January 31

Happy Lunar New Year!  Mary

January 30

Cold capsules in blister pack were lying on the counter.  It may be pharmaceutical grade artificial orange dye, but it is a great color....  Mary

January 29

With the endless cold and multiple polar vertices I needed some color, so buttons of yellow pansies from my flower calendar....  Mary

January 28

The microfiber bag that came with my new glasses....  Mary

January 27

Great plastic circle button....  Mary

January 26

An old turquoise and gold enamel pin from some estate sale or other....  Mary

January 25

This small black vase is probably worthless, and it is certainly kind of ugly.  But it was in the china cabinet in Rick's folk's house for as long as I have known Rick which is close to 40 years.  It came to us when we broke up their home.  Now it sits on the shelf in the teak hutch in our living under their wedding clock....  Mary

January 24

A random mah jong tile, with abject apologies to calligraphers everywhere....  Mary

January 23

A polka-dot and flower emery board....  Mary

January 22

The colored pencil shavings seemed appropriate as a phone cover....  Mary

January 21

A roll of fat quarters of fabric by Marsha Derse....  Mary

January 20

The cover of a 1904 celluloid prayer book....  Mary

January 19

My hot pink protractor....  Mary

January 18

A small purple stone heart....  Mary

January 17

Being all thumbs when it comes to chopsticks, I just keep these in my pencil cup because they are so lovely.  On occasion they come in handy for holding a tiny piece in place or helping to turn a corner....  Mary

January 16

A small ball of red pearl cotton....  Mary

January 15

A bunch of old molded glass Czech buttons....  Mary

January 14

Cardboard jewelry gift box with an interesting pattern....  Mary

January 13

This piece of driftwood found its way into my old Corolla most likely with Eileen's help.  It sat on the back window ledge forever and only found its way inside when we sold the car last spring.  Anne's Scion doesn't have a back window ledge, so the driftwood sits on a shelf in my studio....  Mary

January 12

An old faded and gilded fan from an estate sale with a lucky cricket....  Mary

January 11

Wooden spools of vintage silk thread, and the marvelous quilted potholder Eileen and Warren sent me from their trip.... Mary

January 10

A rosary bracelet made of gold rose beads.  Bede is the Old English word for prayer....  Mary

January 9

My mother complained when we visited last that clip-on earrings are almost impossible to find anymore.  So, of course, Anne hit the Internet and found several vendors on Etsy that had these earrings - some vintage, some new....  Mary

January 8

This is one of the eggs I hard boiled to take in my lunch.  It was too beautiful to just crack and eat, so I drew it tonight and can eat it tomorrow....  Mary

Some beadwork that cannot be shown 

in its entirety because it is a gift.

January 7

Somewhere I read that to practice drawing, you should draw the same stone again and again.  Rather amorphous start....  Mary

January 6

A string of old pearl buttons and glass rings....  Mary

January 5

This beautiful red feather is from an old vintage hat Eileen had years back....  Mary

January 4

Each year on Dec 1st we'd give Rick's mother Kate a potted amaryllis for her birthday.  The conditions in their living were somehow perfect for these bulbs, and she sometimes got them to bloom twice.  So now on Dec 1st we plant an amaryllis for Kate, and it's just bloomed....  Mary

January 3

Another find from years ago at an estate sale.  These small birthday bells still hanging on stiff, old paper ribbon....  Mary

January 2

Prayer beads found at an estate sale years and years ago....  Mary

January 1

Happy New Year!  Three full years of daily blogging and the start of new year.

For the coming year I am going to try to be a bit less tied to one form.  Certainly daily drawing needs to continue.  In fact I'd like to draw even more.  Added to that I will post updates on work-in-progress.  I will have to see how that goes and adjust a needed during the year.

I think three years has been long enough to prove that daily posting is indeed effective for getting myself into the studio every single day....  Mary

Current quilt top in process