Holiday Procrastination & Link Love

Instead of wrapping, cleaning or baking, I'm crocheting. I should have dropped a cat or something on this to give this some scale. It's getting big but a long way off from the 8 foot + diameter that I am aiming for. I've been going through my stash and cutting old hand dyes into one inch strips (with scissor, like a jerk!) and working with a plastic crochet hook that's fat like a Sharpie. My whole point in making a rug? I'm "manifesting" new flooring to replace the ancient, hideous Berber wall-2-wall that's in the living room now. I'll keep you posted on that project. Aside from a burgeoning case of self-inflicted carpal tunnel pain, I'm about the abandon the web for a few days. Before I go, a confession: I'm a Stumbled On junkie. Here are a few of the gems uncovered since I recently retooled and expanded my options: This one will make your stomach flutter and/or make you laugh out loud. Dig a little deeper in Jeff's website and be pleasantly surprised at who you are dealing with. Here is a beautiful little flash movie complete with music. photos for all you bird fans out there. ASL for shut ins and finally, Here's looking at you.

Christmas Cheer

I got home from work this afternoon to find that my husband and my son had done all the dirty work involved in holiday decorating. The wreath had been unearthed from the attic and the tree was lit and decorated with all the ornaments we have collected through thirty years of marriage and family. The air was full of the aroma of Jim's prize winning chili and I got to spend an hour refurbishing this little copper what-not that was languishing in the bottom of the ornament box because most of it's beads had fallen off. Happy Holidays!

holiday works

I've been busy making holiday postcards with the intent of sticking on the stamp and throwing them naked (the cards, not me) into the maw of USPS. I have great confidence that 99% will get to their destinations intact and on time.

Beam me up.

I just spent an hour or so crocheting this coozie from that same wonderful cotton yarn I made the mittens from. And what's that poking out of the poke, you say? It's my very first cell phone unless you count the disposable kind you get from the grocery story. I have resisted having a "real" cell phone for so long because our house is situated in a dead zone - no signal. On the left, my Star Trek communicator pin that I bought from QVC when they first came on the air. I had hoped that someday, I could just slap that pin and make myself perfectly clear and even get beamed up but it looks like I'm still going to push buttons and get busy signals or no signal.

Auction tonight!

8th Annual 5 by 7 Show

Exhibition Dates: Friday, December 7, - Sunday, December 23 Opening Reception: Friday, December 7, from 5-7pm Admission: $10.00. Free for participating artists. Gallery Hours: Friday – Sunday, 12 to 5 pm or by appointment Location: Kleinert/James Arts Center, 34 Tinker Street, Woodstock, NY

The Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild is pleased to present the annual 5 x 7 Show, opening on Friday, December 7th from 5-7pm at the Kleinert/James Arts Center. This highly anticipated exhibition features approximately 150 original works created on 5”x7” canvases by prominent artists living in the Hudson Valley and beyond, including Gregory Amenoff, Nancy Azara, Jake Berthot, Donald Elder, Milton Glaser, Melissa Meyer and Joan Snyder. With sponsorship from TD Bank North, each work will be sold for $100 and is anonymous until after purchase. All proceeds support future exhibitions at the Kleinert/James Arts Center in Woodstock, NY. This one-of-a-kind show continues through December 23rd. You can contact (845) 679-2079 for a list of participating artists. This is everyone’s favorite little show so don’t miss out on all the excitement!

And Moi, too. I'm on pins and needles to see if my little things fly off the shelf and so honored to be in great company. Milton Glaser was a frequent lecturer while I was attending my Almost Mater, the School of Visual Arts in New York City. I know I paid attention most of the time, after all I was paying for it.

this from the Milton Glaser Studios website :

Moments that Sing in the Heart

I love this picture. You can click on it get a better look.I shot it through the car window while we were waiting for our hosts to catch up with us at their house. "Yoo Hoo, honey, the Men in Black are here." I got up with an aching back this morning and wasn't all that enthused about grocery shopping but I wanted to cook so I had to do the necessaries. The Publix bakery worked their worst voodoo on me but while I was walking around in the store adding things to the cart, I had a change of heart about those two cannolis I was going to devour so I walked them back to whence they came. As I put them back into the cold case, who should appear over my shoulder but my best Angel, the ganster on the left in this photo, catching me red-handed being good. He was in the store picking up lunch things for his crew. Love you my darling.

Temporary Eye-Candy

Pass out the shades! For lack of anything current to examine, here's my second ever art quilt from 2001 0r 02. I was working the late shift at AT&T answering a phone that never rang so I transferred my phone number into the conference room and kept myself busy by building this queen-sized monster on the huge conference table one hand appliqué at a time. Unearthed in the recent studio move, it's mostly machine quilted and not bound, but real warm over the back of the couch. It adds to my "pirate's den/gypsy camp" decorating theme doncha think?

Home Again

We're home from a visit home to NY where we attended Eleanor's funeral and reconnected with family and friends in a wonderful and poignant balance. Visiting this small liquor store in Rosendale to buy some wine for our hosts was a mere excuse to experience some major comic relief. This is Sake Lee, Liquor Store Assistant, who has had write ups in several local papers and now about to be an internet star.

Eleanor & Donna

My mother-in-law Eleanor passed away today after a long illness. We will be leaving for her funeral in New York tomorrow. Eleanor was an "old school" kind of Mom, her kids and family came before anything else. She was the Very Best mother-in-law, trusting me to do right by one of her finest creations and never meddling with my job as wife and mother although she was an expert and I was a rank amateur. We always treated each other with love and respect and she will be deeply missed. When Jimmy and I first made our intentions for each other known to our families some thirty years ago, Eleanor was the first non-skeptic. I'm a bit older than my husband and at first our families were a bit freaked out about it. After my first dinner with his family she and I chatted while doing the dishes. Well, she grilled me lightly as a mother should. I guess I gave the right answers because I always felt we had her blessings from that day forward.

Broken compass, New directions

While I was waiting for things to cook Thanksgiving day I spent some time blindly stabbing at Maria Elkins artist's links. If you've never been to this site, be prepared to lose a few hours. Add to that links to some of my favorite artists and I got a whiff of a glimmer of an idea to follow. I feel like a bloodhound set onto a long gone but very smelly escaped convict. Two of my all time favorites are Eleanor McClain and Mary Ann Jordan who have both recently added new work to their sites. I love the impact of the work of both these artists. Talk about being gobsmacked! (I only just stumbled across this blog and haven't fully investigated it yet. I see yarn, a kitten, and some real writing - I'll get back to you on this one). Add to these stops Jude Hill's wonderful story about the creation of "Listen to the River" over at Spirit Cloth and Judy Martin's adventure in overdyeing a completed quilt. Don't miss Judy's magical water color work while you are there. Because my project involves dyeing, I'll need sunshine and warm breezes to carry out my ideas so I will probably have to wait until the Focus on Fiber retreat in April before I can work on this project! Talk about your distant back burners! I may be reduced to reminiscing with tiny Rothko puppies like this one from 2005. Where is this one I wonder? The dyeing I could do in my kitchen but the drying of unrinsed fabric will have to take place out on the deck where I'll have to string some clothesline. There will be cutting and piecing (did you know I was a closeted Amish?) and discharging and overdyeing going on too. In what order and how and when I am still pondering. Jeez, I don't want to overthink this one....grrrr. In the meantime, it's back to the studio for more work on this one including meditating on a suitable name.