piece of mind

The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI)

2011-03-06T20:46:00.014+01:00

Today I received an email from Suzi, who purchased one of my patterns with the idea to make a little quilt for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI). If you haven't come across the AAQI in your travels around the web (or even if you have already!), I hope you'll take a few minutes now to explore their interesting and well-designed site, and consider supporting their work in whatever way you can, however small.

The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative was founded by internationally-known quilter Ami Simms, with the mission to raise awareness of and fund research for Alzheimer's Disease. Since its beginnings in 2006, the AAQI has raised over $500,000. It is a registered non-profit charity, staffed entirely by volunteers. Many quilters make and donate little quilts (they must be 9" x 12" or smaller) for auction or sale, with all proceeds going towards Alzheimer's research. There are many other ways to help (35 and counting) too! Even if you don't have time to make a quilt or money to buy one (though it's a fantastic way to purchase an original art piece for a very modest amount), you can still contribute simply by spreading the word about AAQI through Twitter, Facebook, your local quilt guild, and telling your friends and family.

Suzi used the Rosie's Rose block to make The Yellow Rose of Texas (8.5 x 8.5"), in tribute to her mother, Doris, who had Alzheimer's. Suzi hand-dyed the cotton fabrics for the rose, and, if you click on the image, you can see her teeny-tiny hand quilting stitches. The unusual red, white, and blue background adds so much to the Texas spirit of the quilt!

Many thanks to Suzi for sharing her beautiful work, and giving me an opportunity to promote this very worthwhile organization. You can read more about Suzi's quilt here (as I write, the quilt is still awaiting categorization for auction or sale, so the link may have changed by the time you read this -- I'll try to keep up with it).

Please feel free to use any Piece By Number pattern (whether purchased or freebie) to make a quilt for donation to AAQI, or any other charitable organization; you don't need to contact me for explicit permission. A mention of Piece By Number as design source is much appreciated, but not required.

New designs: Swiss Daisy and Edelweiss

2011-02-13T21:00:00.000+01:00

Added a couple of new patterns to the shop last week, the first in admittedly quite some time. (The day job is taking up way too much of my life lately...) Swiss Daisy, left, grew from two quite different inspirations. The first was a camera lens aperture: the very delicate, overlapping metal leaves that can be adjusted to let in just the right amount of light for a photograph.

The second inspiration was Mary Ann Beattie's extremely clever paper piecing pattern of a sunshine (apparently no longer on the web), in which she cut through the foundation during the construction to allow all the sunshine's rays to be sewn with a single foundation unit. This got me thinking about the possibilities of cutting the foundation to achieve certain designs, and I wondered if some variation of this idea could be used to create the camera aperture design. A little drafting in EQ, some experimenting with fabric at the machine, and eureka! A center octagon, framed by overlapping triangles, becomes possible to sew using a single foundation piece, with no applique. How cool is that?

Having gotten this far, I decided to develop the design into an 8-petaled flower, rather like a daisy. I found that alternating blocks of light and dark daisies yields a fascinating reverse swirling effect, a near-tessellation of larger flowers. These larger flowers evoked for me the elusive, delightfully irregular edelweiss blossoms, flowers I have only seen for real at local nurseries but never in the wild, despite my living in Switzerland for more than 13 years. So I named the block "Swiss Daisy", because a cluster of these special daisies transform so easily into a meadow of edelweiss. (Though truth be told, real daisies in Switzerland are no different than daisies in France, Germany, or Italy. :-) )

But what if a quilter wants only one edelweiss blossom, for example, for a flower sampler quilt? This possibility led me to draft the Edelweiss block, with its darker green corner diamonds suggesting leaves. Sweet! The block is effective in many color schemes, with often a more geometric than floral feel depending on choice of color or fabric design.

I love how the one design led so naturally into the second one, yet both blocks stand on their own as distinct designs with different possibilities. They share some similarities in construction techniques, though Edelweiss can only be constructed in multiple units, whereas Swiss Daisy is a true single-unit foundation pattern (a multiple unit version is also given in the pattern). (Note: both patterns are for intermediate- to advanced-level paper piecers. For more images of the blocks and quilt possibilities, see Swiss Daisy and Edelweiss.)

