Tuesday, January 31, 2006

MEME - How do you spell "HTML"?

We all know that learning at least a little html is necessary to do this blog thing, right? After spending many hours re-doing my blog, and yes, I did learn something - here's my definition:

H - HORRIBLE
T - TEDIOUS
M - MANIACAL
L - LEARNING PROCESS

It's now time to share your own definition or spelling, and then post to your blog! If you like, include a helpful tip or two...IF YOU READ THIS, CONSIDER YOURSELF TAGGED!!!

Sunday, January 29, 2006

A Postcard a Day~Knitted Wonder #6

Okay, I know it seems like I'm a day behind...

I'm looking at it another way - as being a day ahead, if I don't create any over the weekend! My son and I needed a day together, so on Saturday, we hung out and got terribly goofy. This included changing the message on our answering machine, so now we have people calling and then hanging up, just so they can hear what we did! I also introduced him to some Blake Edwards' movies...

Anyway, back to the postcard. The background is gold dupioni, the green strip is a narrow piece of fun foam that is satin-stitched, and the red tear drop is an earring - we have a thrift shop at our church, and there's a box of odds and ends-everything is 10 cents. I have yet to run across anything that I would actually wear in this box, but the earrings are fun found items! Posted by Picasa

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Knitted Wonder #4

Continuing with my "A Postcard a Day" personal challenge, background is actually a 4-way stretch fabric that even the Project Runway designers would love to get their hands on ~a special friend gave me some, and it is gorgeous ~looks like a midnight sky full of stars..... Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Mr. Fedex Man, bring me some color!

And I only had to wait 2 days...I ordered these from Dick Blick, and when I saw the order total, it had sales tax on it (home state) - which means I would have those pastels in my hands soon...

I met Judy Coates Perez of Painted Threads at the last PAQA meeting, and she told me that she works with these, and had used them on her famous "There's a place called Mars..." quilt that I saw at IQF Houston in 2004.

Experiment/play time began. There is no wax in them, but lots of pigment! They feel like soft chalk, but actually go on quite smoothly. Blending is nice. Non-toxic. They are heat fixable on fabric with a dry iron-I followed the directions to use parchment paper on top, and unlike other pastels that I've used, there is virtually no loss of color.

I guess you could say that I have a thing (obsession) for pastels and have purchased many different types and brands, always searching for the right ones - are these it? Posted by Picasa

A Postcard a Day ~Knitted Wonder #3 Posted by Picasa

Monday, January 23, 2006

Knitted Wonder #2

The first one is agonizing! When you start the second one, the fun begins...

Second postcard in a series with small knitted pieces under tulle ~ since I don't knit sweaters, or even scarves, I have lots of single skeins of novelty yarns...

Hmmm. "A postcard a day keeps the doctor away." I like that one..... Posted by Picasa

Don't let it happen to you...

There has been a discussion of STRESS recently on the Quiltart list. What it does to you, and how you deal with it, and ultimately how to reduce it. For me, the big "kick in the butt" came about five years ago when I was having a terrible time at my job. I had returned after being off work recovering from a hysterectomy. I came back to, "Oh, we knew that only you could do this right, so we saved it for you." I felt some animosity from co-workers, and it was very uncomfortable. Something was changing inside of me, too - I no longer felt any passion about what I was doing at my job. I didn't know what I was going to do, but I had to quit. It took a long time to understand. Leading up to this decision, I experienced the following in a 8 month period: having arthroscopic knee surgery, and going back to work too soon; husband having a tumor removed from his arm (it was okay, thank God) - and at the same time a parent got sick; hysterectomy 2 months later; car stolen; purse snatched; a vacation where we were blasted by a sibling for everything that we were doing wrong in our lives; and then came the big one: the "bubble in the cosmos"- my cerebral aneurysm.
Major brain surgery is not one of those things that you want to go through...

To start the healing process, and to keep myself going, I made a quilt. It was called "Bubble in the Cosmos," and it depicted my brain with a large red glass bead in about the same location as my aneurysm was. I only showed the quilt to friends, never out in public. I never photographed it, because it was too personal.

Looking back, I should not have been surprised at how my body reacted to everything that had happened. What's left are occasional attacks of vertigo, and I see those as gentle reminders that something within myself needs attention. My jaw gets very tight, too. It's now time for journaling, a night walk, time in my studio, and occasionally, embassing the hell out of my son (done for my total enjoyment only)...

What am I saying here? Do whatever it takes to rescue yourself from the day to day stuff that's not good for you! Pay attention to the warning signs, even if the docs can't put a name to it. Your body may be crying out for help. Go into your studio, or other sacred place, and even if you're not ready to start that new quilt or other project, pick up an armful of fabric, and toss it into the air! Immerse yourself in your art...who among us has never put a bit of who we are into our creations? It's important work that we do.

Let the healing begin, please.....

