Avoiding the water cooler gang...

Last night I finally read through How To Be Creative. I had saved the webpage so i could take my time and read it offline.

Although his take was different, the one piece of advice that really hit home was his line to avoid the water cooler gang. Although he meant something different, I realized that I use the internet way too much as an avoidance tool. A way to NOT WORK.

So, I'm taking a deep breathe and putting myself on a limit. This definately will mean that I don't read blogs as much... though when I do read something I will try to respond to more.

Maybe make this more as a reward... work for 2 hours; read for 15 minutes.

I feel I'm getting so many messages from the universe telling me things I need to hear...

I need to tell you about the dream I had a couple nights ago. But that will be another day...

What a good dish...

I was busy all day, so I needed a relatively simple fast supper. Sounds like thai curry to me!!

First I put a cup of brown rice and 2 cups in water in the microwave. This is the time-limiting factor in dinner. Five minutes on high, then 35 minutes at 50% power and the rice is done.

While the rice is nuking, I slice half-frozen chicken boobs into pieces 1/4" thick, 1/2" wide and about 3" long. While I'm slicing, a cup of low-fat coconut milk is coming to a boil in a frying pan.

When the milk has warmed through, and the oil rises to the surface, i put in a small amount of Thai Kitchen's Green Curry paste. We are wooses when it comes to heat, so I only use 1.5 tsp. You can use up to 2 TBSs but I couldnt' eat it.

The curry paste is dissolved in the milk, and the second cup is added to pan. When it comes up a boil, I reduce the heat and add the chicken. Cook gently for 3-5 minutes. Then add keffir lime leaves (or fresh grated lime rind and lime juice), 3 TBS. of fish sauce and 1 tbs of sugar.

When it's all blended together, I add a package of S&W's Ultimate Stir Fry Frozen Veggies, and 15 leaves of sweet basil. Simmer until the rice is done and serve with jasmine tea.

Healthy, fast and delish.

Yum.

Now I wish I'd picked up a carton of coconut sorbet when i was at the store.

It could be a GREAT SONG...

This could be a great earworm (a song that gets embedded in your brain, and you can't stop hearing it):

What I've been doing:

Quilt a little; cut a little...

Quilt a little; cut a little...

Quilt, quilt, quilt...

Quilt a lot, cut a very little...
















OK, you don't get the reference? I believe it's from OKLAHOMA.

The Blog of The Ring

So how do you read the ArtfulQuilt Ring? It's been brought up on several blogs (PamRuberts and Teri Springer's to name two).

Do you try to read through the whole ring daily? Or, because of the size and time constraints, do you do so weekly?

Do you do it all at one time? or break it up?

Me, I try to read through the ring every day. With the large size, i break it up into 3 groups: the 20 who post almost every day I read every morning with my coffee. Twenty more while eating my lunch . The twenty least active blogs I check if I time after washing up the dinner dishes. Every once in a while they surprise me with something new.

I also try to comment on atleast 5 blogs a day... maybe more. Just so the writer does know that someone is reading. I LOVE reading other people's comments. What can I say, I'm a social being living a kind of isolated life. Which is sad, as I'm actually completely surrounded by people. It's like living in cocoons. But this is a topic for atleast one other post.

So I've got a couple things to say:

1. WRITE MORE OFTEN. This is a habit you have to work on. I've found that there are days when I'm really talkative. I might write 3-5 blogs. NO. I don't post them all. I save a couple as drafts, then the days when I'm busy or flat or uninspired or just too whiney, I have something to post anyway. I got this idea from June Underwood, who's Southeast Main has a different photo every day. Atleast I think it was June. I could be wrong. Anyway, write when you feel like it, and post on a regular basis.

2. TELL PEOPLE WHAT YOU THINK OF WHAT THEY WRITE. comments are good thing. They turn this from a monologue to a dialog.

3. SHARE WHAT YOU ARE DOING. I swear the unique thing about this ring will end up being the ability to see how different people move through a process. The different paths that can lead to the same place: a finished piece of art. I'll admit it, I need to do more of this.

4. WHEN IN DOUBT, look for the humorous side of things. (note to self... this one is for ME.)

5. Ok. Make people happy and eager to read your blogs... ADD PICTURES. Maybe not every day (sorry Deborah), but atleast a couple times a week. I love that people will occasionally show their studio space while they are working. And our lives are all so unique that Life photos work too.