99 Bottles

2010-07-31T18:29:00.009+02:00

My son and I got to singing that old camp favorite "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" (and some of its even sillier variations) while goofing around recently. Later that day, I was trying to come up with some new block design ideas, and inspiration struck -- a new kind of bottle quilt! Drafting the bottle pattern was quite easy. Less obvious was how to arrange the bottles to make a reasonably proportioned quilt while still incorporating 99 blocks (3 rows of 33 bottles just isn't a useful proportion for anything but a looong table runner!). I'm pleased with this layout. The 99th bottle, of course, does not fit on the shelves, and so it sits on the "floor". I guess that's the one that got taken down and passed around.

If you want to make your own quilt, click here for the PDF pattern plus the dimensions of the bottles, sashings and borders (but no instructions) to make a quilt about 67 x 76". The bottle labels are perfect for using large scale and novelty prints -- fussy cut them to resemble real beverage bottle labels. You could even add the names of your favorite beverages with fabric markers or embroidery. I chose the same bottle green color for all the bottles, to show up on a black background while not overly competing with the labels, but of course other color schemes could work just as well.

If you make something with this block, be sure to add a photo of it to our Flickr group :-)

EQ7 users can download the EQ7 project file here if you'd like to play around with layout ideas and fabric choices. (I had to zip it so you can download it - hope that's not a problem for anyone.)

*clink* Cheers!

New Flickr Group!

2010-07-31T16:33:00.001+02:00

If you've ever made a project using one or more Piece by Number patterns, I'd be thrilled if you would your photo to the new Flickr group, Paper Piecing with Piece By Number. It's just gotten started and has only a very few photos so far, so please don't be shy about adding one (or several) of yours. If it seems like there's enough interest, I'll consider activating the group discussion capabilities.

Hope to see your creation(s) in the group soon and that you find some inspiration there as well :-)

Busy, busy!

2010-07-26T12:56:00.009+02:00

Whew - have added several new designs in my shop! I'm really pleased with how they turned out and can't pick a favorite - I love them all :-) Care to take a look?

Kiriki the Frog is an updated version of a froggie that I designed long ago and had published in the now defunct Foundation Piecer magazine. He looks so sproingy and happy!

("Kiriki" is a name I thought I made up, being an anagram of "rikiki", French for tiny, and also evoking "kaeru" and "kikker", which are Japanese and Dutch, respectively, for frog. But googling "kiriki" pulls up some interesting results, including a 1908 film of Japanese acrobats. Once again proving that there is nothing original under the sun.)

Next up is the Bluebird of Happiness. Did you know that bluebirds have been symbols of happiness around the world for over 1000 years, according to Wikipedia? I first learned about the Bluebird of Happiness from Laugh-In, lol. Guess that dates me.

As you can see, the pattern is also adorable in other colorways, if one prefers redbirds, canaries or even little brown sparrows. I considered adding tiny embroidered feet, but couldn't get that to look quite right, deciding after all that simpler is better.

This cute turtle would be terrific for a baby quilt, don't you think? Mmmm, these sherbet pastel brights are so cheerful. I love how the shell can be made with many different fabrics for a very patchwork-y look. Trivia: May 23 is World Turtle Day.

Am on holiday at home for another 3 days, so maybe I'll be able to get another new design started? Alternatively, I should get going on cutting some fabric kits for bottle quilts in time for holiday sewing - but that means getting out the ironing board...

Little People

2010-07-04T12:29:00.012+02:00

I came across my inherited collection of "little people" today while going through some stuff - all these were bought by my mother. She filled four (!) printers' typecases with these peeps, and hung them in her living room and kitchen. The (mostly) ceramic doll figurines date from the early- to mid-20th century (many are made in Occupied Japan), and I'm always reminded of Mom whenever I see them. My brother has most of them stored away now, but I have a few and need to figure out some way of displaying them in my own home. Something quilty, I think, but need to think a bit more on this.

I've extracted the little dolly for you as a .png file (it really does have a transparent background, even though it doesn't look like it here). Feel free to use this in your personal scrapbook or art projects (but please, don't include it in a collage sheet without my permission). Isn't she the sweetest?

Site Remodelling

2010-05-13T21:51:00.005+02:00

About a month ago, I got a bee in my bonnet to completely overhaul the Piece By Number website, after literally years of doing practically nothing with it. I set up the site in 1998, just as I started designing quilt patterns, and taught myself basic HTML from a book. The entire site was coded by hand in Notepad. I didn't particularly enjoy coding, but was very proud of myself for being able to do it (even at my very basic level, lol) and I thought my pages looked pretty good.

