Happy Thanksgiving!

Yesterday, Daniel had gotten some beautiful branches at the river to put in our pretty hanging vase by the front door. When he took the old flowers out of it, he found not just one,

or even two,

but three frogs who had made their home in that little space (can you see the third one way down in the vase in the picture below?). AND a lizard, who was too fast for me to snap a picture.

Everyone was given new homes for the time being and the resulting arrangement turned out beautiful!

With that I wish my American friends and family a Happy Thanksgiving and am signing off for the next two weeks while I enjoy family and travel! I wish you all a most wonderful couple of weeks and will see you when we get back!!

Scarves Galore

(click on any of the photos to see more detail)

I have been so remiss in showing you what I've been knitting lately! Scarves, scarves and then some more scarves. I've been selling lots of my lacy ones (click here to see the few left) and am down to my last few balls of yarn for those. Even though they've been fun to make and I've sold many, many of them over the last two years, I am looking forward to retiring that particular scarf and keep moving in new directions.

Like this scarf, which I think is my absolute favorite so far! It is so free-spirited and colorful. It's knit from recycles sari rayon yarn (which has brilliant colors and a wonderful drape), on the diagonal with rows of sari silk ribbon. It was a joy to knit and a joy to gaze at! (And I just sold it to a dear friend in California! Thank you, Tina!!! You made my day!!)

Here a scarf that's warm, cuddly, soft and great also for a guy (don't want to forget about the guys!)

This one I think you've already seen in a treasury. It is so scrumptious in its fall colors! Somehow seeing it makes me hungry for pumpkin pie and cranberry relish. Oh, heck, make it a whole turkey dinner!

Another scarf great for a guy - warm, super long, cuddly and knit on smaller needles, so it's a little denser.

Here I just had fun playing with the ruffled edge and the two very soft and very fun yarns. I love the combination of gray and pink! It's a long scarf that can be wrapped and will keep you plenty warm!

Ok, here is another scarf knit from the most gorgeous turquoise recycled sari silk yarn. It is soft, it is long, it is drapey, it is dreamy!

However, my camera refused to take a photo that accurately shows the delicious color and even trying to adjust the colors in Photoshop was impossible. It's a mystery to me, although I am sure it wouldn't be if I read the camera instructions...

The photo above has some little snippets of the turquoise silk yarn and the color is a little closer to what it really is - except that it's even deeper.

The blue scarf above and the brown guy scarf below have already sold. They were both so soft and warm and huggable!

(If you are interested in any of the above and some other goodies in my shop, click here.)

I know I said I'd only be blogging sporadically, but as soon as I wrote that, I am finding all kinds of things I want to tell you about. Funny how that happens... So, you may hear from me more often than I thought!

Wishing you a most wonderful and relaxing Sunday!!

Happy Flowers...

This morning, we were sitting on the back porch, sipping tea and making a loooooong list of things to do, when I spied the sun shining through our violas and pansies.

They looked so pretty and so happy!!

I just had to share with you...

Wishing you much happiness on this Saturday!!

Seeing Red...

This is my favorite time of year when the air is crisp and the leaves are changing color before starting to fall and announce that winter is coming. 

Here in southeast Georgia, autumn colors are not quite as obvious as in other parts of the county because we have many trees that are evergreens.

But right now, you can see the reds of fall everywhere...

...and I can't snap enough photos!

Even the ornamental pear in our yard has a few leaves turning reddish - when there are more, I'll have to take a picture for you.

And this photo I just snuck in because I love it!

In the next three weeks, my blogging and my visits to your blogs will be sporadic at best. Like most of you, we just get super busy this time of year and I want to make sure that blogging doesn't become another "should" on my long list of things that need to be done.

So, when I find time, I'll do some posts and try to visit you all because - especially during this upcoming holiday season - I find your blogs immensely inspiring! Thank you!!!

A Surprise!

On Sunday, Daniel, Winslow and I drove to the Savannah River for a nice walk on the trail alongside it. We've been there many times, yet every time it strikes me as so beautiful and new that I come home with lots of photos. This time as well and I'll share more of them in later posts...

On our way there, I was thinking how we hadn't been to the beach in a quite a while and how I missed seeing the dolphins. So, imagine my surprise when I suddenly heard a dolphin breathe next to us, looked over at the river and saw that a couple of them were "walking" with us. No matter how often I see them, it's still magical every single time!!

