Wonderful Wednesday

I've been having some fun playing around in the studio: just taking an hour or so to slap some dye onto some silk and see what happens. I am playing, but with intent, and I love how things turn out. C often turns up his nose, but ya know, it's gotten to where, if it gives me pleasure, that is what is important to me!!! Don't get me wrong: he is extremely supportive, but his tastes are totally different from mine. All that said, here is a silk charmeuse scarf that I steamed this afternoon:

I am in love with that piece! It is for the mother of a friend of mine (more's the pity, as I wish it was mine!).

Last year I made Christmas scarves for oodles of friends, but never had one of my own. I vowed that this year would be different; so I let my muse sing, and here is her tune:

I love it when dyes run together, when they stop and then sort of do a bit of capillary action, as the red is doing over there on the right side. It makes me feel a bit of a tightness in my throat: almost a giddy pleasure. And I also love salt!!!! Can you tell????? From the moment I took my first fabric painting class with Jeri Boe and Barbara Baker, I have been in love with the salt action thingy.

I took a bit of a closeup of my favorite part of my Christmas scarf, so that you could really get a good view and know what I'm talking about:

The thing that really amazes me, and that I could never repeat in a million years is that bit of salted green that appears in amongst the red. I just love that precious little bit! And once again: the tightness in the throat happens. So bizarre!!!

Our church has a wonderful tradition of a program known as GWAG: Great Wednesdays at Grace (Grace is the name of our church); and during Advent the GWAG programs are called the Candlelight Cafe. The Parish Hall is all decorated up with candles on all of the dining tables and linen tablecloths. Kristy our caterer goes all out with incredible gourmet delights. Last week, you may recall, we had a wine tasting. Well, this week our very own Kristy did some cooking demos, along with our friend John, who did a floral centerpiece construction demo. It was so much fun. I felt like I was in the audience on one of the Food Network shows!! Kristy is a riot!!

Jeremy, our sexton, had set up a video camera and a second screen so that those in the back of the Parish Hall could see Kristy's demos. We were fortunate enough to sit up front, so this is how it all looked:

Here are Kristy and John making the centerpiece:

Jeremy had set up a diningroom table with his own family china and silver, and John added the completed centerpiece:

Kristy got Bill (left) and Bob to help her make some appetizers. They were all so funny! As you can see, they were having a great time:


Here are Lee and Jean Parks helping Kristy construct her Pumpkin Gingerbread Triffle:

I still don't feel like it is "almost Christmas"....do you???? I think that tomorrow I may finally put a lovely red bow on our mailbox and a wreath on our door. It is seasonably cold here now, so I should be in the spirit, but I dunno! I have talked with several locals who feel the same way that I do: it's like we are taking a year off! My cards are finished, and I actually finished the last of the 24 coffee breads this afternoon........no thanks to Harry, er Barker!! What a guy! You gotta love him!

Thanks to one and all who have left comments either publicly or emailed me in private. Realistically, I believe that I may have been unrealistic in my 10,000 viewers goal by Christmas, but you never know!!! Keep checkin' in, 'cuz every time you do IT COUNTS!!! AND IT GIVES ME GREAT PLEASURE TOO!!! ;-)

PEACE ON EARTH