Why Parent's Shouldn't drink Soda Pop

Scott's Hoolie Hooping Adventure

When I started looking at Alley Cat pictures for my post yesterday I spent the first few minutes cracking up at my wonderful husband. Scott was doing his VERY best to come up with ridiculous faces and actions with his hoolie hoop and he was HIGHLY entertaining. We were all laughing and taking turns trying the hoop, and I was taking pictures of it all.

Then I started looking at all of the other components of the photos. Seeing what my children were doing, making sure there were no unauthorized people in the shots, things like that. 

Which is when I noticed Kissy holding Scott's Mt. Dew can. My first thought was, "Great, I'm going to have to add a disclaimer so that people don't think my 3 year old is running around drinking pop."

 "Wait a minute!!! That little Turkey!!!" came shortly thereafter.

Scroll through the photos and have a good laugh at my husband's expense.....

Then scroll back through them and watch the Super Sneaky Kiska.

Yep, that's my precious little angel hiding behind that tree to take a big ol' swig of Daddy's Mountain Dew.

The Turkey.

I think he'll think twice before handing her a can.

Alley Cat Saturday

Susan's Awesome Progress

Susan is amazing. She reminds me of how I felt when I first started spinning. It's just so amazing that you can take a wad of wool and turn it into yarn.:o)

She walked out of Alley Cat last Saturday with a braid of roving and a drop spindle and walked back in this week with this.

YAY SUSAN!!! Beautiful Work!!

These guys kept the sidewalks busy.

It was another beautiful day, and the children spent most of it drawing on the sidewalks and hoolie hooping. 

Auri was thrilled. She doesn't get to use sidewalk chalk often.

 The downside of living on a dirt road.

 Most of her drawings lately focus on horses and squirrels.:o) 

Picture of concentration.

Daddy asked Kissy to hold his soda so he could "Hoolie Hoop".

Tomorrow I'll show you how well THAT went.

 

"This one is Defective!"

 

Alley Cat Saturday

A Downtown Scene

I had a wonderful time yesterday. The weather was PERFECT and Susan and I sat outside and loved every second of it. David came out and played for us. It was awesome. 

I could spend every day sitting on the street with my spinning wheel keeping time to live music.:o)

If I have my way you'll be able to find this every weekend at the Alley Cat.

Not that I'll get my way, but I can hope....right?

 

Collective Spinning Project

Ashford Traditional

Every Saturday I spend my time downtown at the Alley Cat Collective. It is, in my humble opinion, the coolest place on earth.:o) 

Julie has really brought together an awesome group of people and I'm thrilled to be a part of it.

River Ridge Alpaca's generous donation allowed us to make these.

 I believe that one of the older girls made this one.

 At 10am we kick off the day with a craft for children. It's usually something that adults can get into too. I know I had a great time wet felting Alpaca nests last Saturday.  

After that, at about 11, I have my spinning wheels available for anyone to try out and see what they like.  This is producing a lot of art yarn, and it hit me that we could use that art yarn in a community project. I have two sizes of Ashford looms available and I think I'm going to warp the larger one this weekend. Then I'll leave a basket with the Alley Cat Collective Art Yarn near it and anyone who comes in can weave a bit. Then we'll sell raffle tickets for the finished piece and see if we can't keep these classes free.

I think that my favorite thing about what I'm trying to do is that it is free, or as inexpensive as I can make it. I know that I cherish the two ladies who let me try out their wheels at my first fiber festival. Without them I might have never bought a spinning wheel.:o)

We're doing nests again this Saturday, so that any who missed out last week can make theirs. I know of one precious little girl who was excited about making them but couldn't be there. She'll still have her chance.

The giveaway ends at 5pm tonight, and I'll announce the winner by 9pm.

I can't wait to see who wins!!!

Uncovering Culture

What is this?



This is the view we see when we walk by. It's what we see when we give people, or places, the cursory judgemental glance and then move on.

An alley.

Nothing more.

A dead end.

Just an alley.

Is it?

Take a step inside.

A closer look.

Just a moment of your day.

And Find a Door.

That moment you just took?

The step?

It's uncovered a treasure.

A piece that makes this place a bit more interesting.

More novel. Unusual.

An entry into another world you didn't know existed.

It changes your perspective.

Allowing you to  move  forward.
Excited for the next discovery.

Suddenly the light plays in a different way.

It draws attention to things you wouldn't have noticed before you took the step.

Your pace slows.

You just breathe.

And look.

There is Beauty here.

Beauty to be found in a dead end alley.

A Way out? Or a way In?

These moments, these places, these pieces of an alley are found in every town.

They are found in your town.

It doesn't matter where you live. It doesn't matter who you are.

Culture is everywhere.

Take a moment and find it.

And if you think you can't find what you want....

                                            Don't fret. There's a light at the end.

Because YOU are the culture of where you are.

                          So ascend the staircase....Don't worry that it might fall.

Throw open the door........



Take a look down to make sure you're not missing what's right under you...

Uncover the richness that was there all along.

And CREATE your own Culture.

After all, before they could "Keep Austin Weird".....
Someone had to notice that it was.



Woolie Goodness

Almost Dry!

These have turned out so pretty! I'm in LOVE with this palette! 

