blog type quiz

You Are a Life Blogger!

Your blog is the story of your life - a living diary. If it happens, you blog it. And make it as entertaining as possible.

What kind of blogger are you?

Yeah, I pretty much share my life with y'all - when it is funny, I hope I am too.

Mostly though, I see how *human* many of the famous quilters are, and hope that by giving *my* foibles equal time, that I may end up famous too. >;)

That said, I looked at the prospectus for the Weird challenge again, and the piece is not due until *Aug* 15. Needless to say, the crunch is off, but then again, so is the head of steam I built up this AM to get cracking on it.

Shouldn't be too hard to get more steam though, since I can just open a window! I am a New Englander, through and through, (and even half Olde Englander, if you want to know the truth,) and this heat is just BRUTAL. I even wore my silly little maternity sundress that I've had since 7th grade (someone had hung it in the wrong section, and who was I to complain about *comfy*, even then?) to walk to the market this AM. And with my goofy green hat, no less. I looked pretty stupid, but I was able to ambulate in the heat, so I was willing to go with that.

I went to the market to pick up my progesterone perscription - 44 days without my period (my first since my miscarriage) and my body just needed a jump start. No pregnancy, but no period either. Sigh. I hate throwing MORE hormones at my body, but I've tried waiting it out when it has been like this before, and WOW is that just not worth it. This way, hopefully, I'll be starting to cycle again before the end of July! Hurray!

BTW - I would link to posts from other folks, and put a neato little "blogs I like to read" thingy on here, if I blessedly *knew how*!!! I used to dabble in HTML programming, but this stuff is just confusing. I know I haven't posted pics in a week plus, but at least now I know how! Soon! I promise!

Time to get cracking

The Weird Quilt challenge is due this Friday, and my piece has only just (as of 30 min ago!) jumped from the drawing board into reality. It is a simple piece, but I really have my work cut out for me lotistics wise. I'll let you know how it goes.

Meanwhile, I have volunteered to teach an aquaintance how to drive, and to interpret for a deaf girl at soccer camp. Kevin is in his last week of recertification training for his LNA, and here we are, in the middle of July, having not even *started* on repainting the house (don't ask - it is quite the saga!)

Busy, busy, busy, and not terribly motivated. Oh well. Time to crack that whip!

BTW - Pillers of the Earth, by Follet, is a deliciously long book about the building of a medieval cathedral. WAY more sex in it than was advertised on the book jacket, but it kept things spicy! Great summer read, for those into either architecture or the medieval thing...

Wet and Worth it!

Kimberly, Marilyn, her husband Bob, and I all got very wet and windblown, but we had fun, and made some great fabrics!!! Apparently what was hurricane Cindy is hitting VT right now, and the winds were making huge chop on the lake. We had to clothespin our fabrics to rope top and bottom, and they were still billowing like sails. Some were just flapping like mad! Talk about giving up all control of one's work!

Right now mine are all scrumpled in the back of my car, and I need to go unload them, but I thought I'd take a minute or two off my legs first - fun and frenzied - very Jackson Pollack does wind painting - but I am BEAT! Now I just need to see what all this stuff looks like when it is dried...

And, my camera wouldn't work there, so Marilyn took all the pictures and I have none to show you. Plus, she made the most gorgeous fabric of the day, which is a double bummer not to have pictures of. Oh well. We are already planning our next play day!

To hold Dye Day or Not to hold Dye Day

That really is the question. It has been bucketing here for hours now, and the forcast calls for highs near 70, and clouds all afternoon. There IS a pavillion on site at the park that we could use, but it might be kind of gloomy in the rain...

Alternately, I could scurry round and try to make my studio and kitchen more presentable - I am a confirmed slob, who is trying to reform, but that takes time, and my house is a shambles, and my cats haven't helped any.

The biggest problem I see with either plan is the lack of sun and the overflow of humidity that could make drying our work a real pain. I could set us up for some pole dying in the kitchen, I suppose.

The other plan? Postpone the whole thing on account of rain. That would be a real shame since some folks have come a long way for this, but it might be for the best. We could also meet at the park today, have a show and tell, and then head out for tea downtown to warm up. I think I sort of opt for that plan...

So - I'll take my stuff down to the park as planned, and if folks want to jump on in with it, we can. Alternately, I have show and tell stuff (experimenter's trunk show! lol), and then we can go out for tea. Right.

