A Witches Work is Never Done

or "Why I Carve Really Scary Pumpkins". Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. Now I realize that it's because it was chock full of tradition when I was a child way before Hallmark and Walmart got their hooks into it. My mother made our costumes and the one I remember best was a cat costume. The details are sketchy but I think she converted one piece stretchy pajamas with RIT and a fat, stuffed, black velvet tail that I'm sure I remember hitting my sisters with. She made candied apples that kids came from miles around to snag and there were always a couple of houses in the neighborhood that we just NEVER went to. Too spooky, too much in the spirit of the holiday, all year round. Frankly, that's how my house appears to me, dark and forbidding, and only the brave kids come creeping across the lawn for treats. The stuffed ghosts hanging in the trees may have festive, lunatic grins but if I were a kid, I'd pass on this one, thanks anyway.

Disconnected

I just spent a very interesting weekend fully disconnected from live input - no cable TV, no internet and (because I switched to Vonage - that's Effing Vonage according to my husband) no telephone. Last week the power company decided to prune some trees and did something to the wire that brings all our technology down the hill. At least they made sure we still had electricity, the sports. We live in a HOLLER - that's southern for "I don't care who your carrier is, your cell phone won't work down down here"- and continue to communicate at the whim of Comcast. I got the "Big Muddy" sewn together according to an actual paper mockup that I spent hours fooling with but now that it's up on the wall, I see that using that strong brown to bring some of the blocks up to size has caused design issues that will have be dealt with as one deals with cockroaches. Swift and deadly. Please don't ask how I know. So we talked, listened to music, cooked & ate a practice Thanksgiving dinner and watched a whole clutch of movies and some TV downloaded long ago. Did you know that at a certain age good sex will give you new wrinkles? What the hell is up with that? All and all, a lovely weekend. And this, from the back of the closet where a battered old portfolio mocks me. I made this up when I did some freelance work for a company that built endcap displays for music distribution stores. I have since confirmed that "freelance" means "unpaid".

Oh NO!! Another Postcard Procrastination Period

Just this one, I promise. There is too much else to do before I am seduced into sitting in front of the sewing machine cranking little wonders out one after another. There's lots of machine quilting to do and I finally got all the brown fabric I need to finish off the blocks for Big Muddy, trouble is, I am 99% certain that once finished, it's never going to leave my own personal bed.

Loot from MaryJo's in Gastonia

It would have been un-fibrous of me to bypass MaryJo's on my drive back from New York. It was a convenient pit stop for me and the car. Fiber addicts will admire my restraint. I only bought a few yards of some specific colors to complete a project, a few yards of an astounding fabric telling myself I'll use it for backing (sure I will) and then there was a box of remnants - 1 yard cuts of black cotton for .99 each. Did someone tell them I was coming?? Here is part of one of them discharged. I may never wash dishes with the stuff again.

Playland

I've been up to NY to visit family and haven't lifted a needle in a week. There was a new addition in the backyard. Yep, it's a pirate ship alright. Complete with gangplank, rigging and yardarms although my brother took down the jolly roger because a neighbor complained. Just wait until he puts the Christmas lights all over the mast! They are having the time of their lives with this. That's Rob, Emma, (one of the neighbors who is really happy about the USS Braine being docked at Port Useted) and Rob's boys Reno & Ryder...um, I think that's Reno in the choke hold. Even Debo joins in...

Whole Cloth Mania & Post Season Funk

This whopper has been lighting up the night on my design wall and will be for a while. I don't think I have any batting or backing large enough and I really don't want to cut it up - there's a lot of drama to play with here. Jimmy was home all too briefly but he lifted my mopery over baseball withdrawal and the QN rejection. We always find something to have a good laugh over. Quack-quack-quack, my Darlin' and thanks.