Once the Piece By Number site was set up with a decent amount of content, I turned my energies to my then-young son, designing patterns, and other life projects. From time to time, I felt a bit bad for not keeping up the site, but the thought of relearning HTML again put me off. Not to mention that my coding skills definitely had NOT kept pace with the times. Java, widgets, Flash, frames, shopping carts, and and and..... it all made my head hurt, and I had little interest in getting my hands virtually dirty with any of it. With the arrival of Etsy, I had a ready-made venue for selling my patterns -- so much easier than HTML. The Piece By Number site languished, a little forlorn and dusty.

When I finally got around to signing up with Google Analytics, I learned (rather to my surprise) that the Piece By Number site was the biggest driver of customers to my Etsy shop, not search engines or anything else. It didn't take a wizard to figure out that keeping up with the site would be worth a renewed effort.

I started to read about the latest site building software. One in particular stood out for me - Serif WebPlus X4. The price was right, it was downloadable - what's to lose but a few bucks and a little time? So I paid my money, downloaded the software, and installed it. I fired it up, read a couple on-line tutorials, consulted some user help topics and was off. So amazingly cool is this software! With the help of one of the ready-made templates, creating a much fresher and appealing layout for my pages was a breeze. I was dragging and dropping images, text blocks, headers, and moving them around with the greatest of ease -- finally, intuitive web page design capability that acts and feels like desktop publishing. No HTML to deal with.

In about a week, I converted all my old pages (about 70) to the new site format. Adding navigation bars, drop down menus, a contact page with anti-spam feature, a mailing list signup (lots of stuff that the old site never had) -- child's play! The new site is still a work in progress, because I'm constantly learning new tips and tricks to implement. Like the search feature and rollover image I added last night. Next up are some calculators for resizing blocks (I think this can be done, from what the user guide says). And I'll keep tweaking and updating and moving things around - mostly because it's so easy and fun. I'm really looking forward to adding fresh content once again, too, if for no other reason than to have an excuse to play with this fabulous software. Did I say that I like this product?

Disclaimer: Serif did NOT pay me to write this! I am just a very happy and satisfied customer. Is WebPlus perfect? Well no, there are a few, very tiny things I don't like so well, or maybe I just don't know yet how to work with them. Like it's not at all evident how to add ALT tags to images (which can help image searches). But it's easy to overlook such trivial things, because WebPlus has really made me in love with my website all over again. :-)

I'd be very interested in your feedback about the new site - visual appeal, ease of navigation, features, what strikes your fancy (or not), ideas for improvement...

The photo above is not particularly related, other than its work-in-progress ambiance. It's from my trip last summer to Italy, outside the Roman amphitheater in Verona.

A little bit of sun

2010-01-17T23:04:00.000+01:00

Paul Klee Center in Bern

2010-01-02T20:38:00.000+01:00

Gavin and I went up to Bern this afternoon, to see the (relatively) new Paul Klee Zentrum. It was completed in 2006, and houses a huge collection of Paul Klee's works left by the heirs of his estate. The building itself is quite a work of art:

The center has an excellent website which gives a brief history of the artist, the story of the building of the museum, and overviews of the current exhibits including a thumbnail of each artwork on display. Gavin and I saw the «Paul Klee. Life, Work and Responses» exhibition, which was excellent. So wonderful to see (finally) the originals of so many works I'd admired in books during my art studies!

Even Gavin was rather interested in some of the art. I found him in an area watching the delightful animated video Taking a Line for a Walk: A Homage to the Work of Paul Klee (1983), which otherwise I'd have completely missed. Unfortunately, I'm not able to find anything out on-line (yet) about this wonderful work, done by a U.K. team.

Such colors, lines and shapes in Klee's paintings! They made me want to break out my paints, pastels, brushes, and the rest of my art materials immediately. To my surprise, he also created more than 50 hand puppets - the first ones were made for his young son, then he kept on creating them. Several were in the exhibit. They were both very charming and crudely made: papier-mache heads, painted, with simple textile clothing. Another inspiration to create.

The museum owns so much Klee artwork, and it is all so fragile, that they only display a tiny fraction of the collection for 6 months at a time. This means that there is always something new to see. I know I'll be back soon.

Newport Aquarium

2009-10-04T23:45:00.000+02:00

These are the best of my test photos using my new (to me) Canon camera, taken at the Newport Aquarium. I'm a bit embarrassed that I didn't note any specific information about these marvelous creatures beyond the obvious...

