By sion, on March 28th, 2008%
well I’ve fused all the bits down, and I’ve also cut the “shattered mirror” overlay – now I just have to figure out if I’m going to like it put together. I’m not entirely sure I like that peachy orange at top left, either, which makes deciding about the overlay harder. Said overlay is some sort of silver lame type stuff, FWIW. It’s got an interesting black undertone (I assume the warp is black) which appeals to me given that it’s supposed to be the cracks in a mirror & they always have those dark edges. I might get adventurous and put the cutout shapes on the back. Hrm. Or not, because the fusible’s on the wrong side … hrm *plotponderthink*
Anyway, so here’s the progress to now. Any thoughts?
 
In case it has any bearing on opinions about the overlay, the verse I was thinking of is after the “more” link (I hope. I haven’t tried this before heh) Continue reading abstraction & shatterment
By sion, on March 27th, 2008%
 I didn’t make nearly as much progress as I’d have liked on the journal quilt today, thanks to my spazzy eyes going totally berko. Thankfully I had an appointment w the new doc today anyway, to get my stupid spazzy ankle looked at. I’ve no idea what his verdict was (failure to share the diagnosis is not a good sign; I don’t think he’ll be replacing the lamented Miz Superdoc) but he gave me some drops. Conjunctivitis maybe. All I know is they’re bloody sore (esp the left), horribly red, and I’m going utterly STARK with feeling like there’s something in the left one. I suspect I have no eyelashes left on that eye, I’ve been yanking at them so much trying to get rid of the ingrown-eyelash feeling. I have a crashing headache and I’m bloody irritated. Not sure how I feel about this, not sure about the colours and abstraction isn’t my thing anyway. In case you hadn’t noticed. Bah. Going to bed early *grump*
[ETA]
okay, so I’m feeling sorry for myself last night and her highness (who’d woken up after only a couple hours of sleep & wasn’t in any hurry to go back to slumberland) was giving me a hard time about reading her story. Since I was reduced to holding the really sore eye closed while writing the above post, I told her my eye was broken and I my head hurt so I wasn’t really up to more stories but she could come to bed with me in a moment. She said “oh, is your eye broken? Hang on a minute!” and dashed off around the corner, and came back holding this:
doesn’t everybody have spare eyeballs just laying around in their workrooms?
“here you go mama, you can have this eye instead and then your eye will be all better!” Ah, if only it were that easy heh.
By sion, on March 27th, 2008%
this month’s theme is “reflections, memories” and the technique is “abstract from photo”. I got a line from a poem I wrote a billion or so years ago stuck in my head, and started thinking about shattered mirrors and “empty full avoiding eyes”, and this is what I came up with. Self portrait of a remembered self. Sort of. Anyway, so since I’m at the shop tomorrow I might take a bag of scraps with me & see if I can reproduce it in fabric.
By sion, on March 26th, 2008%
I should spend more time out on that balcony. I probably would, but for the spiders and the relentless mosquitos. I used to spend a LOT of time out there when I still smoked, and then for a while there we were having regular quilty sessions out there, but the bloody insects have taken over. I got et alive getting these pics. Standing on a ladder, mind, fending off stingy things and opportunistic spiders and an overeager ladder-shaking preschooler. Anyhow.
By sion, on March 25th, 2008%
By sion, on March 20th, 2008%
so I’m totally not into birdhouses, right? Well except maybe those cool ones Judy Coates Perez makes. But I got like dragooned into making one for the zone meeting blockswap/raffle thingy, so what the hell. So I thought all the patterns I’d seen (ie, all the free ones heh) were kind of daggy and not me, so I googled real birdhouses (and boggled hard when I discovered the obscene amounts people will pay for them!).
So then I messed around in Corel drawing one based on bits I’d liked of various ones, and printed out the drawing, and started choosing fabrics … and completely changed my plan when I couldn’t find the one I had in mind for the roof (note to self: you still need to figure out where the collection of woodgrainish fabs are) but instead found the cool green scaly stuff I bought for mermaids/dragons/something, so ended up doing it in all super bright girly colours. Which go rather well with the leftover gerberas (lakeside house? something like that) from the girly spring floral UFO.
My darling superbrat wondergirl spent about 2 awesomely peaceful hours fussycutting one of the flowers (and did a bloody good job of it, too! It’s the one at top right) which may well have been the absolute most beautiful thing about the whole project heh. Then she suggested that it absolutely must have a bird or two, so I went looking for pictures of easily-simplified birds of suitable size, and ended up going for Gouldian finches. The colours used are reasonably accurate, JFTR – these are bright little buggers. Then I needed leaves for the gerberas, and since I’m one of those clueless black-thumbed types, I had to look those up too.
Anyhow, so, now I’ve done a birdhouse block. And now I don’t want to give it away lol … I keep thinking about making up a pattern, but I’m not sure if that’s just an excuse to hang onto it. I may do another one for the zone meeting (after all, El did some work on this one, so how could I give it away??). Maybe I do like birdhouses, maybe I just don’t like all that country kitschy thang that’s so prevalent in quilty circles & with which birdhouses are usually associated. I used to at least like the colours (rust, ochre, milky blue!), but nowadays not so much even that. If I do keep this I may take it off the calico and put it on some nice hand-dye, because yuck (it’s not even nice calico). I wonder if there are other people out there who would also like birdhouses with a bit more whimsy (lollypop colours optional)?
By sion, on March 19th, 2008%
okay, this was too funny not to share. I leave the TV on in the background late at night – you never know when something cool will come on, although unexpected witching hour coolth is sadly much, much rarer since the advent of infomercials. The midnight equivalent of one of those morning chat/news type shows was on (state something I think). Due to what I assume is a quirk of my teev, if a subtitled show is followed by an unsubtitled show (and during the ads), the last subtitled sentence or word hangs on screen. For a really long time, apparently. Which is why tonight’s spam about financial geewhizzery is appearing as follows:
By sion, on March 16th, 2008%
courtesy of catsmum
Your mind’s strengths allow you to think ahead of the game — to imagine or anticipate what should come next in just about any situation. Because you’re equally skilled in the numerical and verbal universes of the brain, you can draw from multiple sources of information to come up with great ideas. The timelessness of your vision and the balance between your various skills are what make you a Visionary Philosopher.
In addition to your strengths in math and linguistics, you have a knack for matching and anticipating patterns. These skills and your uncanny ability to detect the underlying blueprint of most of life’s situations add to your Visionary Philosopher mind.
Two philosophers who share the same combination of skills you possess are Plato and Benedict Spinoza. Spinoza had insight into how things worked in the world. He could envision a future based on the patterns he saw in life, and used mathematical logic as a structure within which to present his philosophical arguments. With that base he was able to use logic to formulate his theories. Borrowing from his linguistic strengths he wrote eloquent texts and, therefore, was able to bring his philosophical ideas and structure to the rest of the world. His story exemplifies the talents that are present in the Visionary Philosopher intellectual type.
Whatever you decide to do in life, you’ve got a powerful mix of skills and insight that can be applied in a wide variety of ways. You can expand your mind to understand a situation. Your strong balance of math and verbal skills will help you explain things to others. For example, if you were on an archaeological dig and discovered an object, you could probably use your deductive powers to figure out not only what the object was but also how it was used. Given your ability to put things together, you are more than capable of inventing a life plan that is in synch with your perspective on how things were, how they are, and how they might be one day.
By sion, on March 14th, 2008%
(oh bugger, now I’ve earwormed myself with that oooooold pop song … Pilot, was it?)
  I finally got Ghilla finished. Well, I think. He may get a few more stitches, but he’s bagged & even has a hanging sleeve, so we’ll call it finished. Bloody hard to get a representative photo of, so I’ve uploaded a few, each of which is ok at capturing one aspect.
‘scuse the mucky dye-stained fingers in the last shot, I’m a grub (should see my feet. Or maybe you shouldn’t). I was grumbling about what a mess El was when I picked her up from daycare the other day, absolutely covered in paint (I do not exaggerate. Covered. Dress, painted. Face, painted. Legs, painted. Toenails, very carefully painted. Even the back of her shoulder painted, and I have no idea how she managed that) when we needed to go shopping. Mid-fuss I caught sight of my own spotted feet, and thought it was very polite of the staff not to have pointed out that I was similarly grotty. So what the hell, we both went shopping looking like a couple of unkempt ferals (tautology? heh) … I do try to make it look like I at least keep her reasonably clean & well-dressed, but sometimes she just doesn’t cooperate *G*.
ETA: a couple of people have mentioned wishing they could see closeups, so I thought I’d point out for anyone desperate to see individual beads that these images are clickable & link to bigger pics ;)
By sion, on March 11th, 2008%
we spent yesterday dyeing. The last of the cotton’s in the machine, about ready to iron, but the silk hankies & throwster’s waste I dyed at the last minute with leftover procion is already rinsed & dried. And YUM. So easy – I’ve never had much to do with silk, & have been hanging onto these hankies & fibres for a year or more I think, and it was a total no-brainer. Is silk fabric this easy to rinse? I could not believe how quickly the water rinsed clear even from the lumpy throwster’s waste.
 
