Do Everything To Music!

Hello Everyone:

I just wanted to share with you today what I am listening to and also let you all know that I finally walked home. I bought myself a pair of the new SKETCHER SHAPE UP shoes yesterday and I did my first 15 minute workout with them and then I wore them for half the day at work and walked home. I feel tired. Good but tired.

My motto has long been to do everything to music as I feel music has the ability to cure the soul and the body. I REALLY believe this. Years ago I went undiagnosed with a terrible trachia infection and I became very ill. I bought a violin so I could learn to play in case I died... It was on my bucket list and time seemed to be catching up with me. I played twinkle twinkle little star every single day. It's all I could play but I started to do it well! And honestly, I started to feel the vibrations and it calmed my then rather afraid mind.

My health finally got better but it took four years before I could even walk more than a block without getting so dizzy that I had to lay down. I have been a singer my whole life so I have been very in touch with music and it's healing properties since I can remeber. Now this video might not affect you the way it does me but that's okay. It is a very individual experience and that is the way it is supose to be. For me it brought tears to my eyes and joy to my heart.

Enjoy and do everything to music. Sing if you feel like it, dance if you want to... who cares who's watching!

PS. I sold my violin to buy my Italian Greyhound... I felt at the time that the music had done it's job and my IG would be a friend I much needed... as he his.

Thanks for the visits

Hello Everyone:

I just wanted to thank all the visitors I have had over the last week or two. It has been wonderful receiving all your comments and even more fun visiting all of your blogs and leaving some words of my own.

We have had a computer disaster so are now going to visit a lady in town to possibly have one built for us. Seems funny to me to have a computer built for you but apparently she will build it special just to suit your needs.

I have removed the music from my blog for a while as I am in a quiet mood lately. I think I like the idea of the music at times but mostly I find myself putting it on pause. If I am doing that I can only imagine how many others are doing the same thing also. I think when I am listening to music... I will simply let you know in words what that might be. Currently I am listening to Breakfast Television ~ the distress of the city of Toronto after the most expensive G20 sumit in history.

There won't be any photos until I get my new computer but I can still post off my laptop for the mean time.

I got a lot done yesterday with my quilting! I am finally able to work on the quilt I am making for my Grandmothers 90th birthday. I was so happy to get some more work done on that as it has been a long time with my back bothering me. I have been doing crunches and stretching to help strengthen my core again and hopefully that is partially what is helping.I have also got some bear work in and have some really sweet bears coming up soon! I almost got my FREE GIVEAWAY bear completed this weekend! I will be offering a bear friend for my giveaway through Bears and Buds Magazine in August or September so you will have to wait a little while longer to see what this little angel looks like.

It will soon be time to VOTE for your favorite bear/ doll and I will post the links so you can do so if you have a few short minutes. There are so many talented artists and I just know it will be a fun few minutes for you while you vote. It will be time filled with giggles and a lot of "Aahhhhs" floating through the air.

Update on the 100 mile eating plan: So far the porkcops we purchased at the market were fabulous and we are still working through all the veggies. I actually think I might buy less on my next visit and instead go to the market more often. I am trying to get through everything without having to throw anything away.

Well that's it for now... Have a wonderful week everyone.

Futterwacken

A Mad Tea Party Hosted by Vanessa at A Fancifull Feast

An ATC for you to keep!

Follow me down the rabbit hole and learn secrets yet untold!

Click to enlarge any image!

Carroll was many things... a mad man with a brilliant imagination

He followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather and entered the clergy however not without many years of turmoil. He truly believed he was a worthless sinner and even declined ordainment while teaching at Christ Church. He was the only one to ever decline the offer of Priesthood who was allowed to remain a professor in this institution.

Another ATC for you to enjoy... what other secrets will Alice employ?

Lewis  Carroll kept diaries as many did in the time and in these were many secrets that after his death some tired to conceal forever...

There is speculation as to the contents of the missing pages from the diaries. One page in particular June 27th 1863: it has been suggested that on this page Carroll talks of his actually proposing marriage to Alice Liddell whom at the time was 11 years of age.

One must remember that in Victorian times it was permissible for a girl to marry at the age of twelve.

These marriages still take place today in other parts of the world depending on culture, context and or the era.

This being said... there is no permissible evidence this ever actually took place.

