Dirty Pictures

Although you might not know it from my admission of using deadly chemicals to deal with pests and pesky plants on Saturday... I am mostly a careful gardener. I fertilize only using fish emulsion, and rarely put any bad on my property (and never near the edibles). And I am the Queen of Dirt.

Sunday was a day for switching out the compost bins. Since you all like pictures... and dirty pictures are so irresistible... I thought I'd share.

The process begins here.

Kitchen scraps, chopped up leaves and grass clippings and the stuff from my paper shredder goes in here. Once about every 2 months this gets emptied. Into here:

This is a compost tumbler. You are not supposed to keep adding stuff to this; just batch process and go. So the "lightly aged" compost is loaded in. Turn this sideways, and you can roll it around the yard. A roll every day for 1-1.2-2 months gives you:

Mostly decomposed compost. But this lot has lots of twigs, sticks and large pits in it which need to get sifted out. The tools of the day:

A wheelbarrow and a hand-made sifter. It's about 18" square (as large as I can deal with) with a base of hardware cloth to sift through. I sift into the wheelbarrow. And each load from the tumbler gives me 2 or 3 loads of this:

Fine, finished compost filled with earthworms. There isn't a plant anywhere that wouldn't want some of this.

And these "dregs" got dragged behind the fence to sit out in the open and slowly decompose on their own.

A Little more fun...

If you are CRAZY Flickr has a group that is dedicated posting your voluntarily submitted worst picture. Of yourself. I repeat... you choose to post your worst picture of yourself. Why???
(it appears to me that women accentuating thier "waddles" are the winners...).

And here are the liveblog notes from a woman who attended BlogHer. She started writing on How To Blog Naked, and on Blogging 101. You can find out more about the experience here.

Too bad her notes ended on the Bloggin Naked thing. It is NOT writing your posts without any clothes on. It's posting a blog using your real name, and telling true details about your life.

Who Knew?? Myself and most of the people reading this blog, Blog Naked. Hence the flesh toned text.

How Intelligent Are YOu?

Frankly, I'm amazed. I knew I lost braincells and some intelligence in that concussion a couple decades ago... but I always tested closer to 140.

OK SEVERAL people have reported that this test seems to score low to them. So I'm gonna say it's the test that's flawed, and not my caffiene-addled, post-menopausal brain. Now I feel better.

Your IQ Is 115

Your Logical Intelligence is Above Average Your Verbal Intelligence is Genius Your Mathematical Intelligence is Exceptional Your General Knowledge is Above Average

A Quick and Dirty IQ Test

Friday..

Sorry no photos today. The kitchen is back to normal... counters covered with coffee stains. I'm quilting EucalyptusII so no photos there, but check back Monday. And I haven't been invading by the "cleaning pod person" since.

I did, however, find a "game" online that is frustrating and a great time waster.


Leave it to someone at Case to come up with this.

The Invasion of the Body Snatcher...

Yesterday was very strange day. I swear I spent most of the day thinking about work, or working in the studio. But a POD PERSON invaded my body and cleaned the kitchen.

The POD PERSON dusted the cabinets, polished the counters, and the LIGHTS.

Organize COMMUNICATION CENTRAL...

Dusted the blinds, cleaned the breakfast bartable...

And the floors... are clean enough to eat off.

And somehow I managed to also start this.


Unfortunately, the PodPerson forgot that when the kitchen is clean in my house, I think the entire house is clean!

COME BACK... THERE ARE BATHROOMS TO CLEAN!!!

Is it must me? Or on ROCKSTAR, InXS, does Tim Farriss look like he was separated at birth from Nick Aroyyo, the hairstylist on What Not To Wear?

yeah.. see it??

After two days of "fun"...

It's time to get some boring life work done around the house.

After I walk the dogs this morning, I need to vacuum and clean some floors, and clean the kitchen. Supper was mostly cooked yesterday, just needs to be warmed through. And tonight we need to sit down with calendars and work out the next couple weeks. Lots of decisions to make there.

In the studio, I started working on a smaller version of Eucalyptus (because a couple venues have small quilt requirements). And #1 needs to be blocked, or trimmed up smaller (made square in some fashion). There are also a couple pieces I worked on last year that need work before I decide if they can/cannot be salvaged. That will keep me busy for the rest of the week.

Great Day in the Studio Monday!!

After walking the dogs up and down our hill, I started working about 11 am. It was, I must admit, a very successful day.

First:

I declare that Eucalyptus #1 IS DONE. Adding the stitched branch helps to define the shape... and a few more leaves filled it out. I still need to finish sewing on the sleeve, add the label, and BLOCK this sucker. (don't look at that lower left edge).



Here is a close up of the leaves (sewn down, and loose edge) and some of the branch.




I also finished machine quilting this piece.



