moving?????

Hey!

I am trying out Typepad for a month, so if you want to continue to read my blog (and I hope you will!), you can find me here

See ya there!

Middle Bird's Big Bird

First off, I want to thank everyone who responded to my challenge to choose a name for my bird quilt. Yesterday afternoon I was putting the binding on it and the name I had been searching for, suddenly popped into my head: "Middle Bird's Big Bird". I know that sounds really silly to you, but I'll try to explain! When we were first married we lived in the same town in California as C's brother and sister-in-law, Chris and Molly. Moll (who I refer to as "Bubbles", but that's another story for yet another day!) had recently had her first baby and during her pregnancy, her husband had nicknamed her Big Bird (Sesame Street was all the rage back then). Well of course baby Alice was then called "Little Bird" for short, and when we came on the scene, I was rather affectionately (HA!) tagged "Middle Bird". So, there's the name! I'll have to admit that I may add "Papegoja" in parentheses on the label, because I love that one too!

I have been trying for quite some time to upload more photos of this wallhanging, but you know the familiar blogger blues tune! It just won't do!!!

Anyway, I'll try again in a while on another blog! This wallhanging is going to my nephew Jacinto and his wife Alejandra's new baby boy, Iker. I may have told you before that Ale is a terrific artist who's work I admire very much. I hope that they will enjoy my artistic endeavor

As I have been writing, I have felt like I was in an aviary. I can easily view our nesting bluebirds (don't they know it's late September??) feeding their young in one of our bluebird boxes, and there are many Ruby Throated Hummers slurping up the nectar at the hanging feeder by the desk window. Soon they all will be heading south, and I shall miss them!

It's a beautiful day here: sunny, dry and cool! YIPPEEEE! I am about to get out to the studio and do some sunprinting and dyeing......something about making hay while the sun shines??

CAUGHT!!!

RED HANDED!!

This is my submission for "A Show of Hands" at the International Quilt Festival in Houston. Gerrie blogged about this the other day, and since I have absolutely nothing else to do, I thought I'd give it a try. It was fun and very addicting. Here's a segment from her blog, so that you can get more info if you'd like to show your own hand in Houston:

"Karey Bresenhan, Director of the International Quilt Festival in Houston, has asked the Quilt Art list to make fabric hands for a display at the quilt show this fall. Here is what she says on a web page about the project:
I fell so much in love with the Creative Spirit Center's idea of a three-dimensional hanging installation of "creative HANDS" that we created "A Show of HANDS" for this fall's International Quilt Festival in Houston. This will be a special exhibit of HANDsome, HANDS-on, HAND-picked quilts that people with gloved HANDS can touch--a true laying on of HANDS to warm the heart and heal the spirit! I'm planning for folks to walk through this magical "forest" of one-of-a-kind HANDmade art HANDS hanging from the ceiling--literally HANDS all around--to see the quilts. It sounds wonderful to me and I think visitors to the show will love experiencing it first-HAND! We want this to be a visually stunning exhibit, a HANDS-down show favorite, that will make people clap HANDS in delight when they step into the exhibition...but we need more HANDS! In other words, we're short-HANDed!"

I played around with my hands last night, and when I got up this morning, this is what greeted me in my sewing room. Take a gander at the sole plate on my iron! YIKES!!! Is it time for a new iron? or perhaps just a bath??? It's clean now, don't worry. At this point, I had just fused on a bunch of my leftover fused clippings, and attached my name to one of the hands.

I've tried to upload some more images of my process but Blogger is once again being very uncooperative. (Chock up another point for typepad!) Anyway, after fusing the bits, I added snippets of metallic threads and some leftover yarns, sprinkled on some Bonash, added a layer of tulle, and then, protecting with a piece of parchment, ironed over the whole mess. Then I did some random stitching with a variegated metallic thread, after which I got out my handy-dandy heat gun and zapped it all. Pieces of the tulle burned off (or melted, I suppose), leaving areas brighter than others. I stitched the two hands together, wrong sides together, with more variegated thread, and then added the grommet for hanging. I've dyed some perle coton red and I will add that later today when it is dry. Thanks to both Karey Bresenhan and Gerrie for a few hours of fun in the studio!!

As for the bird...it is coming along splendidly, but I don't think you've submitted your name yet, have you??? I've gotten several great suggestions, but I'm waiting to hear from a few more folks, so step right up and don't be shy!!! Time's a wastin'!!!

