Ignoring the fear

Every time I have to do free motion stitching on something I have an anxiety attack... I have let a piece sit for the past 2 months because it needed some thread painting. There was a discussion recently on the Quilt Art list about fear and how it hampers us and some wise folks just piped up and said basically just get over it and do it!!! So I held my breath and did it. It wasn't bad! I had painted and stenciled these grasses and flowers but they got lost in the piece. I knew I had to add some stitching to them to make them stand out more. I finally just sat down and did the work I needed to do. This is just a small piece of it. I also added some French knots for a bit of color. Maybe now I will do the work I need to finish this piece up.

No Strep.. yea! Just tired. Seems some crud is going around and it hit me too.

Serenity hung

It is not always you get to see a piece of your work hanging in someones house. The person who bought my Serenity piece sent me a picture this morning. It certainly fits well...even matches her cat!  Made my day since I seem to be coming down with something. Bleh.

Muse playing tricks

I think my creative muse is playing tricks on me. I seem to be doing a lot of flowers lately and I have never been fond of floral quilts! What is going on here?? I also never had any intention of doing things in a series and yet I have found myself doing a bunch of still lifes. The piece I really want to be working on is languishing on my design wall. I have to start working on some thread painting and fear of screwing it up has me frozen. Tomorrow... I have promised myself that I will start to practice some thread painting and get back to the piece. In the meantime I am working on this floral that is pretty but mostly "fluff". It is large by my standards.... a yard of fabric is behind it. It has no story other than the fact that I happen to like these particular flowers. I spent hours cutting them out probably to convince myself that I was actually doing something for a change. Seems like I have been in a creative rut this summer. Maybe I am finally coming out of it... slowly for sure and not in the direction I expected. Guess you have to take what you can get.

Food overload

We are back home from a whirlwind 3 1/2 days visiting "family" in California for the holiday. We did the drive this time.... most of it is boring although I do love all the windmills outside of Palm Springs. I happen to have been driving this stretch so could not take photos. Phooey. Spent 2 days cooking my fingers to the bone and enjoying every minute... unfortunately, I also gained back the 2 pounds I worked so hard to loose the previous weeks. We had some down time so went over to Roger's Gardens and walked around... and bought some plants to bring home. Don't ask me why but they are cheaper there than here. We bought some babies of these succulents.
We also stopped at a farmers market.....oh, oh, oh, I was in 7th heaven. We tasted our way through it and picked up some delicacies. We don't seem to have many fresh markets here for some reason. I do miss them.

Does anyone know what these are?

Boredom

I am attributing the boredom to the continuing heat wave we have been having. I am tired of it already!
I have not felt like doing any of the projects I was working on, so I decided to revisit something I had in mind about 2 + years ago. I bought all these wonderful fabrics and cut them up in shapes for something I had in mind at the time. I realized that I couldn't put them together the way I wanted to... laws of geometry... so I left them sit. Because I am not in the mood to really think about what I am doing I decided to chop these fabrics up and just strip piece them. Definitely mind numbing, but that is all I am in the mood for.
While I was out today, I stopped at my local quilt fabric store. I haven't been there in quite a while as I have not been buying commercial fabrics of late. I was looking for some large flower prints, hoping to jump start my creativity. I was sorely disappointed on several levels. One, they had nothing of interest, but worse, they have changed the whole focus of the store. They used to have a really great selection of fabrics that I loved. They have since changed their stock to much more traditional stuff.... and lots of it! Yuck. The owner loves art quilts but she says she has almost no customers who are into that. She has to please her clients and this is what they want. Oh my.  I am really glad I can come up with most of what I want. Guess when I go to shows I am going to have to buy there.... it used to be that the quilt shop carried most of the stuff.... sigh, not anymore.

Addendum

MacMall has made good on its customer support and has sent me a return label for the Lexmark printer. Nice to know there are some companies who actually support their customers. Kudos, MacMall.

Getting bored of the Mac stories yet?

