Dancing and Fancy Hairdos

Last weekend our friends, the Lewis family, decided to host an English Country dance in honor of Mariah's birthday. They decided that any type of costume would be fun, so we saw flappers, princesses, colonial era costumes, poodles skirts, and more.

All of the girls requested fancy hairstyles, and I happily complied.

I love designing pretty curls and updos.

I ended up getting six hairstyles done in less than four hours - not too bad!

It was the first time they and most of their friends have ever danced before, and they all did a great job! Everyone had a wonderful time and we're all anxious to do it again.

Art 4 Art's Sake

I participated again this year in Art 4 Art's Sake, a fundraising event for our local art gallery. Over 20 artists got together and began painting at 12:00 on Saturday; at 4:00 the public was invited to come in and watch the artists at work. All of the paintings were auctioned off that evening, with the proceeds going to The Next Picture Show. It was a fun day and it's always a challenge to start and complete a painting in only one afternoon!

The initial sketch...

Main colors blocked in...

Water done and some detail on the right side...

Shadows and more detail...

All done!

It only took me 6 1/2 hours to complete this painting; I think that's a personal record!

I really enjoyed using lots of bright colors and trying to capture the light.

Here's a few pictures of some of the other pieces of artwork...

It was definitely an enjoyable, if not tiring, day!

Jason and Alyssa's Wedding Quilt

Mom recently finished a gorgeous quilt for Jason and Alyssa's wedding present. Yes, they were married over a year ago, but they went from a double, to a queen, to a king sized bed! In order to make it fit, Mom had to keep adding to it.

Alyssa's favorite flower is the sunflower.

The quilt is also reversible with the fall color theme on one side and the blues and yellows on the other! I can't decide which one I like best...

We took pictures of the quilt on the spare bed in our guest room. The colors coordinated so beautifully, it was hard to give the quilt away!

So much work - a labor of love for sure. :-)