Ok, so I'm off to look through the photos I've taken recently. Finish reading my morning blogs. And make some art.

Happy Half Birthday

Several years ago, Steve mentioned that he would like to try and fly a box kite. In all his years, he'd never so. I promised him one for his birthday that year, but never found it.

Since then, I've been on a hunt for a simple box kite kit. Usually stopping in stores when we were on vacation. Most of the time, the stores have been out of them. Poo.

When we were in Mendocino last month, though, I found the kite. And I promised to give it to Steve for his birthday. But his birthday isn't until September... way past this year's prime kite flying season. What to do? What to do?

hmm... march is 6 months away from september. I COULD CELEBRATE HIS HALF-BIRTHDAY. Just a kid. afterall kids are the usual recipient of easy kite kits.

While tomorrow is the official half way point, we celebrated today with his traditional birthday dinner (with variations). Pork roast, roasted red skins, broccoli and (here's the change up)... strawberry shortcake. Traditionally he wants cherry pie. Either is easier to make now instead of the high heat we have here in late September.

So we ate our birthday dinner, and he got his box kite. Ofcourse 2 hours earlier, a major rainstorm rolled in, so who knows when he'll be flying it.

The History of Rock and Rolll

In honor of Easter candy... enjoy the History of Rock and Roll as acted out by Marshmallow Peeps. From the duck walk... through Sgt. Peeple's Lonely Hearts Club Band to Prince's Peeple Rain.

Melody has done all of us a BRILLIANT favor! She has become a new good friend with the BRILLIANT Sonji Hunt. And she has "dragged" Sonji into our lives, too.

Imagine a BRILLIANTly funny woman... who makes BRILLIANT art quilts. Imagine that she BRILLIANTly likes Baseball!! And sci-fi stuff!! And her dog!! ( I read her profile).

And more incredibly, IT'S NOT ME!! BRILLIANT!

Someone else who would understand my making these motions suspiciously like a Nazi soldier (but NOT)... and muttering too high! References to Major League: BRILLIANT!

While most of the US has been having thier spring holidays last week or this (passover and easter)... mine comes NEXT Sunday evening when the first official pitch of the 2005 MLB season is thrown. (even if it is the YUCKY Yankees.)

A traditional dinner of pizza and Guinness will be in order.

Guinness. BRILLIANT.

And

I'm in the middle of my March depression. I get a spell of this every quarter... predictable themes at different times of the year. I used to take antidepressants, but though they levelled things out a bit, they didn't help with these spells. So I stopped. The shrinks I saw in the 20s brought up key points, but often muddied the waters more than they cleared them. So I've learned to work through these.

Usually I have to deal with some aspect of self-doubt.

March, I have to deal with loss and what effect I am leaving on the world (note to self: perhaps I should rent The Five People You Meet In Heaven). Odd, I know, that the season of rebirth should have me dealing with death, but it does. Two grandparents died in the spring when I was a teenager (and 2 at the winter holiday time). My father died in March 2 years ago. I put a young puppy to sleep in March (back in 1993. the same day that the Cleveland Indians lost all their relief pitchers in a boating accident. Almost 12 years ago today). And another dog was lost forever in a park in March; two weeks before my father died.

So I'm outside digging in the garden... making myself move... and looking at the new growth. But feeling more like the weeds I'm pulling out than the plants that are waking up.

This is going to pass. I can hardly wait. No, really, I can hardly wait. In the meantime, I'm weeding my garden.

What do you want to accomplish before you die? What one thing do you want to do? And, more importantly, what steps are you taking to accomplish it?

I used have to the goal of hiking the Grand Canyon rim to rim before I turned 50. I turned 50 without accomplishing it. And I haven't set another achievable goal since then. Well, I've set goals, but I haven't WORKED at them. (like losing the 20# I need to lose).

So, what is the one dream/goal/desire you have that you want to accomplish in your lifetime?

Questions asked about the piece below:

I used acrylics. I WANTED Golden fluids, but my Michaels doesn't carry them. So I used the bottles of Liquitex acrylics. Emptied a glub or two (about 1/2 the 2 oz. bottle) into a small disposable bowl, and added an equivalent amount of water.

What?? You don't measure by glubs, too???? You know you do.