Thanks for letting me plan! Off to post to the boards!

Quandry time

Can someone please explain to me how I got my best sunprint of the day with stuff that dried *overnight in the dark**???? sigh....

Busily packing stuff up for our Dye Day tomorrow. There could be three of us, or 20; I have no real idea. Marilyn Davis kindly invited me up to their campsite this evening, but too many things need doing, and I have not nearly enough energy or time to do them all... ah well. At least I get to meet her tomorrow!

Pictures when I get home - promise!

NEW BLOG ADDRESS

HI folks -

I just completely freaked myself out when I googled my name and found all of my comments on all of your blogs!

Not wanting embarass myself any more than I may already have done, I wanted to change that, and the only way seemed to be to change the addy of my blog.

So, from now on, you will find Quilt Art Quests and Quandries at

QuestsAndQuandries.blogspot.com

I hope you will join me there!

Sorry for any confusion this causes...
Susan

Calling all Pre-Shrinkers!!

I started cutting the fabric for the twins' quilts yesterday (finally!), and discovered that the selvedges had shrunk *substantially* more than the main body of the fabric. It skewed the weave for about an inch out as well!

How do you handle this? Wash it, cut of the selvedges, block the darned thing, and THEN cut? As if washing and ironing it first isn't a big enough pain all on it's own! So far, I have just cut from the undistorted part first, then resquared the remainder and cut a smaller piece from that. NOT very efficient with my use of fabric, but all I can remotely consider having patience for!

That said, I know that I am a)PMSing (I hope!), b)in a bunch of pain from my fibromyalgia gearing up due to both 'a', the thunderstorms we've been having, and my screwed up meds schedule lately, and c) frustrated about all of the above. Thank heavens for Spike TV. Without my DS9 and TNG Star Trek five hour fix, I think my husband would come home to me once, and never again!

Yummy discovery!!!!

You *know* I turned those pictures before I posted them, and, lo and behold, you still have to crank your head over to look at some of them. Sorry folks!

Fireworks last night were AMAZING! Here in Burlington, VT, we have them down on the shores of Lake Champlain, looking out over to NY. Gorgeous sunset, great seat down on the rocks, jazz in the background - mellow and excited at the same time.

Best new discovery? I couldn't find my earplugs as we headed out the door, but got a tootsie roll at the store on the way - and - don't pick on me for this one *too* much - tootsie rolls make great earplugs!!! A little sticky to take out again, but I didn't flinch away from the sounds of the fireworks for the first time EVER!!! As a result, I got to really enjoy the show - right over our heads due to the winds, and WOW!!!!!!!!! Too fun! I was clapping, shouting and squealing like a little kid, and it was just grand! Tootsie rolls *forever!!!!!* (and I got to eat the rest of the roll. NO - I did not eat my used earplugs - no Bertie Botts Earwax flavoured jelly beans for me! Even with chocolate mixed in! Ew!)

As Promised... VQF pictures!!!

I told you I'd give you pictures of the Vermont Quilt Festival, and, conveniently, Blogger now has their very own photo-posting application, so no more Flickr limits for me! Huraay!!!!!!! Expect to get painted fabric photo overload too, as I have time on my hands these days, and a dye day next week to prepare for!

(Ask me about how I wasted my whole week on two supposed tutoring deals that both fell through - one from nepotism, and the other from folks being completely deluded about how much my time is worth! Sheesh! COMPLETE waste of my time, and the house is a shambles as a result! Well heck - something had to go, and it wasn't going to be my studio time! What were you thinking!?!?!?)

Anyway - pictures from VQF 2005!!! These are some of my faves from among the competitor's submissions:
This one is called "Move over Coco" by the Friday Morning group of Cos Cob, CT. Each artist made a real purse for this piece. Isn't it FUN!?!?


This is "Joy 16" by Stephanie Nordlin or Poplar Grove, Illinois. I loved this piece for the great colors and changes in orientation. It *almost* got my best in show, but I wanted to go with something that would get more notice. Sort of like why I didn't vote for Kucinich in 2004...

This is by our very own Marilyn J Davis of Plainfield, VT! She calls it "Reflections" and this is the piece that was in the Times/Argus for all to see! Hurray Marilyn!!!

This got my Viewer's Choice award! Called "Luna Eclipse," by Betsy Abbot of Andover, MA. She worked on this in a class with the mind-bogglingly, brilliantly tedious, Ruth McDowell in 2004. This was just so *active* after so many staid pieces. VERY dynamic work that just plain sucked both I and my husband Kevin in.

