Monday, October 21, 2013

I forgot!

To everyone who purchased Fat Baggies last week. Most of them should be arriving today if they haven't already gotten to you.

I forgot to mention the added bonus of how amazing and different the bits of damask will look if you take the trouble to iron them!  Some of the pieces take on an iridescent quality and you will be hard put to choose which side you want facing the world.

Whether you are hand or machine piecing with this cloth, you will get a great stitch definition as the thread sinks into the fabric in a juicy way.

"Lavanderia" my entry in AQE 2013


This is a detail shot from "Roadkill"

Sunday, October 20, 2013

high and tight

I snapped this shot of Jim the other day with my cell phone. I think all this Old Dutch Master needed was a white ruffled collar but he thought he looked like one of the dwarves from the Hobbit.

Jake came over this morning to set things right. The last time I used the clippers (on a human) both boys came home and announced they wanted me to shave their heads and I said "sit right here" and gleefully whipped out the cape and clippers. This was back in the days of the fussy  bowl undercuts and I was happy to see them go.

It was over in minutes; bald is easy.
Jake looked like an otter pup and never grew his hair long again.  Colin looked like Knucklehead Smith and there are NO pictures.
The only hair I cut anymore is my own. Jake did a terrific job and Jim looks terrific.


Thursday, October 17, 2013

pumpkin moon

I whipped myself into a sweaty frenzy looking for this yesterday so I could pick it up again. No luck.

It's somewhere in a 10x12 room. I hope I didn't stuff it in a baggie and send it off somewhere!

To quell the aggravation, I found these other scraps and started feeling around for the next holiday. Somehow I'll be hooking it up with the wolf/gator head below.

We haven't done Halloween around here since the boys stopped trick or treating. This year, I won't even be hanging up the ghosts because I'll be too busy getting ready for the trip to Big Canoe for Jake and Missy's wedding.


It's been a tough couple of days here. On chemo day Jim woke up with a fever and serious weakness. The clinic told us to come anyway so the doc could assess him. They took blood and gave back a short tank of IV fluids and a scrip for antibiotics. Some random germ brought him low but 24 hours later he's back on an even keel and the blood test showed very happy liver numbers. The chemo was set back by a week but it's all good.


Saturday, October 12, 2013

temporary insanity

Thanks to everyone who ordered over the weekend, I'll be at the post office by noon Tomorrow....forgot today was my birthday AND a federal holiday!

I was going to IRON and sort and select and package and yaddayaddayadda?? Quick!! Get the net, she's loose in the studio. {cackle cackle shriek}

I don't think so.     SEE UPDATE!!

What I am going to do is stuff a quart sized ziplock baggie with a little bit of everything here, take it to the post office and weight it...I'll get back to you on the price but it's all here...damask, huck, lawn, sheeting...everything I've been making magic with over the past year or so. Never fear, there's always more.

Let me know if you want to reserve a bag or if you have a particular colorway I'll try to accommodate you once I get to stuffing...


Friday, October 11, 2013

turning them loose



The plan is to revisit this summer's cloth harvest and get a bunch of them into the store. There is so much and I hate to see it just boxed up on the shelves. The rivergrass basket will be churned too.

Select, iron, photograph, measure, document, package, post, Go back and repeat!

With any luck there will be some updates to the store as the day rolls along.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

shop local!


Yesterday, on a wild whim, I picked up my friend JK in the next town with the intention of walking in her town park instead of mine.

Instead, we stopped by this little thrift shop and spent an hour looking to complete my mother of the groom outfit. Very trendy but nothing grabbed my fancy. I kept picking up dresses and talking about cutting them up and making owner grow faint.

I was literally walking out the front door when Kim pulled this out for my approval. Ding!

 It's at the dry cleaners right now and if my guess is right, Procion MX dyes will sort out the garish gold and reds. More to come.

Tuesday, October 08, 2013

waiting wall

Some days there just are no words. The Braves fell to the Dodgers last night and our baseball season is over. I am in withdrawal.

These are all aimless starts, shiftless scraps, hanging on the design wall so they don't get accidentally-on-purpose hacked into, shredded or otherwise kicked to the curb.

Before almost everything else I have to return to some regimen of self-care.
Now that the swimming season is over I have to carve out an hour of  walking each day and I plan on pairing that with with music or an audiobook.


                 It's too early in the fall to feel like a bowl of cold noodles.

Friday, October 04, 2013

done!

Last night I spent hours chasing my tail in circles while agonizing over which three pieces I should enter in Art Quilt Element 2014.

Of course Voodoo picked this time to be a needy feline codger and kept jumping from my side table to my desktop with a side trip across the laptop every few minutes. I had the distinct impression I was keeping him from an online poker tournament.

 I had my choices by one in the morning, images in a folder on the desktop, ready to go at the crack of dawn after a good night's rest and hot cuppa joe. But first I had to go ten rounds with Comcast.  I won't fry your brain with the details but know that my conversation with the retention sales rep on 10/18 will be one for the books.

Being a little superstitious so here is one of the three contestants, a fan favorite,


Inspired by Grace's little black and white kids last season.

Los Dados Encantada

Thursday, October 03, 2013

rewind, backtrack and unpick

My ability to focus has evaporated.

I've had to take the extreme measure of typing my AQE entry into a word doc from which I then cut and pasted the info into the live entry form. Web entry forms are nerve wracking on a good day.

This little piece of hand music was appliqued this past weekend during a frenzy of anxiety and will be unpicked if only because I don't want to be reminded of the emotions.

I need to find my reboot button.

Again, deepest gratitude to the friends who came through with the patches for my little art ark. We will keep bailing and paddling.

Wednesday, October 02, 2013

it's come to this

Whoa, my dear people.... you are all too kind. I am overwhelmed and my goal
has been met, entry fee and, the fates willing, shipping too!  A mere thank you seems not nearly enough.

Ok my friends, I've given up trying to figure out where any extra money could come from. I'd like to make the final deadline for Art Quilt Elements but the discretionary spending account has cobwebs in it. And baby spiders.

If you can help financially in the smallest way, it would be deeply appreciated.
Here's my PP address.

And if you have an opinion about which of my most recent works should have a shot at AQE, that would be most welcome too.  All of the Karma series are eligible and Cephalopod (center below)  is first on my list.