Gifts in the Post. 18th January 2010

Dog In the Hole Studio, Wisconsin, USA

About a week ago, I received a wonderful postcard from Bea. Bea has done quite a lot of 'mail art' and I am lucky to have received some of it - from her 'Dog in the Hole Studio'. The link to Bea's blog is at the bottom of the page.


The people in odd pointy hats are Zettis. On the back, Bea has written:

Brought to you by 'The Order' of five Zettites of Zettiaba!! Down one side it says 'by ship's catapult'. Isn't it adorable?

Thank you so much Bea.

ABC of ATCs, Part Two

Having reached 'Z' before Christmas, our little group of ten artists has decided to do the alphabet in Artist Trading Cards all over again. We still have ten contributors, but 2 of them are new/replacements.

I have so far received A for Aleph from Lynn Cohen in California, USA. Lynn is going through the Hebrew alphabet and this is their 'A'. Ah, Lynn commented that it isn't necessarily their 'A' but is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

It's such a bold design and so colourful and I love it Lynn.

I have so far made A for Ants but forgot to photograph my effort! Hopefully, the recipient Lolo will do that for me then I'll be able to post it. In the meantime, I have made:

B for Bloody-Nosed Beetle


I have never been very confident at drawing and painting but I decided I'd have a go at it this time. I am trying to do insects and interweave them with the letters. We shall see how it works out.

About the Bloody Nosed Beetle:

It is a large, flightless leaf beetle. When alarmed, it exudes bright red blood from its mouth. The blood has a burning taste and birds soon learn to leave the beetle alone. It can be found in Southern and Central Europe and its size is 11 - 18 mm. So now you know.

My beetle will be crawling its way to Anchorage, USA to one of our new members, Patty. I could probably do the whole alphabet in beetles as there are so many of them, but that could be a bit dull.

Today at The Deenery

Jim was up early and headed to Ennis to teach at the silver surfers computer class. Then he was going to do a bit of shopping.

I washed our wooden floors and did things domestic for a while. Jim returned and nobody had been at the class!

This afternoon I spent some time in the orchard. There used to be a turkey shed and enclosure at the top of the orchard, which Jim had demolished. Yesterday I piled the shed onto the bonfire. It had mostly rotted and fell apart as I moved it.

Today I attacked the brambles with a mattock and pulled up much of the ivy in this area. The idea is that it will revert to grass and Jim will then be able to mow it along with the rest. I stayed out until 6pm, by which time it was very dark. I had to change my clothes as I had been sweating so much. What a change from last week.

E Bay

We have been looking out for curtain material, bedding and a settee or suite for the new rooms. Jim had bought some striped 'Roma' material and the lady had some more she was able to sell us. We measured and talked and thought and re-measured, but no matter how we tried, it was clear that there wasn't enough material to do the 3 large windows and double doors in the sun room. I love the material though, so we decided to get it anyway and use it just for the window curtains . We will then get some plain cream or beige material for the double doors and I will add some of the striped material to it so that it all blends in. That's the theory anyway!

We have also just bought 2 bedspreads, one for the spare bedroom and one for our new bedroom. The one for the spare is a 1970s tapestry weave cover in blues and oranges. I love it and we bought it for a snip.

Now the one for our room is gorgeous. It is a stunning quilt bought by some people on holiday but never used and was made by the Amish people. It is in shades of green and as soon as I receive it, I will take a photo of it. All these things are located in Ireland so the postage isn't too bad.

Finally, we saw a terracotta 3 seater settee for sale, ending yesterday also, and bought that! Now we have to travel to Limerick on Wednesday and hope it fits in our Doblo van! So we are gradually getting sorted. I am excited about the curtain material. But I will have rather a lot of sewing to do and we still have to paint the walls!

Right, now I'm going to have a go at my 'C' ATC. Happy Monday everyone.