Going Cuckoo

OK, I've decided to have a little reader input session here. We'll call it "Name That Bird". The idea is, you submit some names for the below wall hanging, and I'll choose one. No, there is no prize (but I will divulge the lucky winner's name, if you so desire!)...I just need your help! So please don't be shy! There are a lot of folks who visit my blog, but rarely does anyone but Gerrie leave a comment. Thankfully Gerrie is kind enough to leave comments or else I'd feel like I was just talking to myself!! Come on folks...name that bird!!!

So, here is the bird in question:


This is another wallhanging inspired by our recent trip to Costa Rica. All of the fabrics are my hand dyed silk, but the background I had a bit of trouble getting just the right color, so I first painted it with Pebeo Setacolor and then over dyed that. I had heard somewhere that painted fabrics wouldn't work with Wonder Under, but I have had no problem. I am having a terrific time thread painting on this one. There are three colors Sulky Sliver in the bird, to allow for a little more shading.

These are two pictures I took outside of the President's Gallery at Brenau University yesterday afternoon. I just love the architecture. The building on the far left (you can see it better in the second photo) houses the Pearce Auditorium where we have attended many a concert, ballet recital and musical. Brenau began as a women's college but is now coed. They also offer a program for seniors, Brenau University Learning and Leisure Institute or BULLI. C takes many classes there, and I am about to begin some conversational Spanish.

OK, I'm off to do a bit of shopping and can hardly wait to get home and get busy on my bird. Any ideas for names? I'm sorta stuck on this one.

Art Day

"Be master of your petty annoyances and conserve your energies for the big, worthwhile things. It isn't the mountain ahead that wears you out - it's the grain of sand in your shoe." Robert Service

the above has nothing to do with the below...it simply spoke to me!!!

This afternoon C and I visited one of my very favorite places, the President's Gallery at Gainesville's very own Brenau University.
We are so fortunate to have not only Brenau here in our little town, but also Gainesville State College. The two collaborate on theater and so we are blessed with the Gainesville Theater Alliance, which performs four top productions each year. But I digress! I wanted to get over to Brenau before the present exhibits closed. One is called "Shifting Gears" and it features pieces by award winning young artists with disabilities. I was taken by all of the works, but "The Confusion" a mixed media piece by Jarrett Camp and "Monks Walking" an acrylic on canvas by Alex Iverson really caught my eye.


This is a rendition of Jarrett Camp's piece, which I have swiped off of the internet. You can view it better here.

Unfortunately, I have a couple of really cool photos of Brenau to show you, but blogger isn't letting me post any photos today. What's up with that???? I guess that's one more vote for Typepad!!! Do you hear me blogger??? I am so sick and tired of this nonsense. But as C says, "you get what you pay for"!

The other exhibit is entitled "ms. booth's garden" and is photographs taken by Jack Kotz of his grandmother, Myrtle Booth, and people and places in her small town in Mississippi.

Ms. Booth looks like a dear grandmother doesn't she?..... just as sweet as she can be! There was one photo of her crossing a stream in flip-flops!!

So, now it is time to get to work! I have a wall hanging that is calling to me from my sewing room, so I must go!!!

Puttin' On the Peachtree

It was a gorgeous weekend in Atlanta! Yayyyyyy!!!
Yesterday, Barker, C, and I had our usual early morning walk and then two of us settled into some serious reading...one with the Sunday papers and another on the laptop. The third, just wanted to play around...you figure out who's who in this trilogy! (Hint: see below)
On Saturday night, our thermostat decided it would call it quits. Wasn't it thoughtful to wait until the nighttime temps dropped into the 60s, instead of a month earlier when it never got below 80!!! After a late morning trip to Home Depot for a new thermostat, we walked the couple of blocks over to my favorite Utrecht art supply store on Peachtree for some more acrylics. It struck me that so many folks from other parts of the country joke about all of the Peachtree streets that we have in our fair city, so I thought I'd take a picture to show you the one and only Peachtree. I should have snapped more pics as people were everywhere dining outside at the cafes, enjoying the cooler temps.












Here's how two members of our clan spent the morning:


Barker is not the least bit shy when he decides he wants your attention. Those footers are pretty darned big and even though his toenails are filed on the pavement every morning, they are still a bit sharp! So, I generally pay attention when he taps me on the shoulder!

Food For Thought

OK, so what's this all about, you ask? I've been reading this month's "Cooking Light" magazine and there is a very interesting article on "Food For Thought", so I thought I'd share a bit with you. Many of my friends have experienced the incredibly sad chapter in their lives where they have had to care from parents or other loved ones who have suffered with Alzheimer's disease. That then leads to our own fear that we may also suffer its devistating effects later in our own lives. Cooking Light sites a recently published study of mental agility among the elderly from Chicago's Rush University Medical Center and states that foods rich in Niacin and Vitamin E may actually aid in significantly healthier brains. Those whose diets were high in Vitamin E had a 67% lower risk of Alzheimers....so break out the Guac and enjoy!!!

