We had only a couple inches of snow last night but enough to cover up a lot of dirty areas.  We saw Bella laying out by the pool early this morning.  I think she thought it was summer.  She can make any place look so comfortable.

I don't go outside right now any more that necessary.  Our temps aren't freezing but its enough to make me want to stay inside these days.  I do go to the studio to check on my dye and paint projects.  After painting the first silk scarf I got the idea to paint some sik camisoles.  One green(s) and one sort of pink or salmon.  Guess I will have to check on my recipe for this, when I rinsed them out nearly All the paint washed out.  Probably forgot one simple little step of the process but I always do a couple trial runs before I ever attempt to do one for someone else.

The pink one might be ok but I think that green one that was so dark originally will have to be painted again.  No problem, it just makes it more interesting the second time around.

Ok, so here is the picture of them after I rinsed in cold water.  Uh oh, where's the paint?  

And I still need to wash in hot water after I iron them to set the paint.  Looks like back to the drawing board this time.

Trying out a new technique yesterday.  I had some 100% silk scarves I had purchased a couple years ago that I had been wanting to dye.  I also had purchased some silk paints that didn't go very well the first time I tried them, but since they were here thought I'd try them again.   This is my first silk scarf done with the silk dyes.  

Loving watercolor as much as I do I really like the way this scarf came out.  Not necessarily my colors but springtime-ish and cheerful.  They kind of look like waterlilies to me.  What do you think?

These colors are muted and not too bright.  I was surprised as they looked so much darker as they were being painted on.

In a more recent post there's a picture of a scarf a friend did last weekend.  I love it too!  We may decide to do a few projects for the craft show this summer.  You will only get to see the pictures if (IF) they turn out.

Stay tuned!

Have any of you ever wondered about all the chem trails in the sky these days?  We have been noticing them for months now.  When I got up this morning around 6:30 am I saw this out my window.  The sun was just coming up and it was really pretty, but how dangerous can these things be?  They float through the sky getting bigger and bigger.  These are not the old airplane vapor trails we used to see, but they keep enlarging until our blue sunny skies are over cast and gray.


Our Great Pyr Bella seems to be feeling better.  The surgical vet examined her this week and said both her knee caps were sliding off her knees going to one side or the other.  Usually they will just slide off one way, but her ligaments in her back legs are so weak the knee cap slides either way ... both legs.  No wonder the poor girl is in a bad mood from time to time.  That really must hurt.  He didn't think surgery was necessary right now.  He thought we could wait a while and we have put her on glucosamine, Boswellia Extract, collagen and an herbal supplement for inflammation with an emergency painkiller of rymedyl just in case she needs it.  She seems to be doing fine for the moment.

BTW, my white scarf is now ready to use.  And it turned out just as I'd hoped, nice and soft with lots of gentle draping.  This just may be a good one to enter in our fair this fall.

Well, I finished weaving my white scarf and yesterday removed it from the loom.  As I suspected it is a little stiffer than I want so after I get the fringe twisted today it will be washed and dried.  I did some washing of some yarn scraps the other day.  After drying them they were much softer than they started out.

Twisting the fringe used to be a huge task, one that I put off doing.  It would take a couple days and I always got a stiff back from sitting for so long.  So these days I use a tool that used to be sold to make 'braids' in hair.  Works perfectly.  Anyone who doesn't have one of these and wants to get one, you might find one on Ebay.  Don't think they sell them any more.  Here's a picture.

Feeling sorry for those folks in the northeast today.  From the pictures on the news it does appear they really got dumped on by the storm.  I would not live there for that reason, although we do have family members in NY and IL.  Give me the Pacific NW any time.  Our weather is a combination of the wet NW and snowy Rocky Mtn weather systems.  Which, results in beautiful weather both winter and summer, also fall.  Spring can be long and wet sometimes, but we are always green and fresh up here.

Had some bad news yesterday.  We had to take our beautiful great pyrenees Bella to the vet.  She's been limping every so often and was getting pretty crabby with our other animals.  That's not a trait pyrs usually have.  We suspected she wasn't feeling well and waking up a lot at night.  She sleeps in my room now so that was very disturbing.

Our wonderful vet, Dr Marnie, did some blood tests and xrays on her and has surmised Bella may need some surgery on both back knees and also possibly has arthritis in her hips.  Bella has an appt Tuesday with a veterinary surgeon to see if he thinks she needs surgery.

Also have some homeopathic ideas for her, herbs and other things.  A good friend gave me several things we're going to try before I commit her to surgery ... my last resort.  Also before we do the surgery friends have given me the names of two other vets that use other types of treatment, such as aqua-therapy and acupuncture.  Unfortunately, acupuncture won't solve the kneecap problem, but may give her some pain relief without drugs.  We shall see what happens.

Lastly, we had some excitement the other morning.  The dogs had been barking for an hour, wouldn't come when we called them and both were up just beyond our little pool.  Standing upstairs I had been watching to see if I could tell what they were barking at, all of a sudden a great big shadow moved ... Moose!  No wonder they were fascinated.  I think it was on the other side of our field fencing but it sure looked like it was in the yard.  We've had as many as seven at one time in our yard, so we sure didn't venture outside until he turned and walked up the hill.

I'm sure both dogs thought they were the ones that had scared him off.  Ha!  Here's a picture, sort of.  He's standing in between the two skinny trees but back in the shadows.  Can you see him?