Things are getting out of hand around here!

 Everything was going along so nicely, then BAM!  A small brush fire turned into a huge one, very quickly, and we were forced to evacuate on short notice April 14!  No pictures... we were busy trying to gather things we would need and get on down the road while firefighters were coming in to try and keep our neighborhood safe.  Many neighbors have livestock, and it was very tense for all of us, trying to make our way out onto the highway and away from the fire.  In all, it has burned over 19k acres, at least 130 homes were destroyed, but thankfully, no deaths were reported.  My friend Cinde invited us to stay in her guest room, which was so much nicer than having to be in a motel.

This is a photo I took from the internet - looks very much like the remains of a neighbor's home just 2 blocks from us.  Fortunately, his was the only home in our immediate area that was lost, but there were several others up the main road further west that were lost.

Our winds have been fierce, and that was what really caused this fire to grow so quickly.  And they are still blowing 25-35 miles per hour, with gusts up to 50-65 miles per hour, for days now!  Hopefully, they will die down later this week,

Fortunately, we were able to return home the last Sunday in April - electricity had been restored, and our gas was restored that afternoon.  Food had to be tossed and replaced, but that was the worst that we had to deal with, so we were blessed.

Once we got settled back in, I got back in the studio, and was working on a project that required some of my yarns.  I pulled down a bin, opened it up, pulled out a skein and uncovered a mama mouse and her babies - oh, joy!  Snatched some bags up and started pulling them out, then promptly put down mouse traps in the studio... one of the things Shrekkie used to take care of, but now it's on me!  I've since found another one, and realized I need to do a better job of storing yarns and fabric scraps in tightly lidded containers, so I'm working on that now.  I also ordered some sonic mouse repellants that plug in, so I'll give those a try along with the traps.  

On a high note, Cinde and I attended this month's First Friday event at Sedona Artist Market, and spent a couple of hours demonstrating some projects, visiting with shoppers and meeting some of our fellow artists.  

We have both had good sales there, and enjoy our monthly visits to refresh our inventory and browse the lovely artwork there.

Oh, and two items of interest - I have a Pinterest account, and often post my work there as well as browse for inspiration and ideas.  I had uploaded a photo awhile back of my rag doll spirit dolls:

I got a message from someone in the valley, wanting to know if she was for sale!  Since I still had her, I replied yes and she is now living down near Tucson!  

The other happy news is I got a call Friday after I returned from Sedona from a gal who had bought one of my cotton shells, loved it, and wanted to know when I would have more in her size!

  I am waiting for an order with more blanks, then will dye some up and let her know when they will be in Sedona.  So May is turning out to be a good month so far, and once the winds die down, I'll ba a happy camper!  Stay tuned...

Rag Dolls, Life, Pumpkins and soup!

 Good grief, this month has flown by!  I feel like I'm on fast forward, and in danger of flying off into space!

Recently, I got together with friends Cinde and Louise to have a polymer clay "play date".  Louise showed us how to create molds which will really help Cinde since she makes faces and other items for her beaded Tree Spirits and jewelry.  I was more interested in playing with making simple clay faces and heads for my tree spirits, so it truly was a play date for me.  Here are a few in progress:

Soon after, I made my first "Rag Doll" and used a face I made using the technique I used on the above faces - I really love how she came out, using sticks, strips of frayed fabric and the clay face:

I was happily churning out things in the studio but that came to a screeching halt a couple of weeks ago, when my husband had what I believe was a stroke!  After a quick assessment of his symptoms, I called for help and he was taken to the local ER where they gave him an anti-stroke infusion, then transferred him to ICU.  Thank goodness we got him in so quickly, because his symptoms were gone very soon, and I brought him home 3 days later.  He had another slight episode a week later and I took him back to the ER, but they released him in a few hours, so we're busy going to several follow-up visits, and having a few more tests done to see if he needs any further treatment.  He can't drive for now, so that adds a layer of activity to my days, and I'm getting him a medical alert device to keep him safe when I'm away from home, but I'm very relieved to see that he is feeling well... he's even allowing me to change his eating habits to get more veggies and whole grains in there to replace some of the (expletive) that he normally eats!  Sometimes it takes a jolt to get his attention, but I think this might have done the trick... fingers crossed!

So.... once things started to even out again, I found myself experimenting with a few new projects, including making fabric "scrappy balls" and pumpkins!  Here are a few:

It's too late in the season to make any of these for sale, but I'm having fun learning techniques, and may try to make something similar as Christmas ornaments.  

Lastly, no photos, but I've been cranking out a bunch soups - some for dinner, then leftovers for Bruce's lunches, and I'm making enough to freeze some for future lunches.  I'm working to add more veggies and whole grains to our diets, and we're both shaving off some pounds, so it's all good!  I love making soups and this is definitely the season, so it's a great time to try new ones and I'm getting lots of good use from our 34 year old crock pot too!  

Hope you're enjoying our most colorful season, and my very favorite!