Other foods that came highly touted included salmon, cremini mushrooms, canola oil and peanuts. Recipes are included for such culinary delights as Multigrain Pilaf with Sunflower Seeds, Almond Chive Salmon, Roasted Green Beans with Mushrooms, and Chicken Poblano Casserole.

As for the above pictured red apple, almonds, blueberries and avocado, they are considered healthy snacks which will sharpen one's "cognitive function".....mmmmmm, just think about that!!!

Life in the South

No, the below is NOT a picture of my home or my spouse!!! LOL

In reading Gerrie's blog this evening, I took the right brain/left brain quiz and found that I was 20% left and 80% right-brained. Then I checked out the rest of the site and thought I'd take the Redneck quiz, since I've now been residing in the southland for, ahem, 26 years! YIKES!!!

The results, drum roll please, Maestro:

***You Are 0% Redneck***
I'll slap you so hard, your clothes will be outta style.You ain't no redneck - you're all Yankee!
How Redneck Are You?http://www.blogthings.com/howredneckareyouquiz/

Last night C and I cohosted, with five others, a "just 'cuz" party. At our church's youth group's auction last Spring, my friend Mary "bought" a barbecue party and asked several of us if we would like to go in on it with her and throw a bash. We had originally intended for it to be a party for our then Associate Rector Josh and his fiance Sarah, but then they ended up leaving here sooner than first intended (there was some mysterious allure for New York City....hmmmm, New York City vs Gainesville, GA????) and we couldn't get the party organized before their new departure date, so we opted for a "just 'cuz" party. It was great fun and the evening couldn't have been more perfect! Of course, I went off and left my camera at home.....DERN!!! We enjoyed wonderful pulled barbecued pork, cole slaw, baked beans, watermelon (of course) and wonderful brownies baked by Mary's 90 year old mother. There were about 70 of us there, and folks just stayed on enjoying the wonderfully cool eveningand fabulous company. We all had a great time and are seriously considering doing it again next year!

So, my week has been filled with party preps, allergy shots, a little gardening in the cool, cool, cool of the morning, and dyeing some silks. I hope to have some photos for you in a day or two. We are now in Atlanta and my laptop refuses to upload pictures to my blog, so you'll have to be satisfied with just a few more Redneck photos...I apologize!

Well, forget about it....blogger won't let me upload any more photos...! So, until tomorrow....

BYE!

Blessed Rainy Days

When I got up this morning, it was a deliciously cool 66 degrees...and it still is!!! Barker and I were able to get in our 3 mile walk before the light precipitation began, and we have enjoyed a rather gentle rainfall most of the day. Lord knows, we need it!!! We have tickets to tomorrow night's Braves' game in Atlanta, and since tonight's game was cancelled due to weather, we will get to see two games! WooHoo!!!

I spent most of today working on and completing a Christmas gift. I wish I could show it to you, but it is for someone who often reads my blog, and I don't want to spoil the surprise. So, you'll just have to wait for another few months! Can you stand it??? I've gotta tell ya, it's pretty darned cute!!! The best part is, I couldn't decide what to give this person, made several attempts at something, then woke up in the middle of the night Friday night and just KNEW what I was going to do (and how to do it!!). I started it on Saturday, knew that it was possible to complete, and worked on it all day today. Blessed Rainy Days!!! I've just now completed it at 10:30 PM.

In one of my last blogs, I alluded to the new book that I was reading, or rather, which has consumed me! Now that I have lumbered over that particular Christmas gift hurdle, I can get back to my book! This is it:


"Leaving Church" was written by Episcopal Priest Barbara Brown Taylor, who was named by Baylor University to be one of the twelve most effective preachers in the English-speaking world. I had the pleasure of listening to Ms. Taylor speak, and then sharing lunch with her several years ago. She is a fabulous preacher/speaker (well if Baylor and I both say it's so, it must be!) and while reading her book you feel like you are sitting in a very comfortable easy chair chatting with her. Taylor began her preaching career as an assistant at a very large and prestigious church in Atlanta, grew weary of city life and moved to an idyllic parish in northeast Georgia (just north of where I live). Her dynamic and down-to-earth preaching packed the pews and most Sundays it was SRO. Then, she resigned her post and began teaching religion at Piedmont College. "Leaving Church" is her memoir, so to speak...although I expect (and hope) that we will hear much more from her in the coming years! I highly recommend this book to you...even if you are not an Episcopalian!! Over the years, C has given me many collections of her taped sermons so that I could listen to them while I walk....I have kept them all and continue to receive enlightenment, comfort and guidance from them.