I used Red Oxide, Baltic green, neutral gold, and yellow oxide. The odd thing: the baltic green kept seperating into a dull gray color and a bright turquoise color. I chose it because it looked like a light soft sage green. Really didn't want the turquoise.

The texture on the red pieces: I painted these with dry fabric and fairly stiff brushes (cheap "house painting" brushes.. not artist's brushes). You know the 3 brushes for $2 you see? Black nylon bristles? anyway, I barely dipped the brushes into the paint, then lightly painted the fabric with diagonal strokes. I like the texture this created.

Most of the other textures were created by dribbling paint on the fabric. I really liked this technique, so I got carried away.

Oddly enough... the greenish piece (long vertical on the far left)... needed more texture. And I was done. So I just laid it on top of the piece on the work plastic, a piece that had been salted. I painted some stripes of gold on in, and let it set. The salt worked so much more effectively on this piece! might be because it was pouring rain, so no sun to help "cook" the fabric.

I'm thinking next painting session I will lay out the salt first and lay the painted fabric on top.

I find removing salt from fabric a pain... especially when using a very fine grain salt. If anyone has suggestions for this, I'd appreciate it.

See? I said I was inspired to work on this piece. Yesterday, while the Coit guy was cleaning all our carpeting, I painted up fat quarters of fabric with colors that remind me of bark in eucalyptus groves. Maybe not as subtle in coloring as the bark, but the general idea. When it had dried, and was ironed I couldn't simply leave it sitting in a pile to work on next. I had to start cutting and arranging on the blank design wall. This is going to need something more later... but I'm not sure what yet.

 

I had major inspiration yesterday. (why is it when I'm busy machine quilting a piece.. so I'm working but don't really feel like I'm CREATING, that I get all this great idea. These will lead to tops being sewn, and then.... sigh... more machine quilting.)...

Anyway, I've wanted to do something that reflects the colors and textures of the eucalyptus bark I see on many walks. And yesterday I came up with a way. I can paint the fabric... and piece it up from there. Some high count white cotton, some acrylic paint, some water and a day and things should be moving forward. I'm referring to Sue Beever's book Off The Shelf Fabric Painting for inspiration.

Good thing I figured this out, too. Katy, my 7 year old Lab, needs 2 teeth pulled tomorrow, and today she needed to get some new medication for her allegies. She's a sweety so I guess we'll keep her, but she's killed more than all the discretionary part of this month's budget. So a quilt I sew completely and spend less than $50 total is a good thing.

In the spirit of remembering Terry Schaivo, who has existed in limbo for the past many years. If you have not filled out a health care initiative, DO SO NOW. It makes sure that everyone knows your choice if you can't decide for yourself.

And, to make things easy for you.. so you can't argue that's too hard to bother with, I've included a basic copy below. Just cut and paste, check a few places, fill in a name or two, print and sign.

And keep the lawyers, judges and politicians out of your life decisions.


PART 1
POWER OF ATTORNEY FOR HEALTH CARE

(1.1) DESIGNATION OF AGENT: I designate the following individual
as my agent to make health care decisions for me:


______________________________________________________________________
(name of individual you choose as agent)


______________________________________________________________________
(address) (city) (state) (ZIP Code)


______________________________________________________________________
(home phone) (work phone)

OPTIONAL: If I revoke my agent's authority or if my agent is not
willing, able, or reasonably available to make a health care decision for
me, I designate as my first alternate agent:


______________________________________________________________________
(name of individual you choose as first alternate agent)


______________________________________________________________________
(address) (city) (state) (ZIP Code)


______________________________________________________________________
(home phone) (work phone)

(1.2) AGENT'S AUTHORITY: My agent is authorized to make all
health care decisions for me, including decisions to provide, withhold, or
withdraw artificial nutrition and hydration and all other forms of health
care to keep me alive, except as I state here:


______________________________________________________________________

(Add additional sheets if needed.)

(1.3) WHEN AGENT'S AUTHORITY BECOMES EFFECTIVE: My agent's
authority becomes effective when my primary physician determines that I am
unable to make my own health care decisions unless I mark the following
box. If I mark this box (), my agent's authority to make health care
decisions for me takes effect immediately.

(1.4) AGENT'S OBLIGATION: My agent shall make health care decisions for me in accordance with this power of attorney for health care, any instructions I give in Part 2 of this form, and my other wishes to the extent known to my agent. To the extent my wishes are unknown, my agent shall make health care decisions for me in accordance with what my agent determines to be in my best interest. In determining my best interest,my agent shall consider my personal values to the extent known to my agent.