And painted two watercolor pages for the class I'm taking. See those squares on the left? We painted those, then cut them up, and used each piece as the "inspiration" for the larger pieces. (though you don't need to use the same colors. And obviously I didn't exactly follow the patterns). You tear up and fold the sheets, and they become nice little books.



This is my FAVORITE. I need to paint this out on fabric as a quilt, I think. This one didn't use a "pattern'... I just painted a shape, then moved on to the next...


Tuesday, I'm driving up to Santa Rosa for the Pointless Sisters monthly meeting. It's an hour and half each way... but I have a good book loaded in my MP3 player.
When I get home, I've got a smaller version of Eucalyptus that I'm piecing, then cook supper and off to my watercolor class in the evening.

Pickle Birthdays...

Carol asked about my reference to a Pickle Birthday Party. So I'll explain.

Surely you have read THE PERSIAN PICKLE CLUB by Sandra Dallas? The depression era group of women, all different in thier tastes and lives, who quilted and supported each other? They helped when there were problems, and kept secrets. Well my Monday night mini-group is named after the book. We are just The Pickles.

We do not celebrate EVERY birthday, but when one of us hits an age where a 0 shows up at the end, we have a party. And we make it very equitable. First you are the party recipient, then you are the party planner. And tonight was Jeanne's 50s birthday party.

The party's Guest of Honor gets a fat quarter for every year, plus whatever embellishments we include. We all eat dinner and cake and have a nice time.

So tonight, we ate salads (her choice.. but so yummy when it's hot out).. and ate chocolate lava cake (yummy anytime). We admired her fabrics.. packaged in giant "chinese take out" boxes. We stayed later than normal, and had lots of fun.

And this party will have to hold us for a while, as the next one won't be for over a year.

Enough fun and games..

Back to making art!!

With the heat, I'll be working outside early and spending the afternoon working in my studio. Yesterday, I picked almost 20 cucumbers from my vines; unfortunately, the scrubjays are eating my tomatoes.

Plans for the day:

1. WALK THE DOGS EARLY.

2. WORK IN THE STUDIO.

3. PICKLE BIRTHDAY PARTY THIS EVENING.


One thing I want to share you all (thanks Deborah for reminding me). I found a great little shop in Berkeley from my watercolor class. Turns out the guy owns 12 of these throughout the country, and also has a website. And THEY HAVE GOOD PRICES. On all kinds of artists stuff. So if your looking for Golden Fluid paints, or stretched canvases, or carving blocks for making stamps, or just a goofy little toy... check out:

Artist and Craftsman Supply.

Evil Plan

Because this is such harmless fun...

Congratulations on being the creator of a new Evil Plan (tm)!

Your objective is simple: World Domination

Your motive is a little bit more complex: Mom never loved me

Stage One:

To begin your plan, you must first Seduce a Chosen One. This will cause the world to sit up and take notice, stunned by your arrival. Who is this Despoiler of all that is Good and Nice and True? Where did they come from? And why do they look so good as an Evil twin/Opposite?

Stage Two:

Next, you will Seize control of the Moon (ooh, tides!). This will cause countless hordes of Mean English Teachers to flock to you, begging to do your every bidding. Your name will become synonymous with Fuzzy bunnies, as lesser men whisper your name in terror.

Stage Three:

Finally, you will Reveal to the World your Needlessly Big Weather Machine, bringing about Pain, suffering, the usual. This will all be done from a Obsidian Citadel, an excellent choice if we might say. These three deeds will herald the end, and the citizens of this planet will have no choice but to elect you their new god.

Trust us, it'll all come together in the end.

Too busy to write your own evil plan?? Let the experts help.

Was there any doubt???

Actually, there was one question in this quiz that had 2 possible answers. Choose one answer, and I became a pundit blogger... choose the other, and the real truth was revealed.

You Are a Life Blogger!

Your blog is the story of your life - a living diary. If it happens, you blog it. And make it as entertaining as possible.

What kind of blogger are you?

Summer Sounds in the Park.

The community next to mine has weekly concerts in the summertime. Different kind of music every week, and 2 camera men working it for broadcast on the community tv. This year they've added a really nice feature: the youth commission and the local restaurants are cooperating, so you can order supper from a local restaurant ($5-12 limited menu), and HAVE IT BROUGHT TO YOU IN THE PARK.

Steve and Katy (aka Concert Dog) go all the time... Jake (Mayor of the Universe) and I go sometimes. We all went last night. The roaming cameraman (who's job it is to find 1)babies; 2)dogs and 3) dancers)... loved these guys.

Jake tried to say hello to everyone walking by.. especially those kids with food. Katy tried to stop one and give her order (one of everything!!). Both were petted by the kids. Jake really got into wiggling on the grass.

