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Click on the picture above for additional Day 27 creative goodness.

Today. Ah, today got away from me in so many ways.

The things that needed doing like washing the bedsheets, the doggo blankie because of Hound Dog Eau De Parfum & the doggo beds on the floor next to our bed. They radiate a stench just below the olfactory radar. You can smell it, then you can’t & then you can. I really need to train these girls to take their own baths, stop sharing their fur everywhere & leave the room when they fart.  Who am I kidding?

Then, as I’m nearing the finish line of the things that need doing I hear, “Honey. Can you help me with this? It should only take about 5 minutes.” Nope. It took far longer. Oh, let’s run the wood planer outside! Let’s put the wife on the side where all the sawdust shoots out! He took the leaf blower to me to get rid of all the sawdust. I have to say that was brilliant & it worked. There’s a raunchy pun I could make, but we’ll keep this a rated G post.  After that, The Bun wanted my input.  It was one of those days where as soon as I was ready to dive into the next thing needing doing, someone needed or wanted me for something.

ALL OF THAT just to say, I’m sharing pictures today.

The Hubs had a nice fire going while he was cutting up pallets.

I checked on the Gourdlings who are drying out fabulously. It’s hard to imagine between the poles, this was a jungle of gourd leaves & vines just a few months ago.

It’s still fascinating to see the difference in curing between a gourd nestled in the vines vs one that’s exposed to the elements.

I’m positive some other gourd seeds were mixed in or had been cross-pollinated. I did not order any sort of gourd with bumps or gourds this large. That’s part of the fun when growing things.

I don’t know if this happens in your house with Thanksgiving leftovers… I was on the phone with my Mom. I heard the distinct clinking of a glass lid being removed from its glass bottom. I told my Mom to hold on & ran into the kitchen. Just in the nick of time (I need to explore exactly how a “nick” relates to time… )to stop The Hubs from devouring leftovers for lunch. He had to make a choice, leftovers for lunch, or I make turkey lasagna for supper. You could see the furl of his brow grow deeper & the disappointment of not being able to have both. In life, one does not always get your mashed potatoes with gravy. He opted for the turkey lasagna. Here’s a link to the recipe: https://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/thanksgiving-leftovers-lasagna

I don’t quite have the amounts of everything the recipe calls for, except for the turkey. Will that stop me? Why no! I am the MacGyver of making do with what I have & bending it to my will type of person or at least give it a go & have it either fail fantastically or go well swimmingly.  It’s a toss-up.  My confidence in my abilities is quite high today.

That’s all I have to report on this 27th day of Art Every Day Month.  Stay safe out there!

Click on the picture above for additional Day 26 creative goodness.

I want to wish everyone who celebrates the holiday, a Happy Thanksgiving!  This will be the most unusual Thanksgiving holiday for the record books.  It’s just the household celebrating together today, me, The Hubs & The Bun.  We saw The Son Unit & his girlfriend briefly yesterday.  We all wore masks during their quick stop to drop off a turkey for the freezer & to pick up some frozen stuffs I gave them.

Please excuse the photos.  I took them with the phone’s camera.

This morning I made from scratch waffles in an attempt to add some holiday cheer.  They were delicious!

My brother-in-law stopped by to deliver some Yak steaks & Yak burger & to yak a bit to The Hubs.  They stayed outside while The Bun & I waved through the window.

This is the first Thanksgiving where I had/made time to do creative work besides the dinner.

I made new patterns for the arms/flippers & legs for the Gourd Trouble doll.
“After turning them right-side-out, the foot was too big, but fixable.  I turned them inside-out once again, used a chalk pencil to outline where I needed to stitch, cut off the excess & Wa-La… perfect sized feet!  Oh, yes I did.  I waved my arms around like a spastic frog named Kermit.  That didn’t help the crick in my neck one bit.

Next, I made armatures & wrapped them in cheesecloth.

Now we have a pair of sexy legs ready to stuff & attach!

This picture gives you an idea of how they’ll look on the doll.

The house is starting to fill with delicious holiday smells. The Hubs & I are waiting for The Bun to finish some homework & then we’ll start a movie marathon of all The Santa Clause movies with Tim Allen.

Big hugs for the hard, stay safe & I’ll be back tomorrow with more creative hooey fresh from The Flatlands of NW Ohio.

