No rest for the weary

I am tired...in every sense of the word. Last week I finally had some time to relax a bit. So what do I do? I decide to finally redo my bedroom. (I am not sure that I know HOW to relax...(unless it is with a cocktail :)). Not an hour after my last post I could be found in my bedroom scraping the wallpaper that has been there since my childhood. I have been living here for about 3 years and I think I have finally figured out that I am going to be here for as long as Dad is still here.
(Side note to family: I am not staying here after that...so prepare for the house to be sold when the time comes! More on this later.)

My other reason for starting this project now is that my bedroom gets some wonderful sunshine in the winter. The dining room where I work is on the north side of the house and is rather cold. I thought if I fixed up my bedroom it would be an inviting place to do some of the less favorite parts of my projects. Sewing and beading could be done up there in the wonderful sunshine.
My enthusiasm for this project has been somewhat dampened because:
a. the ceiling needs to be fixed which has to be done on someone else's schedule,
b. I was physically tired from the first day of scraping wallpaper (apparently different muscles are used in this activity than are used in felting),
c. the wonderful sunshine was not so plentiful,
d. the wonderful sunshine was not so plentiful because the snow WAS,
e. the removal of said snow also involved using different muscles than are used in felting,
AND...
f. is for felting, which the lack thereof seems to dampen my enthusiasm for life in general.
While I would rather have nice white snow than the freezing rain/sleet mix we have been getting a lot of the last few years there is a point when enough is enough.

And when it comes to snow, 'enough' for me is when the removal takes up so much time and energy.  I had to shovel my path just to get to the the chicken coop to give them their breakfast.

This last snowstorm also made it necessary to rake the roof. Now THERE is a whole set of muscles that really don't get used often. I don't remember ever having to rake the roof before. And we have more than one...

I didn't spend ALL my time dealing with chores though. I enjoyed photographing the changing sky at the end of the storm.

 I thought the cloud above looked like a bridge.

 

 

 This cloud reminded me of the sign for infinity.

I also HAD to make at least one piece of felt. I decided to experiment with a few different things; a VERY limited palette, a piece of strange netting that I found here, and a different way of laying out the fibers. I learned a few things from the exercise and decided that this would be a good piece to use when teaching to demonstrate the effects of values and context in a landscape.

My sister brought over her landscape to show me how it has progressed with the needle felting. It is wonderful. And I was especially proud when she said that when something was not looking right she was able to figure out what was wrong and how to fix it because of the lessons I taught her.

Here is her piece before the needle felting...

 and after...

And now that I have finished this post I am planning on getting in 'the studio' and finish felting this fish that I started last night....if I am not too tired!