Saturday All-Day Workshop/a personal note

On Saturday, May 27, Aleeta Haas came down from Grande Prairie to teach us a workshop on sculpting and furring a cat. (I'm sorry she doesn't have a website that I can direct to you to see her wonderful work - and I simply didn't get around to taking pictures of the samples that she had.)

The members who took part in the morning class used Aleeta's molds to make the body parts then put them together to position their cats in the positions they wanted.

Aleeta (left) giving some personalized help.

As polymer clay and I do not get along, I opted to buy an already sculpted cat and used my morning to finish the coats of arms pictures for the Canada 150 project.

I had printed out all the coats of arms of the provinces, territories and Canada on photo paper using the self-framing ability on my computer.

I then used the Glossy accents clear, dimensional embellishment on the outer frame to give it dimension.

Here's the bottle of Glossy accents. (I also have a pack of six embossing pens by the same company.)

Once the dimensional element had dried, I cut each one out and ran a black marker around the edge to cover the white.

And here they are completed.

Then I turned them over to Sunni and Inger who were in another room framing pictures that had been turned in unframed. By the end of the day, they had 133 pictures all framed and ready to hang on the trifold display. As some people had not yet turned in their pictures, we're well on our way to 150.

Here are a couple of the completed cats. (Sometimes I think my camera eats pictures as I was sure I had taken more pictures.)

While the cats were baking, we took a quick lunch break and Tina gave us some hints on how to finish our marble tables.

At this point, Maureen M. and her daughter, Christine, had to leave as Saturday was Christine's high school graduation. Congratulations, Christine! (Eighteen years ago, M.E.E. did a nursery scene to celebrate Christine's birth.) Now she's one of us!

As we were laughing about putting the cats in the ovens to bake, Aleeta also told a funny story about a fellow instructor who was teaching a class at a hotel. Someone overheard the instructor mention putting the 'babies' in the oven to bake and called the police!

Sunni had put out some "freebies" in the morning and I picked up two lovely containers.

This one is 8" x 8" x 8" and will be perfect for one of my Christmas giveaways. As it's open front and top, it won't even need lighting.

I also got this hanging frame that's 10 3/4" h x 13 1/2" 2 and 2 5/8" deep. Another Christmas giveaway possibility.

Well, this is my sculptured cat that I got from Aleeta. The fur that I got was sort of a rusty colour so painted the cat that colour.

Aleeta then explained to us how to fur a long-haired cat using silk roving. If you have the patience for doing this, you will make the most incredible, realistic cat!

However, I just tried to put one piece on three times and decided it wasn't for me. Granted, I had my heart set on a black and white cat so my heart wasn't really in it.

Then she showed how to cut the silk roving up into very tiny pieces (like flocking) and cover your cat with that.

And here is the wonderful cat that Trineke did in that way.

It was a simply wonderful day!

Then Joanne and I met Lucille, Tina and Aleeta at Namaste for dinner. I must admit, I was a bit apprehensive about the menu as I wasn't too sure about eating Indian food. BUT the food was incredible and the company absolutely wonderful. A great end to a wonderful day.

We had tentatively booked the social room here for a few extra hours on Sunday for anyone who needed more instruction but only a few MEE members wanted that so they met at Tina's.

As far as my cat goes, Lucille had checked two of the Michael's here and couldn't find any flocking so she has ordered some online for both of us. Thanks, Lucille.

Personal:

Sometimes I'm such an idiot! Leanne had called on me to rabbit-sit this week as she has a staff get-together in Sylvan Lake. My mind immediately went to her living in Mill Woods (an hour away)! So I'm thinking that I will be away three days this week. THEN (much later), I realize that she now only lives 10 minutes away and I only have to sleep there! So I can be here during the day for Mom if she needs me and for my 4 o'clock visit with her.

So I'll be here Friday to get ready for Lorry's Estate sale and to greet my DS Marie and DBIL Rob when they arrive for the weekend. And hopefully when DS Sean arrives. BUSY weekend with Lorry's sale and Grahame's memorial.