Wednesday

Ok, so I survived my doctor's appointment and don't need to suffer this indignity for another couple years. Oh yeah, and we did the 6-month bloodtest, too. They'll mail me the results, but I expect no surprises. (though I bet he forgot to include the thyroid test).

Also talked to him about a couple small problems with no happy resolution. Tinnitus has to be lived with. (Phooey!!) and the keratosis he removed last spring because it itched has developed a keloid(?? a super scar) that STILL ITCHES. And sadly, he can treat the "super scar" but makes no promises about fixing the itching.

I'm sorry... I only had him remove the growth to eliminate the itching!! It itches because my bra band & strap rub against the spot and irritates it. Atleast he sympathized enough to admit that there really wasn't a bra designed that could avoid this spot.

Grrr. Someone pass me some goat or sheep cheese to go this whine.

So I left the office, stopped at the Waffle House for some caffiene and breakfast, then tried to do some wardrobe improvement. No success there either.

Came home tired and cold.. and completely unenergized. So I got very little accomplished. Finally admitted defeat and sat reading all afternoon. Called in a pickup order to my favorite restaurant and ate red curry veggies with prawns until I was stuffed.

Late in the evening I watched the first two hours of PROJECT RUNWAY. Totally knew who would be cut first...and I have my idea who will be the favorites and who will not last long.

Santino will be a fave...
Lupe will be gone soon...
Emmett will last a while but not to the end.
Rodrego?? midway.
daneill F... will last a while this time if he can manage his time.
Andrea ..needs to get his emotions in check or he'll be home too soon.
Daniel V... has vision
marla gone early...
chloe... gone early...
nick possible staying power.
kara (what another kara???) not very sure.
kirsten... is out.
diane eng... probably not going to last long.
zulema (probably spelled wrong)... won't last long.. or will be this year's Wendy Pepper.

Working on Katie P-M's exercises...

Tuesday I started working on my blind contour drawings. (I've tried once, but finished it too quickly, and never got that headache-y feeling... so I'll do it again later.)

But I thought I'd share the composition I'll be working from. Well, maybe I'll switch a whole pom for the sliced one... the seeds are great to look at, but might be asking a bit much. Oh, just turn it around!! That may work. Well, maybe I should rearrange the whole thing.

Nevermind!!

It was cold Monday night and Tuesday night(below freezing.. which seldom happens here in the Bay area), but the sun was shining brightly Tuesday,as you can see from the shadows thrown.

Tuesday afternoon I went to see GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK. You must go see this movie. And it really is impressive on the big screen. However, perhaps more important than seeing it yourself (with a couple exceptions...), TAKE A TEEN OR TWEEN to see it. Take them scratching and fighting if you have to. This is a movie that people who don't remember it should see... the parallels from this to the current day are hard to ignore. I see a couple Academy nominations here...

This morning I go in for a doctor's visit; no coffee until after the "event". (I'd tell you more but it's "too much information.") Everything will be fine... but stay outta my way till I get fully caffinated.

Ok, now think how you hear me in your head...

and see if I come close to matching your imagination.

Ok... I'm getting frustrated.

This is the second time I've tried to set up the audio blogger thing. And my screen has been saying "Creating your audioblogger account" for 15 minutes already. How much longer do I wait before I chuck it?

How long did it take any of you to set up the account??

This sucks.

(thing about me #23... I'm impatient at times).

Weekend Whatevers...

Saturday my friend Linda came over for a short visit. She showed her "tell" and showed my mine, including Katie P-M's new book. I think was fascinated her most were the quilts in the back part where artists showed an original quilt that they felt failed... and the next piece (or same piece reworked) where they improved it. It's always nice to see the process of others.

I've been strolling through my stash trying to gather the supplies for working on the book exercises. I really don't have full ranges of colors (from lightest to darkest)... so I need to decide if I'm going to paint, dye or purchase some pieces so I can work through this book a bit. Our first week is doing the drawing exercises... so I have time.

Interested in joining us? (Teri and Karoda are working this, too). Then this week do a 25 minute blind contour drawing of a still life arrangement (3 different fruit). Then do a semi-blind contour drawing and draw it while look at it.