House in Need of Love

I wish I had taken better care of these garden boxes this summer. This and one or two other buds may be the only blooms I get this year. Time for fresh dirt. My whole house needs a serious facelift. Remember the earthquake that was centered in the gulf of Mexico a few weeks ago? Well, I was one of those sensitive souls who felt it in this suburb of Atlanta. I was in the pool when it happened and didn't know it for what it was. I was hanging on to the railing, drifting and listening to a ballgame when it suddenly felt like someone had jumped or fallen into the pool, but no splash, just movement of the water around me. I didn't think a thing about it until it made the evening news. Now, weeks later, I have discovered that we had some minor damage to the house. Up near a peak around the back, a few boards of siding have fallen away and all the nails on one exterior wall have popped out almost an inch! As our house is built directly on a rock ledge it's no surprise.

It was one of the ten best days so far this year, clear and sunny, breezes just wishing they smelled of burning leaves. Friday night was cold enough to have to turn the heat on for the first time of the season. Just love that smell of roasting dust. I had to cook up another batch of hummingbird sauce last night - they are still here and feeding voraciously. Got out early to assure a copy of the NY Sunday Times and was surprised to find that Borders had 2007 calendars on display. I took a long time choosing this one: The Braves played their last game of this season at one today knocking the Astros out of the playoffs as the Astros did to the Braves last year. I almost went to the game alone but would have spent nine innings feeling weird and sorry for myself.

As the UFOs get finished......

....new stuff goes up on the design wall. I spent most of last evening blind-stitching the layers together. I just didn't want to fool with the sewing machine for this one, big as it is 45 x 50 something - there was a game on. What can I say, the season is almost over, then the fur will start flying in the studio. update - I have cut & pinned up dozens of trial colors. It's just not speaking to me,yet.

Influences (Fling & Splat)

"Secret Message" is getting there. This wholecloth dyepainted & discharged piece turned out to be great fun. The original painting was an automatic pilot gesture but I trust my hand, at least I should more often. I wanted to counterbalance the grossness of the large markings when it came to the discharging but I wussed out. I may go back and do some heavier stitching to rectify that lack of unity. During the 60's I spent countless hours in art museums in NYC staring, slack-jawed as an ape, at contemporary paintings and marveling that these guys were getting huge bucks for flinging paint around just to hear it splat and then more hours listening to my stoned professors Explain It All, Abstract Expressionism, that is. No matter what they had to say,I don't think I ever got over the notion that these artists were putting a big one over on critics, museums, collectors and J.Q Public. I imagined them lounging about their lofts, garrets and studios totally fatigued from bouts of hysterical laughter as they "SOLD ANOTHER ONE" nyuk, nyuk, nyuk. Don't get me wrong, I think it's totally smooth operating and marvel that it happens as often as it does and don't mind admitting that I'd love to hold my own sides in pain even as I realize that it takes a little more than fling...splat. Robert Motherwell

Yikes!

Looks like a flock of scalps but it's five crocheted hats drying out on my Ikea Octupus. They're made from recycled sari silk which is a lot like crocheting with jute - rough, smelly and no stretch whatsoever, but once you wash it, it goes all soft and blurry. These will look better once they are completely dry and I find a dummy to model them. Each hat is festooned with beaded braids of varying lengths making the wearer appear to be sporting dreadlocks. I'm told the skaters will be rioting for these. Do skaters have money?

Tattoos

I've been thinking about getting a tattoo lately and don't have a decent explanation except that this doodle I drew on the cover of my sketchbook with a silver Sharpie keeps drawing my eye. I also watch Miami Ink with horrid fascination as people have mediocre art permanently carved into their hides with little or no explanation as to the choices, as if the stuff would just wash off! I've seen some photos of tattoos done in white ink. They look great if your skin tone provides enough contrast. I get very tan without even trying and high on my shoulder seems like the only place that won't continue to wrinkle or stretch as I get older. And WHY do people have tattoos put on their bodies in places where they can never see them without a mirror??? Maybe I'll just sew the design to something and leave my body alone.