About W

My wonderful niece Alice sent me the following (which she cut and pasted from Salon), and on the eve of the fifth anniversary of September 11th, I wanted to share it with you:

Mocking Bush is my patriotic duty
A comedian explains how cruel jokes about the
president can stop terrorism.
By Bill Maher

Sep. 08, 2006 New rule: Bad presidents happen to
good people. Amid all the 9/11 anniversary talk about
what will keep us safe, let me suggest that in a world
turned hostile to America, the smartest message we can
send to those beyond our shores is, "We're not with
stupid." Therefore, I contend -- with all seriousness
-- that ridiculing this president is now the most
patriotic thing you can do. Let our allies and our
enemies alike know that there's a whole swath of
Americans desperate to distance themselves from Bush's
foreign policies. And that's just Republicans running
for reelection.
Now, of course, you're gonna say, "But Bill,
ridiculing Bush is like shooting fish in a barrel,"
or, as Dick Cheney calls it, "hunting." Maybe, but
right now it's important, because America is an easily misunderstood country these days -- a lot of the time it's hard to make out what we're saying over the bombs we're dropping.
But we are not all people who think putting a boot in
your ass is the way to solve problems, because even
allowing that my foot lodged in your ass would feel
good, which I don't -- what then? OK, my boot is in
your ass, but I can't get it out, so I'm not happy,
and it's in you, so you're not happy -- there's no
exit strategy.
Anyone who opposes the indefinite occupation of Iraq
shouldn't be labeled an al-Qaida supporter. That's
like saying that if I tell my exterminator that there
are more efficient ways to rid the house of vermin
than hitting them with a hammer, I'm "for the rats."
Questioning whether it still makes sense to keep
troops under fire is supporting the troops. Asking for
a plan supports the troops; asking when they'll be
leaving supports the troops. Sitting around parsing
the definition of "civil war" doesn't support the
troops, it supports the president, and he's not a
soldier, he just plays one on TV.
So yes, for the sake of homeland security, I ridicule
the president -- but it gives me no pleasure to paint
him as a dolt, a rube, a yokel on the world stage, a
submental, three bricks shy of a load, a Gilligan
unable to find his own ass with two hands. Or, as Sean
Hannity calls it, "Reaganesque."
No, it pains me to say these things, because I know
deep down George Bush has something extra -- a
chromosome. Cruel? Perhaps, but it may just have saved
lives. By doing the extra chromosome joke, I sent a
message to a young Muslim man somewhere in the world
who's on a slow burn about this country, and perhaps
got him to think, "Maybe the people of America aren't
so bad. Maybe it's just the rodeo clown who leads
them. Maybe the people 'get it.'" We do, Achmed, we
do!
And that's why making fun of the president keeps this
country safe. The proof? I've been doing it nonstop
for years, and there hasn't been another attack. Maybe
the reason they haven't attacked us again is they
figured we're already suffering enough.
If I could explain one thing about George W. Bush to
the rest of the world it's this: We don't know what
the hell he's saying either! Trust me, foreigners,
there's nothing lost in translation, it's just as
incoherent in the original English. Yes, we voted for
him -- twice -- but that's because we're stupid, not
because we're bad. Bush is just one of those things
that are really popular for a few years and then
almost overnight become completely embarrassing. You
know, like leg warmers, or Hootie and the Blowfish, or
white people going, "Oh no you di-int."
So while honoring the anniversary of September 2001,
we must also never forget September 2000. That's the
month when Gov. George W. Bush said, "I know that
human beings and fish can coexist peacefully." If you
don't believe me, you can look it up on both
internets. The world changed on 9/11. He didn't.
That's why we owe it to ourselves, and our children,
to never stop pointing out that George W. Bush is a
gruesome boob.

Saturday Night at the Fights

Thank heavens Saturday has finally arrived! Our houseguest, Mr. Marley Curylo (rhymes with "furlow"), will be going home to his peripatetic Mom and Dad tomorrow afternoon...and not a moment too soon! He is the liveliest little doggie!!! Most mornings he wakes us up at about 4:00 with his incessant licking and shaking of ears. This morning I threatened him within an inch of his life, and he kindly went back to sleep until 6:00, at which time he started his ritual bathing all over again! GROAN!!! Normally I am up and busy by 6:30, but this morning I had a dreadful sinus headache, so lingered a little longer. At 7:00, C was kind enough to get up and take both doggies out for a little walk.
Here is the evening activity for the two hounds:


They are actually playing, but it looks (and sounds) a whole lot more serious! Marley begins by chasing after Barker, who is a very passive and sweet-natured dog.....I'm not biased, mind you! After about ten minutes of nipping and jumping, Barker has had all he can take and so he then reciprocates. This went on for about two hours the other night...C and I were exhausted!!!