As soon as this drys I get to skein it up and it should be ready to go tomorrow.

I love it when things come together.:o) Come enter my giveaway featuring some of this yarn. Info here.

Now if only it were as easy to build a dairy.....

Sneak Peak

Handwork Bags on the Line

So, it wasn't supposed to be such a pitiful sneak peak. I actually have several pictures of different things I got done today. 

Since Blogger keeps eating my photos.....this is all you get.:o)

Tons of stuff going into the shop over the next few days. 

I am so jazzed over the Grand Opening and the Talent Show. 

I hear there are going to be some wicked good ukulele players.;o)

 

Alley Cat Saturday

Paper Weaving

Saturday I was hanging out downtown with the Alley Cat Mama's and the Alley Kittens. (Okay, so that's not official or anything. But to my tired brain it feels very clever right now....so I'm going with it.....mwahahahaha)

When I planned on doing the paper weaving project I wasn't thinking that the main age of the children at the 10am craft is 3 and so it went a bit over their heads. They seemed to have fun coloring and playing with the awesome play food and kitchen though so it was cool. 

I solemnly swear to bring only those crafts that Kiska would enjoy.:o)

I enjoyed talking with the mama's and working with the older kids who came to craft. They did some lovely work with weaving and cutting. I liked watching them go from nervous to choose their projects to focused as they worked. They were good kids.

These top two pictures are their projects. I love how the top one used tiny cuts and strips. So neat! And something I wouldn't have thought of doing.

This bottom one had some cool color choices.

Great job Girls!

I hope you come again, I think you guys and Auri will get along famously.:o)

Paper Weaving, Cutouts, and Layering

After crafting I held my first Intro to Fiber Arts class at the Alley Cat. It was pretty similar to the enrichment class only this time I was giving too much information to adults instead of children. ;o)

One of the ways I like to do things is give a broad overview and then come back to each item in depth. It worked great with the kids, but I might adjust my tactics with adults. I think we might need a more logical sequence where the kids just jump in.

Fear not, ladies, next time I'll bring a vocabulary sheet.

The next class will be a hands on and in depth class of picking and carding. I'm happy to be adding a drum carder to the demonstration. 

New Toys!!!  

I'm like a 3 year old at Christmas or a grown man with a hot rod.

The cool old juke box thingys

That's extremely technical terminology there...

Can ya dig it?

After classes and the mandatory run through the thrift and antique shops downtown we headed out to get some grub. I was starving. 

You know all those "starving artist" comments you hear? 

It isn't because there's no food, it's because we forget to eat.

And now you know.

This diner isn't downtown, but it's where Scott and I had our first date so it's special. 

Tomorrow I'll have a lot to report about my new Nigerian Dwarf purchases, fence building, wool, and so on.

I love all the stainless steel!

Collective Valentines

Alley Cat Created Valentines

 Julie provided all sorts of amazing raw materials and we all had lots of fun. I can't believe some of the things I saw created today. What a talented bunch!

I didn't get many pictures. It was a crazy busy day and I got lots of talking done.;o) 

These top three pics are all Michelle's.

 Whose name I hope I got right.;o) If I didn't then just hollar at me, Lady.

Great Work. So delicate, with an Industrial Vibe.

When Posey's Mama started cranking these out I wanted to faint.

I've been meaning to make a mobile for the living room out of these for ever.

AMAZING!

These are Auri's that she gave to Julie.

Auri loves Julie, and she loves the opportunities that the Alley Cat provides.

Thanks Ladies for such a wonderful day of chatting and Crafting.:o)

You guys Rock!

 

Angels, WIP, and Beeswax

Angel at the Alley Cat

Today was a good day. 

My handwork class had their showcase today and it was a lot of fun. We set up all of the fun things we played with during the last couple of months and they got to show off a wee bit. They were an awesome bunch of kids and I'm looking forward to next season if I can swing our schedule. Now, ask me if I got pictures....

"Wendi, did you get pictures of the totally fun and awesome morning? Did you capture any of your students work on film? Any of them working?"

Nope. Not a one. :o)

I kept meaning to, but we were always so busy. And then it was over and they were all gone with their projects. Maybe next time.

Then I ran downtown to the Alley Cat Collective to get a picture of the angel and harass Julie for a minute. This allowed me to meet some more great people. I'm tellin' ya, it's better than a coffee shop...lol. 

Which, by the way, we absolutely need. Or maybe a tea shop? Not that I have time for either usually, it just sounds fun.

 

Ronan's WIP Vest

This is the second time I've knit this vest. I'm learning how to adapt a pattern and it's going okay, but I'm seeing all of my screw ups and it's driving me crazy. I know that Ronan won't care though so I'm just going to keep on with it. Once I finish this vest though I'm going to purchase the pattern that I was trying to figure out and see what all I did wrong. It's been a very enlightening exercise though. I'm learning a lot about pattern making and that was really my goal. So I have once again succeeded in my failure.:o) 

Got to keep that positive outlook.

I was also lucky enough to score a few pounds of local beeswax. Hmmmmm, I wonder what all I can come up with? I know that these are absolutely in the line up.

This weeks "Free Bee". Get it? Free Bee? Freebie. ;o)

All credit for the bad joke goes to Scott. If that made you groan, you may lay the blame directly at his feet.:o)