(1.5) AGENT'S POSTDEATH AUTHORITY: My agent is authorized to make anatomical gifts, authorize an autopsy, and direct disposition of my remains, except as I state here or in Part 3 of this form:

____________________________________________________________________________

PART 2
INSTRUCTIONS FOR HEALTH CARE

(2.1) END-OF-LIFE DECISIONS: I direct that my health care
providers and others involved in my care provide, withhold, or withdraw
treatment in accordance with the choice I have marked below:
_
|_| (a) Choice Not To Prolong Life
I do not want my life to be prolonged if (1) I have an incurable
And irreversible condition that will result in my death within a
Relatively short time, (2) I become unconscious and, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, I will not regain consciousness, or (3) the likely risks and burdens of treatment would outweigh the expected benefits, OR
_
|_| (b) Choice To Prolong Life
I want my life to be prolonged as long as possible within the
limits of generally accepted health care standards.

(2.2) RELIEF FROM PAIN: Except as I state in the following space,
I direct that treatment for alleviation of pain or discomfort be
Provided at all times, even if it hastens my death.


______________________________________________________________________
(Add additional sheets if needed.)

(2.3) Provide Food and/or Water. I do not want to be put on a feeding tube, if that sustinence is the only thing that keeps me alive. Hydration is acceptable.



PART 3
DONATION OF ORGANS AT DEATH
(OPTIONAL)

(3.1) Upon my death (mark applicable box):
_
|_| (a) I give any needed organs, tissues, or parts, OR
_
|_| (b) I give the following organs, tissues, or parts only.


_____________________________________________________________________

PART 4

(5.1) EFFECT OF COPY: A copy of this form has the same effect as
the original.

(5.2) SIGNATURE: Sign and date the form here:

_______________________________
____________________________________
(date) (sign your name)

Oooooo... Stephanie at A Realization in Texture, color and movement (see my links), mentioned the idea of holding a BEAD AND STITCH at a local spot in her neighborhood.

There is something just so appealing about that idea!

I'm wondering if we could arrange to have something similar locally. Au Cafe would probably freak.. and they are often rather crowded. The Starbucks won't do, and the new deli has been packed every time I walk in (and STILL "everyone" says that they couldn't open a plain American-style restaurant here because there wouldn't be enough business...humphh). Won Thai..though fabulous food... is always crowded, too.

Probably it would have to be in another city. And I, yet again, would have to travel... sigh.

Speaking of Won Thai. I mentioned before that this is a good thai place. And I was proven right last Friday. Our regional food review had a full page review of this restaurant, and gave it 1 $ for prices (low and reasonable... most entries are $6-10)... and FIVE FORKS! Their highest quality rating in a restaurant. I rarely see them give any place five forks, and usually these are expensive place to eat (Alice Water's Chez Panisse for example.)

I'm going to be experimenting with a new offering from my library. They have contracted to offer audio books online. The service is coordinated by OVERDRIVE.

Now the neat part.

I can "check out" an audio book online, download to my computer and then burn it a CD to take into my car. Twenty one days after I check it out, it stops. DON'T ASK ME HOW. I don't understand how this works. But that's the appeal for libraries and such. They can have books checked out and returned without late charges and without paperwork.

The library patron (in this case, me), can get up to 5 audio books at any one time. At the moment, the selection isn't very exciting... I think my choice was only about 100 books, but hopefully things will get better as it catches on.

Now I've got 2 books to try. And a note as to when they expire. On April 8th neither book is supposed to be working on my car/home CD players. We'll see.

Today I fused the pieces down, then grabbed the ruler, took a deep breath and cut the pieces into the 3 pieces. Here they are pinned on the screen frame where they will eventually go. 

Vessels #1 will eventually be cut into three equal pieces. This means it's important to design the piece so it's cohesive as one large piece, and still works when it's divided. My original plan was to arrange the vessels so that each one touched atleast one other... and the paths crossed back and forth across the piece. Yesterday's arrangment was solid along the middle, but getting out of hand along the side panels. And I finally decided it was too busy.