There are more.... The Iomega drive I sent back for replacement arrived yesterday... sigh, this one runs just as hot as the last one.... I give up. It came in a new, sealed box with cords etc. so I know they didn't send me a refurbished one. I installed Snow Leopard this morning.... NO problems!!! However, the POS Lexmark printer no longer works but no surprise there. I still haven't heard back from MacMall. Will call them again on Monday. My husband tried to set it up on his PC and it doesn't do real well there either. It is suppose to have an automatic document feed.... it doesn't work. I think I will donate this as it does not seem to like this household.
I had some good stuff happen as well. A friend came over who is a REAL Mac maven and showed me some tricks. He got my trackpad to work the right way and now I love it. He also told me I could hook up an external (read larger) monitor and use them concurrently! I went out and bought an adapter and it works like a charm. Whooohooo!
In essence, the Mac works real well. The problems were partially ones that I caused because I wanted to use programs I already knew and loved. That is all behind me now and I think this will be a long and happy relationship. THE END.

And so the left hand doesn't know what the right is doing

Saga continues.... I spoke to someone at Lexmark... in India I think and was told that yes, I do need a black cartridge for the printer to work. So I ran out and bought a black cartridge. Guess what? It still didn't work. I made another call to Lexmark and spoke to a very knowledgeable person. I explained what had been tried and SHE asked if she could check out my computer remotely. I said yes. She also said that the printer should work without the black cartridge. So she waved her magic wand and got rid of half the crap the Apple geniuses put on and installed the correct driver. It was now working! That is the good news. The bad news is that when I upgrade to Snow Leopard next week when I get it, it will not work. Because the printer is an older model, Lexmark has opted not to come up with a patch for Snow Leopard. I bought the computer through MacMall so I gave them a call yesterday as well and spoke to the guy who sold me this stuff. At first he told me that I bought the computer before Snow Leopard was issued and therefore the printer was compatible. I explained, very nicely that EVERYONE knew Snow Leopard was about to be issued... it was even mentioned that I could buy it for $9.99 instead of the regular price. He said he would take it up with management. I haven't heard back yet. I don't tweet, but if this goes wrong, I might ask someone to tweet about this. I think someone at these companies listens to that stuff.

The Mac saga continues

This afternoon I played "Stump the Chump". Brought the Mac and the offending (free) printer into the Apple store (made appt) to see if they could get it up and running. After two of the geeks tried to do the same things I had done (I think they figure that all females are dumb), they called in the HEAD HONCHO geek. After about 20 minutes of tinkering, he decided that the reason it was not receiving data was because the printer had no black cartridge.... well it only came with a color cartridge and no where in the info did it say it needed one to work. It has 2 slots.. one for either a black cartridge or a combined color and black and one for just color... what do you want for a cheapo printer. I am going to call Lexmark tomorrow as it was too late today to do it and find out if it really does need a black cartridge to work. I do not want to buy one and find out that was not the problem and then be stuck with it. Why the heck they would pack the box with a cartridge that prevented the printer from working is beyond me.

I am pretty sure they are going to RUN if they see me in there again. I do not make them look good.

My first week as a Macbook owner....