The first step ALWAYS gives me a head ache. I know it's just exercising different brain "muscles" so I don't complain anymore (simply observe the fact that it's still true). Still, I'd be happier if I could do better with the real drawing. Hopefully I better with practice... I'm signing up for a drawing class this winter.

And I took Dammit down. He was a good pup, but he was slowing up loading the page... and if people won't wait, they can't read.

And because Gabrielle started this:


You reflect the mystery of the spirit. A soul is a
very mysterious thing and you have proven this
to us. This mysterious quality probably means
that you know more about your spirit than most
people know about their own, and you keep this
a well kept secret, for there are just some
things that mustn't be known.
Reflections of the Spirit?
brought to you by Quizilla

Soup-er Days and meet Dammit

The Spouser has a cold; being a good Spouse-ette I made him chicken soup.

Actually, Albertson's had one whole chicken marked down to about $3 because it needed to be sold NOW. I carried it the 1.3 miles home and immediately threw it into a stockpot with some water, salt and"aromatic" vegetables. It simmered and bubbled and imbued the water/broth with rich chicken goodness. It sat there simmering for 6 hours. He now has a pot of love whenever he needs a little "yiddisha" medicine.

Strangely, I only have very mild cold symptoms myself. I don't know if it's the vitamins I'm taking or the Zicam I used. Doesn't matter. Normally I have a cold for 3 weeks that turns into bronchitis and pneumonia and the spouser is sick for all for 3 days. It's nice when the tables are turned.

Now in my sidebar I'd like you to meet my new blue puppy, Dammit. With your mouse/pointer you can pick up a puppy treat and move it up or around the square. Then click, and Dammit will jump and get it. Have fun playing with my new puppy!!

Another project done and Crazy Aunt Purl

When I went to Artist's And Craftman's Supply the other day, I found 2 nice journals about the right size for one of the pieces I made at AQT. Came home and stitched this up Thursday. Now who needs a holiday present???

Here is the front:


And Here is the back (with more accurate colors)



And thanks to DebR, I have my monthly horrorscope from Crazy Aunt Purl. (oh, wait.. I was going to keep last month's horrorscope forever!!) She's right, I used to resist change. However, I had an epiphany back in '93 I think (the summer that the Mississippi River flooded), and I have embraced change pretty well since then. Today I even typed '06 without thinking about it!!

CANCER (June 22 - July 22)
Ends - Beginnings - the stink of CHANGE. I loathe it. And since you're a Cancer, I know you loathe it, too. Just when you thought you had a grasp on 2005, you're a month from 2006! This makes you crazy, upside-down and ass-over-teakettle. It isn't easy to embrace the coming year and make holidays cozy if you're exhausted from all the denial, and frustrated by hanging on to your comfort zone. My dad was right when he said, "The only thing you can count on is change." Embracing this concept is a radical about-face for Crabs, but I guarantee you once you have fully accepted change as a natural condition, it will transform your whole outlook. Let's go have a nice glass of spiked cider and sit in a cozy room and wear something warm and then, when we feel ok, we'll all try to look forward to a new year of ass-over-teakettle. The good news is: We may actually see a few nice asses.

Getting ready for a creative adventure

Yesterday I received my copy of Katie Pasquini Masopust's new book:

COLOR AND COMPOSITION for the Creative Artist.

In the preface they suggest that I get organized to work: make sure my fabrics are sorted by color (I'm going to have to dye fabric for some of these exercises; I don't have full range of colors in anything anymore), my scissors and rotary cutters are sharp. That I gather a sketchbook and pencils. So those are my goals for today. I'll begin working with the first real exercise: blind contour drawings. These always give me a headache as I try to push myself further into a right brain place. (so ofcourse I'm avoiding it by blogging about it.) Probably for the next week all I will be doing is the drawing exercises, though the second part ("drawing with scissors") may happen later in the week.

for teri and karoda and anyone else interested... I'm planning on working completely through this (pending dyeing the color runs... or finding them in scraps/fat quarters somewhere). So I say YES, let us all work on this together and post the results on our blogs. Today's Friday... organize a bit this weekend, and start the blind contour drawings starting next week?)