Another theory is that Mrs Liddell herself removed this page from the diary as it indicated a relationship between Carroll and the governess of the Liddell home.

  

Although Carroll denied the Alice books being about Alice Liddell the poem at the end of Through The Looking Glass spells her name.

Edith, Lorina, and Alice Liddell

During Victorian times photos of children especially when in the nude were considered a sign of good fortune and purity.

A bird house in my garden find... disguised

as a cat... oh how sublime!

The book titled "Wouldn't It Be Murder" is one of my very favorites. It is a talk presented to the Lewis Carroll Society of North America at it's first meeting in Canada on May 12, 1990

by Joseph A. Brabant with wood engravings and an Epilogue by George A. Walker. 

Toronto The Cheshire Cat Press 1999

This little green book on the left was the very first book I was ever given as a gift. It was from my Uncle who has since passed. It was the beginning of a facination that has only grown stronger with a land and characters that were easy to fall in love with.

This one was recommended to me by a blog follower and I have finally gotten the local library to find it for me so I can get to reading it! I  am looking very much forward to reading this one!

OFF WITH OUR HEADS... I hope you enjoyed your visit to my version of the Mad Tea Party hosted by A Fanciful Twist. To see more Tea Parties just visit this link Vanessa at A fanciful Twist and you shall enjoy madness beyond your wildest imaginings~

Alice in Wonderland- Alice does the Futterwacken.

Market Day ~ a new lifestyle ~ 1940's style

After watching the 1940's House, twice, my husband and I have decided to make some changes to our current lifestyle. We decided to try to purchase our groceries from the local farmers. We have three days a week where the local farmers meet at our central market square and today was the first day to try to implement the beginning of these changes.

It looks like I will be able to purchase veggies, preserves, vinegars and even spices. I will be able to get meat there also but no fish. We purchased eggs but no chicken and no cheese or milk. There is a local dairy here and we are planning a trip there this week to see what we can get our hands on. As some of you know we already made homemade ice cream this year so I need to find some milk! Hahahahaha

My back is still not in the best of shape and I now have an MRI appointment to see if we can find out what the issue is. Due to this I have managed to put on a bit of weight (about 10 pounds) as I am unable to workout as I normally do. I feel this new way of shopping for food will also help us to implement better eating habits. If we have to bake muffins ourselves we will most likely have them less often... you get my meaning.

So Here is what we purchased today:

Fresh farm free range eggs! One was broken when I got home... booo! I will have to be more careful on my next outing. These cost $3.00

The tomatoes seemed to be the most pricey at $4.00 for three! Although they are on the large side. The Red potatoes are lovely however a big shock to me when I washed them. I was scrubbing them with my veggitable brush as I normally do and all the skin started to come off. They are so delicate and have nothing added to make the skin tough... new to me! They were $4.00.

The zucchini is fabulous and cost $.50 a piece (we purchased two)! I LOVE zucchini as does my husband so what a bargain that was! They are also HUGE compared to what we have been purchasing at the local grocery. Then green onions are also huge and cost $1.50

$2.00 for Asparagus, again much larger then we are used to seeing. I steamed these right away and I have to tell you they are delicious ~ far more flavourful than the grocery ones!

Now I am a big salad girl and this lettuce was nicely packaged, already taken apart and a nice mix of different lettuces in one bag. $1.50 for this fabulous selection.

So a total of  $17.00

Now I will have to keep track next time of the prices just to be sure of what I am spending but this seems to be much more food for much less money than we are use to paying. Not to mention that we are eating locally which is suppose to be much better for you.

We also purchased two thick pork chops for grilling but they are still frozen and not so appealing looking as far as a photo goes..hahahaha. They cost $4.00 for the two of them. The Butcher seems to carry a great selection so I will keep you posted as to what's great and not so great!

For some strange reason I am more conscious of what I am doing with the food I purchased today. I washed everything (my Mum would be so proud) I even washed the eggs! I feel almost protective of my purchases, drying them gently and letting them dry naturally in the kitchen windows late day sunlight. I also feel much more aware of what I am getting for my money. I honestly normally just grab stuff off the shelf and don't even look at the price. Its rather exciting.

We also started a nice herb garden this year and have been able to use our own seasonings.

Now the next thing to implement back into the routine is walking to the market and to work and not using the car as often. This one is a bit more difficult to get started... I can do it!