I'm not saying the dogs were entertaining... but when we got to leave, everyone sitting behind us called out goodbye to the dogs!! Summertime life is good..

A Walk in the Park

Remember on my birthday, I told about this spot in a local park where I take the dogs for quiet time and swimming? We are about to go there.

Pt. Pinole (the park), is the site of a former explosives plant. They have manufacturing and homes here. Then Bethlehem Steel bought the land, but never developed it. Thank goodness. This is the most gorgeous land in the area, and should be available to all.

So, we begin in the parking lot: The first time you come here, at about this point you think: Where's The Park everyone exclaims about?

But your walk down the path, cross the bridge and things look more hopeful.

Next to the picnic area, we head down this treelined path.

And the end, a picnic table gives us a place to rest. It stands in front of cement stoop of a long-gone employee bungalow.

Last bit of open space. Who says walking with dogs is slow? I'm doing 3.5 MPH and I can't keep up. Yes, that's both Katy and Jake way up ahead.

First, a stop for a drink at the service yard. Isn't this park fabulous?? They have 4 of these water spots for animals through the park. Note the large tank in the back for horses.

A half mile down.. a half mile more to go. More tree lined path.

This marsh is the last bit.

Katy "waits" for me. Jake is running to the water.

And we're Swimming!!

Yum!! Canine Sushi Bar!

And now a word from our sponsor: This is a Chuck-It. It throws tennis balls. Really far. Without hurting your arm. And it picks them up too. If you know anyone with a Lab, Border Collie or other "ball crazy" dog... get them one. Enough said.

Back to nature. There is nobody in sight.

I live over there somewhere...

See the sky? Nice and blue. The fog as pulled away from the park.

But see those "clouds" on the horizon there? That's the fog hanging over Berkeley.


That's all folks. Thanks for joining us on our walk in the park.

Don't be hurt...

I'm having a problem with BlogRoll and I'm probably going to eliminate the whole thing. So if your artful quilt link has disappeared, it's just because I know I can find those again. (they are on the blogrin).

I use BlogLines with an RSS feed to get the update on blogs and stuff for myself, but I don't think I can put it on my blog sidebar (or they are telling me how to do it, and I don't understand). If you know of another way to easily get blogs onto a page (I admit I LOVE that one button Blogroll it button), would you please share?

Catch the new Challenge...

Ok, I bit the bullet. We talked last month about playing with still lifes... And I had said that I wanted a challenge where we listed the items, people made thier own still lifes and went on from there.

OK.

I'm throwing this open to the world. Here is a new blog site that will become the home of the (NOT SO SIMPLY) STILL LIFES Challenges.

Go. Read. Respond. Spread the word.

IS IT DONE, YET?

Is it done yet?



I was about to post that this quilt was DONE. But I look at it from a distance, and I'm not so sure. So I'm asking your opinion.

The background philosphy of this quilt: I wanted to show the colors and textures of a eucalyptus grove, and juxtapose the very geometry shapes with the very organic leaf shape.

The colors and shapes make a statement from a distance; the quilting makes a statement when up close. The leaves are supposed to "invite" the viewer in to look closer. Although I think I've met that criteria... are there enough leaves? Does is look wimpy?

Or the real question: Am I Done, Yet?

ToDo Tuesday

Well, Monday was a bbbaaaadddd day for eating. And I only walked 2 miles... not enough aerobic stuff, and no strengh training. However, that was yesterday..

THIS IS TODAY.

Good news: Eucalyptus only needs a tiny more work (and some consideration before that)... maybe 3-5 leaves. Then block it, add the label, and it's DONE. I've been draggin my feet on this one for way too long.

I do have a new thing started... I should get the top half by the end of the week, the bottom part will be embroidered. It's very different for me, but I am so taken by sketch I have to do it. Meanwhile, I'm going to start working on a couple small pieces just to get some work done.

So for Tuesday:

1. Aerobic exercise for 40 minutes. Strength training for 20.

2. Work 2 hours on Fences. Then play with smaller pieces.

3. Vacuum (since I didn't get that done Monday), and 2 buckets of weeds.

BlogHer

How is it that BlogHer has been announced, planned and completely filled and I never heard about it???

I've been slack on reading my off-ring blogs the last few weeks...

Granted, even in a "convergence" of diverse female bloggers I would a bit of a "niche" blogger... still! It's close!! It's Women! It's Women Who Blog!!

I think I have to get in line for next year's bash...

ToDo Monday

Back to the normal routine for a while.

1. Wake up to do some of INHALE yoga at 6 am today. (check it out on the Oxygen channel).

2. Take the dogs to our "private beach" for a walk/swim. This is 2 miles of walking for me. Give the dogs a bath when we get home.

3. Sew 20 leaves on eucalyptus.

4. Vacuum.