The jellyfish tanks were the most magical of all - I could watch them flutter and waft around all day.

Skippy

2009-04-18T22:51:00.002+02:00

Several weeks ago, I found the cutest little Yorkshire terrier in Chambesy, after dropping off Dana, my carpool sister, at her home. He seemed to be lost, no tags on him. So I scooped him up, thinking I'd leave him at the police and they'd find his owner by scanning his implanted ID chip.

Wrong. There are no police in Chambesy; the nearest are in Versoix (about 6 km away). I drove to Versoix, pulled up to the police station which looked entirely dark. Got to the door with the dog, only to read that the station is open M-F from 16h - 18h only. This is Switzerland, after all. So the dog had to come home with me, until I could figure out what to do. At least the Co-op supermarket next door was still open, and I grabbed a small sack of kibbles.

He was remarkably camera shy for such an outgoing little pup (taken with cell phone - Nikon battery was dead):

So well mannered, too (at least compared to Entei, my late Labrador), so dainty and polite, though a little too doggie-smelling. He weighed next to nothing. I scrounged up a makeshift leash and took him for a couple brief walkies. I called him "Skippy", after a little joke Gavin and I had had the previous weekend, and fantasized about being able to keep him...

I did draw the line at letting him sleep in my bed, though - jumping down would have been a kamikazi leap for the little thing, and I didn't want to find puddles or other disasters in my bed the next morning. Plus, he needed a bath before any prolonged snuggling. Don't know where he ended up sleeping, but he was quiet all night.

The next morning (Friday), I took Skippy for a brief walk. Then I shut him in the kitchen with food and water, leaving the door to the balcony open. Skippy was yapping his adorable little head off as I got in the elevator. Uh oh. I silently apologized to my neighbors on the descent to the garage. By now, my fantasies about the joys of keeping him were fading rapidly.

I made up a little poster at work with his photos. Dana helped with the translation into French, and printed off a dozen copies to post around Chambesy over the weekend. I had decided to take Skippy to the SPA (animal protection) on Saturday to be scanned in case he had an ID chip.

Later that evening, right after I dropped Dana off, I saw a woman walking some kind of tiny little dog. I stopped, rolled down my window, and asked her if she knew anyone with a Yorkie (showing her the poster we'd made). As luck would have it, she pointed to a house the other side of the street, saying that a Yorkie lived there.

I parked, got out, went up to the aforementioned house, and rang the bell. A woman with a very sad expression opened the door. I showed her the poster, and she brightened up immediately. Yes, it was her dog. What a relief for both of us.

We agreed she would follow me in her car to my apartment. Once there, while handing Skippy to his owner, I told her she should really get a tag for him in case he got lost again. She said that his left ear was tattooed with his ID number, as if that was enough. Hmmmm. Well, she was the one who had endured a sleepless night worrying about him, when he could have been returned that same day if he'd had a tag. Not to mention that if I hadn't chanced upon that woman walking her tiny dog on the street, several more days could have passed before Skippy got back home.

It was with a twinge of regret that I patted ol' Skip goodbye, and watched his mistress drive off with him. I forgot to ask her what she called him. Yet I was glad for the experience, which showed me that I'm not ready yet to have the responsibilities of a pet again. Someday, but not right now.

Shabby Chic (?)

2009-02-28T17:59:00.000+01:00

Just finished abusing this cute little table, "shabby chic"-style. My goal was to give the $10 flea market find a new look without spending any more money on the project. Since I have other pieces in my living room that are light neutral distressed tones, I wanted something coordinating.

But.... I only had white paint, and all the how-tos I consulted recommended two colors of paint to layer in coats. I decided on a bruised mushroom color. If you're chic, you call it taupe, which is French for "bruised mushroom". (Actually, une taupe is a mole, the little burrowing beast). Ahem. A trip to the DIY store yielded two mini pots of paint (half-price!) which, when mixed, I hoped would produce the desired shade. They did, with a lot of white added in. There went 4 francs. Ooops.

I sanded the old finish down to what I hoped was an acceptable level, since I have not ever had good luck with stripping and am scared of the toxic chemicals involved. Not to mention their cost - lots more than the table price. So sanding would have to do. Then I painted it with one coat of primer for "difficult surfaces" (hoping to counteract any deficiencies in my sanding job). Two coats of bruised mushroom came next.

