What Happens When The Cable Goes Out...

Got home this evening and the cable refused to connect to the internet...started to go into serious withdrawal..of course there were things I just HAD to look at on the 'net!
Almost decided to just go to bed really early for a change...but then passed my Journal quilt fabrics just sitting there looking so pretty...and thought...nah, sleep can wait...lets get at least the background on the page done...well, its seveal hours later, the background is done, the focus is done, the quilting is done -AND the cable is back!...Just have to sew on some embelishments, figure out if I want to print something for the back and do the satin stitching around the edge!!!! Hurrah, its mostly done...I guess I should say "Thanks, Charter Cable".

Harp Strings, Tibetan Singing Bowls and Belly Dancing Bells

Didn't get too much done on my January piece as I decided today was a good day to go do my Artist Date...I had read in a local magazine that there was a store not too far away that had harps...Well that caught my eye and I have been looking for a time to go...Had to get out to mail a couple of packages at the PO so I was out anyway...
This was a very ODD store...In addition to having harps (only three floor harps in the $1000 plus range!) they have guitars, violins, bongo drums, dulicmers, autoharps, belly dancing bells, shell ankle bands (they make noise), Tibetan singing bowls, tin whistles, stuffed animals, greeting cards, t-shirts, CD's and posters...Very cramped place with instruments stuffed on a shelf up over the display cases...And the clerks totally ignored me...I must have wandered around there for at least half an hour and not one word!!! Blew me away...
The store is in an old restored part of town, very eclectic...I wandered around the little shops - some of them had delicious odors wafting out to the street...One store had the Dansko shoes that Sophie talked about in her blog. Went in and tried on a couple of pairs...Very cool shoes, but wow...Are they expensive! $110!! It was an interesting experience!
Headed over to Michaels on the way home and got some drawing supplies and a few other tidbits with my gift card...So I didn't arrive home empty-handed.

January On My Mind...

I have had the initial design for the January JQC page done for some time now...Practically from the day I decided to do the challenge, but for some reason, every time I have gone in to work on it, I have shied away...Now I know why...My inner eye was not really satisfied with the piece of material for the background. I found a MUCH better piece today on the way home and I also got some glitter paint and some beads...Now I am RARING to get at this piece...Hopefully after work tomorrow...

Four on the Floor

Sophie and Jules have tagged everyone I know in the blogosphere with this MEME...

Four jobs you've had: computer programmer, data jock, sales clerk at the candy counter, order fulfillment for mail order

Four movies you could watch over and over: Somewhere in Time, Real Genius, Its a Wonderful Life, Home Alone

Four places you've lived: So Cal, Atlanta, Boston, Newfoundland

Four TV shows you love to watch: This is really hard since we don't watch much TV...Smallville, Star Trek, Monk, Boston Legal

Four Places You've Been on Vacation: Disney World, Victoria Island, Cork, Brussels

Four Websites You Visit Every Day: About.com quilting forum, a number of blogs (count is up to 89!!!!), MSNBC, CNN

Four Of Your Favorite Foods: dark chocolate reigns supreme, apricots, raspberries, Shrimp Rangoons

Four Places You'd Rather Be: On a cruise, Hawaii(I've never been there!), New Zealand, exploring Mars

Four Albums you can't live without: Mannheim Steamroller (any of them), Soundtrack to Phantom of the Opera, Enya, Christmas at the Kings Court(harp music)

Four People you'll pass this on to: Humpff...all the people I know with blogs have been tagged already...If you are reading this and you haven't been tagged yet, guess what? You're IT!

Bad Santa Mom

As I was putting away the Christmas stuff today, I remembered a funny incident that happened when we had our Christmas Party this year...I still fill stockings for my adult children...its a convient place to put 'little stuff'. My DD(23) this year, after she dragged all the stuff out of her stocking said to me in an exasperated voice..."MA, you FORGOT the tangerine and the penny...and NO NEW TOOTHBRUSH or pack of gum either! Its TRADITION!!!" Well I guess I've been told, eh? I gotta put that on the list for next year so I don't forget and be a bad Santa Mom again. (Kids...sheesh!)

Artist's Way Check In - Week Seven

Found a couple of quotes that were really interesting to me in chapter seven this week -

• Perfectionism is not a quest for the best. It is a pursuit of the worst in ourselves, the part that tells us that nothing we do will ever be good enough - that we should try again.


• Usually when we say we can't do something, what we mean is that we won't do something unless we can guarantee we'll do it perfectly.

