This week's post is a bit different, but it's still something creative. My father used to fly radio controlled airplanes and it brought him much joy. Now that he no longer flies his planes, this old airplane mobile is about the only airplane-related item he has. I wanted to fix it up after all these years of neglect. Some chain was missing and one of the hoops was gone, but I had chain that was similar and was able to make a new hoop out of 9 gauge galvanized steel wire. The wire wasn't easy to bend, even with a wire bender, so it's not perfectly round, but it's close enough. A little paint so it matches the rust on the other hoops and voilà! It brought a smile to face when I hung it up for him Sunday - definitely worth my time this week. ♥
I'm pleased to say my first beaded fabric landscape collage (boy, is that a mouthful) is complete. Is it perfect? Ha! Far from it. Am I happy with it? You bet I am. I dove in and saw this project through to completion, even though there were times when I questioned my sanity. The point is I tried something new, experimented, watched videos for tips (especially helpful for the binding, which I ripped out and started over more than once) and didn't overthink things like I have a tendency to do. I learned a lot on this project but more importantly, had fun and am eager to try my hand at another one.
The weather has been so good I gave up the craft room again this past week to work in the garden. The rock riverbed had filled in with so much dirt over the years the rocks could barely be seen, so it was time to rip it out and start anew. It was a lot of work and took nearly every night as well as the majority of the weekend, but it looks a lot of better. Next to it at the south end I set up a small memorial area for Mom, under the lilac bush. It includes a memorial wind chime from my coworkers and a memorial stone from my best friend. ♥
I also ripped out a few roses that were diseased and had gone wild, amended the soil and planted a mix of flowers for hummingbirds. The bees and butterflies flower mix I planted awhile back hasn't germinated as well as I'd expected, so I sprinkled more seeds there. The seeds that didn't germinate were from a school fundraiser so I don't feel so bad about the cost. In another section of the garden, the wildflower seeds I ordered online and planted just a couple weeks ago are sprouting nicely (although they might not show up in the photo below).
The best part of the garden is the tomato plants. They're looking really good this year - best ever at this point in the season. Then again, I got them in much earlier than usual.
As of this post, I've been blogging five weeks and it's helping keep me on track with my creativity goals. It's supposed to rain this week so I'll likely switch my creative time from the garden back to the craft room.
Yesterday morning I was torn. I wanted to get out in the garden since it was my first free day without rain in a long time and I don't have everything planted yet, yet I'd committed to creating every week and hadn't made it into the craft room in several days. As I poured my thoughts out onto my journal page, I entertained the idea that gardening is actually a creative endeavor. I hopped out to google and found numerous people and studies that confirm this (here's one I especially like), and decided then and there I was going to enjoy my creative time in the garden without guilt, saving the craft room for rainy days. So, this week my creative photo is of the herb garden which I overhauled Sunday - removing the cedar mulch and landscape fabric, ripping out plants that have been doing poorly, working/amending the soil and planting a boatload of wildflowers. It was a long, hard day but very enjoyable and therapeutic.
