Painting Plates-
This project began with finding a cute plate rack at the dollar store in the halloween theme, but I didn't have any plates to put in it. I picked out three plain plates while I was still in the store, brought them home and decided to paint them with the enamel paints you can use on glass.
They are all based on things my kids love, so we have a skeleton Pirate, a skeleton in a hat drinking coffee and a skeleton with her pet skeleton dog and a bat, 'cause Delaney was the one who found the bat this summer. It's my take on the Day of the Dead skeletons that show them enjoying something in death that they loved in life.

Rusting and Printing-

my first attempt at rusting fabric turned out rather nice, then, after it dried, I did some stamps and stencil work on it, making gears and such. I like this very much.

Nothing like bubbles to make you smile!

I found this Little Tikes bubble machine and something about the octopus made me happy. For $5.00 at Walgreen's (plus batteries) it's already given me a few pleasurable moments - even if it was just the kids's reaction to why I wanted a toy that was marked 2+ and I replied I was over 2! The best part is how the head bobbles. Enjoy!

In other news-
Maura and I went to Springfield on friday for her Dr appointment. The councelor called me in and told me that she didn't think she needed to see her any longer on a regular basis. Maura didn't fit the group that has cronic issues, this seemed to be a case of normal teen anxst. Whew!
So, I suggested we make an appt for mid September, giving Maura time to see what this school year will be like and if she encounters any stressers that she might need help with. That's out plan.
Afterwards, we went to Joann's and walked into a grand remodel/ re-opening sale. Of course we won't win the drawings, but the 50% off one item came in handy. Maura found the pre gathered fabric for children's dresses. She wanted the disney stuff and finally decided to buy the Little mermaid fabric. Once she was home, she sewed up the one seam and she had a cute top.
She has a love of all things Disney that doesn't seem to go with her other image, but is endearing all the same.

The Alamo- We couldn't possibly go to san Antonio and not see the Alamo, but it was getting late and there was a parade (for some reason) about to start so we couldn't find any parking. Rick let us out at the back side and walked quickly through the garden to the front, took about 7 or 8 quick pics and met him at the front street, jumped in the car and headed back to Austin. Maybe on another trip we might get to go inside. Although this looks like it is out in the middle of nowhere, it's actually very much in the middle of downtown.

Day of the dead display in a closer view. These small figures are dressed or doing things that relate to the person when they were alive. Most of them are very humorous and light hearted, not scary or sad at all. These dead people are enjoying themselves in much the same way they did when they were alive. I'm going to try my hand at making some of these since I didn't see any here that I connected with.

We drove down to San Antonio to the mexican market there so we could see Day of the Dead and other cultural symbols we don't see here at home.

The family together- Jeff, Rick, Delaney, Elizabeth and Louise.We were so happy we got a chance to see Elizabeth and Jeff, her fiance'on this trip. I think Delaney looks most like this cousin, so I enjoy taking pictures of them together.

Texas sewing retreat-
I was invited by my sister to attend a sewing retreat at the Compass center in Mount Calm, Tx.
The owner thought of everything someone who creates would want for a location. The work room was set up with plenty of room for each station and iron and cutting stations around the room. There were flannel covered design walls all around. Each bedroom was set up for 3 or 4 people. There were two bathrooms on each of the two hallways. We even were able to get Massages from professionals if we wished. They cooked lunch and dinner every day and breakfast was on your own, but with many choices (including waffles) and was very casual. We could work or visit, as late as we wanted. Some went to bed early and got up early, some others stayed up late and didn't make an appearence until right before lunch. ( I was sort of in the middle) I found the others entertaining and distracting. I probably didn't get as much accomplished because I was enjoying talking to them so much. I did finish binding a quilt, did quite a bit of free motion quilting on another piece and made a good beginning on the blocks to commemorate the summer of the bat.
The center has a small store there as well and the selections were wonderful and the prices very reasonable. She had beautiful thread stands there. I'm not sure what they are really called, but they allow us to use the larger cones of thread that won't fit on the holders of our machines. Anyway, All i've ever seen were very utalitarian versions of them which are functionable but not very attractive and really a bit wobbly. This one is heavier, and works with STYLE! It became my early Christmas gift from my sister.
I had a good time there and can see why people enjoy going to retreats.

A lovely Texas sunset

Everyone who was at the retreat

Each room has 3 or 4 beds with a different color scheme for each room and hand made quilts on each bed.

Louise hard at work in the sewing room