So today I put on the Congressional Hearings on Steroid use in baseball and rearranged things giving more space to the piece. Boy, I'll tell you it was hard to fight that instinct to link each piece. I think this is about to the point where I can fuse it. Then add sheer vessels over the top in the places, cut it apart and quilt it. I think it's due at the end of the month... I've got my work cut out for me. 


Now let's all practice saying: I'm not here to talk about the past, but about the positive things that might happen in the future.

Mark McGuire thy true name is Weenie.

I had an important thought this afternoon. For more than a week, I've felt a bit sleep deprived. Odd because I've been getting 6.5-7 hours of sleep most nights, no reason to feel like this. But it's made me peevish and given me some problems speaking clearly. Then today I think I solved the problem: Naprosin.

My doctor suggested I take NSAIDS to try to relieve the inflammation and pain in my foot from the bone spur. I've been taking Naprosin because it's only 3 pills a day max. i take 1 with breakfast and 2 at bedtime and I'm set.

Except that when I took rx. Ibouprofen a number of years ago, it made it "stupid"... I forgot how to spell Tuesday! In front of a class of High School Seniors!!

So I'm guessing that the naprosin is effecting me the same way the Ibuprofen did. And I'm gonna cut back on the dosage and try to get my mind back. Wish me luck.

I'm getting frustrated rearranging Vessels... eventually I'm going to have to call it done at the point and fuse it. But this afternoon, I took a little picture I'd clipped out of the paper, and kind of constructed it in fabric. Well, I got the major features fused down in fabric, then started putting in details with threads. NOW THIS IS FUN. I'm happier now.

On other news, Deb Lacativa posted a pix of shoes, too... Pretty turquoise ones that kind of match her quilts. Want to join in the fun? We will let you join our See Our Shoes club even if your name isn't Debra/Deborah!!

So Manolo wouldn't be pleased, but this morning I woke up and couldn't comfortable wear any of my shoes. I have this bonespur on one toe, so it's swollen, and it rubs on everything I own.

Although "they" say to wait until late in the day to buy shoes, I headed out early, figuring that to wait meant less of a chance I could get a shoe on to walk through the mall.

I headed immediately to The Walking Company and challenged the salesman to help me.

"I need a stable shoe.. and one that is COOL. And it can't rub/hurt this spot on my toe."

He measured my feet (my feet have grown almost a size and half!! and I'm a normal width now!!) then came back with 6 boxes.

I chose a pair of Merrill clogs with a nice webbed top lined in a soft nylon that cushions the bonespur. A few other shoes were discarded. Just for fun I asked him to show me the sandal I've been lusting after: A pair of Keen Newport H2 sandals in red. I've been lusting after those shoes for a couple months. But looking at them, I wasn't too hopeful.

They feel like a dream. They support my feet like custom shoes.. and with the bungee cord fitting, I can pull them as tight or loose as needed over sore spots. The nylon is soft... and with a thin inner lining, there isn't any problem with the fit.

They are perfect. I danced around the salesroom. (Twenty minutes earlier I could barely walk. These shoes are heaven). Ok, they are not the most attractive sandals in the world... but I think I'm in love.

My new red Keen sandals.


Note the cute doggie socks underneath...

Home to spend an hour playing with some stuff from Kimberley's . Then a trip to the deli's to pick up Corned Beef and swiss on rye sandwiches, and picking up some sauerkraut. At home, they turned into yummy Reuben sandwiches in honor of St. Patty's day...

Then spent the evening arranging and re-arranging the vessels...

Well, phooey! (how mature of me!).

Seems that it might be an offense of netiquette to simple target someone's photos in my blog. Had I thought about it longer, that would have occurred to me.

Guess I'll have to rethink this idea.

I was just "building" inspiration pages to save to post later... have a day filled with photos of one color. If I download the photos, then post them, I could violating copyrights, if I link I could honk somebody off.

Well, I'll rethink this. Thanks Carol and Deborah for the help.

Spending time browsing blogs the other night (this WILL lead to an interesting post someday...), other blog rings seem to do a better "job" of pulling others into their ring and tempting them to stay a while. I know we are a young group, but maybe we should think about how they do this... and how to do this too.

Dear friends, I am going to recommend a book. Usually I don't do this; as a major scifi fan, I don't expect others to have the same taste. This book is different.

PRODIGAL SUMMER by Barbara Kingsolver has been out for a couple years now, so you should be able to find it at your used bookstores. Pick it up and Read it.

