Indulge Your Shelf

I hope this year will be much easier than the last one, for everyone I know.  I also want to say I'm sorry for not updating this blog since the end of October!  The end of the year was perhaps the worst of it; I'm not able to fake it very well, so instead of coming here and trying to be cheerful, I just don't come here! That's not to say we didn't have lovely holidays despite it all; we did! Here in Colorado January is off to a cold start; even though we get to see the sun on some of the chillier days, it's not possible to hang around outdoors. A frozen fountain I became ill shortly after the new year and continue to struggle with stuff (nothing real serious); I am looking forward to things being back to normal, so I can feel WELL and go back to the gym and have energy to spare! I don't think I posted about it here, but we did get a new kitten to keep Art company after he pined and paced over Paul Simon.  We thought we were getting a little boy...

Dennis has been at his new job for about a month, and seems happy so far.  I'm getting back to feeling normal, despite missing Paul Simon, and we are even thinking about adopting a little friend for Art Garfunkel sometime.  Maybe. For the most part, I'm staying away from thrift shops and estate sales, but every now and then I "treat" myself to trip.  One Sunday there was a great-looking estate sale near our gym, so after we worked out I convinced my husband to stop by.  That was where I found this fabulous horse poster! From an annual festival in Spain, this is a commemorative poster from 1974.  There is one created and sold each year, and they are collectible.  I just could not get over the horses!  And the colors! And this beautiful work of art is an original hand stitched tapestry from around the same era.  Hard to see in the photo, but it is carefully framed in these beautiful pieces of walnut.  I wish it was signed!  I just...

Paul Simon didn't return home as usual one Friday morning in August.  As it had been a full moon, and the weather was unusually warm, I didn't worry too much at first.  He was the wanderer, and enjoyed being in and out of the house on warm nights. When he was missing for more than two days, we began to look for him in earnest.  We asked around the neighborhood, filed a lost cat report with the humane society, put up flyers; and I began posting religiously on many lost pets pages everywhere -- on social media, Craigslist, etc. -- and spent all of my free time looking up posts.  I went twice to the animal shelter to look at cats that were not Paul, and kept track of another cat that a neighbor was spotting that also turned out not to be Paul.  I went outside every hour or so and called for him.  He was wearing a collar and was micro-chipped, so we were hopeful we could locate him. We were so worried.  Everyone I talked to had an idea about what had...

I spent some time making some tags, to clear my head.  I enjoyed it so much, and it worked wonders.  I started by sewing together some fabric and paper scraps into tags.  That was a few days ago, and then last night I started embellishing them. There was not theme -- unless "use whatever I have at arms reach" can be considered a theme!  Besides vintage ephemera, I used new flowers and scrapbook embellishments that I've had for quite some time. Even just looking at them now makes me sigh in satisfaction and happiness!  I think my favorites are the ones that I used vintage photographs in.  How about you? Besides that, I'm working on this fabric collage.  Here it is just pinned together; so far I've stitched some edges and details, but it's long from finished. I also made this simple embellished runner, using new printed fabric, trim and then some vintage lace and crochet.  It was a gift for a friend, and she liked it!...