Already the table looked vastly better, but it was still a bit boring. Time for the white paint. The pros all recommend using glazes, but as far as I can tell, paint glaze does not exist here in Switzerland. So I just watered down the white paint a bit, and applied a thin coat. Ack! What streaks! After about 5 minutes, though, I decided maybe it would be OK. Repainting is always an option. I let it all dry a week.

Today, I got the sandpaper and steel wool, and set to work. I sanded the edges non-uniformly, where wear would occur over a long period, and even some of the surfaces on the legs where they protrude the most. Then I sanded the flat surfaces to tone down the streakiness and create "worn" patches. Et voila! A coat of paste wax, et c'est fini!

A Merry Christmas

2008-12-26T14:22:00.000+01:00

Of the many little details that went into making Christmas day a very pleasant day, finishing my Opal socks was one. A pair of sock perfection:

Too bad my photography skills aren't up to letting you see both socks :-( Trust me, the other sock is practically identical, down to the placement of the stripes. (Click photo for a bigger-than-life closeup.) Cozy woolly hugs for me feetsies.

And today is an ABSOLUTELY beautiful day here in Geneva - totally cloudless, essentially haze-free, and of course, sunny. A stiff wind is blowing up little whitecaps on the lake. The sort of day that gets me all pumped up with energy. Bring on 2009!

Pardon Me (I Didn't Knit That for You)

2008-12-14T16:25:00.000+01:00

too perfect...

Birthday Prezzie for Jane

2008-12-14T15:08:00.001+01:00

Just finished this today - will get it and everything else for Dad and Jane boxed up and sent tomorrow or Tuesday. This quilt is for Janie's 60th birthday. As I was making it, for some reason I wanted to call it Red Hot Chili Baby. Maybe Jane would like that name?!

The colors look so washed out here - believe me, it's much more intense in the live fabric. There are a couple of firsts for me with this quilt - free-motion quilting in something other than a stipple (there are lightning bolts on the orange borders, and echo quilting around the animals and hunters on the bottom), and a beaded fringe (!). It measures about 18 x 24".

Coming up on 1000 Etsy sales

2008-12-13T11:11:00.000+01:00

Only 12 more patterns to sell, and I will have hit the 1000 sales mark in my Etsy shop.

woo hoo! :-)

A Charmed Life

2007-11-11T17:08:00.001+01:00

At last, a finished project! What was supposed to be a quick and easy project based on an on-line how-to took me 4 hours to get something I am happy with. Am I just super-picky or what?

The on-line project photo was artfully done. Even though all the charms were hung on a chain, they were splayed out nicely in the photo. Yes, I should know better than to believe the picture, since I am as familiar with gravity as the next person. And so when I put it all together, my beautiful, carefully selected charms and crystals just hung in a big clump in the center. Not quite what I had in mind.

So, after scrounging around my supplies for the daisy spacer beads, heavy wire, and a more robust chain, I came up with this solution. The spacer beads between each charm/crystal provide a bit of breathing room, but still give a lush look to the charm cluster. The necklace is fun to play with, too.

I am pleased. Finally.

A Few Days in the Camargue

2007-10-17T16:10:00.000+02:00

Gavin and I just got back from a few days in the south of France, in Saintes Marie de la Mer, a tiny village at the very southern edge of the Camargue. We drove there in the trusty Subaru, about a 5 hour drive each way.

We passed our time very pleasantly, just relaxing on the beach, sampling the local cuisine, wandering around, and plenty of just hanging out in general. The Camargue has a certain spartan beauty which may not appeal to many -- the land is very flat, with few trees or other greenery except grasses and scrub bushes, and cut through with streams, ponds and swampy areas. Gavin and I took a brief excursion on a steam boat, and also visited the ornithological reserve.

I took quite a few photographs, but didn't think too much as I was taking them, nor did I check them along the way. When I uploaded the pictures onto the computer upon our return, I was struck by their sheer mediocrity. ** sigh ** For example, every panoramic photo I took of the sea shore was dreadfully out of focus; I must have had the macro setting activated or something.

A few hours working in Photoshop improved a bunch of them. I cloned away wires from skylines, a napkin covering part of Gavin's chin, and some intrusive tourists. Levels and curves rescued some problems with lighting and coloration. I even hyper-sharpened a couple of seaside shots, which gave them a rather artistic look suitable for thumbnails (photo at top of post). But of course, Photoshop can't make up for boring composition, lack of a zoom lens, or other basic problems.

