Purple!

Here is my Purple square for the month of April for the Rainbow Challenge .  I didn't think I had very many purple fabric scraps, but ended up having more than i thought.  I also have a couple of my mom's old favorite blouses that I can not part with, one of which is purple, so I used a few little strips of it to add her into this piece.  She loved purple.

So here it is, waiting to be added on, along with the others.

January's Blue and February's Red...

and March's Green.

And here is my friend Denise's purple square for the month of April.  I will be posting her's here as she doesn't have a blog yet.  I love the effect of the lights and darks in this almost Log Cabin piece.

And here are Denise's January, February and March blocks.

Now - what will the color be for May?

Barn to be Wild 3

Next week is our big fund-raiser at The Center!  "Barn to be Wild 3".  Our Pastoral Director, Rev. Chris Hopkins, will be staying in our pig pen for 27 hours beginning at 1 p.m. on Saturday May 7th until 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 8th.  And I am one of her "Pen" Pals, so I will be spending 4 hours with her and the pigs!  I have been mailing out letters, requesting pledges and donations, and if you have not received one and are interested in helping us, please let me know - or call The Center...and please mention my name.  http://www.thecenterpalos.org/ .  Any amount you are able to give will be greatly appreciated. The Center is a wonderful place, offering many wonderful things to our community and I don't know what I'd do without it.  Please look at their website and see for yourself!

inspiration

I guess I'm getting itchy to draw outside.  Thursday's art classes are still inside, but "Summer Art" sessions begin soon!  Anyway, I've been drawn to plants ...

 and flowering branches...

 twigs and leaves...

and little wildflowers.  I think I always wished to take a class in botanical drawing.

a little excursion

After classes on Wednesday, we took a little run over to the Little Red Schoolhouse to see their new building.  Wow!  Isn't it beautiful?

It was a rainy day, but just beautifully bright and new and clean inside.

Here the turtles live in wonderful waters with branches to relax on and flowers and plants to view.

Here are the fish of our area.

So many lovely educational displays.

I love this blackboard, full of information and beautifully done!

We had a great little visit and can't wait to go back....and afterward we made a stop for an ice cream at Oberweiss!  Yum!

A project of love

Here is our collection of postcards that my class made to send thoughts to Japan, including Danielle's.  We all made copies to exchange with each other and then mailed the original to Japan.  I was so excited this morning to see Danielle's featured on Quinn McDonald's blog!  See Quinn Creative !  It was a wonderful idea she came up with, a gesture of kindness, and I loved that my class could participate in it and they did too!

class today!

Collage class this morning and I'm gathering back together all my supplies.  Everyone will be working on abstracts landscapes, some on these pieces of slate that I gave them last week and some on watercolor paper.  Being inspired with beach scenes for this one, I think I am almost finished.  Now, to figure out how to maybe drill holes in the top, so it can be hung.  It's heavy.  Maybe with nautical rope?  Splash!  Splash!

Easter

This was Rob's birthday week and so we celebrated his day on Easter and had birthday cupcakes.  All kinds!...(although Rob really doesn't eat cake).  But when he was young, he liked "Jello Poke Cake", so I decided to make "Jello Poke Cake Cupcakes" - the ones with the Cool Whip frosting.  I made my favorite Chocolate Cupcakes with the yellow frosting, and Julie made the most wonderful Coconut Cupcakes.

Brent had come over in the morning for breakfast, as he had to leave early in the day to go back to school. 

                                    

Our little princess came with her pink sparkly dress on, looking for what the Easter Bunny had left for her here. 

And the favorite thing was the "Play-Doh Magic Swirl Ice Cream Shoppe".

She kept busy making us more desserts!

We did have a yummy baked ham and all the fixins' dinner and then we sang "happy birthday".

A beautiful Easter Day.

Easter Blessings

Easter Egg Roundup!

Today was the Easter Egg Roundup at The Center.  So much fun for the kids!  My regular spot for volunteering is at the Easter Basket site.  First, I dropped off some Yum Yum Cookies for the bake sale.

Excitement with the baby chicks!  Aren't they the sweetest?

The turkeys are molting, but aren't they interesting?  They "talked" the entire morning!

This horse has a personality of his own.  He loves to splash and splash in the water trough.

The others were just hanging around enjoying the Spring weather today.

I love the donkeys, but they didn't want to lift their heads for a photo.  Too busy eating breakfast!

The barn cats were on the lookout for their breakfast too.  Mice!

They must have sold out the tickets as it was a continuous crowd.  Here is Lori handing out the little Easter baskets for the children to put the egg in that they picked out of the chicken coop.

Lois was busy filling the baskets with hay.

The pretty little baskets, waiting.

The weather turned out perfect and we had fun!

Our cowgirl!

...and the horses had spring fever!  A wonderful day!  Happy Easter!

while I was sleeping...

Rain coming again, so wanted to catch the Magnolia blooms before they're blown away.  They're so pretty to last such a short time.

I love the Cleveland Pear.  A big fat Robin was scolding me as I took this picture today.

And the Lilacs just beginning to show a sign of color.  I am sure you have all seen these signs of Spring at your house, but it's just one of my favorite times, so I have to make note of it.

Getting back to normal

Collage class yesterday and everyone was anxious to work on the slabs of slate that I have.  I know they are going to be materpieces!

Sandy finished her "Georgia O'Keefe" piece with a transfer of her flower drawing.  Beautiful colors and I love the handwriting too!

The room was full and ideas were shared.

Barb making decisions of colors and papers to use.

Judy begins to build her abstract landscape.

I'm excited to have Bernie and Teri back and some new faces too!

Maryann finished her nature theme with a beautiful bug rubbing.  Off came the tape on the borders and ...there it is!  So simple and so peaceful.

Pen & Ink class this morning, so I'm baking cookies and scrambling to find an idea of what I want to draw or paint!