I love this piece - called "Sparklers" by Sandra Gregg of Yarmouth Port, Mass. What interesting shapes!!! Seems pretty appropriate to post this weekend, too! Happy 4th all!

Know what I like?

I like that both the list and these blogs are written by PEOPLE. Melody gets too lazy to cook, and the image of Robbi tossing rolled socks at her cobwebby ceiling is just too much.

So many 'traditional' artists make everyone around them build pedastals for them to stand upon. I love that OUR heroes are not only not full of themselves, but even volunteer stories of their own very human moments.

It gives me hope... >:)

Electric woes

Well, DH blew out my power strip mowing the lawn (don't ask), and I'll be darned if I'm going to crawl under my sewing desk every time I want to iron something, so my machine is persona non grata for the time being. That said, I'm getting lots of fabric painting done!

Painting is WAY less of a pain in the @$$ than dyeing is - no soda ash solution, no rinse baths, and the colors that I mix up don't require breathing masks, and don't go bad in three days! On a lark yesterday, I stuck some still wet piece up to my backdoor window with my brayer - it worked GREAT! Now I am looking at all of the really large (yard plus square) windows in my studio and living room and am imagining light pouring through my stained fabric windows! It even puts a nice super-smooth hand on one side of the fabrics! Who needs irons! Maybe I can plug my sewing machine in after all! ;)

In other news, it looks like I am employed after all! 2 of the students who had signed up for my cancelled class are interested in my tutoring them for decent pocket change, and one of them is a definate. Hurray! No walking around, and an air conditioned library to boot, although it will be a brand new prep (new book, no sink, let alone lab!), and I have to buy my own supplies and haggle with parents over getting paid. At least I am no longer having to scrounge the want ads, and will still hopefully have time/energy to get some serious work done in the studio and on the house this summer, along with the money to fund it all!

BTW - Melody has company. I hereby officially announce my Hall of Heroes! Melody still gets the seat at the top of the dias, but Robbi Eklow now gets a nicely carved and upholstered seat of her own, and all for sharing so many of her little tricks of the trade in her new book. Never before have I actually seen anyone *explain* things like how to get the bobbin thread up to the surface of the quilt, or how to avoid those little thread nests. Plus - she tells some 'don't give the judges anything to complain about' tips that are just terrific. Hurray! Thanks ladies!!!

More pictures coming, and soon! I promise!

soon!

I'm home from the Vermont Quilt Festival at which I met no one, took tons of pictures (some of which I'll share soon), and barely shopped at all, right up until I did - at the ProChem booth!

Now my parents are even on-board with Kevin's idea for my selling my fabrics. He thought my stuff stacked up well with what we saw on sale on Saturday. We'll see! Sheesh! No pressure or anything! lol...

Sat night was spent roasting hotdogs over a campfire with a dozen or so friends, and sleeping like I'd never slept before.

Sunday? Well, it lived up to it's name! Potluck brunch with same friends was followed by three plus hours (felt like a week - so great!) floating down the White River on an inner tube. About 20 of us went, each in their own tube, except for two kayakers who helped when folks got stuck in eddies, on rocks etc. I dang near sprained my ankle when I got stuck on some rapids, but mostly the damage was in the sunburn and sunstroke departments. Can you tell that I got nothing done today?

Ah well - at least I'm creative when my brain has been cooked - I actually did some sketches! I also read Robbi's book (a VQF purchase!) and it was worth every penny for just the first half of it, and the second half was just as good!

But for now? Back to brain addled channel flipping and more Phishy Foody! TTFN!

What *have* I gotten myself into?

I said I'd try and organize a little AQ group here in Burlington. Now it is the NW chapter of the VT Art Quilters, and I am organizing a Dye Day at my local park (right on Lake Champlain, for a mid-dye dip!) for maybe as many as a dozen people on July 9th. Oh boy.

I get to meet more of them tomorrow at VQF, and I still need to make my tiara. Yikes! Faces to names, and pictures galore! Hurray!!!

Time on my hands

Remember how I was going to be starting a new teaching job this coming Monday? Well, they cancelled it due to low enrollment (not enough kids flunking biology, apparently!), so I am offically unemployed. I've been waiting on this for months; ever since I started feeling better, and now, well - I'm sort of all sixes.

