My weekend alone

Bud is in Las Vegas this weekend.  I am at home with myself so i decided I would find ways to entertain myself.  I probably could have gone with him but the few conferences I have attended with him have not been that exciting. CPAs don't exactly 'paint the town red' even when they are out of town or at least that is what happens when I have gone with him.  This afternoon he did send me a picture of Elvis so maybe he IS seeing exciting things.  I have been to Vegas before so that didn't attract me either.  

Instead I found ways to entertain myself.  My friend MaryAnne was singing on Friday evening so I went to listen to her.  The show was a fundraiser for the Unitarian church where she attends and the different groups were fun.  She is a wonderful singer and sang one of my favorite songs about getting old.  

After the program they had a silent auction with items going at very reasonable prices.  I managed to find a beautiful bracelet to buy even though I didn't need to add to my collection.  It is amazing how jewelry  always seems to find its way to me.  

This nice little moonstone bracelet seems to have nice workmanship.  I am sure that some member of the Unitarian church bought it in some faraway city and decided it was a good donation to the fundraiser.  I am the lucky one that has this piece for very little donation along with a fun evening at their church.   

I spent the night at MaryAnne's house since we were getting up early (at least early for me) and driving to East Jordan for the day.  She had a booth at at craft fair where she was selling these lovely hand dyed silk scarves.  They were beautiful but I resisted buying any since I really don't need to add to my wardrobe  (jewelry doesn't count, I can never have too much jewelry)

Here we are posing in front of our booth.  I spent the day laughing and chatting with my friend and demonstrating how to tie scarves but it was not a very good selling day.  The scarves are a little more expensive than you average scarf and the audience didn't look like the expensive scarf crowd.  We only sold one scarf even though many people stopped to watch my demonstration on how to tie the scarf like the one I had around my neck.  They smiled and said thanks but didn't buy.  Lots of people 'fondled' the scarves and commented on the beauty but 'just lookers'.  It was a rainy and cold day outside so we think that the 'expensive' crowd decided to stay home and only the ones looking for small inexpensive things came.  I did manage to buy some beautiful cards, some special hand softener and some baby mittens but no jewelry.  I still enjoyed the day with my friend.  We watched people and wandered around to other booths and just had fun together.

I managed to have some time to finish the border on this wall hanging that I have just finished.  I am exploring new ways to create quilt projects.  This is my latest project.  I made this up all on my own.  As I look at the picture it seems a little 'off balance' so maybe next time I will lay it out and then take a picture and then rearrange the pieces to make it look better.  I think that it would look a little more balanced if I could put it up on a computer and look at it.  I laid this one out on the floor and it seemed good then but now I think think the bottom part should be slid over to the right a bit more.  I am learning this technique so I know I will have a few pieces that will need improvement.  It is fun to experiment and explore new ways to enjoy my quilting.  I did this piece all by myself so it only cost me the fabric cost and my time.  I will continue working on this and other art quilt techniques.   I like working without a pattern and making my own design.

I have also been trying to do as much reading as possible.  I have finished most of my Christmas book shopping and I bought books that looked interesting to me.  I am busy trying to read a few of them before I have to give them away.  (Family, I will try not to spill anything on your books but this is easier than giving you a book for Christmas and asking you if you will give it back to me to read.)  I just started a good one and haven't decided who will be the lucky one to receive this one but it is great already.  I love starting a book and knowing that it is going to be a treasure.

Today I went for a walk. Fall weather has arrived here in N. Michigan. The few yellow leaves against the gray skies and the wonderful smell of leaves, that fall smell!!  I am trying to get back into the habit of walking as a form of exercise.  It is sometimes hard to do, I am lazy and my feet don't like it but my body needs it so I am just 'sucking it up' and doing it.  At least the beauty of nature is helpful.

SO, find beauty in things that you may not love to do, do things with beautiful people, and find new ways to do things that you do like to do.  My advice for the day.