So with all that apologetica, here are a few of the most post-worthy. At least I did capture Gavin in a variety of moods and activities, which is surprising since he doesn't like having his picture taken these days.

I climbed to the top of the 12th century church (above), from where I took the picture below:

The next three were taken in the bird sanctuary:

Gavin had no interest in actually swimming in the Med, but he was irresistably drawn in anyway.

We both got a giggle over the name of this drink, Pschitt! (it's like Sprite). Those French...

One day I went to see the "courses de tauros", as the Camargue has a long tradition with the indigenous bulls and horses. We were assured that it was not a bull fight (though they also have bull fights there). Even so, Gavin did not want to come with me.

The "course" ("race" in French) works like this: a bull has little rings of string tied around its horns. (I wonder how they accomplish this.) The contestants, 10 at a time, have only a little rake-like tool in one hand that they use to try and grab as many of the rings as possible. The one with the most rings wins prize money. At the end (one course lasts about 15 minutes), the bull is winded from all the running, but is otherwise in fine shape. The guys are very fast and agile, as they leap over the wooden fence and hang off the white railings until the bull chases after someone else.

A fine metaphor for life, don't you think?

See my VIDEO here

Creature Comforts USA - Art

2007-09-22T10:50:00.000+02:00

Ever wanted to really know about art? Here's your chance...

UFO Sightings

2007-09-09T12:43:00.000+02:00

Yes, close encounters of the second kind! Genuine, documentable sightings of the little buggers! No, I don't mean little E.T.s or flying saucers. UFO as in Un-Finished Object.

I've come across dozens of UFOs as I rummage through my many packed boxes moved from the house. Each one causes a little twinge of ... something. Sometimes guilt, for not having finished it and no longer really wanting to. Sometimes pleasure, at finding a project that I'd really like to finish and had wondered where it had gotten buried. Sometimes wonder, as in "I wonder whatever I was thinking?" or "I wonder if I even remember how to do this technique anymore?" And occasionally, a feeling of failure, as I remember something that hadn't gone well, a perceived glitch, a realization that the finished product couldn't possibly turn out as well as my vision demands.

I would be embarrassed to list here exactly how many UFOs are entwined in my life. Suffice it to say that they run the gamut of my endeavors, from quilting, beadwork, knitting, to polymer clay, scrapbooking, and collage. I am a natural procrastinator, yet I suspect there is an additional dimension to this collection of UFOs.

Many crafters are similarly infested with their own UFOs, so much so that the acronym itself is well known (no, it's not original to me) and is often used on blogs, forums, and chat rooms frequented by crafty persons. My scientific research indicates for every crafter that claims to work on and finish one project at a time, there are 23 crafters who admit to having at least several projects in various stages of completion. Collectively and individually we ask "why?" -- why do we buy materials and start multiple projects, only to let them fall aside as we move on to other new, more exciting(?) projects? What's going on here?

Perhaps not so coincidentally, most crafters are women. I wonder, is this flitting from project to project a form of low-risk promiscuity -- a socially acceptable outlet for seeking new, exciting, challenging conquests without deception and broken hearts? (Does that perpetually unfinished Aran wool sweater pine for the caress of my fingertips on its unloved stitches?) Or are we all afraid of success? Of failure? Or are we really "process-oriented" instead of "product oriented" -- starting a new venture for the thrill of dreaming, planning and learning how to do something, then losing interest once the idea starts to become a tangible thing? Are we so used to multi-tasking that we delude ourselves into thinking we can do it all?

Below you see just one clue to my personal dilemma:

Nominally, this is "the sewing table" (see the machine, at left?). How much sewing happens here? You guessed it.

My uncounted, undone projects have weighed on my psyche a long time, and I imagine how free it would feel not to have them (or at least so many). Could I possibly finish them all, or will I have to bite the bullet and fling the more pathetic (or unfashionable) of them in the bin? So far I've been unable to do either.

But it's something to think about, surely, just as soon as I cut out the fabric pieces for this really cute baby quilt I'm starting for a pregnant friend...

Remembering Entei

2007-08-05T14:46:00.000+02:00

A week has gone by since Entei's death, a long, sad week for his "mama." A week spent in part reflecting on his sweetness, his simple loving nature, and of course, the memories of time we spent together. The best dog ever.