I could try and get another part time job. I could keep on working full time in the studio. I could put my time into working on the house. I could do some of each.

It just feels very odd to not have anything lined up. I will probably be able to go back to the afterschool program in September, but that is 2.5 months from now. We could use better cashflow, certainly. Kevin thinks I should start selling my hand dyed and painted fabrics! Needless to say, he has more faith in my work than I do!

Ah well, back to the sewing machine! I'm working up a baby quilt from my abortive experiment with that foldy 9 patch technique. I had the fabric cut, and one of my Drs is having a baby and moving, so why not? Nothing like a little mindless piecing to keep the hands occupied while the mind spins...

so much for that theory

Ok folks - I tried that new paper piecing technique they showed last week on SQ (the foldy one with the 9 patch?). Good idea? Not so much. Putting the sucker together was easy, but getting all that paper off the back? Nightmare!

Out of this anarchy though, I came to a new solution to an old problem. You know how when you are starting a stitch line diagonally from a corner, how the fabric gets sucked into the sewing machine? Well, I noticed that I didn't have this problem when I am paper piecing on a foundation, so I cut strips of parchment paper to run under my diagonal seams, and it works GREAT! Wahoo!

The sunprinting? Yeah, right. I've been working on my goal of not being a slob anymore, and have folded 3 hampers worth of laundry and sorted and moved all the clothes off of two dressers, and the junk off one of them too. I'm just tired of my house being a mess, and I want my home to be baby ready, for whenever that kiddo decides to show up. Roar.

Ack!

I wasn't chiding you for not commenting! I *love* that you drop by here, and I just wanted to encourage you to drop your $00.02!!! (and maybe let me pick your brains a little!)

The commercial hand-dye was bought off a bolt in a quilt shop, so I'm figuring that it wasn't pre-shrunk. Off to the washer for that! (SUCH a good thing that I have the most wonderful DH going - he has no problem with running to the dryer in the basement for me with sopping wet bundles of fabric!!)

I made a pair of pants for work today (only one fumble that a dart took care of - phew!), but the fabric I've been spending the most time and energy on today is my skin - it is peeling off my arm in huge chunks!!! I brought the sunscreen with me last weekend to my friend's farewell party, but forgot to put it on for the 3 hour car ride, so... driver's tan!

I've also been trying to get an AQ group going up here in Burlington, and I'm getting some pretty good responses. It looks like we are going to end up with 3 new groups, spread to the corners of the state, and hopefully we'll get together and do large group stuff (maybe even shows!) periodically.

As part of that effort, I asked on the QA board if anyone was going to the Vermont Quilt Festival this weekend. I decided that I needed to make a tiara so folks could find me (I have some awesome blacklight frogs that a friend sent me that are just *begging* to adorn my brow), and then I realized - duh - that my most identifying feature is undoubtedly going to be... my crutches! Lol... I don't use them all the time, but for that much walking? Heck yeah! At least one, so I have one hand free for *shopping*!

Update

Either there is no one out there reading this, or y'all just didn't answer my plea for help on that hand-dye. Fine. Be that way! ;)

DH Kevin just made up a little song about QA digests...
100 QA digests online, 100 QA digests! Load one down and read it aloud - 105 QA digests on line!

Sigh... how true!

Anyway - just got "off the shelf fabric painting" by Sue Beevers. WOW!!! I can use flour as a resist!?!?!? Gotta try that one!

And, despite your silence on the issue, I think that I just plain need to overdye those fabrics *again* - not much point working on it otherwise, if I am just going to be hating the lack of values the whole time!

Our Solstice festival went wonderfully yesterday afternoon - bunch of new folks showed up too, which was nice, and afterward a bunch of us went down the cliff to the beach and went in up to our thighs in good old Lake Champlain! Yummy!!!! I kept wanting to just dive in, but plastering a sundress to my skin in front of relative strangers wasn't really high on the list. Ah well... it is only 6 blocks away, and the summer is young yet!

I *wanted* to try some sunprints tomorrow - actual solstice day, so I thought it would be cool - but friends are getting married, and I should go, so... Maybe I'll sunprint on Wed - the first FULL day of summer!

It has *finally* stopped raining here, and is absolutely gorgeous! DH is going to mow the lawn today (which usually requires teeth pulling), so you just KNOW it must be nice out!

