Tag: flowers

Posted in anxiety, Knitting, Photography

Fall in the Desert

Posted on by debthumanblog

I can do one (or both) of two things when I have anxiety. I can either eat a couple gallons of rocky road ice cream or I can knit. While waiting for the results of a biopsy (turned out to be not cancer, thank you God) I worked on a stress afghan.

First, I bought two big skeins of yarn. That’s what’s at the bottom of the afghan. Then, I realized two skeins weren’t enough so I bought more yarn. That’s what the rest of the afghan looks like. While it may not be great art, it’s nice to snuggle under.

The full moon this month was a super moon. I shot moonrise.

And I shot moonset.

There are problems getting the sky right when shooting the moon. The moon is so bright that it throws off the light metering.


The antidote is to put the landscape into the photo.

Fall in western New York, where I’m from, is yellow, gold, and red. Fall in the desert is mostly green with a bit of white and yellow tossed in.

Itty bitty flowering plant that flowers in the fall.

This is what the flower looks like up close.

So far, this barrel cactus has survived a two-decade drought. But something weird is growing on top of the cactus.

I’ve no idea what this is. I don’t think it’s a seed pod and I have never seen a barrel cactus grow a little cactus.

I’ve no idea what this is, but I thought it looked interesting.

A few flowers cling to the desert sage bush. The bush flowers after it rains and it hasn’t rained in a while. I doubt more rain now would trigger blooming. The shrubs know it’s fall and time to rest.

I decided to take my commissions from Spoonflower sales and order sheets. This is the pattern I used. What I love about the Spoonflower sheets is the fitted sheet actually fits the mattress and the top sheet is generous.

I’m linking with Nina Marie here: https://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com

My Spoonflower shop is here: https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/deb_thuman

My shop, Deb Thuman Art, is here: http://www.DebThumanArt.com

Posted in anxiety, Brady, Emotions, Fabric, Photography

Filling the Bucket

Posted on by debthumanblog

There’s something weird growing on my arm. It changed colors. It grew larger. The border is erratic. The thing is scaly. All the stuff that indicates cancer. I saw the dermatologist. He said it wasn’t melanoma, the most dangerous skin cancer. He did a biopsy. I will have to wait at least a week for the pathology report to find out what this thing is.

In the meantime, I find myself making a bucket list. There are two trips I want to take. One is to New York City to shop at Mood. I want to fondle fancy fabric and buy the kinds of fabric I’ve never worked with. The second is a Hawaiian cruise. I’d like to spend a couple extra days and see Volcanos National Park. I want to see flowers and green in the winter. I want to swim in the ocean again. I will take Brady on both trips. I will have to have some forms filled out by the vet for the Hawaii trip.

My iPad is from 2017. It still works, but it does’t have all the bells and whistles the new iPad Pro has. I ordered one this morning from the campus bookstore. Along with educational pricing, I get a free iPencil. I need a more powerful drawing program in order to design more fabric. I also need to work on the second novel. I’m at the point where stuff gets written only to get pruned.

I have a few bra kits in my sewing room. I need to sew them. I need to sew slacks to wear to school. I’ve got a free pattern from Mood and need to make a muslin.

I am frozen. I’m finding it hard to get going on projects.

I still have photography. I got my first SLR for Valentine’s Day 1980. I took that camera everywhere and shot everything. I got my latest DSLR for Valentine’s Day 2020. I take the camera everywhere and shoot everything.

I did some landscape/outdoor photography today. I’m able to walk farther and stand longer although I still have limitations.

Fall in southern New Mexico doesn’t look like fall in New York. Instead of reds, yellows, oranges just before the leaves fall, we get green. We don’t get rain in the spring; we get rain in the summer. This is one of the wildflowers that grow and bloom this time of year.

These are chocolate flowers. You can’t eat them, but they smell like the finest chocolate. Because it’s cooler, I could take this shot after lunch. In the summer, the flowers go to seed within a few hours.

This is one of the desert sage growing in my yard. The shrub is triggered to bloom when there’s sufficient humidity. The bushes will bloom several times during the summer. The flowers only last a. couple days and then the ground is purple.

I’m linking with Nina Marie here: https://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com

My Spoonflower shop is here: https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/deb_thuman

My online shop, Deb Thuman Art, is here: http://www.DebThumanArt.com

Posted in Uncategorized

Making Art Again

Posted on by debthumanblog

I decided I would move anything blocking , my embroidery machine, load the patterns I purchased onto the USB drive, and do some machine embroidery.

One of the sets of patterns I bought was a set for free-standing-lace earrings. I decided this was a small enough and easy enough project that I could manage. I still can’t put more than 1/2 my weight onto my Erector Set Foot. But I can take a shower by myself and I can use the Big Girl Toilet rather than the potty chair. I’m going for physical therapy and I can’t wait until I can do things again – like drive and bake.

I need to soak these in warm water so the water soluble stabilizer disappears. Then, I need to hope I can get near the tool box with my earring findings so I can turn these into earrings.

This was going to be a pair of earrings, but I ran into difficulty making the second one. So it’s a pendant.

I decided to take a little walk to see how the irises are coming along. I had to fold up the walker to get it out of the sliding glass door. Then, I needed to navigate around rocks, art and plants to get to the iris. All that, and the new iris aren’t blooming yet. Last fall, I happened to be at the mall when the local iris society had a sale.

Here’s one of the irises we’ve had blooming since we moved in 24 years ago.

I’ve had a couple Spoonflower sales this week. I wish I could see what people make from fabric printed with my designs.

Passover starts at sundown tomorrow (April 12) when we celebrate freedom. May you have a joyous, enlightening Passover.

I’m linking with Nina Marie here: https://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com

My store, Deb Thuman Art, is here: http://www.DebThumanArt.com

My Spoonflower shop is here: https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/deb_thuman