sooner or later

Some people are still coming here to see my old blog. That's nice. Thanks. It's been so long I had forgetten my password!

Anyway, I'm working on a new baby quilt and waiting to get my machine back so I can whip it up.

I'm switching platforms. Moving on up to Wordpress. I will copy and paste all of this blog to the new one eventually, a little at a time. But the comments won't be easy. So I've decided to just quit doing duplicate posts and go cold turkey.

Please note that the new blog has a feed (I hope that's not a mistake...) and visit me here when you can.

So now she will sit around and be nervous until I take her to the Post Office for her flight to Australia. Her bag is packed, she has a hostess gift, a little money and her passport.

I couldn't sit and hold her hand while she fretted about whether this was a going to be an easy hop or not, so I went shopping.

Picked up a bunch of stuff at the dollar store for prizes for Art Camp. My daughter and I are in charge of the challenge this year. Thrums. You have to use 'em to make something. If you're not a weaver, thrums are the leftover strings when you've finished a project and are cutting it off the loom. There is about a half yard of waste at the end of the warp and it can be quite a big handful - always seems a shame to toss it out, so we are challenging the weavers to make something of it. It's long enough to stitch with, make tassels with, lots of things. You never throw anything away, right? so you know.

The prizes are going to be really neat. We got a bunch of stuff and we're going to.... well, it has to be a surprise. I'll let you know later. Even take photos. But you'll have to wait until March.

The other thing I'm working: ATCs to send out for birthday RAKs. I've already sent two out for the early ones, but these are getting a little more futz on them. Having a good time.



Waited all weekend to post this photo. Trouble in paradise. But it's all right now....

I have been using Picasa Web Albums to host my photos here since I was in danger of using up all my alloted free space on blogspirit.com with photo albums. But I only just downloaded their photo software (Picasa2) today and I am blown away by the way it works. It has lots of interesting features and editing capabilities and the fact that I can now upload an entire pile of photos instead of just five at a time is just the ultimate in time saving. Wish I had known that before I uploaded the cruise photos - I would have done all 283 of them instead of just 50 or so.... well, maybe that wouldn't be a good thing from your point of view?

Both our cars were dead this morning. I was two hours late for work and the grill king had to catch a ride with a co-worker. His was "fixed" while we were on the cruise but died about a mile from home. When he called me to rescue him, mine wouldn't start. So he called his garage to tow in the little truck and come give mine a jump start. The suspense is killing me. Will mine be dead again this evening when I try to start it after work? Film at 11:00. Seriously, I will take a photo of the darn thing sitting there not running if it comes to that. This could be the year I make it into a raised flower bed. I could easily calculate the amount of potting soil necessary. I'm thinking maybe, bananas in the middle seat so they could grow right up through the sunroof, daisies on the dashboard, and ivy trailing out the liftgate in the rear.

Or is Hotmail down? Changed my email in all my groups to another service. Now I just have to figure out how to configure my Outlook to collect it properly. Why is everything such a production?

I'm having a great weekend - working on the book making project for the weavers' sale at the end of the month. So far, I am feeling good. The details are coming together. The only glitz will be in the measuring....

I really like the irridescent medium I bought. Puts some shine into any paint I mix with it. Gads, me and glitzy? Is this for real?

Been feeling a little overwhelmed lately looking at the to-do list. I have a lot of stuff started and am trying to work a little on everything at once. Lots of ideas crying to get out. It seems like inspiration comes on me just as I hit the on ramp on my commute to work. Occasionally the traffic is so bad that I am parked for just long enough to scribble something down so I don't lose an idea. The other day, it was a mess waiting for construction trucks to clear out of the way, that I had time for a full blown sketch and lots of notes about materials and processes. Now if only I could find time to get them actually made.

My daughter is in full production mode. Running through the handwovens I've given her like rain down my roof gutter spout. She needed some notions to finish more, so we went shopping, first in my closet for more handwovens and then to the store to get thread, interfacing and linings. We found a few wonderful things and lots of other things to try. A twin needle! Spent some time trying out all the stitches. Then after she went home, I couldn't get the dang thing to do the satin stitch for a while, it was changing stitches in the middle of sewing... I'm not sure how I did it, but after turning my own head counterclockwise three times and swearing profusely, it finally started to sew correctly again. I do not know how I "fixed" it. It has happened before and it just takes patience, I have to try every combination of needle up, turn this all the way left and that button all the right to the right or vice versa and voila, it is hunky-dory again.

I have a fabric page laid out for the round robin book. I'm the last one to work in it and it is really fun to see everyone's work altogether. Much better than looking at the posted photos. Mine will be home in a month or so. And that's a good thing, because I've joined up on a couple of other round robins and I really shouldn't have. I have art camp coming up and the weaver's sale and I just really need to think about doing a lot of other things, the usual cleaning, and did you realize that the holidays are almost here? Well, not really, but you know it won't be long till it's Halloween and then Thanksgiving and well, I just can't keep up in the fall.

Tons to do, gotta run. The granddaughter is here and we're busy looking at everything on my worktable.

Blackberry Lilies



These are wonderful flowers. Only need a little help standing upright when it rains so much. Each day one or two blossoms open and then when they are done, they twist themselves tightly closed as you can see in the close up.

Afterward, the seed pod that grows looks exactly like a blackberry only not juicy and tasty. The birds ignore them and I haven't noticed any volunteers so I'm not sure what is happening to the seeds. Perhaps this year I should try to collect some and watch their progress closely.

I emptied another bobbin on the swatch swap warp tonight and filled another to be ready for the next weaving urge that hits.

I am a bit bothered by people who wait till the last minute and change their idea around and then wonder why they can't possibly finish a nice project in that fashion. A group project started months ago and simple enough but now some can't remember just what it was they were supposed to do and others say they simply forgot they had the item in their possession for five days and did nothing with it. Three reminders and three answers of, oh yeah, I'll bring that in to you. Hmm.

I don't really care if they look the fool next week. I don't plan to swoop in and save the day. I've completed my contribution. Let the rest of the pages be blank. Perhaps we can call it a "do-it-yourself" birthday gift?

It's hot. It's July. The a/c is not working in my office at work. Everyone else is freezing; I have two fans pulling cool air to my end of the hall. And yes, I did have some cheese with that whine. And crackers.

I think my brain is suffering from the heat. I can't get into a rhythm on this blogging thing lately. I mean do you really want to hear what I had for lunch? Don't answer that.

The best thing I did lately was a dress for a paper doll as the sign in for a round robin on Girly Girls.



Then this is for an altered canvas round robin that is just beginning in a couple of weeks. I have had to hide it from myself until the mail date because I would really like to just glue things on it myself. I really need to do more collage. Either that or mosaics. Or maybe paper mosaic collages.

Or maybe go weave on the samples that are due in a month.

I started this blog in May 2006 and this is my 366 post. It's been fun and I've learned a lot along the way. Blogging is way more fun than keeping a diary. And I think I was right, sooner or later, everyone will be blogging.

Circle of life: daughter, mother, grandmother, great grandmother. Everyone has a mother and a grandmother, but not everyone is fortunate enough to have a daughter and a granddaughter.