Fun Monday-Something I Have Made

This week's Fun Monday host is Karisma. She wants to see or hear about something we've made. I just didn't know where to begin on this one. You see, I feel best when I'm trying to create something. It's why I write. I'm definitely the artsy, colorful creative type as opposed to the symmetrical, organized mechanical kind of person. I could never be an engineer, but I could sure be happy writing stories or taking pictures for a living. Of course, I would first need to greatly improve my photography skills.

I dabble in a little bit of everything, and I'm no pro at any of it. I love art and have taken several art classes over the course of my 43 years. I love watercolors and oil paints but don't have time to do either one these days. Therefore, my work would not be too good, I'm afraid. In college I discovered ceramics. Not the pick out a teapot, paint it and fire it kind of ceramics. I'm talking about the true art of ceramics where you take a lump of clay, kneed it, throw it on a wheel and use your hands and various tools to mold it into something cool. I took the ceramics class because I needed three extra credit hours of anything, and it sounded fun. I took to it like a duck to water, working my way up to porcelain, which is slick as snot when you're trying to keep it under control on the wheel. My niche was small, delicate finger bowls. I have several but couldn't find them to photograph. They are boxed up in the attic, I think. One day when I'm retired and have a little more space, I'd like to have an art studio in my home to pilfer with clay and paints. I also hope to go back into community theater when Teen Angel goes off to college. Theater was my minor in college, and I really miss it.

I love to bake and create all kinds of cakes and pies and goodies. I learned the art of canning from my mother years ago and annually make jams and jellies from the grapes that grow in my backyard and other fruits I get from the farmer's market. Here are a couple of ribbons I won at the fair two years ago for my peach and plum jellies. It's amazing how happy a blue ribbon can make you...even when you're older than twelve.

I could also be happy baking decadent desserts and decorating cakes for a living. I would love to have my own pastry shop.

One area that I would love to excel at but don't is sewing. I'm just not good at it. I can mend, hem and baste a little, but patching is about the limit of my sewing abilities. I tried making a shirt from scratch when I was about sixteen, and it came out with one arm bigger than the other. I have made a basic skirt that was wearable, but it wasn't nearly as tailored as it should have been, and I never wore it much. That's why I was so proud of this curtain.

I designed it and sewed it from scratch without a pattern a couple of years ago when I couldn't find a curtain I liked for my dressing room. I've decided I can use the sewing machine as long as I stick to curtains and other straight stitch items such as table runners and placemats.

That's about the extent of my creativity. Now hop on over to Karisma's and see who else is playing along today.