....was not an auspicious one. I had Parallels pre-installed so I could run some of my old Windows based programs. Some do not have Mac equivalents and some, well... just call me cheap. The new Macbook Pro is a beautiful, shiny, lightweight piece of technology. It runs quiet and cool. The first thing I tried to do was set up email. I decided that I really did not want to learn another new program so I installed my trusty Thunderbird email client. No problems getting it to work,, however, I wanted to migrate over all my old email and the files I had created. Not so easy. I dug into Google and could not find a definitive way of doing this. OK, so I knew I had a safety net at the Apple retail store. They have a "Genius" bar and they claim they will help you set up a new computer including migrating over files from your PC. GREAT! So I make an appointment and bring my two computers in. The "genius" said he knew how to do this but it would take time since I had 3 GIG worth of files.... 5 1/2 years worth of email. I had nothing better to do so I walked around the store and admired all the new toys while they made the transfer. Finally it was all done and the tech announced.... you know, I am really not suppose to do this... this is not a Mac supported program. HUH? So why do they advertise they will help you move stuff from your old PC to your new Mac? I thanked him for his time and went merrily home to tackle the next thing on my list. I turn on my computer and .... Thunderbird won't open. I keep getting a message that says there is an instance of Thunderbird already running.... WHERE??? I could't find it, I couldn't close it. Now I am getting pissed. These guys are suppose to know more than I do. It took me 2 hours to undo what this "genius" did. After doing much more research, it took me 6 hours to fix it and get the old files on the new machine. It was laborious.
So my next project was to install the FREE Lexmark printer that came with the laptop.I should also mention that the printer came with 1 3 color cartridge and no black cartridge although there is a slot for it. What do I want for free? They did toss in a printer cable as a gift! This should have been a piece of cake. The printer was functional... the Mac recognized it.... except there was no data transfer. I have installed lots of printers over the years but I decided that it was user error so I uninstalled all the programs and drivers on both sides (Mac and virtual Windows) and started over. Same thing.. I figured I missed something somewhere so started the process all over again. Still not data transfer. Sigh.... I guess I have to take them both back to the "geniuses". These guys weren't even born yet when I got my first computer in 1984. Did I mention that my trusty 2 year old HP printer bit the dust the same day?
Ok, so next up was installing my old copy of Office 2003. Not a big deal except the time it took. I had 6 years worth of updates to install as well. Next was my iphone and getting it to sync with the new machine.The itunes store makes it easy to install the apps and other data synced when I hooked it up. Not so my music library. I had to manually transfer via a thumb drive all the songs. This also took hours.
Next on the list was Picasa. I like the way the program works and I am used to it. iphoto is good for other things. 3 Gig worth of photos had to be transferred but the old program did not like my thumb drive. I had to back up all the photos onto a DVD and then restore them into the new program. How many hours? I lost track. I was finally done with all the housekeeping and I could now enjoy my new toy. ... but printerless.
Next question is which printer? Do I get the same type of HP which takes the Vivera ink cartridges I just replaced? Or, do I get an Epson? Decisions, decisions. I didn't think I was very hard on my printers but none of them seem to last more than 2 1/2 years.

It's a new week... maybe this one will be less "exciting".

Bittersweet

I sold a quilt this week and while I should be jumping for joy, it is sort of bittersweet. It is the first "art" quilt I ever designed and made and while it is a very simple design, I have gotten great pleasure from it. It is titled Serenity. I am sure it is going to a good home and I know the person who bought it will derive great pleasure from it. She insisted on having it!

On another note, we have been busy this week playing in a local regional bridge tournament and doing well. We are keeping wacky hours and I am exhausted. Thankfully, we have only 2 days 2 go. We won one team event, came in 3rd in another, and are playing in the semi finals of another today.

Where does the time go?

Has anyone noticed the passage of time? I can remember when I thought 30 was old. Sigh, my daughter is turning 30 at the end of this month. I don't feel old! Last week I spent time with a girlfriend of 52 years. I am in contact with another friend from High School who hooked me up with my HS English teacher! Turns out the guy was right out of college. We must have made life hell for him, BUT, he is still talking to me! In truth, I liked this teacher very much. He also had a hand in the Drama department and turned me on to scene design, costume design, lighting design, and makeup. I was very active in collage doing all of these and almost made a career out of costume design. If it weren't for him, I probably wouldn't have found my way to the green room.

The years seem to fly by. The days also seem to disappear on me and sometimes I have nothing to show for it. It is not like I am sitting and staring at the 4 walls and I never watch TV. So what happens to time? I think the gremlins are stealing it out from under me. I keep trying to get back into a routine of creativity but things just seem to get in my way. Next week will be another lost week in terms of my projects. Oh well, maybe the week after will be better. I am feeling prickly at the moment.