Glue as Resist

I finally got out and did some errands today including getting a small tub of soda ash from Leslie's (the winterizing can wait another week) and a replacement darning foot for my Janome. Stitch & Quilt in Lawrenceville had undergone a major transformation since the last time I was there. They've taken over the adjacent storefronts and now carry sewing machines. They not only had the foot I needed, they also had those little round gizmos that go over the spool and keep the thread feeding smoothly. I think my cats have been stealing them from my worktable for cat poker.
A while ago I bought some Elmers because I read someplace that it make a good resist. I've been waiting on the soda ash to dip this piece in blue dye and then see how hard it was to get the glue out. Piece of cake and I like the results.

Happy Rosh Hashanah

"The Jewish New Year is a time to begin introspection, looking back at the mistakes of the past year and planning the changes to make in the new year." I like it - a three month jump on new beginnings but I'm afraid I'll be breaking the "no work" rule because I'm running out of time before Jimmy comes home and the Animal House loses it's charter! I grew up in a predominately Jewish neighborhood and absorbed a lot of the culture and decided early to take the best of all the religions I could find out about - namely, High Holy Days off from School! Convincing my parents was another story. "The Autumnal Equinox signals the end of the summer months and the beginning of winter. At this time of year, days have been shortening since the Summer Solstice some three months earlier, and the Equinox is the point where nights reach the same length as days. After this point, the Sun will shine lower and lower on the horizon until the Winter Solstice in about three months' time." But I still have a pool to clean and put to bed for the winter, as much as I hate it, we have to put the cover on it soon before those trees drop every last leaf in the water. Isn't that some healthy looking algae down there? I have a couple of hand dyes upstairs with those colors in them. I hate that pool cover. I almost Died a few years ago when I tripped on the deck and fell onto the covered pool. It was November. A tie down broke and I was instantly wrapped in heavyweight vinyl, wet winter clothing and 40 degree water. I went in feet first and landed within arm's reach of the edge. The instant I screamed for help I remembered I was home alone and no one would hear me. My arms were pinned to my sides by the plastic and the water pressure. Balanced precariously on one foot, I had time to examine the situation and clearly realize that if I didn't act carefully I WAS GOING TO DIE. My left arm was pinned to my side, my right hand to my throat. I could not move but felt that I could fall over at any minute. I had to ease the water pressure on the plastic so with my right fingers, all I could move, I pulled the cover away from my neck allowing the freezing water down inside the cover. The cold was shocking but as the pressure lessened I was able to pull my whole arm free and grab hold of the rail to keep from falling over. It seemed to take forever for enough freezing water to get down along my body and on top of the cover so I could free myself. It took another several minutes to haul myself out of the pool with about thirty pounds of cold, wet clothing added to my own excess. Once I caught my breath and gave thanks to Buddha,the Force, Quan Yin, Jesus, Allah, Isis, Hera, Yemana, and Jobu (covering all bases) I got up and stripped naked by the back door and ran upstairs and got under the covers and just cowered there for the whole afternoon. What a stupid way to almost die! My deepest terror was thinking that this could have happened to my one of my sons or my husband and what they would have felt or done in the moments that I had just experienced. These thoughts were worse than the experience itself. I still shudder to remember it and give thanks again to the whole Crew that it was only me.

MySpace Idiots

While I can't accuse them of having bad taste, it still pisses me off that all these MySpace losers who think they are SO computer literate don't get the problem with linking directly to images on someone else's website. It's called BANDWIDTH THEFT for a reason. So instead of getting worked up about it, I went to some of my old posts (with the hijacked images) and replaced the images with same-named files of some really nasty pictures that have smart remarks on them about the clever posters. Today I took one girls face and photoshopped it to a monkey's butt - do you think they will get the hint? Now when Buffy, Amber and SwanGirl and the rest of the crew login to their MS accounts to see how much love they have garnered today, the new wallpaper they stole from me is going to shrivel their heads. I'm going to keep track and the little darlings who don't get the message and remove the links quickly are going to be linking to some Class XXX porno-graffee by this time next week.

