Summer Travels

I hope my American friends had a happy 4th of July. I tried to get my kids and grandkids here but they didn't want to brave the triple digit temps, and I can't blame them.  It's amazing how I lose any motivation to move or be productive when it is hot out. I did manage to work on some embroidery at the library.

I'm mostly worried about getting ready for my trip. I'll be gone for 3 or 4 weeks and money is going to be super tight. There won't be any shopping sprees on this trip. I have a gig on the 13th of July, and hopefully that will keep me afloat for the 2nd leg of my trip to S. Cal. I haven't even procured my train ticket yet because of a cash flow issue. So I hope my dial up connection doesn't prevent me from getting the ticket online later today. I need to find some light weight and compactable crafts to take with me. So I'll probably take the kumihimo disk, one small crochet project, one small knitting project and some beading supplies. My back has been unhappy so there is no way I'm carrying more weight than I absolutely have to. I'm trying not to be so stressed out that I can't have fun.

Making Travel Plans

Thank God its Friday. Or in my case, thank the Goddess its Friday. I'm getting ready to go see my granddaughter for the first time this weekend. Tomorrow we have to go to town to do the banking, and get gas because we have to leave before dawn on Sunday morning. I'm going to miss the Paleoplanet meeting, but did I mention I get to see my granddaughter for the first time? Yes!

I MAKE STUFF

I was thinking of getting business cards that say, "I Make Stuff".  Then I thought about making a website called, "IMAKESTUFF.com". Only 'IMAKESTUFF.com' is owned by a speculator, and 'IMAKESTUFF.net" is owned by someone that has it 'parked' until they do something with it. So I guess it wasn't meant to be.

I think I just lined up an out of town gig with family, so I may be be gone a few days.  Someday I'll get a laptop but unless one of you kind souls wants to buy me one, I'll have to wait until I get back to my desk.  Too bad because the train has Internet access now.

Traveling Art Projects

I've been crazy busy. I'm about to go out of town yet again. I'm taking all my painting supplies so I can paint more ACEO's and do some illumination. I can't wait to try the egg tempera again, which reminds me, I need to take an egg with me.  No tempera without the egg yolk, you know.

I'm also enjoying the opaque watercolors I got at Art Supply Warehouse. They work out very well for traveling. And the colors were well thought out, as you can see by the ACEO's I'm showing you.  Most random collections forget about flesh tones and then when you try to paint people, it's difficult.

I'm supposed to be focusing my art supply money on getting back into oil painting. But the cost is daunting.  I'm not sure what it is about oil painting, but I want to do it on big canvases.  I like to do watercolor on small things. Why is that?

Travel Crafts

I'm not about to spend 12 hours on a train (6 each way) without taking projects to keep me happy and creative. So I have one pair of knitting needles, a crochet hook, some ombre yarn, a watercolor set (for when I get to where I'm going), a sewing kit with some felt and beads, and a sketchbook/journal.  And I got it all to fit in a small backpack carrying case thing. I plan to check my suitcase, so none of my goodies are in there. I still have to find a paperback book to take. The book I'm currently on is a huge hardcover library book and I'm not about to drag that one along. I wish I'd thought about that when I was at the library but I thought I'd be onto the next book in the series by now, which is a paperback. But the Crown of Stars series is complicated enough, that there is no way I'm going to read them out of order.

I'm also taking some ACEO's to work on. I got a whole blank 'deck' of cards at Art Supply Warehouse just for that purpose. I'm ready to go but it's still 1 1/2 hours until my ride gets here. So I guess I'll go look for a book to take.

Bus/Train

I think I finally have Halloween out of my system. I'm candied out, costumed out and tuckered out.
I'm still 300 miles from  home though. I'm looking forward to knitting on the train. I just hope it's not too crowded from the weekend travelers heading home on a Sunday afternoon. I've never taken the train on a Sunday before so we'll see how it goes. The train won't sell out but the bus might. Being crammed in a bus seat too narrow for my thighs for two hours isn't my idea of a fun time. So I'm hoping to get a empty pair of seats so I can work on crafts.
I have time to do some beadwork before leaving for the train. So I'm going to get on with that. The way the Amtrak works is sometimes it's half bus and half train, and that is the case this time. I'd rather take the train the whole way, but that only happens once a day and never seems to work into my schedule. So half and half it is.

Traveling crafts

Yesterday the lady on the bus in front of me was trying to work on a full size quilt. We got off the bus and onto the train. Most of the approximately 100 people all tried to get on the same 2 train cars, including the quilting lady. I walked all the way to the other end of the train and got on, and was able to snag a seat alone. About 20 minutes later the quilting lady showed up again. Evidently all the other cars were packed but a single seat was nowhere to be found. I saw her sit by someone skinny and start quilting again.

I did take some quilting small enough it fits in a baggie, but didn't want to risk losing the needle or sprawling too much. And sure enough the first thing the quilting lady did when she was on the bus is drop her thread and thimble which went rolling under someone else's seat.

I contented myself with knitting a circular scarf and taught another woman how to knit as well. She was making good progress on some garter stitch and I sent her home with the yarn and needles so she can keep practicing.

You can see in the photo the crowd of people all boarding the train in Santa Barbara. I've never seen it so crowded. Those are just the people to the right of me. There were more people to the left.

Travel projects

All kinds of creative ideas are running through my mind right now, but since I'm packing for a trip first thing in the morning, I haven't had time to do any crafts. I want to make some leather rabbit ears. Is that politically incorrect. I'm thinking more 'pagan ritualistic' than 'cute costume shop bunny ears'. And while I'm at it I need to make a deer headress.
I also need to figure out which projects to take on my five day trip. If I don't take something with me I spend all my travel money at craft stores buying new stuff I don't have room for when I get home. So I've learned the hard way to just take it with me to begin with. Must haves are at least 1 skein of yarn and knitting needles and a crochet hook. Maybe I'll take my cross stitch. It has to be something I can do on a train, and dropping a sewing needle in a public area is maybe not a good idea.
Oh well, I'm sure I'll think of something. I tried beading on a train once and had the necklace 90% done when I lost the whole strand off the end under my train seat. So beading is out. At least until I reach my destination.