Just discovered that I need to make myself an official QA tiara for the Vermont Quilt Festival this weekend. I have some tacky silver cow earrings that a friend gave me ages ago, and will never be worn in my ears that I think can make a showing... DH says that I need a Flying Frog since that is my handle, but I don't know that I want to spend that kind of time on my tiara atm. I'm figuring that I'll make one that will suffice for a while, and then upgrade; sort of like my sewing machine!

Anyway, off to work - this is my last week of mornings at home until August, and I want to enjoy it!!!!!

Yo! Help me out here! Yes, YOU!

ok - my title promises you quandries, so here goes - I have two of them for you! Thanks in advance for your advice and suggestions!!!

Quandry #1: I had my husband dry my own hand-dyes in a hot dryer. DUH. So now they are all shrunk up, and I usually do NOT preshrink my stuff. S0 - the other main fabric that I bought for this project was a hand-dye as well - 5 yards of the stuff, and gorgeous. My question? --> Are commercial hand-dyes pre-shrunk????? This is all for a project that WILL get washed LOTS (baby quilts) and I don't want differential weirdness, and I am *already* bummed out that it won't get that lovely puckered look around the stitching from drying that I love so much...

Quandry #2: Did I mention that I overdyed the hand-dyes I made for this project? The shrunken ones? Did I mention that I am STILL not happy with the value of the finished pieces? They are WAY too close in value to the commercial, patterned hand-dye piece, and the other color is white, so it really shows. WAAAH! My question? --> Do I overdye them *again* or what!?!?!? Yes, I am going to be experimenting with paints next, and no, I don't want to do that to these, for several reasons: I want to *get on* with these already, already; and I do NOT want to mess with these fabrics while still in the experimental phase of my painting work. Not that I'm not still in the experimental phase of my dye work too, but I got results that will work, even if not hugely well...

Bonus of the day? I found ANOTHER 40% off coupon for Michaels in the freebie paper yesterday. So... off to get that *other* book on painting fabric for dirt cheap!

Comment: You may have noticed that I said I was pretty broke the other week? Well, folks - Kevin got a job!!! He has lots of apps out, but has one solid offer, so we are off famine rations around here, even though he won't get paid for a month yet. He would like some of the other jobs to come through, since the one he got was his 'backup' job, but hey - money is money, and hopefully *another* job he wants will open up for him in Oct, so he won't be at this one long anyway. Hurray!!!!

Shopping!

I went out with DH for a few quick stops, and he made the mistake of letting me shop. >:)

I got sulky threads, rotary blades, a pillow form for my Hawaiian project with Kimberly, and fabric for new pants for work (trying to get my old pants to fit was like playing the lottery - very slim chance - emphasis on slim! NOT!), all on sale!!!!

Also, got foam brushes on huge sale at Michael's, some fabric paints and a book on putting them to use (50% off with my coupon!), a little summer hat to dye up, stickers for my students (hight school kids love them, even though they think that they are for kids) and some wire for my wierd quilt challenge. Yes, I know I said I wasn't going to buy anything for that challenge, but if I didn't, I would have used much more expensive wire that I *do* have, and that would have just been a waste of money.

On other notes? We've gone back in time here in VT - from 90 degrees last week, to 50s and flooding this week! Also - Batman Begins is BY FAR the best Batman movie to date. I could have done without the snarly lip, but WAY good!!! BTW - I am very happy for Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise, and I hope their love and marriage last until they are both old and gray. It is nice to see folks genuininely, stupidly happy. Especially Hollywood folks - it must get so easy to become jaded.

I made a present for some friends who are getting married this weekend, and I am wondering if the idea is marketable. Simple and sweet, and requiring of specialized knowledge that I possess. >:) So, I'm not going to tell you what it is, since I know how many millions of you read this, and you are NOT all cool, honest QA people who wouldn't steal my idea! Hmph!

Bupkus

I have no idea how to spell that, but that is, alas, what I got done yesterday. No embroidery, no sewing. I guess I *did* overdye the fabric for the girls' quilts, but I forgot that I washed them in between dyes, so now I need to soda ash it after the fact (and I have NO idea how to do that! Dharmatrading to the rescue!)

I also spent hours working on sketches for my weird quilt, and I think that I am setting myself up for disaster. That is the problem with me - if I think about something for too long, it ends up WAY too convoluted to actually make! Honestly - 7 layers of fabric with crisscrossing threads and bead work between them - and concentric squares of said treatment... Oy.