Three separate stories set in the same small town make up most of the novel. A 30-ish woman, an out-sider and newly widowed, needs to learn how to live on the farm her husband grew up on. A 40-something woman, who's given up on humanity, finds love on an isolated mountain. And two old neighbors: she an organic farmer, he trying to restore an ancient tree.

Their stories interweave with mini-lectures on ecology, subtle but key to the characters.

And in the end, we see the stories and the individuals coming together to weave a new future.

This is a novel about living in the abundance of summertime; and this is the perfect time to start it.

Now, on another vein altogether... Would someone please tell me how to write the html to tell blogger to go out and find a picture on the net (when i tell it the address) and have the picture pop up here, instead of just the link?

Someday I've got to grow up.

Although i'm a 50 something woman, I find myself acting like a child again. Not in that jump-in-the-mudpuddle, twirl-around-in-my-pretty-full-skirt kind of way... I DON'T DO THAT ENOUGH.

No, this is more in that: It's Saturday morning, I've got to do chores way. Do others of you find yourselves succumbing to those dialogs of old? Why is it I can't have the free spirited nature of the young girl, only her responsibilities?

So at the moment I'm watching someting on PBS. It's a blue set with white and stainless kitchen appliances, and a woman in a red dress. She is DANCING. I'm not sure if she is protesting the chores of the kitchen, or celebrating her life inspite of the kitchen sink (maybe I should pay attention more closely??)... but it seems to be another message to me:

Find the laugh in the little things.

We are having a major of run spring weather.. and today I succumbed to spring fever. It's hard to ignore when it's the first day over 80 degrees in the year.

Took the dogs to the dog park, mowed the grass, ran the whole drip irrigation system to check for leaks, fixed the leaks, pulled some weeds. About 6 hours of work.

So I didn't get more than a hour today to work on vessels.

However, Wednesday night we saw AIDA at the local theater. I spent a lot of time looking at the set... it was interesting and inspiring.. and I'm making notes about some of the thoughts about features to see how to incorporate them in the future projects.

I am furiously in the studio today. Cutting out vases, arranging them on the background, and rearranging them. And tonight is our first play of the year (we subscribe to a regional theater package): EVITA by Elton John and Tim Rice. The local reviewer (who I usually agree with), said he liked the musical although he hates the music. I hope I'm as positive as that tomorrow. In the meantime, the weather has turned to SPRING, so enjoy the flowering nectarine bush in my garden.

 

This is 3photo day, so I begin with a morning shot. Showered and dressed, I'm ready for a morning of errands. A trip to the doctor; yep that swelling in my toes in arthritis. Grocery shopping then home for lunch.

Two people in the house... 2 fruits a day times 7 days means 14 pieces of fruit for the week. Doesn't sound like much.. but looks like a whole lot. What do large families do??

After lunch, I walked the dogs, threw a nice piece of meat into the oven for dinner and hit the "studio". I rearrange this room regularly trying to make it more workable. Nothing works well, but I've figured out that I need to limit the horizontal surfaces. they just get filled with stuff. 

Remember, March 8th will be 3 photo day. The site I originally found this on is PIONEER WOMAN WITH CELLPHONE.

If you wish to participate, simply:

1. Take three photos on Tuesday (morning, mid-day, and late afternoon/evening) that represent that day in your life.

2. Post your photos on your blog and send me the link.

3. Add any text to the photos you'd like.




Posted by Hello

I found a possible location to teach an altered/artist's postcard class. I'll be checking the place out in the next couple weeks, and working up a good class outline. If any of you have suggestions for this (or good links), please email me .

I will be taking an altered book class there at the end of March with my thai gobbling friends.. Ah, what shall we call ourselves?

Today in my bath I realized I need to slightly tweak my schedule. Normally, I get up and check my email, read the blogs (WRITE MORE OFTEN ALMOST ALL OF YOU!! YOu are my morning inspiration and entertainment), write my blog and get on with the day (errands, walk the dogs and work on my art). Late afternoon, while bouncing between Oprah and Ellen, i write in my art journal... sketches and notes for pieces, doodles for quilting designs, clips for color inspiration, etc.

I think I'm going to flip the blog and the journal work around. Do the doodling, etc. while watching the morning news/talk shows (have you seen Harry Smith's new glasses?? HIDEOUS is all I have to say). and write my blog in the afternoons. This should allow me to show and tell what work I did that day... along with rambling on whatever I was thinking about.