He was not an easy subject to photograph, however. Between his total blackness (save for his eyes and tongue), and his impulse to leap at the camera whenever it appeared, it is perhaps a tribute to luck that I have as many nice shots of him as I do. The one below is from his second day with us, when I began to learn how subtle photographing an all-black subject can be. I slept on the sofa upstairs those first days to keep him company at night. He slept on the puddle of bedding that invariably flowed off the sofa. A few other photos to make me smile:

I plan on making a memory album for Entei. But for now, seeing these few pics helps me remember that though Entei's body and spirit may be gone, he's left a lot of love in at least one person's heart. Goodbye, sweetie.

Ode to a Certain Mom

2007-06-17T15:16:00.000+02:00

Yesterday, I received a beautifully written (in laborious cursive) original poem from Gavin. I don't get much original poetry written for me, so this indeed is special:

Ode to a Certain Mom

We are in the month of June,
Where birds are singing,
And bells are ringing,
In a most glorious tune.

But if you have not noticed
That something will happen soon,
A certain child's half-birthday
Near the night of the full moon.

He does not wish for very much,
But let me tell you this,
There are books out on the web
That would bring lots of bliss.

He swears by all that's
Golden, silver and bronze,
He also swears by the love
That children have for their dads and moms:

That this is not some sort of scam to get junk and toys.

A poem of a certain beauty, yes?

Compositionally Challenged

2007-06-17T14:15:00.000+02:00

This is my submission for a challenge in the Yahoo collage composition group I belong to. By way of introducing ourselves, we were to choose one word that describes us and make a collage to post to the group that will then be constructively critiqued. Mine is completely done in Photoshop, as you probably can tell.

As the two images imply, I cannot decide which is the better composition of the two. It is easy to over-think such things, especially since I'm not truly happy with either one. (It's the flat line-art figure that bugs me, but it's the right pose, so I'm going with it for this exercise).

The flaming heart is my first attempt at "painting" in Photoshop, and I'm pleased with the hand-painted effect it has overall. (The .jpg compression for the web gives the heart a mottled effect here that it doesn't have at full resolution.) Painting with real paints is still easier, in my humble opinion, though I'd have to tear myself away from the computer to do that.

Critique from my loyal reader (?) welcome...

Good Grief!

2007-06-09T23:40:00.000+02:00

Finally, I think I'm starting to get over this hurdle, the idea of saving stuff "for good." You know -- where you buy or receive as gifts beautiful things and then stash them away in a closet for Someday, that special day that requires "good" stuff. I bet lots of people die before they get to use the good stuff.

My particular stashing includes fabric and other artsy-craftsy supplies. I guess I'm waiting until I feel I'm "good enough" at something to warrant using the supplies. Well, duh, how am I supposed to become even remotely good at something if I *don't* use the necessary supplies?!

Case in point: a set of silk painting dyes, a beautiful Japanese bamboo-handled brush, some gutta (a liquid resist used for clean-edged lines) and a white silk square scarf. I bought these little gems in Vancouver, BC, more than 15 years ago. Then I hoarded them for years, moved them across the Atlantic, and hoarded them another 10 years. Why? Not really sure.

Until today. Today I decide to try the dyes on some other silk I have, so I can do something fun with it (make fabric beads, another post later). Upon opening the box, I discover the instructions missing, the gutta completely dried out, and the dye-fixative turned a nasty brown gummy consistency. I toss the gutta. Now my painting will have to be soft-edged blurriness. Fine.

But no instructions? And what about the spoiled fixative? Hmmm... time to check the web. Googling leads me to a practical alternative for setting the dye without the fixative, plus expands my knowledge about silk paints vs. dyes (who knew?).

Now I'm set. I tack the small silk square scrap onto the wood frame, squirt out some dyes onto a plate, and start painting. What fun! How nicely the colors run and bleed together! At least the actual dyes hadn't spoiled over all this time. Tomorrow I will try the steam-set method I found on the web, and then maybe pull out something, anything, else I've been saving "for good" -- tomorrow will be a good day for that.

Teach Me To Fly

2007-05-26T16:41:00.000+02:00

I started this digital collage about 11pm last night, not usually the best time to start new projects. I was up until 2:30 am looking for just the right images, and then finished it this morning. ATC size (what's an ATC?), done in Photoshop CS2, with the sky photos from stock.xchng and all the vintage images from one of my Flickr groups.

For fellow Photoshoppers who might be interested, here's the process I went through for this piece:

1) I started with the road map and the eclipse line drawing (in sky), thinking they'd be good background material. At this point, I had no theme or message in mind -- just wanted to play!