Tasks:
1. Made the mantra and stuck it up on my bulletin board...
4. Got a delicious smelling candle - hazelnut cream. Though I don't actually like burning candles in my house, I do like picking up a good smelling candle as I pass by during the day...
5. Wore my favorite pink sweater a couple of times just cuz...
6. Bought a cozy soft pair of bottle green sox...
7 & 10. Made the collage (see other post for picture). Its hanging behind my desk where I can see it frequently. I was surprised by just how many pictures of cruise boats I picked out - I guess I really do want to go on a cruise!
8. Favorite films

• Princess Bride
• Somewhere in Time
• Ever After
• Real Genius
• Its a Wonderful Life

Trimming it to 5 was hard...I like lots of films - including the Lord of the Ring Trilogy, the Harry Potter series, the Star Wars series and the Star Trek series...

Check In:
1. Did my morning pages 6/7..Wednesdays continue to be my challenge day. I did morning pages most of the days last week too...even though we were on hiatus.
2. Artist Date this week was thrift store sailing...went to a bunch of thrift stores that are near each other in Downtown. In one of the stores, I found a package of felt that sticks to the wall without harming the paint...there are four pieces which I think I will use in the corners of chunk of white flannel for a design wall. I also happened on a sweater sale at another - any sweater for 3 bucks. I got a raspberry chenille pullover and a cardigan that has rows of designs that go all the way around the sweater even the back...I haven't any idea what that pattern is called but I have been looking for one that I liked for a looonnnnggg time. This one has a gold background with pink, rose, green, white and slate blue...its label says its an Heirloom Collectible from 2004 and it does not appear to have ever been worn! Very funny that I would be picking out sweaters - it was close to 90 that day! Did I take any risks with my Artist Date..well, no. But it felt really cool to find that sweater!
3. Synchronicity...well, this week it was everywhere...I have joined the Healthy Living gang on the quilting forum and the Quilters Lounge...Got lots of references everywhere I looked - even in my mail, that the only way to actually keep weight off is to exercise! SO I am exercising...
4. As for issues, I am not sure this is actually an issue, but I am getting way more organized than I have been in the past...I seem to be able to focus harder on tasks and GET 'EM DONE easier! This is a good thing...

Lookin' Out My Back Door

This is the view today out my back door, or it was a few minutes ago...Rainbows sure don't last very long...by the time I saw the rainbow and ran to get the digital, it had already faded by almost a half...California is in the grip of a wild rain storm system...If you watched the Rose Parade on TV earlier today, you saw it was very drippy! We have high wind advisories with up to 60 mph gusts and flood watches in nearly every county...there is even a tornado watch in a couple of the northern counties! Liquid Sunshine! And by the end of the week, we are supposed to be almost at 80 degrees again...

Happy New Year 2006

I wish all of you a very Happy New Year!
I spent the day doing things I like to do (and some need to do's) so hopefully they will be things I get to do a lot of in the new year - just on the off-chance that its true, I took to heart Gabrielle's superstition...
~ I quilted...Worked on my Arizona Challenge piece and its almost done...
~ I did my morning pages...
~ I cooked some tasty low-carb food...
~ I exercised...
~ I read - both on computer and off...
~ I sketched some...I finished the basic design for my Journal Quilt page for January...

Goals for the next month:
~ Finish Arizona Challenge piece
~ Finish Journal Quilt page for January
~ Get my supplies together for Road To California Quilt Show classes
~ Attend Road to California Quilt Show
~ Keep up with The Artist's Way activities
~ Loose those 6 pounds that snuck up on me during the holidays

Wind Beneath My Petals

For my Artist Date this week, I rummaged around a in cool store called 'Tuesday Morning'. I was actually looking for the elegant pair of sox or elegant pair of gloves for one of the other tasks...but instead found this really bright and cheerful windsock flower. Its currently residing in a flowerpot on my front porch...kinda clashes with the Christmas decorations - Christmas stuff will be out for a while longer - gets put away after Epiphany.

Spent yesterday afternoon with my parents - my Mom had a bunch of magazines that she was going to toss...I happily ripped into them and got some really cool pictures and sayings for my collage. I finished that this morning - its now hanging behind my desk.

Requiat in Pace, Ursus Maritimus

We laid to rest a good dog today. My DD's Champagne Lab, who was named 'Polar Bear' (Ursus Maritimus) because when we got him he looked just like a polar bear cub. He became a gentle giant of a dog. Oddly, for a purebred Labrador, he never did learn how to fetch. He will be missed. He will be waiting for my DD at the Rainbow Bridge...