Off the Soapbox and Back to the Janome

Remember "Secret Message"? I spent a lot of time just looking at it and nothing was coming so I took it off the design wall and put it away. Of course, that's when notions occur in the night. I had a bit of stuff done on it and didn't like the way it was progressing so I stopped the whole process to spend an evening picking all those machine stitches out before starting on the dream path. Scales, snails, and paving stones.

LOL Debra!

You reminded me that the word DOGMA makes me laugh out loud. I always think of Kevin Smith's fabulous movie of that name and just the sound of the word makes me think of a big stupid dog biting it's own ass viciously. Better yet, a whole huge daisy chain of so-called religious leaders down on all fours biting the ass in front of them. Keep them out of trouble for a little while.

Not Quite a Rant

I've been brewing a socio-political rant but I don't even know where to begin now that the Pope has put his foot in his mouth and fuses are being lit all over the world to thrill and entertain Allah, again. How hard is it to see that every bit of misery on this planet (that's not a direct result of human greed) stems from the superstitious voodoo bullshit espoused by each and every religious group that ever claimed a prophet or climbed a pulpit. I wish they would just get on with their frigging arma-fuckin-geddon and be done with it. I'll spade their ashes into my garden and the world will go on about it's business better off without them all. Sam Harris has it right and be-frigged if I know what to do about it. Instead, I offer this - "The Heart of Life" by John Mayer" I hate to see you cry lying there in that position There's things you need to hear So turn off your tears and listen Pain throws your heart to the ground Love turns the whole thing around No it won't all go the way it should But i know the heart of life is good You know it's nothing new Bad news never had good timing But then the circle of your friends Will defend the silver lining Pain throws your heart to the ground Love turns the whole thing around No it won't all go the way it should But i know the heart of life is good Pain throws your heart to the ground Love turns the whole thing around Fear is a friend who's misunderstood But i know the heart of life is good, i know it's good, i know it's good Oh i know it's good Oh i know it's good Oh i do, i do, i do Oh i know it's good

Therapy Continues

I re-wanked my elbow again on Sunday trying to lift an angry cat. Miss Karma has been highly pissed off at me since I treated her little flea buddies to genocide. I tried to give her a lift to the sink for drink (cat owners understand) she struggled and the elbow went "click". Not quite square one but aggravating. But last night I felt good enough for some handwork so I rooted around in the studio for a UFO and found one of the smaller body parts and spent nine innings appliqueing this little Liver. The Braves polished off the Nationals smartly and do we dare hold our collective breath now that they have won two consecutive games? On Sunday they stole a game from the Marlins in the 10th inning when the Marlins outfielders suffered some sort of mass hysteria and began impersonating the Three Stooges. Braves 8, Marlins 7. I love to watch the boys have fun.

Baseball & Fiber Therapy

Painting was painless. Wringing out the fabric by hand was challenging but probably good for me. When I first discharged these two pieces, I left the goo on too long and almost all of the color left town which really wasn't all that interesting so I went back and painted on some dye, sprayed the pieces down with soda ash solution and just left them to dry outdoors. Improved somewhat but I have an awful compulsion to start hand stitching on one of these pieces. Voodoo spent some time pie-ing my back before settling in with me to watch the Braves take another beating. My sympathies to those on the DL.