There is a French technician visiting Steve's group this week and I joined the 2 of the them for dinner tonight. Not to make you all jealous, but imagine a blend of Antonio Banderas and Russel Crowe with a French accent!! Woo- Hoo. Studying Spanish and German in school was such a mistake!!

To entertain you while I'm "working", here is The Instant Art Critique Phrase Generator.
I entered my phone number is phases, and received the following useful critique (now to make a piece that fits this!):

Although I am not a painter, I think that the sublime beauty of the biomorphic forms notates the exploration of montage elements. As an advocate of the Big Mac Aesthetic, I feel that the reductive quality of the sexual signifier endangers the devious simplicity of the accessibility of the work.

And I leave you with one thought:
Cotigo, ergo Blog.

(I think, therefore I Blog.)

Assembling a Fabric Postcard, deb r. style.

Making a fabric postcard starts with an idea for a front. In this case, it's "Let A Smile Be Your Umbrella."


The front is stitched to some scrap batting, and then trimmed approximately to 4x6".

For the back, I prefer to Strathmore watercolor postcards. You can buy a pack of 15 for $3.96. They come already marked on the back for a stamp, address and a message.

I layer the postcard with the fabric on top. (usually by fusing them with small squares of wonder under at the corner of the postcard.) Then I prefer to use one of the overcast stitches on my sewing machine to finish the edges. #30 on my machine is nice. See? It has straight stitching on both sides, so the card has a finished edge to it.

I choose a kind of small stitch. But don't make it too close together or you will completely perforate the card and it will eventually fall off!! 4.5 mm in both directions is fine for me.

I like up the card so the needle sits just off the edge of the card when I stitching. (sorry for the fuzzy... this is close up work.

Oh, look!! The card magically changed while I stitching it. But you might be able to discern a neatly finished edge.

See? Pretty card. (now what happened to my smiling umbrella??)

Good Wednesday Morning.

In a totally different way from yesterday, this morning was quite productive.

Got the dogs (and myself) out for a walk. It surprises me how much better I feel when I get this walk in early.

After returning the dogs to the house, I headed down to Berkeley. Remember when I cleaning my studio and had a large pile of fabrics and stuff that I didn't want to return to my studio? I drove it down to The East Bay Depot of Creative Re-Use. Imagine a 2000 sq. foot "store" where items that might have thrown into the dump, are instead donated and sold at low prices for artists, teachers and scout leaders... anyone to use!! I gave them a box a fabrics, and left with several cool items that I can for stamping/painting on fabrics. (my new finds cost me an entire $3!!).

Also stopped at Artist's and Craftman Supply , where I picked up tjainting tools in the hole sized that I don't have... and picked some wonderful journals. DO check them out... their stuff is really cool.

Now home to get down work. I need to do a blogpost on putting together fiber post cards which means I need to go make some!!

Tuesday Morning in the Studio

Wait... there are photos below.
Inspired by Gabrielle's "just work, baby" attitude... and Melody's "make lots of small pieces with your scrap batting" play day... and Gerry Chase's class at AQT, I hit the studio without a roadmap but with a plan.

1. grab some of that scrap batting Ihave.
2. open that drawer of already fused pieces, sort some of them out and create a background.
(note: I really should have amended that plan to add: use your camera).

Anyway. I sorted out some red/orange/gray/purple/darkish stuff... arranged it and fused it to batting. I was not impressed. Thankfully no photo.

I grabbed my tjantjing tool and a little paint and tried adding a layer of texture over the whole thing. Still not impressed, I put it aside to simmer for a while and played a bit more with the tool.

I learned something today: you can create your own polka-dots on fabric with this.

Here's a piece I played with (showing both before and after).

To not put too much thought in the process, I simply dotted wherever a dot appeared in the original print. This was fun and something to keep in mind for the future.







After making the polka-dots, I grabbed a small pre-fused piece of batik and continued drawing some of the lines already on it. Then, hearing Gerry Chase's request that we experiment with a simple 9 patch design, I also grabbed a piece of dupioni silk and painted a complimentary pattern on it. Cut them up and arranged them on another scrap. Used the extra 4 squares of silk to make "cornerstones". I like this little piece, but what shall I do with it?



Ha!! A journal cover!! It needs a little tweaking to fit perfectly, but I like this so far. And it means that not only did I use some scrap batting, and some scrap fabric but I (almost) FINISHED SOMETHING.









