Taking time for fun

Yesterday was Thursday. It has officially become 'craft day' at my friends' bakery in town.
When we moved to our little town nearly 7 years ago (yikes!), we discovered this little basement cafe by the post office. The day we decided to venture in, we discovered that it was owned by an old friend and co-worker from years ago!! Later, down the line, after a couple years of her wanting to hire me, I took a job making sandwiches at that little shop. Fast forward a year or so, we moved to Nantucket, moved back to the cape, and that is when Hubby needed a job and she hired him until he could find something else. At this point, she had opened a second shop in a neighboring village, and was trying to sell the smaller, basement location. That is when another of our friends (Laurie and Ian...Laurie had been the pastry chef when I started working there) decided to buy it and turn it back into a bakery, and away from the sandwich shop it was turning into. They make delicious breads, sweets (even some vegan treats), and cakes.
Anyway...Laurie decided a few weeks ago...actually about a month ago...to have her knitting friends stop by on Thursday afternoon to sit, have coffee, knit, and chat for a couple hours. Some weeks it's crowded, I guess, but I've only been able to go twice...and yesterday was one of those days! I don't knit. I don't crochet. I do paper collages and random things that result in a lot of mess! But I have dabbled in embroidery...and that's a fairly contained craft, so that is what I bring. My little bag of threads.
And speaking of mess...I make a lot of it...and I tend to ruin my clothes in the process. One of my old jobs involved some short order grill work, in khaki bottoms (I liked to wear skirts in the summer). I tried fixing one of my favorite skirts by dying it black...stopped when it got to a pretty lavendar-grey color, but noticed that it intensified the grease stains!! Boo!
I decided to embroider some stuff over the stains...not sure how it will look when 'finished', but here's the start of it...
You can see the more faint color behind the stitching.

Here is a close up of what I've done so far.

And, here is a better view to get an idea of how it looks on the skirt as a whole. There are a couple more spots that will have little clusters of embroidery, but I think I will be able to keep it all to that one side of the skirt. Maybe the 'randomness' will look like it's been done on purpose? I really don't want to have to embroider the whole thing!! Because, honestly, I would never finish it!

In the meantime, at home, I'm trying to keep busy AND keep up with my mail art correspondence. I think this past week I'm finally catching up!

I made, and sent, this one last week. More embroidery! I actually like it...it involves paper, which I love, but the needlework is so much fun, and I can do it while hanging out with Hubby and the pets, snuggled under a warm blanket!! I think it should be reaching its recipient any time now, and I hope it all stayed together during it's journey. I think I was channeling my Native American heritage while making this one.

And I just sent another one out yesterday, that I really liked. My pieces are somewhat childish, but I think they are fun. I will not post a pic yet, though I almost did. I would like it to be a surprise when it's received. Let's just say, I did end up using some of the negatives from my last attempt at pinhole photography.

And, today is my day off. No vet appointments, though I am taking Hanzo to work with me on Monday for more poking and prodding and samples and questioning and wondering and I hope some day soon they can figure out why he won't eat. The latest drug we are giving him is an appetite stimulant that seems to make him want 4 or 5 treats, and then he's done. I hate syringe feeding him, but he has lost close to 2 pounds in as many weeks!! I'm starting to think the problem may be in his throat, not his abdomen! Anyway...Until Monday, I will try not to bring it up again! poor guy...but he still hasn't stopped purring or snuggling...so weird!

Hope everyone has a great day...oh! Hey! It's Friday!!

(for some reason my spell check isn't working...I apologize for my horrible spelling!!)