Why Gramma Fluff?

Interesting story how Gramma Fluff came to be. One morning my granddaughter's mother came over with the baby who was being very grumpy and crying up a storm. Mia was about 4 months old at the time. Her mother had been holding her and trying everything she could think of to calm her to no avail. Mia saw me and reached out her arms so of course I picked her up and she immediately stopped crying to everyone's amazement. Her mom looked at my son and me and said, "I guess she just wanted some fluff."

Now, most women might be upset with that statement, but having lived with my DH for 20 plus years, I have grown accustomed to strange statements. Of course, both my DH and son burst out laughing and poor Kate looked stunned and embarrassed at making such a statement, realizing suddenly how it sounded. DH and son immediately picked up on it and in unison said, "Gramma Fluff! That's your name!"

Well, the explanation for fluff statement was that when Kate was growing up, her mom was a bit heavier than she is now and Kate and her sister used to love to sit in her lap because it was nice and comfy. Then when Kate was about 10 years old her mom decided to gain control of her weight and she no longer was "fluffy". The girls noticed this and no longer found her as comfortable to sit on. So, she simply meant that Mia probably found it more comfortable to be held by a Gramma that isn't all skin and bones. And I can attest that I am anything but skin and bones! Somewhere beneath the fluff is muscle, but on top of that muscle is a lot of fluff. And Mia certainly likes to sit in my lap and fall asleep while I hold her during her nap time even now that she's 11 months old.

So, if anyone ever calls someone overweight, just tell them it's "fluffy"!

HOMDA Christmas Party

We had a wonderful time at our Annual HOMDA (Heart of Michigan Decorative Artists) Christmas Party on December 9th. It was attended by 29 members and guests. We had a lovely brunch served by Chef Teri Faulkner of Lansing and we had a great gift exchange and fantastic raffle. Members of the Christmas Party Committee worked very hard to make this a memorable occasion by painting a charger plate for every attendee and there were snowmen centerpieces as door prizes.

You can see the place settings were loved by everyone! The chargers were painted blue with a Christmas Tree in the center and a snowman on either side of the tree. Wooden lightbulbs, painted red, blue, yellow, lavender, green, and orange, were attached to the rim of the plates which had pine branches tipped with snow painted around the edge.

The handpainted centerpieces were taken home by seven lucky attendees! They were made of muslin, covered with gesso, then painted to match the chargers. The base of the snowmen had pine branches decorated with red, blue, yellow, and green lightbulbs and garland. The arms of the snowmen were made with floral wire wrapped with brown floral tape. Miniature lightbulbs on string was draped across the arms of the snowmen and cardinals were attached to their arms of hats. The faces on the snowmen were handpainted and their noses were made of fimo clay. Scarves were made of fleece and their hats were made of either flannel or fleece. They were each about 14" tall.

New officers were installed at the end of the event. Our new Board of Directors includes me as President, Jackie Ferris as Vice President and Program Chair, Sandy Young as 2nd Vice President and Special Events Chair, Becky Hilbert as 3rd Vice President and Membership Chair. HOMDA is a subsidiary of the SDP (Society of Decorative Painters) which is a National Organization. SDP has groups in just about every state and many countries overseas. They hold a National Convention every year in which they host reknown teachers, classes, special events, and a wonderful Marketplace where you can purchase items for painting. If you are interested in finding out more, click here.

My First Blog Entry - WOW

I've always wondered what it's like to have a blog and finally gave in. I love to sew and paint primarily. I used to teach fitting of patterns but haven't done that in a while. I primarily quilt now, but also love to make pincushions, mostly because I can finish them quickly and get immediate gratification.

I also love to do tole painting and my favorite type of painting is of animals. I've been doing that for about 5 years now, although I've been doing something with art since I was very young. At one point in my life I wanted to go into art as a profession and even attended the Center for Creative Studies for a while. However, I found I was more at the bottom of the creative geniuses that attended that institute and abandoned that specific path. Now I use painting and creative sewing as a way to calm myself. Had it become a profession, it would have been more of a stressor.

I hope to use this blog as a means of sharing some of my creative energy with the world. Perhaps I can create tutorials of some of the things I create and share. My husband thinks I should be selling my stuff, but I get more pleasure, right now, in gifting it to my friends who appreciate the time and effort that has been put into it.

I'm currently working on centerpieces for the yearly Christmas Party for our Painting Group, HOMDA, (Heart of Michigan Decorative Artists). I'm making 7 of them and they each take several hours to put together, paint, then decorate. They are fabric snowmen that have a Christmas tree with two snowmen painted on either side, who are decorating the tree. Then the fabric snowman needs a hat made and arms, which I'm making out of floral wire and wrapping with brown floral tape to look like wood and bending to look like arms. In their arms I'm placing a string of fake little Christmas bulbs. The bottom of the snowman has garland around them with larger Christmas bulbs glued in. Finally, they have clay noses that need to be inserted. Now, the clay noses were bought at a painting convention I went to in early November. When I came home from the convention, I pulled the bag of noses out of my suitcase and put them in a safe spot so I would know just where they were when I was ready to use them on these snowmen. I sure wish I could remember where that safe place is. I've been looking everywhere I can think of for the last three days!

If I don't find them by Friday, I'll have to resort to chenille noses as a substitute. I'll post pictures of them on Saturday after the Christmas party. Can't post them now just in case one of the HOMDA members sees this blog. They're centerpieces for the tables, but they are also door prizes and a surprise.

I have a lot to do before Saturday to finish all the things that need to be done for the Christmas Party. We have 26 gals attending. Fortunately I didn't wait till the last minute to get everything done like I usually do, but I wish everything was completed already.

I have my granddaughter coming over everyday starting Wednesday and she's only 10 months old. When she's here I get nothing accomplished. She is the sweetest little thing and she's starting to walk and talk and she loves to follow Gramma around. So the next two days will be full of getting everything else I need to accomplish finished!