Category : Blog

1716 posts

201609/23

2016 Summertime Photo Scavenger hunt wrap-up

The summer has ended and so has the hunt for photos. I like to wrap things up with a recap of the old and any newly snapped photos. This year I only missed one on the list but got an alternative to takes it’s place. In the past I’ve gotten every single one including the alternates.

1. A “wild heart” – a naturally occurring heart (like the rock above, but it doesn’t have to be a rock)Hostas in my backyard

2. A footprint or pawprint

Husky paw print

3. A skeleton, bone or x-ray

At the orthopedist

4. A book or magazine read during 2016

Lots of books…can’t stop reading…

5. A porch or deck

Trex Deck at the MN landscape Arboretum

6. A camper (caravan)

Camper trailer

7. A family gathering

Independence day gathering

8. A drawing, art project, artistic photograph, scrapbook page, greeting card, or art journal page created by you.Obviously this isn’t my only creation of the summer…if you’d like to see more just browse around the blog. :)

9. Someone playing with, in, or around water.4th of July waterfight….a tradition

10. A bicycleAt a parking lot next to a state bike trail.

11. Fresh produceBeans from my garden and CSA box

12. A windowThe broken remains of my drivers side window…you can read about it here.

13. The moonLucky low light shot of the moon over the house.

14. A buffet of food4th of July gather again…

15. A team logoSome of our beloved local teams…current and former.

16. A map showing a trip taken during the time period

Mini-me and I traveled to Alexandria over the summer for a girls weekend.

This close-up map has both lakes that we stayed on…if you look closely you can see my reflection.

17. TwinsI took a bit of liberty with this one just because it made me laugh.

18. A supermarket cart, basket or trolley full of groceries

Back to school stock up at Target

19. A seasonal cocktail or beverageMoscow Mule…favorite summer drink!!

20. Someone laughing

This is the one I didn’t get mostly because I don’t show faces on my blog if at all possible.

21. A photograph of you with a newspaper or calendar page from the time period covered in the Hunt. Note: you may not use a substitute for this item.

I believe this one is self explanatory

Alternatives – if you’re having trouble finding any of the above, you may substitute from this list (but you may not substitute for item #21):
alternative 1: a lighthouse

No lighthouse either

alternative 2: a baby (human or animal)

Can you see the baby? Cute little “O”.

That about wraps it up. I’m not sure what happened to Rinda’s blog as it hasn’t been updated since June but I do know that the Facebook group has been active so I’ll be posting there. I do hope to continue with photo scavenger hunts…they are really fun and a real challenge at times to get creative and think outside the box.

Blog | Creativity | Photography

2016 photo hunt, challenge, photography

2 Comments

halleday

201609/20

T Tuesday: apple days edition

Happy Tuesday everyone! This past weekend is one I both love and hate each year. It’s the weekend we help pick apples at our neighbors house. They have 5 trees that are HUGE!! As in you need an extension ladder huge.

(This is just a 6 foot ladder…)

Some of their family comes over as well as several of us neighbors. We spend the morning picking then bring our bags of apples home and usually the afternoon or next day processing.

This year we didn’t make time for processing over the weekend. Everyone was going here and there it seemed. Sleepover, Manhattan choir fundraiser, fabricating and 3D printing in the garage and of course, leaving time to watch our Vikings play the Packers (the big border battle) in the inaugural game in the new stadium…SKOL Vikings! Our Vikings won-BTW!!!

On to Monday…this was my morning view complete with coffee as fuel for the day ahead….

Normally I process in the garage for more room but since I was doing it solo I brought the garage can inside.

After hours of peeling I had every extra large container I own full of sliced apples.

As well as a stock pot full cooking down to sauce. And the dehydrator with 6 trays loaded.

I ended up with 7 quarts that I canned…

The rest went into gallon freezer bags to be made into sauce at a later date.

As you can see by this photo it was now after 3pm and I was exhausted,

I also managed to get two loads of laundry washed during that time.

So my grand total for the day was: 7 quarts apple sauce canned, 2 quarts in fridge, 4 gallon bags of prepped apples in freezer, and a quart bag of dehydrated slices.

So like I said when I started…apple days…I have a love/hate relationship with them.

Today I’m going to have coffee with some friends then likely come home and can a few pints of diced tomatoes…or else pull up the garden and do the tomatoes tomorrow before the next round of rain.

What are you doing today?

Around home | Blog | Kitchen

apples, canning, kitchen, not art at all, T Tuesday

15 Comments

halleday

201609/12

T Tuesday: scrap quilt edition

Thanks for joining me today for T stands for Tuesday with Elizabeth and the gang. I missed last week completely and for the life of me, I can’t even remember what kept me from my weekly post!!! Oh well…on with the show!

I’ve been sorting through my bins of fabric and separating out all the long strips and random shapes to be cut down for my new string quilt project. This pile is 70% blues as I was collecting them for a little boy quilt over a decade ago. After ironing, I cut each piece down to between 1.5 and 2.5 inches wide.

I am piecing the quilt using paper squares with a white strip down the center to serve as a design element in the completed quilt. I’ve used a gluestick to adhere it to each sheet so they are ready to go as I sew. I just eyeballed it so they won’t be perfect but I’m ok with that. It is a scrappy quilt after all.

I shortened my stitch length so that the paper gets perforated and is easy to remove from the fabric once trimmed.

I have a nice little stack of them already.

And look how fun they are going to look when sewn together.

Colorful and scrappy. The other really fun thing for me is that it will be sort of a memory quilt or perhaps fabric journal of previous projects, clothing I’ve salvaged and reminders of people who have passed on but a little part of them lives on for me in the fabric as a memory. Now just look at that, I’m getting all nostalgic.