2) Next I found the B&W aviator photo. I liked his broad smile and imagined him as a barnstormer at the frontiers of aviation. (Maybe the goggles reminded me of Rocky the Flying Squirrel, fresh in my mind after a week-long Bullwinkle video marathon with Gavin.) He was extracted from his original background, levels corrected, de-specked, and face brightened. For some reason, I knew right away he needed a color gradient, and chose this one.

3) The aviator suggested a flying theme, so I searched for some other images to do with flying. The swift was an obvious choice, and when placed in the upper left corner, the aviator seemed to be admiring him.

4) I found a clipart advert from the 40's with an airplane and "Learn To Fly". But when placed in the composition, I found it didn't work so discarded it.

5) I had an old drawing of detailed bird wings, and I turned two different wings into brushes. Though I'm tired of all the winged ladies and children in popular art these days, I thought one of the wing brushes added a nice level of detail when used with a brown color and the level's opacity reduced.

6) At this point, I liked the elements but the composition still needed work. Remembering the "Learn To Fly" clipart, I changed that idea to "Teach Me To Fly" as a theme: the aviator looking to one of nature's premier flyers for guidance.

7) After finding images of gyroscopes, astronomy maps, etc., it was very late and time for bed!

8) In the morning, adding more line drawings (like gyroscopes and astronomy maps) seemed like way too much detail. I had a brainstorm about blue sky with fluffy clouds fading into a starry sky, and found some suitable photos on stock.xchng. The photo merge effect was achieved with gradient layer masks (had to consult my Scott Kelby book to refresh my memory on this technique!) and was so pleased with the result that I then blended in the background road map at the bottom too.

9) Now with the dark sky at the top, my original swift and eclipse drawing were too dark and got lost. I fixed that by inverting the coloration on the swift (that so rarely works successfully, but I liked the somewhat ghostly result this time) and changing the black lines of the eclipse drawing to a gradated white to dark grey.

10) Looking good so far! But the lower left still seemed to need something, and some of the road map lines didn't jibe right with the lines in the eclipse drawing. I moved the map around until I got a major road line to lead up from the left to the center of the eclipse drawing -- it seems to add movement and draw the eye inward.

11) I wasn't sure about adding the words "Teach Me To Fly", but tried out some ideas and fonts just to see. I like this version following the shoulder line, in a casual almost hand-stamped sort of font. Black was way too dark, but a nice mauve-grey made it blend in much better.

12) Serendipity: a layer with my "reserve" copy of the swift was peeking through the background layers, forming a little shadow under the green swift and better defining his lower wing. (I usually have a reserve copy of each image in the document until I'm sure I like what I've done with the original layer, then delete the unused copy layers at the end.)

13) Finally, I added a very narrow frame all around the image with the Stroke option, and gave it a slightly metallic blue-grey bevelled layer style... just because I can in Photoshop.

If I'd had my camera today...

2007-05-25T22:17:00.000+02:00

I could post a picture of the 2 hour traffic jam I was stuck in while driving to Lausanne to pick up Gavin. And pictures of Gavin eating a chicken kebab sandwich with great relish. And pictures of the baby cow nursing, the red poppies along the edges of the wheat fields, and the stormy clouds over the lake.

But I didn't.

Magnetically Yours

2007-05-23T21:59:00.000+02:00

Just a couple of past polyclay experiments. These got turned into magnets today for my humble desk at work (where my one opportunity for some personal expression is my magnetic desk divider). The star is my first multi-color Skinner blend, with a Paula Best texture stamp. The heart uses a jelly roll cane and a commercial heart mold.

Inspired by: Lisa Vollrath's Amazing ATCs and Paper Art Dolls How-To CDs

Finally...

2007-05-20T18:36:00.000+02:00

I finished a craft project (the first in a long time), this polymer clay charm bracelet for summer. Pretty cute, if I do say. The disks are made from canes I did when showing various friends how to work with clay and the concept of making canes. This last time (pink flower with spiral center), I got a bit more experimental with the petal cane, adding a triangle insert and a partial black wrap for a different outline effect.

This is about as far as I've ever gotten with polyclay -- time to branch out! But first, to finish off at least a few of my many UFOs (Un-Finished Objects) before beginning new projects ...

Inspired by: Julie Arkell's charmingly funky papier mache creations