Murphy's Law and the Vacation Phenomenon

Today was a day for the record-books. I started my annual year-end vacation as of 5 pm today but for most of the day it was very touch and go as to whether I would even GET to take vacation next week. I am not sure why, but Murphy's Law seems to crank into full steam whenever you get near enough to smell the start of a vacation - Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong and right before your vacation starts is the worst possible time! Systems that have been working perfectly fine for months decided yesterday that they just had to break...and of course those are the ones the bean-counter people must have working for the end of year tallying up process. But, with my nose firmly pressed to the grindstone, I was able to whack the problems down to size, at the expense of a layer or two of nose-skin. I started out the day with a fever - wasn't even sure I should get out of bed, but persistence won out, I triumphed and all is well on the western front.
Tomorrow I plan to finish off the gift-making. I'm on a roll!

Little Luxuries

Another part of this week was the exploration into authentic little luxuries.
The lady with the raspberries really resonated with me...they are one of my favorites - nothing quite compares to the delight of popping fresh raspberries into the mouth, unless its picking them fresh from the canes and eating them as fast as you fill the bucket! I bought a package of them at the store...
Another little luxury I like is Chai Spice Tea with cream...ummmm...always reminds me of the smell of Christmas...one of the coffee stations where I work has this tea frequently available and for a mere 25 cents I can revel in the taste and scent as I sip.
I saw something at one of the stores today that I think would be a great little luxury - a small rollup case with colored pencils and a small sketch pad...that would be a cool thing to carry around - making one will be vastly cheaper than what the boutique store that I was in wanted for it (it was made of purple suede!) and I can tailor it to my selection of pencils...

Artist's Way Check In - Week Six

This was a fun week. I did my morning page 6/7 days - Wednesdays are just the hardest days for me to get into them! I sewed a bunch of Christmas Gifts for my Girlfriends, went to Christmas Party with my associates - there were 6 of us at each table...the table I was at, everyone EXCEPT me got one of the door prizes...most of the prizes were dustcatchers...I ended up with a consolation prize...but really I like it better...its a dish of florescent green plastic putty that can be squeezed, molded, pinched, squished...its labeled "Positive Putty - Release Your Tension, Stretch Your Creativity, Shape Your Destiny, Sculpt Your Direction." - More up a creative person's alley than a silly old dustcatcher anyway!
I loved the tasks this week and did most of them. I consider my reunion with my long lost friend to be my artist date for the week..it sure was satisfying! Oh..and playing with the putty too!

Task 1 - found 5 interesting rocks from my gravel driveway...a chunk of granite with pyrite sparkles, some milky quartz, a piece of limestone, a smooth chunk of basalt and an interesting piece with some hematite in it..or at least thats the best I can do at identifying the rock types (Geology was a really looooonnnngggg time ago!) I washed the rocks and put them into a jam jar lid that has cute little berries printed on the edge...and put them on the ledge of my kitchen window.
Task 2 - its winter and even in So Cal, there are not too many flowers that bloom in winter, but I did find some! A bright yellow dandylion, a deep pink wildrose bloom, a tiny white rose, a spray of pepper berries and a lime blossom...put them into a pretty glass to enjoy for a few days.
Task 3 - I already cleaned out the ratty clothes a couple of weeks ago..so I cleaned out one of the kitchen drawers and tidied up the rubber bands and twist ties, restacked the kitchen towels and boxes of plastic wrap...Found a box of parchment paper I forgot I had!
Task 4 - Made a spicy chicken soup (added Pace Salsa)and a pumpkin pudding...yummm!

And...I went out this morning and did ALL the Christmas shopping except for a couple more stocking stuffers for my kids, the gift bags, and the food that will be served at the party...my credit cards are protesting, but TADA...I am done with buying things and since I knew where I was going and what I wanted, the only crowded place was Costco - but that's normally crowded on a Sunday afternoon..just have to finish the handmade gifts, get the decorations up and clean the house...and er, humpf...the Christmas Cards! This is THE earliest I have ever had this much of the shopping done!!!! (One year we were sick for Christmas, hadn't done the shopping at all! Christmas celebration was postponed til New Years, and we got all the Christmas gifts that year at the After Christmas Sales!)

Catching Up...Twenty Five Years Worth

I had dinner with my long lost friend last night. It was a wonderful, wonderful reunion! We had dinner and we talked and talked and talked...finally one of the waiters came over and said they were closing for the evening!!!We did not even realize we had talked for FIVE hours! (Nice of the restaurant not to kick us out earlier!) I think we might still be there talking if they hadn't closed.
We are going to get together again between Christmas and New Years - both of us are off work and we still have oddles to talk about! Very interestingly, our lives have taken similar paths although she still has the same attitude about quilting I did three years ago before I got quiltpox ("Why would you cut up perfectly good fabric into little pieces just to sew it back together??)...I will just have to expose her to quiltpox and hope she catches it!

Artist's Way Check In - Week Five

Chapter 5 Check In

I spent most of the week in a bit of a bad mood...I really didn't like the first of the tasks as I found it rather insulting for her to assume I don't believe in a supportive God...and my antagonism towards that task colored my perspective for the rest of them...