It will be interesting to see if anything happens with my health, weight and just general well being... We really are a wasteful society in todays day as things are so accessible. We forget sometimes what it is like not to have. Being the 1940's girl I thought I should try to do my part to live like a 1940's girl and this is a good start!

Bright Star - A Room Of Butterflies

Where Blogger’s Create party ~ Welcome to Seraphim Bears Studio Spaces

My Desert Cottage - Where Blogger's Create party

Hello everyone:

For those of you who are new to my blog I should first explain what I do. I am a teddy bear artist making one of a kind collectible bears for the adult collector. I am also an award winning quilt and doll artist.. in my spare time hahahahaha. I work full time helping to run a family business of brewing wine but no matter how tired I am at the end of the day... I am still an artist at heart and cannot live without my art so I always find time for my bears.

I think I have the biggest creative space of anyone I know... that is because my studio is only a name not a place. I work whenever and wherever I can.

 My Tiki garden workspace (built for me by my husband) where on beautiful, sunny, hot days I sit with my mohair and in shaded delight and cut bear parts so they are ready to be packaged for rainy days of sewing when I am confined to indoor spaces.

 Or I sit and work on my deck in the company of my Pug and am inspired by the view of my garden.

There is always time for a pug kiss!

I have a portable vintage Singer Featherweight machine that comes with me everywhere.

My Featherweight and Janome

My new quilted teacup design was originally created for a new set of bears...to be seen in the URSA awards contest... now I have fallen in love with them. They will be available in many colours to give you a lovely place to display your Seraphim teacup size bears. "Spot o tea" anyone?

I also have two other machines one of which was my grandmothers Singer 319K which needs to stay at home as it is super heavy and in a cabinet and the other is my modern Janome used for all my bear accessories and quilts but not for making the bears themselves.

My dining room with a big window directly behind my work space is great for fine detail work!

Working in the house on the Janome 6600 making a quilt for my grandmother's 90th Birthday.

My lounge area for rainy day creativity... in the company of my handsome Italian Greyhound. The inspiration flows naturally for beautiful expressive bear faces with my IG ,  pug and two Siamese cats around who have the sweetest most expressive faces.

I am an only child and travelled most of my growing up years and therefore found a hidden gift in having a forever changing scenery. I find inspiration in unusual places and can work wherever there is an outlet... or no outlet as I have been known to whip out my needle and thread and create in the middle of the woods.

How can you not be inspired by the beauty offered by life itself? This rabbit visits me often and is so absolutely stunning... I see another bunny creation coming soon!

I cannot tell you how many times I have come up with a new design or name for my bears and quilts while lounging in the tub with some nice bubbles. It's my favourite place to design. My mind is relaxed there and I keep all my art magazines, a pad of paper and a pen handy so I can either jot down an idea or name or browse through fabulous colourful pages that trigger my creative side.

Try ending your day with a 10 to 20 minute bath and keep a pad of paper and pen handy... you'll be surprised at how many ideas you get when you have a quiet moment to yourself.

My machine and I ARE my studio and in that my surroundings are forever changing and I am never short of inspiration whether it be something new in my setting itself or the people around me. I cannot tell you how many times someone has walked by and seen me sewing in a public place and began an inspiring and interesting conversation with me that has later influenced a bear or quilt.

Here I am all set up at the family business of brewing wine and beer. In-between setting up customers I sew with my handy Featherweight. My customers are forever sneaking behind our barrier wall to see what creations are being made this time! They are almost always the very first to see a new bear or quilt and have many times been the influence for a name, new colour choice or design.

I hope you have enjoyed a little peak into my forever changing creative space. It has been fun sharing with you and I welcome you to continue following my journey in creativity.

Don't forget to join me back here for the "A MAD TEA PARTY"  blog post. It's a Wonderland blog party celebration hosted by A Fanciful Twist on June 26th. Its going to be wonderfully mad!

Sneak Peek URSA entries

Hello everyone:

Just wanted to give you a sneak peek of my latest set of bears that I am entering into the URSA awards this month.

I think it is pretty obvious but I know what they are. Can you tell? How many? What size? 

The deadline is June 21st so we're almost there and then I will post a link so you can all go and vote for your favourites!

I am working to get another bear done for the awards also but we shall see if TIME is on my side, I don't want to be too late... (Hint for the above)... hehehehehe