New Issue of Dwell Magazine

I got my Sept Issue of my Dwell Magazine yesterday, and only got not even half way through when I stop to share the cutest things with you all. Isn't the doll house by Sparkability so cute? I actually make a house for my bunny girl Babette out of cardboard boxes. She can go in and hang in a dark protected place, and pop out her bunny hole for snacks! She even eats the cardboard, and when I was a good recycle-er and compost-er, I would compost the cage stuff for my gardens, now talk about recycle! And then check out the cutest woolie stuffed animals, oh so sweet.

I am dyeing fiber like crazy for two big workshop the middle and end of August. And the rain here has stopped for the day, I want to get outside and paint a few flowers...I have the most amazing deep red day lilies, the most delicate petite purple poppies, the end of some glorious purple irises, and a pint of gooseberries I picked last Sunday that I plan on turning in jam or preserves. So I think I will take my paints and set myself up outside and paint. Oh yes and finish reading my magazine.

New Banner Please

And, please someone else make a new banner, I see tangled lino, or cutie duckies or some picnic themes here!!!

Trip to West Virginia

Well, I am back from a teaching trip to the mountains of West Virginia. A beautiful place. I taught at a fantastic place called MountainMade, great studio space, students came from OH, FL, MN, VA, and WV. We stopped at my mother-in-law's on our ways down and back, a 12 hour drive which we broke up into 2/4, 6 hour days. We went to a ball game in Philly on our way down, fun. By the end of the 3 days teaching I was pooped...I finally got to relax on our last day. The night before we left, the town celebrated Mountaineer Days, with a fireworks display, a beauty pagent and a dog/pet competition, best dressed, best trick, look like owner, that kind of goofy thing! (sponsored by the local ASPCA-pet contest not beauty pagent) The local eatery and music place, The Purple Fiddle, was equally cool, though I must confess I didn't stay for music, just ice cream. The town we stayed was on the tip of a beautiful state park, and on our last day I tried painting, finally getting to the furthest vantage point in the park, what a view, just a few people and 4,000 feet up on a point...this is what I saw.