Task 8 - Favorite Creative Block would probably be web surfing.

1. Did pages 6/7 days. Not experiencing page and a half thing...either pages start out as a stream of conciousness and stay that way or they start out exploring an issue and I go on from there...
2. Artist Date for this week started out to be the mystery quilt and I did finish the top...but I wasn't totally satisfied with just that, so I went and bought a toy lap harp - learned to tune the instrument (takes a while!) and play a couple of songs. Its cute but it only has 8 strings so its definately just a toy...but it has me longing to get a real harp. There is a store about an hour drive away that does demo classes periodically where they teach you to play a simple song and you get to try out the different harps...That's gonna be a definate goal for an Artist Date in the near future!
3. No real synchronicity this week.
4. No burning issues...

Fly Me To The Moon!

Remember my 'Moon Jumpers' from third grade, with the block of wood and big springs??? There I was in Wal-Mart...strolling thru the toy section on my way to another department - I turned around, and lo and behold: Today's version: Moon Shoes!!! Mini-trampolines in a plastic bucket that you strap onto your feet...Artist Child almost made me buy them....

Its really a mystery...

...why I did this!!! But I finished the mystery quilt top. Its ready to be quilted to a fleece backing. Pattern is a little too close to Log Cabin for my tastes and it makes me DIZZY! Up close, I like it, but when I see it in a picture or in the mirror, its kinda weird. I think it needs some leaves or flowers or something! Picture is pretty bad...its really a cream color and a light leaf green, not olive!

What I did like about the process was the clever technique for building the strips that make up the block...

Made a big pot of turkey soup while I was stitching...umm, yum...

Artist Way Check In - Week Four

I am checking in a bit early since I am doing my Artist Date for next week tomorrow morning - gonna do my first mystery quilt...so may not have time to get on the computer except to get the clues...
Hopefully this links correctly to the Artist's Way blog...Artist Way Quilters: Chap 4 Check-in November 27, 2005

1. Did morning pages 6/7...skipped Turkey Day - I was just way too busy to sit and do pages!
2. Did my Artist Date - and yes, my artist gets to do more than rent a movie - we were somewhat creative this week and finished off some ancient UFOs
3. Well...I think getting the return email from my long lost friend and having her work in the same city as I work in is pretty much synchronistic!
4. No burning issues...

Task 8 - Out with the old, in with the new...
I started with the underwear drawer..all the ratty old undies went in the trash, along with a bunch of undies that I just never felt right wearing. Fresh new undies took their place. Then I moved on to the closet...in addition to evicting a low self worth outfit (a shorts and top outfit that every time I put it on I wondered what in the world I was thinking!! Unfortunately I loved the color...just not on me!), I did my seasonal 'move the winter stuff to the front, the summer stuff to the back' and got rid of two bags of other stuff that bugs me...I still have too much 'stuff'...I have to pare more deeply - one of these days.

Buried Dreams Exercise

Most of these were not too hard for me to do - except the things that sound fun that I would never do - now, if they really sounded fun, I might try them - but these are ones that are a little too scary for my tastes!

I couldn't keep to just 5 on the classes though...I love trying new things and would love to take more classes...just don't find enough time to actually go...

Five hobbies that sound fun: pottery, beading, scrapbooking, playing the harp, candlemaking
Five classes that sound fun: Java programming, filmography, balloon bouquets, pysanka, cake decorating and a couple extra, Japanese ink painting and cartooning
Five things I would never do that sound fun: Sky diving, hang-gliding, bobsledding, long distance swimming in the ocean, scuba diving
Five skills that would be fun to have: ice sculpting, ballroom dancing, antiques appraising, travel agenting, horse whispering
Five things I used to enjoy doing: intense following of archeology projects, ice skating, swimming, gardening, scouting
Five silly things I would like to try once: ice bathing, underwater basket weaving, grunion hunting, have a mold made of my body, get dressed to the nines and go to High Tea with the Queen of England

Angel Bear and The TopiaryTree

For my Artist's Date this week I finished off a couple of projects that have been hanging around for it seems like eons! They are at least 10 year old UFO's.
Angel Bear is made of a large brass bell with bear paws and head attached. He has gold wings in the back and is holding my favorite instrument - the harp! The bell used to bug me every time I would move the project, so one year I squirted hot glue into the bell and silenced it..did I take the time to finish the project?? NOPE..just glued that danged annoying marble.
The topiary tree is made of spanish moss and stasis, with tiny rosebuds...
Don't ask me what I am going to do with them though!

Guess what!!! The lady I emailed IS my friend that I lost contact with and she does want to get together to catch up on the last 20 or so years! Yippee!