Spent yesterday fusing up the fabrics for Vessels. This project is moving along! Somedays it feels like glacial speed... but it's speed nonetheless. Some of the fabrics needs to be embroidered before they're fused (or maybe not fused)... but I have so much machine work in front of me.

Just for the heck of it, while eating lunch the other day, I took the quiz: What Yarn Are You??

And the results are in. The description is fairly apt, though I found the questions not really ones where there WAS a good answer.


You are Mohair.
You are a warm and fuzzy type who works well with
others, doing your share without being too
weighty. You can be stubborn and absolutely
refuse to change your position once it is set,
but that's okay since you are good at covering
up your mistakes.


What kind of yarn are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Fabric Care Labels

With our emphasis on fabrics and fiber, I wonder how many of us see the symbols on clothing (and some bolts of fabric) and wonder exactly what they mean. It is all explained at A Guide To Fabric Care a PDF file that tell lots of interesting facts, like:

a box with an arc along the top.. and several diagonal lines in the upper lefthand corner means line dry in the shade!

On another note...I just saw an interview with Martha's magazine editor. Martha learned how to use a microwave while in prison (she'd never found them appealing before), and now they are planning on including microwave recipes.. and microwave optional directions in her publications.

Can you believe someone being so behind the greatest invention to hit the kitchen in since the refrigerator?? (she probably thinks it's the microplane... a good thing but not close to the micro).

This does remind me of quilting publications... though they weren't quite as slow. The rotary cutter/matt came out in the early 1980s (about the same time as the microwave)... and it took until the early 1990s for most quilting publications (magazines and books) to decide to print instructions using a rotary cutter. Most patterns for the longest time still had people using templates.

It was frustrating... we had this great new tool and nobody who told us how to effectively use it! Thank goodness for Mary Ellen Hopkins and Eleanor Burns for saving us.

And now Martha is coming into the 21st century!!

We went for a walk on the Carquinez Bridge today. Well, there is a pedestrian walkway along the side of the bridge. Here's a link to a site with a live webcam of the bridge (with the walking path along the lefthand side).. and lots of pictures of this bridge being built. One of our fav. restaurants is near the base of this.. and we spent lots of Friday evenings enjoying a fresh fish dinner at The Nantucket and watching the bridge go up.


Last time I was there, I noticed several interesting views of the structure, and hoped to get photos of them today. But I couldn't quite remember what I had seen before. Anyway, here are 4 shots of the structure of the new bridge, and the old box and girder bridges running alongside it.

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Connection point. This is the spot on the center of the bridge where the cables come closest to the bed. There was SOMETHING about this that was visually interesting, but I didn't find it today.//

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Perspective lesson. The cables rising up to the superstructure.. the cable ties coming down to hold the roadbed.. and that interesting light structure.

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The top picture (it might be in a different blog), is one of the box and girder structure, as is this.ll

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I'm about 1/2 way through stitching the background of Vessels. Changing colors every row is sure a pain.. but I'm afraid that if I just mark the whole thing up and try to do all one color at a time, I'll screw up. I should have a picture ready in a couple days.

My cold is almost over. Since I can't take regular cold meds, I took, instead 2500 mg. of Vitamin C and an echinacea tablet at each meal.. plus before I went to bed.. .and Zycam every 4 hours. Five days out and I'm almost symptom free. The last remaining problem is a swollen gland in my throat that makes it hard to swallow. I never had a fever, so I don't think this is strep. But it gets better by tomorrow or I see the doc for a throat culture.

While I was not in a great working state, I found someone's blog (I am trying to find it again) where they declared one day a 3 photos in a day day. There's was last Friday. In the spirit of fun and downright curiousity .. I officially declare MARCH 8TH AS THREE PICTURES IN A DAY day. Take one picture in the morning, one at midday and one in the evening. I will post mine in my blog last Tuesday or early Wednesday.

I invite you to do the same. Just take what you see at these times.

This is similar to projects I've done in past. I've chosen a spot and photographed it regularly... every hour for a day; every day for a week; every week for a year. Depending on the timeframe you assign, you have to really pick the right place. For the day.. the light has to change; for the week.. something has to happen. For the year one.. as I was living in Cleveland... it had to be accessible during heat, rain and snow. It gave me a lot to consider in examine objects in light and time.

well, back to the machine.