Click on the picture above for additional Day 25 creative goodness

It’s been a chill 40-something degrees (Fahrenheit) with off & on drizzle.

I traced the legs & arm patterns onto fabric.

Surprise! I had a hand all ready to go & one that needed to be cut out & turned right side out.

Then I played around with wire & stuffing.   I discovered that the pattern I made for the leg & boot wasn’t right. The boot portion needs to be wider.  And then, I showed The Bun. Now I’m told the Gourd Trouble wants flippers instead of arms with hands.  I told you this doll was going to be out there.  Flippers?  Oh & they have to be poseable flippers too.  This is going to be one interesting looking doll when it’s finished.

After all that,  I decided to work on the Apple Galette for tomorrow’s dessert.  Apple Galette reminds me of an apple calzone topped with caramel… well sort of. This is the first time I’ve ever made one.  The Hubs found the recipe & since I couldn’t find caramel apple pie at the store (one of The Bun’s favorite pies), I figured this would be a good replacement.

The pie crust dough ball turned out perfect.

That was popped into the fridge for 30 minutes while I chopped apples & made the filling.

I rolled the pie crust on a pizza pan, placed the filling in the middle & folded up the sides. I forgot to add the egg wash & added that halfway through the baking process. It came out fine, PHEW!

While everything was baking in the oven, I made the caramel sauce.  I learned that one should NOT add ice-cold cream to hot melted sugar & butter.  It became a hard weird lump thing.  Luckily, I was able to pop it over to the stove & get it to melt again.  Sure, there were a couple of sugary lumps in there, but all in all, it came out pretty good.

Here’s the finished dessert!  I normally don’t care for caramel apple pie because it’s too sweet.  I think I’ll like this better because the apple mixture has a nice sweet & tart balance.  Of course, I had to try a piece or two or three.

Tomorrow there will only be three of us here for Thanksgiving.  We’re planning on from scratch waffles with strawberries & whip cream for breakfast, the traditional turkey noms & a movie marathon.  It’s going to be bittersweet not having the usual family around to play cards & visit.  Hopefully, with all the news of vaccines, we are nearing the end of this dreadful pandemic tunnel.    Stay safe & I’ll catch ya tomorrow!

Click on the picture above for additional Day 24 creative goodness

I have a playlist full of music that gets my blood pumpin’, toes tappin’ & helps me to shimmy off any Negative Nellies trying to stick to me. Sometimes it takes quite a shimmy (as I am super fluffy & have nicks ‘n crannies they like to hide in) to get them off so I can get my creative on. I share this because as I’m typing the song, Sexy & I Know it by LMFAO is playing. Their video cracks me up. I’m sure I bring much shame when I attempt to mimic the dancing. How do I know? The dogs look worried & leave the room. The cats roll their eyes & slink off to have yet another Kitty Committee meeting about their Pet Hooman. I don’t care. I shimmy, shake & imitate anyway. As a youngster (Good Gravy Woman, you have got to stop over-sharing & dating yourself!), I would dance like I was one of the Solid Gold Dancers in my room. Thankfully, as far as I know, I was never busted busting a move. Here’s a link to that 80’s goodness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gukBo_fDBQs

Now that you have THAT visual… What did I do creative today?

Well, I zipped down a few rabbit holes (a.k.a. research, remembering & placing things in a safe place where they remain safe. Probably somewhere with the keys that I have yet to find.)

The rabbit holes are a necessary part of my creative process.  I want to include a locket with the Gourd Trouble dolls.  I, indeed, found two great contenders.  I wanted it to be something one could wear or keep in your pocket.  Gourd Trouble’s wear their hearts on the outside so you can carry it with you.  There’s more to that which will be shared when I have them finished.  The other rabbit hole dive was because I placed my patterns for arms, hands & legs in a safe place (as alluded to above).  I had to remember how I made them.  Then I was intrigued by creating a gusset for button joints.  After all that rabbit hole diving, I ended up creating two patterns.

I decided instead of using the gusset button joint, I’m going to use a wire armature inside to give the arms & legs poseability.

I’m still trying to figure out how to do combat boots (Rabbit Hole number 542 before I lost count) but have some ideas to try.

That’s all from the Flatlands of NW Ohio.  Have a super day/evening & stay safe!!