Back Home

Oh, I guess I never mentioned that I was away. I just spent a week in Irvine, California visiting some friends. It was a busy, but good week. I got to meet Jamie Fingal who gave me a tour of her spectacular studio and then we went to lunch and a walk around her lovely town. I played most of the week. I did some fun painting and stenciling on some ummm, undergarments for a young lady and I made her a vest with fish appliques. I cooked up feasts for my friends who don't bother to cook for themselves.... of course there was a glass of wine to go along with the food. For those foodies, the menu consisted of risotto with asparagus, pasta with garlic and oil, chicken cutlets, steak au pauvre, and grilled lamb chops. We had a wonderful berry crisp last night for dessert.
I was asked to "fix" an old silk flower arrangement..... I told my GF to take out all the flowers she didn't want any more.... hahah, she left 4 flowers in! We went shopping for new ones and I spent the afternoon creating a new arrangement. This is the almost final result. I ran out of time and we still need some leaves on the bottom. I will fill those in next time I am there.
I will get back to my project this week.

Good Day/Bad Day

The day started off real well... found out my stepson is in Kuwait on the way home from Iraq, YEA! We can sleep better now. I also got back to working on my Geisha piece and was making good progress when I noticed my cat was after something in the hallway. Since he is usually a wimp I wasn't too concerned but I did get up to look. SNAKE!!! I am DEATHLY afraid of snakes and I could feel my blood pressure go through the roof. I managed to think quickly before panic totally set in and tossed a trash can over it and added a rock on top for good measure. I never even saw what kind it was. I then called the fire department which, thankfully, comes and removes them. The snake was about the width of a pencil and about 18" .. but it had coiled up so I am not sure of the size. I left the room when it was removed and I did not ask what they did with it. I suspect it is in pieces in my garbage can. They told me they thought it was a red racer which is not poisonous but I am still a basket case no matter what it was. There are days (like today) I wonder why we live out in the dessert.
It is going to take me hours to settle down.

On another note... while I was in CA attending the IQA show, I took some photos of the bark on some of the trees. I thought they were rather interesting so I am posting them here.

IQA Long Beach

I have returned home from several fabulous days attending the quilt show in Long Beach, CA. While this show is not as large as Houston, I can see it happening in a few years. The exhibition of all the quilts and fashion was, as usual, top notch. Karey Bresenhan and her crew put on a first class exhibit and the reception for SAQA and QA list members was lots of fun. I got to meet people I would never have otherwise. I finally got to meet Jamie Fingal who is such a hoot. I caught up with her for a few minutes while she was creating a new wardrobe for her mice. I also volunteered some time at the SAQA table ( I learned how to work the credit card machine). The SAQA exhibit was truly awesome and pictures do not do the quilts justice. I was able to spend some time talking to Carol Larson who seems to share some of my opinions and also met some other big name (to me) quilt artists.
Unfortunately, I am not able to post pictures so what you see here is my "masterpiece" from Make It University where I took a short class from Rebecca Gill of the fantastic Stewart Gill line of fabric paints,etc. I love that paint and have been adding to my stash for the past 2 years. I picked up more thread from Superior, some more Misty Fuse and Transdoodle from an overworked but smiling Iris Karp, a few polished wooden buttons, and I found some wonderful old carved wood blocks that I will use for stamping. I also broke down and bought a pattern for a handbag that I saw some woman carrying around that has lots of inside pockets.
After dropping off my girlfriend (we drove) I met my DH for dinner and had a well earned chocolate raspberry martini and blackened Tuna. Yummy.

Day trip to Sedona

We have escaped some of the heat in Scottsdale and have been staying up in Prescott. It is lovely here.. sort of like a New England town in the middle of the dessert. The The foliage is very diverse up here including an apple tree in the yard. Today we took a side trip up to Sedona. I love the beauty of the place and I managed to get some nice shots of the red rocks. It should have been cooler there but the temps topped 100... warmer than Prescott and the folks were bitching and moaning. The Mango sorbet I had was wonderful.

