Fall Hobbies

Alright, I'm certainly not by any means the most dedicated of bloggers, but what can you do? I've no doubt that many of you have been dying to know what I've been up to, so this is to appease the curiosity that's been eating at your insides. The past few months have kept me quite busy with an explosion of hobbies. Since the weather has been unbearable for the better part of 4 months, I've adapted to projects that don't require much outside time in the heat. Fortunately, the majority of my projects have been completed just in time for the weather to change from unbearable heat to cool and gorgeous.

Hobby #1. I decided it was time to start sewing again after a summer full of making patchwork quilts for birthdays and baby showers. I made about 3 in the course of 2 months. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take pictures before I gave them away. But they did turn out really cute.

I've also gotten into making some clothes. Nothing too complicated or fancy, but so far these have turned out fairly cute.

 

I have two more dresses and a skirt to go, but so far I haven't reached the frustrated level yet and am actually having fun with it. The best part about making these outfits was that it was a great excuse to go shoe shopping.

Since I don't know how much longer this phase will last, I'm trying to get as much done as possible before the sewing machine gets stowed in the closet for another 6 months.

Hobby #2. I then decided it was high time I finally did something I've wanted to do for years. I took a 6 week painting class through the local community college here and absolutely loved it! I'm definitely a beginner and have a long way to go, but it's been so much fun. Perhaps in the springtime I can take another class. These are a few of my picture attempts, so don't laugh too hard.

We began with doing still life pictures in order to learn about shading and light. I chose to do a peach and a plum. I told Ramon to pick me out the most colorful fruit he could find at the store and he did. Even the class was impressed with how colorful the actual fruit was. Yes, I did eat them after painting. They were delicious.

The next phase of painting was flowers. This time we painted a close up view in order to focus on details and shading. The more mircroscopic flower pictures I found, the more abstract they looked with shapes and colors you wouldn't expect. I chose something a bit simpler, but maybe next time I'll be daring enough to go really abstract.

This final picture is one I did at our last
 class. It's also probably my favorite so far. Ramon thought it was even good enough to make the living room wall, so we got it framed and there it hangs. All of these pictures are about an 8 X 12 size, and currently decorating the table in our office. I haven't painted much since the class, but once the sewing projects are completed I will be coming back to this. It's become very theraputic.

Hobby #3. The last few months I have been working hard at losing some weight and getting into shape. I'm back up to running in miles again, which feels amazing after so long of inactivity. So far, I have dropped 15 pounds and 2 sizes. It might seem small for some, but for me it's a huge accomplishment as the weight loss thing has never been easy for me. I think I finally found a system that works that I can actually stick to. Now I'm in a very awkward stage where my clothes no longer fit me correctly, yet I'm not quite able to go shopping yet. Hence the reason I'm making clothing. I still have a long way to go but hopefully in the next few months I will reach the place I want to be at. When I get there, I'll be sure to post some pictures. I hope you will see the difference.