Saturday, January 21, 2006

Yesterday ~ January 20th

It was a day of wonderful surprises...
A bundle of fabric (and other assorted goodies) arrived in the mail from Virginia Spiegel! Wow! Imagine what some people will do for a tape filled with episodes of Project Runway. It was called the "bribe." Thank you, Virginia!!! Her Fiberart for a Cause fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, and her website are listed in my links - please visit...

Earlier in the day, I taught another "Sensational Silk Paper" workshop at the museum. The picture is of the collaged note cards that the creative ones made - beautiful, aren't they?...

Then there's Heather, the old girl. When she jumps down from her throne, and lets out a mournful cry, it usually means it's time for "kitty painkillers" (anti-inflammatory drops). A few hours later, she's feeling pretty good, and ready to play. I was playing with some new yarn, and, well, you know if you have a cat, they want to get into the action, right?...

I needed a day like yesterday. I've been struggling with two people in my life - work related personality conflicts, and have had to take a hard look at my contribution to the problems. As I sit at the computer and look outside, there is sun, and snow, and a blue sky. I think I'll get bundled up and go outside, and see the gifts that are here, today! Posted by Picasa

today's silk paper class~collaged note cards Posted by Picasa

15 yr. old Heather, embellished with ribbon yarn Posted by Picasa

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Finished with 4 hours to spare!

It wasn't until I started adding beads that a title finally came to me...

~The sky is blue because "IT DIDN'T GET AN INVITATION TO THE BLUE LEAF AND BUBBLE PARTY"

I surprised myself, finishing it with four hours to spare - the deadline is midnight tonight by e-mailing Tristan Blakeman (our host from Quiltart) with jpegs and a statement -

I shouldn't, but what the heck! I'm going to treat myself to a nice bottle of wine. Time to go now, before the grocery store locks up its "fruit of the vine" section.....

Friday, January 13, 2006

Tagged by just looking! The Fours...

Four jobs I've had ~
1 - selling sheet music in a store
2 - church choir director
3 - fabric department manager at a Jo-Ann's
4 - coordinator of children's ministries/music - currently

Four Movies I'd watch over and over ~
1 - Working Girl
2- To Kill a Mockingbird
3- Rodger's and Hammerstein's Cinderella (TV version with Leslie Ann Warren)
4 - Allegro Non Troppo - a slightly "different" version of Fantasia

Four Places I've lived ~
1 - Hiatt Drive, Rockford, Illinois
2 - South Sixth Street, Rockford, Illinois
3 - North Main Street, Rockford, Illinois
4 - Douglas Street, Rockford, Illinois
HEY - at least they were in different parts of the city!!!

Four TV shows I watch ~
1 - Book of Daniel (new on Friday nights, NBC)
2 - Nip Tuck
3 - Project Runway
4 - Anything on "DocDay" - documentaries on Sundance

Four places I've been on vacation ~
1 - Minnesota, Minnesota, Minnesota ( how about every summer growing up)
2 - New England
3 - Miami Beach
4 - Ontario, Canada (family church camp)

Four websites I visit every day ~
1 -
AFRICA BEST - my sister's recent travels
2 - www.allposters.com
3 - Art Biz Blog: Which artists are using blogs?
4 - www.cnn.com


Four places I'd like to go to ~
1 - Tuscany
2 - Norway - retrace the steps my mother made while seeing the fjords
3 - almost anywhere in downtown Chicago
4 - IQF Houston again

Four albums I listen to ~
1 - "Riding with the King" - BB King and Eric Clapton
2 - "Hourglass" - James Taylor
3 - "To Drive the Cold Winter Away" - Loreena McKennitt
4 - "Celtic Women of the World" - compilation of artists

Four people to tag ~
"I'm following Caity's lead on this one - if you read this, consider yourself tagged!!!"

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Why is the Sky BLUE?

I don't know yet! This quilt is for the "Why is the Sky Blue" challenge that started on the Quiltart list. I've been living in the kingdom of LURK on this one - I let it go because I was working on another deadline, then...

There were 49 artists who posted photos of their quilts...all incredible - they were looking for a "50th" one - twice in one night I awoke, went to my studio...went through fabrics each time - the next day I knew I'd better do something about it, so...

I asked permission to participate (after the deadline,) and Mr. Blakeman said okay! Still have to bind and bead, but I can do that in time for Sunday's deadline...Taking it into the PAQA meeting Wednesday for help with the title ~ Posted by Picasa

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Jewel toned eyelash yarn

One question - if there's eyelash yarn in many colors, how come there's no mascara to match for my eyelashes?

Just knitting a tote bag, or part of one here. In the bottom right corner, you can see some purple lined cube beads that I have added to the yarn. On the stitches that I slip the beads onto, there's 2 each time (couldn't see just one with those long eyelashes) ~

I'll post a pic when it's done..... Posted by Picasa