Now about that first piece that wasn't working. It just needed something to make it more interesting. On a whim, I grabbed some polyester organza with a lace pattern printed on it. Pinned that over the piece, and stitched over patterning. Grabbed the heat gun and melted a bunch of it out so that the fabric below shows through.

Still need to back this, but I like the way it looks now (sorry that the pix is so crappy). Now it's lunchtime... and hopefully the rains stops for a while so I can walk the dogs.

Quote of the Day

"Comfort is the enemy of Achievement."

If you stay in your comfort zone, you will never do the work to achieve...

Hey Guys & Gals!

Thanks for the comments on the SSL postcards. But I'm in the middle of making 6 of these!!

Each one is a bit different... Today I'm making a couple with a scrap of Cindy Whozit's Snippets fabric... trying to place the pieces so the fabric makes the highlights.

When I get them all up, I'll let you choose the 2 best to go to Virginia's postcard fundraiser at the Chicago IQA show. The others will go to people in the challenge (rather randomly chosen... so cross your fingers for that email asking for you address...).

I'm hoping to get creative soon...

Holidays have this way of screwing my plans. Steve asked what I did while he was gone, and we figured out I went out with friends and ate. Not that it's improving much since he's home.

Thursday I pigged out at a friend's house, came home and tried to tidy up the house.

Friday I picked Steve up at the airport. Good news... it was our 23 anniversary, and my heart still beat a little bit faster when he turned the corner. Walked the dogs and basted a quilt.

Today we are going to a memorial service for a friend.

Tomorrow we walk the dogs. I might actually get some time in my relatively clean studio.

Monday I need to run a bunch of errands: Trader Joe's; Bed, Bath and Beyond; the creative recycling center place; Stone Mountain and Daughter's (?); seems to me there were a couple more spots...

Tuesday, come hell or high water I'm in the studio. It's supposed to rain...

Simple Still Life: Five things Alike

When last we saw my November still life, it was five red pebbles sitting on a windowsill. This month I decided to take my inspiration from Gabrielle's skillful use of pencils to create depth in her pieces.

Simple Still Life #1. I used a pinky-reddish organdy over a cotton print, then shaded/highlighted with watercolor pencils. The size of the pebbles is too small, and the cotton print wasn't necessary.



Simple Still Life #2. Polyester organdy fused to silk dupioni, then shaded/highlighted. This one is much more successful. I am making a series of about 5 of these.



Simple Still Life: Simple Still Life #3 DUE

Happy Turkey Day!!

Yesterday I ran around all morning... and part of the afternoon. When I got home, I crashed.

Naps feel so good!!

After an easy dinner of grilled lamb and asparagus, I fixed the sweet potatoes for my trip to Jennifer's for dinner today (she's the Pickle rescuing me from a frozen turkey dinner), then cleaned the kitchen. While watching the evening shows, I worked on organizing my stash drawers and basted another charity quilt I found.

I may quilt it up this morning.. it should take about an hour. Then throw it on the "needs binding" pile.

This morning: clean the living room carpet (someone with muddy feet walked on it. I am not saying whether those footprints appear canine or human....), walk the dogs, then get ready for turkey-day.

Steve is visiting his mother and heading to our traditional Turkey-day dinner. All the cousins rent the one-room school house in Bishop Hill, Ill.; it has plenty of tables and a great large industrial kitchen. The food is cooked elsewhere and brought in:

Two turkeys.
One ham.
2 roasting pans full of stuffing (white bread, unfortunately, instead of cornbread).
1 small bowl of oyster stuffing.
Scalloped corn.
That green bean casserole (usually times 2 or 3),
Rolls.
A roasting pan full of mashed potatoes.
Another full of gravy.
Assorted other veggies dishes.
Several salads (one taco salad that has iceberg lettuce and a bunch of jello salads).

This it true "midwest farm country fare" (think a 1962 cookbook). Almost every dish will contain atleast 2 of the following: CoolWhip, Velvetta Cheese, Sour Cream, Mayonaisse, Cream of Campbell soup. Iceberg lettuce will be the only fresh veggie.. all the others will come from a can.