setback

Ugh. Early tuesday morning I decided the trash cans weren't tidy up to the curb as I was leaving for work. I got out of the car, planted my feet and grabbed hold of one can fully intending to have it do my bidding with one pull only to discover that the can weighed more than I did (we missed the trash pickup last week) and I felt my right elbow joint and shoulder momentarily disassemble and then realign (mostly) themselves. Pain bloomed and I realized that I HAD DONE MYSELF AN INJURY! *&$!@&** *#@!* and more along those lines. Pirates woulda blushed. So I got back into the car and limped off to the office with my right fist curled into an involuntary ball. I have new wrinkles between my eyebrows from going "OW" every 30 or 40 seconds. The fingers work okay but the arm just refuses to answer the helm to varying degrees depending on what I ask of it. Brushing my hair is quite an adventure as were other personal care issues. I almost choked myself with the toothbrush. Left handed eating slows things down considerable - not bad to consider. Rest, Ice, Drugs, more ice, more drugs and it gets better each day. Thank goodness I won't have to pitch in the playoffs (sniff sniff). I can't crochet but I can paint. Tomorrow will see what happens at the sewing machine.

WIP

Summer's End?

In New York summers end was the first day you got up and smelled Fall. Summer's end is a little sneakier here in GA. I had the feeling that yesterday may have been my last pool day for the season - the temperature is supposed to drop and skies cloud over for the rest of this week. Indian Summer? Please.

Stamping? @ the L'ville Frankenstein Dyeworx

Smells like fall today as I use up the last of the 400M from Testfabric. These sponges were packing from some electronic gadget. Makes me wonder just how much dye paste made it onto the fabric. You can see in this next picture that a lot of the vibrancy of these pieces faded away as they dried. That reminds me, I'm going to go upstairs right now and "wet" one of them with acrylic medium to see if the color depth comes back.

Handworking

This piece is machine constructed and quilted, then painted with acrylics and hand quilted. I keep a glass fishbowl on my work table where I hoard exceptional scraps. Every once in a while I will dump the bowl out and puzzle the bits and pieces together. Both of these pieces, each about 10"x10" come from the bowl. My hands have been killing me lately. Of course my solution to that it work 'em harder - and take OTC drugs. Most of the trouble has been brought on by crocheting that recycled silk thread and a lot more than usual keyboarding. DragonSpeak is beginning to look like a worthwhile investment.

Sidetracked on a Sidetrip

I'm rather proud of this little departure. My son Colin makes music with the computer. That's his pseudonym, Izo - his graffiti, my computer alteration of same and the website I built for the whole thing.

An Open Letter to My Bedbugs

Please don't leak when you read this. Pepsi out the nose really smarts!

Last minute art

Jimmy will be home tomorrow for the first time since the beginning of July (he's working in NJ) and I made all sorts of wild promises of lasagna and such. I did the shopping for it this morning but I just had to take a break and make use of this gorgeous day - the first we've had in a week of dreary, rainy weather. The alginate had gotten pretty gloppy in the fridge so I loosened it up with urea water per something I read in Ann Johnston's "Color By Design". Now to keep my mitts off of these pieces until they just dry up on their own - then I'll run a wash load of jeans, heh heh heh. Email brought me good news "Passing Through" was juried into Art Quilts XI: Stages, Cycles & Fits. The snail mail produced my slides created from digital images by G. Armour Van Horn - Stellar service!

UFOs

When I first pulled this one out of the washer I thought "screwed this one up good" and I flung it in the dryer with the rest of the laundry. I have a unique laundry system here. I'll run it through the washer and the dryer but that's were my involvement usually ends, so we have baskets and baskets of laundry all over the upstairs (at least). It's a good day when 5 out of 6 of those baskets are full of Clean things and a cat. This was in one of them and now it's up on the design wall making demands. It's going to need something special, something cohesive and for now I'm just pondering it.

More results

Jan Thompson, my dye partner, came up with some equally exciting results. These pieces are about 42 inches square.

New Hand Dyes

A great dye in the dye-patch. We mixed up a batch of alginate to carry the dye this time and did a bunch of experiments - painting directly onto the fabric and then laying the dye glop down on the vinyl table cover and dropping the fabric down on the paint. Some very strange stuff that will be nagging me from the stash shortly. "Use me, use me". I need to finish a few things before I start anything new.