Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Tulle time

Today I received an envelope full of tulle samples from Montana. Yummy! but what? Then I remembered I had requested this package after reading about the Salvaged Threads challenge online. Cynthia St. Charles has put this challenge together. It is on my TO DO list. Too late to think about it now. Still exhausted.

Smokey summer

My local paper states 842 fires in Northern California. And on tonite's news there was a flare up on a previous fire. None of the fires are in my own immediate area. But I have not seen blue sky for 3 days. It is so smoky here, I can't see the Sonoma Mountains from my deck or kitchen window. Mount St. Helena has also disappeared. Air quality sucks. My vehicles have ash shrouds. I cough.

Because of the gas problem, we are all looking at our driving habits. Because I live in the country, I always packaged my trips "into town." Gas up first. $65.00! This so sucks! I needed to attend today's Pointless Sister's Art Quilt group meeting, not only for inspiration, but because I was teaching today's workshop, based on Jane Davila and Elin Waterston's "Art Quilt Workbook". All went well and the participants not only had fun, but learned some design techniques, Then it was off to complete some chores.

I've been looking for a substantial room divider for some time now. I had gone online and Target had some listed there. Of course, none in the store. Go online, the clerk said. But my brain focused on SHIPPING CHARGES. Not going to happen. I needed some Golden liquid Matte Medium and Cost Plus was on the way and I found a fabulous divider there. I'll post a photo once it gets out of the box. Great design with banana leaves. On to Michaels where I focused on the Art Dep .and didn't look to my left or right. Coupon in hand, I got my matte medium.

Next off to to Great Clips to have my locks shorn. Great cut and on to the supermarket. I am hosting the Xtremes Art Quilt group meeting Thursday nite and I needed to stock up on some special items. Of course, I forgot my shopping list at home and had to fake it. I got it purchased, bagged and loaded. No one home to help unload it. I need a hunky bag boy here. I'm exhausted! I have a little cart I use to schlep things in and out. I filled it to capacity and wrangled it into the house and unloaded it to a ringing telephone. Oh heck. I'm supposed to go to an AWS salon tonight and have not unloaded my groceries yet. Send my regrets. Check email. Try to blog. I'm done!

Friday, June 20, 2008

Another failed experiment

Caran d'ache neocolors on Lutrador doesn't work for me. I like the design, not the technique. I wonder what I'll do with it next?

I spent today trying to stay cool. The San Francisco Bay Area homes are not built for this kind of heat and many of us have no air conditioning. 104 degrees is just too much for me unless I'm in water and I can't swim anymore, so I stayed inside and melted. It's after 6pm now, I'm sitting here with a frozen ice block down the front of my shirt and it's still 99 degrees. I have several things I am working on, but unfortunatelty they are at a stage that needs ironing. NOT TODAY. So I printed out some images I'll be using in my Pointless Sisters shopping bag challenge. Enough for now.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Slow to Post


I haven't been posting much lately. For one reason, this one-finger-picking gets old really fast. Also, I've learned that quilts published, even on the net, are disqualified from entry in many competitions. And my health took a downturn, but a change in medication has me up and running again. This photo is not a quilt - yet. It is the start of a pieced I am doing for a Black and White Challenge. Comments and critiques welcome.
One thing I learned from this health downturn is that my physician trusts my judgement. My health plan changed a medication (to a cheaper generic brand) and it didn't k for me. After several scary weeks of unusual physical behavior, I emailed my dr. with the symptoms and my former medication was mailed to me post-haste.
I've been doing some painting also, but it's hard to juggle the two. I thought being out on disability would give me so much more time, but it takes me so long to do anything now that I get frustrated. But I continue to push on.
Our weather has been wonderful and as I read about the fires, floods, earthquakes and tornadoes around the world, I am grateful that we in Northern California, have been extremely lucky to escape these problems. But I saw hi octane gas at $4.75 today and it cost me $65.00 for my last fill-up and I don't have a SUV. Enough for now. On a positive note, I had a lovely day.