Anyway 2 large cafeteria style tables will hold the "dinner" foods and a third table will hold the desserts.

On the highest year, we had about 67 people show up for dinner... the number has been steadily declining over the years, though, and now averages somewhere in the 30s. (though the amount of food brought to the shindig hasn't decreased).

While the women organize the dinner (service about 12:30), Dan will bring the "thanksgiving tv" (it's a small black and white with rabbit ears that is only used on this day), and set it up for the football games. The cards will be shuffled, the board games examined.

After the first round of gluttony, the women clean up (do you sense a trend here??), and the guys start on the card games. Kids run outside to play (weather pending) and challenge us to HP version of trivial pursuit. This all continues throughout the afternoon

Then about 4 pm, the food comes out again for a second round of chow. Most people settle for a sandwish, some small scoop of veggie and a slice of pie. (we just ate a couple hours earlier, right??). After which... yep, the women clean up the kitchen, divvie up the leftovers and pack the stuff to go home; they guys take down the tables and clean the front room. We have to be out of their by 5:30 pm so that locals can get ready for St. Lucia festivities that occur that weekend.

So what's your traditional turkey day like? And those of you outside the US... what is your country's/regions/ family's "harvest celebration" like? And when?

Blame this on the other DebR!

You Are Mud Pie

You're the perfect combo of flavor and depth

What Kind of Pie Are You?

Progress???

Monday, instead of continuing with the organization/cleaning of the studio and first floor, I basted and quilted 2 of the charity quilts I found in the big pull-out. Now, ofcourse, I have to bind them. (sigh).

Anyway, my plans for today were to head to the Farmer's Market and Trader Joe's, come home and continue with cleaning.

Instead, early this morning I started working on my Simple Still Life project for this month. Then my friend Jeanne called to say she had most of the day free and "could we take a walk?" Change of plans!!

When Jeanne showed up at my house, she told me that I couldn't show pictures of a clean studio when the stuff from inside there had exploded throughout my house (and car). It would be a form of cheating. But I had mentioned that I was still organizing when I showed those pictures... so it's OK, right??

Anyway, I loaded the dogs into the pup-mobile and we headed out to Carquinez Strait regional park. It's a small 1.5 mile loop with views of the water, a walk through a eucalyptus grove and panoramic scenes of California countryside. Katy walk along with us; Jake chased his tennis ball. We stopped at a deli in nearby Crockett for lunch. (Corned beef and a real Vanilla cream soda. Yum!).

So much for my morning plans. We can always plan... but we don't have to obsess about following them!!

Home, and I needed to run some errands... Finally got to working on the house at 4:30 pm.

It's now 7:30 and I'm taking a break. I've reclaimed the buffet in the entry hall and all of the living room. The dining room only has 2 quilts that need to be basted on the table and some sheer panels that need to be prepped and hung up. (I'll do that next). The kitchen is sans fabric (but not clean). And the family room is down to 1 large pile of fabric to sort back into the studio and those 2 quilted (but not bound) charity quilts.

There is an impressive collection of empty plastic boxes that had held projects and scraps I've given up on. (wonder where I'm gonna put those?)

All in all, a fairly successful 3 hours. Hopefully by the time I go to bed I will have recovered all the first floor.

Wednesday, I may be running around in the morning... or may not. When home, I'll dust and clean quickly, continue fitting my studio into the appropriate cubbyholes, and spend some time staring at pieces that need a little work. Think I'll also look for a couple journals to start the new year with. A couple of the small pieces from AQT would make really nice journal covers.

In the evening I'll prep a sweet potato casserole for dinner Thursday.

And for those who have not made thier xmas wish lists yet, I offer:



Hey... It even comes in RED! One of the accessory colors in my kitchen!!

Viewing Reviews

Since I was sitting at home alone on a Saturday night, it's only right that I watch a (according to my hubby) "chick flick" (ie. no John Wayne or Clint Easwood, no shoot 'em ups, no battlescenes). Saturday I watched Mad, Hot Ballroom (not exactly the prototypical chick flick). This is the documentary about NYC school students (6th grade), who study ballroom dance and compete in the city-wide dance competition.

The students learn about life through the competitions. For example, the boys are taught that their most important role is to make their dance partner happy (and hopefully this sentiment continues in other interactions later in their life).

