easy patterned dresses for the children who were victims of the earthquake in Haiti.

In our bags we included:

Washcloth

Soap

Toothbrush

Toothpaste ( thanks Dr. White !)

4 Granola bars

Toy and stuffed animal

Hard candy

Valentine Bags for Chase and Hunter

Have had such fun making the ditty bags for Haiti (up to about 50 now) that I've been making other lined bags as well. I took my grand baby to the fabric store and let her pick out fabric for several bags for her and her sister. I didn't like the way the raw edge showed at the side of the casing, so I devised a way to tuck it under and clip to the seam to sew the side seam.

I measured 1" from the top edge, and 5/8" from the side and made a dot. I clipped the fabric to the dot and pressed under the little section. Then I sewed my casing, and pivoting on the dot, continued to sew the seam... If that's not clear, I tried to take a few pictures to explain how I did it.

I also made a few quilts for the Haiti children, and with the leftovers, I stitched some bags for my nephews twins, Chase and Hunter for Valentines Day... I filled them with "boy" type books, and crayons, coloring books, candy and stickers. They were out for the day, so I left a surprise for them when they got home. Such fun ! Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day !!!