How did I spend the better part of my day today??? Well, I can't tell you everything! Why??? Because I was busy assembling birthday and Christmas gifts! That's why!!! What fun!!! While I was lying there in bed this morning (listening to Marley) I figured out some totally awesome gifts for family and friends, so I've been busy today trying to construct them.

Of course I did a bit of dyeing! Wanna see? Here are some of my favorites:

Well, dear blogger won't let me upload any more images tonight, so you'll just have to know that the other hand-dyes are just as yummy (or more so) than these guys!

So, that'll be it for now....I want to get back to my making my gifts.... and perhaps a bit of reading! What am I reading, you ask? Stay tuned till tomorrow!

Floppy Poppies finale

or should I say, FINALLY???
It took a few days to get the binding piece dyed, then I realized I didn't have enough WonderUnder left in my stash to apply the binding, so that entailed a trip "into town"....but finally yesterday I got the binding on, sewed into place and the sleeve attached to the back! Sometimes I think it takes me as long to do the little bits of finishing as it does to complete the top...do you feel that way? Anyway, here it is:

I learned a lot in designing and making this piece and can hardly wait to make another, although it will be a while. First off, as I have heard and read before but never really experienced, commercial fabrics don't fuse as well as my hand-dyes...so, the black and whites, the whites, and the prints have tended to fray a bit around the edges. All of my own hand-dyes are just fine, thank you very much! Rather than strip-piecing the borders, I fused them, which seemed easier at the time, plus the fusible material was already on the back of the fabrics, so why not? There is some fraying going on there too! The piece looks a lot better in person...why is that?...than in the photograph. I took it with me yesterday to hand sew on the sleeve while I was waiting at the Dr's with a friend, and got many very positive compliments, so I know it is eye-catching and pleasing. OK, all you critics, before I make another, what would you change to make it even better? Be honest...I have very broad shoulders and thick skin!

Here is a closeup of the quilting on the background. I had a lot of fun with that.

I think there are five poppies quilted into the background, with wavy stems and leaves...all done in Sulky's HoloShimmer. I am addicted to that stuff!

On another note, we enjoyed a wonderful evening of dinner and conversation with C's cousins, Heather and Scott, last night at Le Maison Bleu in Watkinsville. (If you go, be sure to have their chocolate bread pudding for dessert...it is worth the 3 pound weight gain!!) What a great little restaurant! We don't get together often enough, but when we do, it is always a great time. Scotty is off to ride his bike in the MS ride at Calloway Gardens this weekend. Go Scott!!!

OK, that's it for today. I am off to take my Mom to the Opthalmologists. She has glaucoma and it is time for her check-up. Pray for no increase in her pressure!

Floppy Poppies

I've been working on a piece for a benefit auction for the local Aids Alliance group. Here is where I started:

I had originally thought that I would make the flowers in all different colors, but then when I got them on the fabric, I didn't like the effect...waaay too busy. So, I opted for these in the red/orange color range. While the majority of the fabrics are my hand-dyes, the striped one in the middle is from a man's shirt I found at a thrift shop in Atlanta. I loved the colors in it, but the cashier was shocked when he learned that I intended to cut it up for quilts!!! Anyway, then I wasn't sure that I liked the blue background so much, so I changed it to turquoise and this is what happened:

The border is a bit wider than it appears here, but I was having trouble snapping a pic without Barker getting totally in front of my "masterpiece". I had thought of calling this "Freddy's Floppy Poppies" but since not everyone knows Freddy Moran, I decided the name might be lost on this one.

At this point, it was definitely "Barker's Floppy Poppies", but no..........!

We are granddog sitting for Marley Curylo this week while Kristin and Dave are out west checkin' out the Grand Canyon, a bit of Denver and then attending one of her sorority sisters' weddings in Scotts Bluff, Nebraska. Marley is a good dog, and he and Barker get along well together, as you can plainly see:

Barker has decided to take control of things here, by pinning Marley's favorite toy under his leg. I'm sure that didn't just happen....they are always trying to one up eachother!

It's a coolish low 70's here this morning, so I am off to spend a few hours in my garden....and then I'll finish quilting the floppy poppies!

Later!!!