We, the viewers, learn about life as an eleven-year-old. At one point, two girls are talking about the difference between being 10 and 11: Nothing really matters when you are ten. However, when you turn eleven, you have to wash twice a day and use deodorant.

The movie is cute, the students delights. Well worth an evening's time.

Sunday evening I watched the NATURE show about rescuing the pets from New Orleans after the Hurricane. It was definitely poignant... I found myself laughing and crying at the same time. The devotion of the rescuers, the tenacity of the animals, the total devastation. Thankfully, the experience in New Orleans has caused government and aid organizations to re-evaluate the policy of evacuating people and not their pets.

The story that is with me today was a dog found almost 3 weeks from the hurricane. His owner left all the food and water he could, and left his cellphone number on the wall. Ofcourse, it wasn't enough. When the rescuers found this normally 80-90# pet, they provided water until he stopped drinking on his own. He drank 3 gallons of water without pause.

Later, I watched Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy. I think DH is only a "filler" spot in my viewing plan anymore. Provide me with another choice at 9 pm that will not interfere with the later GA, and I'll switch over. The show has lost whatever appeal it had last year. There isn't a mystery... and worse, the women do not interact. Each one has a storyline, but the lines do not overlap. They are merely neighbors not friends. And the support and cooperation we saw last year has disappeared this year. I'm so over it.

Today, I will sandwich those charity quilts I found Saturday, walk the dogs, and work on organizing my "stash and supply drawers".

What I found during the "scary studio" clean up...

1. 3 small art quilt pieces that need hand embroidery and beading. The bottom piece is the painted piece based upon Warhol's sunsets, it needs the suns beaded. The top piece of the left is something I'm embroidering. And the top right piece is a beaded pieces inspired by Kim Stanley Robinson's GREEN MARS.


2. 2 small art quilt pieces that need machine embroidery or quilting. The left hand piece is about a heatwave.. actually, so it the right hand one!! That one summer was all about triangles or pyramids.



3. 2 charity quilts that need machine quilting;
4. 1 lap quilt for Steve that needs machine quilting;
5. 1 lap quilt for me that needs piecing (it kind of matches Steve's).

Flannel in autumnal colors. Warm and cuddly!! I can piece this in about 4 hours... so one afternoon's work.














6. 1 Queen sized Amish-style quilt that needs quilting (anyone want this? uhm... it's Kona cotton and black...). I pieced this about 1995??? And LOOK!! I can hand quilt!!


7. Bonfit Patterner (bodice). When did I think I would use it??

I don't sew clothes except really easy things. (maybe I was fantasizing that someday a cable channel would have this reality show where people design clothes in order to win the money to start thier own line?? And I thought I could win??)




8. 5 plastic boxes of fabric scraps that I have no idea why they're there.
9. 9 paired squares for reverse-applique of hawaiian patterns. (again.. what was I thinking??). And 9 finished squares (and about 20 unfinished squares) from Karen's Stone's Life's a Beach pattern.
10. Way too many scraps/fat quarters/small pieces of fabric I will never use.

So far I've loaded up my kitchen-sized trash can twice with accumulated crap that was in the room. If I could decide to just give up on all the small pieces of batting... I could load up that can again!! And stray scraps?? I'll sort some of them into my drawer of "postcard pieces"... small interesting things that make a great background or foreground on a postcard.












The studio is physically back together, but still some sorting out to do. Most of my fiber supplies (fabric, stabilizers, yarns, etc.), are sorted and stored in these Sterlite drawers. This time I removed the rails and legs from my table, then simply placed it over the drawers. More efficient us of limited floor space.

The sewing table faces out toward the living space, with the design wall next to it (like my Strips and Curve piece??) The bookcase was reworked, and some of my pieces hung around it. A calendar and whiteboard are on the opposite wall.



However, there are piles of fabric, magazines and such still not put away. For the rest of the week, I'll pull out a drawer or three every night, sorting through the stuff inside and adding the appropriate stuff from these refugee piles.
The rest? Down in Berkeley they have a resource center that will gladly take donations of craft items to recycle, including the scraps and batting. Looks like I will be driving there later this week with a car full of fun for other people...