Since this is a post about quilts on T stands for Tuesday, I thought it was a good time to share a bottle of wine my in-laws brought over. I remembered to nab a photo at the very last glass.

It’s called Barn Quilt Red. This winery is one of three in a small town west of here. The soil must be good for grapes out there. This wine gives a nod to the barn quilts of Carver County.

The barn quilts are really cool. I haven’t seen all 24 but the ones I have seen are really cool. In fact I think I have a photo of one here on the blog somewhere…hmmm….must look now….here it is!

This one can be seen from the MN Landscape Arboretum.

Anyway…more sewing, ironing and cutting,,,not necessarily in that order are in store for me as well as the standard household duties.

What are you doing today?

Blog | Crafts | Creativity

fabric, quilt, scrappy quilt, scraps, T Tuesday

15 Comments

halleday

201609/07

Artistic license

One thing I love about art is that it’s so individual. I can create whatever I want…as long as my skill and ability allows. Blue green poppies are a thing, right? Well they are in my minds eye.

This was a canvas that Mini-me had played around on and no longer wanted. Gesso to the rescue.

I almost think I like painting on a canvas for the second…third…whatever time better than the first go round. The added texture pleases me. Or perhaps its all psychological. The thought being: It’s no longer a blank canvas…the mistakes have already been made and now I’m saving it.

This was what I would call a speed painting. I did this in about 5 minutes. I didn’t overthink it, mess around with it, retouch or take myself too seriously. I just let it flow. WHY don’t I just do that very same thing all the time. Not put pressure on myself to perform in a certain way. Just create from my gut and not worry or be concerned about the result.

Art | Blog | Creativity

Looks familiar

There is a new theme over at Art Journal Journey…Back to School. Well that certainly is a timely theme since mine have been back for a week now. On typical years the kids don’t go back until after Labor Day but ours went back early to make up for the week they’ll have off at the end of September.

Of course school as we knew it is gone. No black boards…they have been replaced by first white boards then smart boards.

And remember these…you’d look up the book you wanted in a card catalog then check it out by writing your name on the library card which would be stamped with the due date. That system has been dead a very long time. Bar codes and scanners with emails to remind you of due dates is the way of today.

This page is a tribute to school the way we knew it.

Art | Blog | Creativity

art journal, Art Journal Journey, challenge, Gypsy journal, stickers

8 Comments

halleday

201609/02

A second look: Dream world

Today I’d like to give a second look to the art piece that I eventually edited to become my blog banner.

I know I’ve said it before about some of my other artwork but this is one of my favorites. I guess I should say that I have lots of favorites. Different mediums, styles, challenges, etc…they all seem to have a stand out for me. A piece that I’m happy to share over and over. Obviously, I’m happy with this one otherwise it wouldn’t have become my banner.

Take a look….

11/9/2009

I love playing in this board book. I’ve been using a Kelly Rae inspired background technique on all the pages. The book has no other theme or direction. Maybe I should call it Random Inspiration. Hey, I like that!

The little girls came from a sewing book. The watering can girl reminded me a Alice in Wonderland. It all came together in my mind after that.

It feels a little trippy to me. All it needs is the caterpillar with his hookah.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And that boys and girls is how my blog banner came to be. :)

Thanks for taking time out for Second on the 2nd this month hosted by Elizabeth.

I know I’ll be checking out the posts that others have dug up from their archives as well.

Art | Blog | Creativity

Altered book, paint, Random Inspiration, Second on the 2nd

7 Comments

halleday

201608/28

DIY workstation ironing board

Lately I’ve been feeling the urge to make another quilt. A fun, random scrappy quilt. A real scrap buster quilt. I have several totes full of fabric. I’d say about 1/3 of it dates pre 1980’s. Of course not old enough to be really cool retro fabric…just that awkward 70’s fabric that really doesn’t mesh well with today’s patterns. However I do believe it will work well in a scrappy quilt because it will be small pieces and hey, its scrappy.

One of my main issues with quilting in my current space is that I don’t have room for both a cutting station and small ironing board. It’s one or the other so usually I set up my tabletop ironing board on the game table and am constantly walking back and forth.

Marvin is also an issue. He is not good about obeying the rule of no cats on the table. It’s a constant battle with him. I’m afraid he’s going to either burn himself or knock the iron down and have it burn the carpet. Either way it’s bad.

While browsing around at Goodwill I saw this wooden TV tray for $3.99 and was inspired to create my own ironing board that is perfect height for ironing while remaining seated and folds away when not needed.

I knew I needed special batting for this project. I researched a bit then found the product I needed on Amazon.

At this point I turned my TV tray upside down onto the batting and traced around. I then cut another piece of batting about 2 inches bigger so it would wrap around the outer edge of the tray. I then cut a piece of vintage tablecloth about 3 inches bigger than the previous batting piece. I just eyeballed all the pieces….you know me, I hate measuring.

I used a staple gun to attach it to the underside of the TV tray in the same way you’d upholster a chair seat. You basically alternate stapling from side to side pulling the fabric tight as you go leaving the corners for last. The corners are mitered by folding then stapling. There are lots of tutorials and how-to videos out there for this if you’ve never done it before.

After getting the fabric stapled down good and tight I used my scissors to trim away any extra. The underside isn’t really ever going to be seen so I don’t care if it’s perfect.

Ta-da! Now I have my new work station ironing board and no excuse not to get to that scrap busting quilt.

Or have I just made an upholstered cat stand? What a turkey!!

Blog | Creativity

DIY, sewing, tutorial

2 Comments

halleday

Halle's Hobbies

A peek into my eclectic life

Category : Blog

2016 Summertime Photo Scavenger hunt wrap-up

T Tuesday: apple days edition

T Tuesday: scrap quilt edition

Artistic license

Looks familiar

A second look: Dream world

DIY workstation ironing board