Thank you so much for your visits and your sweet comments on Daniel's books! I am busy, busy this week as we are getting ready for a family visit and then some time away. But I hope to visit your blogs this week sometime...

Book Festival and Books!

The Savannah Children's Book Festival was great fun for us on Saturday. The weather was PERFECT!!

We had Daniel's books to offer, prints of some of his illustrations and my bookmarks, and we sold quite a bit! They only provide the authors/illustrators with a fairly small 3 foot round table, but we made it work.

I brought my knitting and the camera for those times when we had a lull, except there were none! We were busy and talking to people from about 9:30 when we were all set up until 4 p.m. It was so much fun!! Plus, we got to see several old friends and meet a few new ones.

Daniel said that while I was standing in the looooong line to the bathrooms, a couple of girls came by to look through my bookmarks (they were very popular with little girls!) and inquired if I had one that said BFF (Best Friends Forever) and suggested that he tell me I need to make one like that. Made me laugh!

We completely sold out of one of Daniel's book, but have a few left over of the others and I thought I'd show them to you. If you'd like to buy an autographed or dedicated copy, e-mail me (powers-studio.silke@comcast.net) and we can work out the details.

 

Jiro's Pearl has always been my very favorite of Daniel's books. This story and the book all evolved from a dream Daniel had one night that left him with the image of a little Japanese boy walking through a forest. The story is wonderful and the images are exquisite, even if I say so myself! To find out more, visit Daniel's website here.

 

Take the Lead, George Washington is a beautiful and fairly long chapter/picture book for either advanced younger readers or reluctant older readers. It's about George Washington's childhood until he becomes a surveyor at the age of 15. The writing by Judith St. George is riveting and Daniel's illustrations are fantastic!! For more info and images from the book, click here! 

Henrietta is a fun, silly book that really popular with younger kids as the text is in rhymed verse. It's a story about Henrietta, and ostrich mama who likes to bury her head in the sand when things get dicey (can't we all relate?!?). For more on this book, click here!

From the Land of the White Birch is my other favorite book of Daniel's, but this one we sold out of last Saturday - completely. It is out of print, all hardbound and paperback copies of the book have been sold, and all the art from the book is either in private or museum collections. Daniel drew the black and white illustrations in charcoal on coquille board - they were stunningly exquisite! You can click here to see more images from the book!

So, if you would like to purchase an autographed or dedicated copy of one of the first three books, e-mail me (powers-studio.silke@comcast.net) and we'll go from there.

I've been super busy running errands all day! Tomorrow, I'll show you some of the prints we sold at the festival - so beautiful!! Then, I have knitting to show, more artwork, recipes to share and nature photos to post - I need more hours in the day!!

I hope your Monday is a great one!!

Treasury in Purple

Another treasury!! This time, my purple/rose scarf {sold} was included in this delicate treasury curated by Sofinos. Click here to visit and leave a comment if you so wish! Thank you!!

We are at the Savannah Children's Book Festival all day today, and I hope I'll have some fun photos of the event for you tomorrow or Monday! Happy Saturday!!

Treasury in White...

Joya Jewelry Designs included my sparkly white scarf {sold} in their beautifully delicate treasury. Click here to visit and leave a comment if you wish!

Wishing you a sparkly day! We are steeped in book festival preparations over here...

Getting Ready...

Daniel and I are in the home stretch of getting ready to participate in the Savannah Children's Book Festival this Saturday! 

Mostly, we are concentrating on Daniel's books and illustrations, which means that I've been busy putting price stickers on books and printing and matting prints of his illustrations while Daniel is super busy teaching as his quarter is coming to a close next week.

(front of bookmarks)

Needless to say, we are both feeling a bit of pressure. However, Saturday should be fun with gorgeous weather for this outdoor book extravaganza.

(back of bookmarks)

We did decide that it would be nice for me to have some of my bookmarks there to sell, so I've been spending some time getting quite a few of those ready to go. As I play with them more, I like them better and better - I especially have fun creating a different back for each. I like that they are two-sided.

I have to update the photos in Etsy since they now look a little different, but they are still available for purchase in my shop. Click here to take a look!

When the book fair is behind us, I will update you on everything we had for sale there. You'll enjoy seeing some of Daniel's creations!

In the meantime, forgive me that I've been scarce in blogland and haven't visited all of your blogs as much as I like to!! I hope to make up for that soon...

Wordless Wednesday - A Bright Spot in the Reeds

(Click on photo to see a larger version.)