QSDS Ann Johnstons's Class

The class was terrific! I had so much fun playing with dye paste and learning a great deal along the way. I am still tired from it all. We painted and printed using print paste directly on fabric. Some of us silk screened, stamped, rollered, stenciled, monoprinted, rubbed, etc. We also used corn and potato dextrine as resists. The class was 7 days... enough time to really get into it. Of course we took the required afternoon off and went to see Quilt National which, needless to say, was impressive. I aspire to that... probably only in my dreams. We also did some overdyeing and I managed some Shibori pieces as well. I have colored appendeges to show for it as well... yellow toes, blue, and red fingers. It was fun playing with all the toys.
I am waiting for permission to post some work from my classmates as well. There were 18 of us in the class which included some top tier artists... Shelley Baird, Marie Wiley, Faye Hoch, Ellen Bazzoli, Rachel Covo, Deborah Fell, to name a few. I felt quite intimidated the first few days but then just soaked it all in. Everyone was very gracious and generous about sharing knowledge and techniques and a good time was had by all. Ann was a good teacher. There were some awesome pieces from this class. I tried my hand at most things and have many pieces started and none any where near done. They all need more work but some of them I have a good idea of where I want to go with them. I have one piece that I think is a total disaster but I will use it to practice on.. who knows, maybe it will turn out ok.

I am waiting for permission from some of my classmates to post some of their pieces. I will add to the slideshow. I have added works from Meg Rogers,Teri Hjetland, Mary Anne Loehr, and Faye Hoch. I need to figure out how to incorporate these wonderful techniques into the work I enjoy doing. Enjoy.

Sacred Threads

On June 18th, we flew to Columbus, Ohio for the start of an exciting 10 days worth of activities which included my niece's wedding, a viewing of the Sacred Threads exhibit, and 7 days of classes with Ann Johnston at QSDS. We intended to meander our way through Amish country to drive back to Canton for the wedding. The weather did not cooperate.... it stormed all day Friday so we took the highway instead of the scenic route. The sun came out on Saturday and the wedding was lovely. On Sunday morning, after attending an after wedding brunch, we headed back to Columbus and the Sacred Threads show. The show was very moving. The pieces together created a very powerful story. I have permission from some of the artists to post their pieces here.

The artists are: Janice Potter, Lion of the Sea and White Buffalo Calf Woman Rhapsody, Diane C Lochala, Vines of Life and Time's Portal, Karen Fridy, Temptation, Wendy L Starn, Fire and Ice and Summer Breeze, A.Carole Grant, Joy, Gerrie Congdon, Juxtaposition and First Light, Sue Reno, Wood Poppy and Mystery Fern, Ginny Greaves, I am the Vine You are the Branches, and my piece, Dance! I have some others I would like to include and am waiting for their permission. I will amend the slide show as needed.

After viewing the Sacred Threads show, my hubby dropped me off at QSDS for my 7 day class with Ann Johnston. That will be a separate post.

Struggling to acheive realism

I am the first to admit that I cannot draw worth a damn. What I see in my head doesn't always translate well to paper. So for those of you who have the ability to draw this post should give you a chuckle. I have been trying to depict hands for the piece I am working on. It has been very frustrating for me. How do I get a 3 dimensional vision into a 2 dimensional piece? Pretty pathetic I must admit but this is how it is going to be. I cannot do what I cannot do. Sigh, I only have 2 others to do. These are the types of things that I get hung up on, get frustrated, then run away. Anyone else react like that?

Thread painting

I have been working on my project and making some good progress. Today was a first for me. I tried my hand at some thread painting. Not bad, although I will not be competition for anyone. It was sort of fun once I relaxed. Of course I kept it pretty simple so it was hard to screw up!
This piece also calls for some beading so I have lots of work still ahead of me. This piece is going to be larger than I have been working on lately. Probably a good thing. The larger size poses other challenges but leaves me more options.
I am starting to get ready for my class with Ann Johnston at QSDS soon. If anyone else is going, let me know so we can meet up. I think it will be lots of fun.