BOOK SALE!!

Wah hoo! Library book sale! Warning: lots of photos ahead!

As a backstory I should mention that my 6 year old grandgirl, Audrey, took a reading test yesterday. She's in 1st grade and the test showed she's reading at a 4.8 level (4th grade, 8th month). I'm not suprised! She's been sucking up learning like a vacuum since she was born. SO, when I mentioned to daughter Micah that I was heading to the book sale she asked if I would look for some chapter books, since her teacher had suggested getting her some books that would challenge her. (Audrey was excited to tell us that she gets to pick her book from the BIG KIDS books at the library!) I found that it was tricky finding something challenging for a six year old to read. It seems like so many of the chapter books already have themes of cliquish girls being mean to each other, or maybe boys becoming of interest. So, I went for some more old-fashioned books. I think she can read most of these without too much difficulty. This is fun for Grandma the book pusher!
Here are a few I got for Hazel and Adele. Lots of animals.

And here are Audrey's. For ten cents each I was kind of a book hog... I got a couple of these at the thrift store.

 Here's what I got for me. A lot of these I got because I love the illustrations. Some may be used for collage (gasp!), but I'll think long and hard before cutting up an old book. I really don't want to spend money on tons of printer ink to make copies, and hopefully I'll make something with them that will be used and appreciated by the recipient. But mostly I'll look at the pretty pictures. :)

Yes, that is Dick and Jane in the lower left! Two of them! I couldn't pass them up. I learned to read with Dick and Jane and I love the colorful illustrations. The Tapestry one at the top is stories of children from all over the world. I may pass that along to Audrey after I enjoy it.

When I was paying for these one of the library volunteers said to her hubby, "Oh, look! A whole book about Leonardo Da Vinci!" I felt kind of bad that she hadn't found it first! The two books on the right are Spanish textbooks that have lots of good lists and lessons for beginners. The little book in the upper left is full of tiny pen and ink drawings illustrating children's poems. I'm copying some of those in a sketchbook for fun.

I may use some of this sheet music for collage, but once again, it's hard to do that. But I don't think anyone would have used it for its intended purpose. The Exodus Song is one of my all time favorites, so I'll hang onto that! The Christmas books is packed with beautiful illustrations, some full-color, others pen and ink. Inspiration!

These are two illustrations from the children's poetry book. There are just tons of charming drawings like these.

While I was at the thrift store, in addition to a couple of chapter books for Audrey I picked up this little baggy of random yarn leftovers. It appears to be cotton yarn, so I thought I could use it to make little washcloths or something small when I feel like playing with my knitting needles.

I also bought two warm sweaters for around the house. Yellow isn't my best color, but this one looked warm with the collar. This is my first winter in this house, so I'm trying to prepare in case it's drafty. The cocoa colored cardigan isn't really my style, but it sure is snug for lounging around! (They were both on the $1 rack!)

I'm still participating in the Inktober drawing challenge. Here are my #7-#12 drawings.

 

 This was my 5x7 canvas for this month. I ended up outlining all of the letters with white gel pen to try to correct the smeary "a". It did look a little better.

 

I'm following along with a gal on YouTube as we (she and her audience) put together "Idea Notebooks". This is a place to keep all of those ideas that spin around in our heads, and tend to be forgotten before we can do anything with them. I found some decorative paper that included this cute typewriter, so I used it as my cover and then stamped the words on the blank page. I think it's sooooo cute! Now I'll enjoy filling it with stuff! The idea is to have one central place to put all of your creative ideas instead of having them scattered around in lots of little notebooks and scraps of paper. It will be a fun project and may even bear some fruit if I actually implement some of the ideas!

I'm developing an interest in collage. I'm thinking paper collage on canvas, and eventually, when I have a bigger place, maybe even tile mosaics. (Think garden decor!)

Does anyone know what this is? Well, yeah! It's Lisa's version of a tea cozy! (Since I've never gotten around to knitting one.) I'm finally using my new teapot, though I'm finding that the tea cools off quite a bit before I get around to pouring it into my cup. I'm also using the old tried-and-true-mug-in-the-microwave technique. Good tea weather! I drove into town today on a back road and I so wish I had taken my camera with me! This is a windy, hilly road that twists and turns between various lakes. It runs through woods that were all bright yellow, orange and red leaves contrasting with deep green evergreens. Beautiful and sunny. It was really windy, but still comfortable for wearing jeans and a flannel shirt. Perfect!

Well, I'm going to run over to Duolingo and do a little language. I played hooky yesterday.

Happy Fall, everyone! God's blessings on all of you!
Shalom!