 
By sion, on March 8th, 2008%
Mum sold a quilt today, so we went out & bought a Janome Xpression/FM75! We kept seeing them online for $399, so the Margarets went in the other day & talked Don into selling them to us for the same price. Judy & Margaret & I all had a play in the shop and it was mucho fun even though we were limited to a bit of calico and a couple of scraps we snipped off the edge of his overlocker samples. Margaret & Judy get their FM75s next week, & we’ve brought home the Xpression he had in stock. He’s getting the upgraded thingummybob with the individual needles for our Xpression ordered in too (no extra charge). So, I’ve gone home & raided the embellishmentystuff stash & brought a few bags of stuff over, and I’m about to start SHATTERING and distressing and glomping and stuff. Insert evil laugh and stuff – I do love a bit of constructive destructiveness :D
ETA: first samples. crappy leaf of wool roving on washaway, and an assortment of scraps turned into a very bodgy mermaid under El’s excited direction.
  
By sion, on March 6th, 2008%
so here’s the loot. An assortment of gorgeous silk bits & bobs, some lutrador (finally, yay!), and some inks (moonshadow mist etc) from the Threadstudio, and some wee shiva sticks & rubbing plates, angelina & textiva, and more silk bitzers from Unique Stitching. Oh, plus the jar of adhesive beads Connie’s just got in stock – I’d seen someone using them in one of Bonnie McAffrey’s vidcasts, so I twisted Connie’s arm a little when a rep came in showing them. I dig being in the shop when reps come through (I’m not sure she’s as impressed lol).
So, since the sproglet seems to have (touchwoodtouchwoodtouchwood) got over the upchuck stage, I might be able to have a play soon. Maybe just a little play before I get stuck into the posters for the quilt show.
[ETA] oh, and I totally forgot to mention the duckbill scissors that Lozzle got me! Another tool I’d been thinking about (if I think about an embellisher hard enough, you reckon somebody will up & bring me one home? What about a wide format printer? lol). Tres nifty. Now I have to learn how to use them – I’m rather keen on the idea that they help prevent accidental snipping of the wrong bits of fabric, but I haven’t quite figured out how that works. If I ever do get around to trying the wholecloth false-trapunto freemotion bas-relief-esque ideas I imagine they’ll be super handy.
By sion, on March 5th, 2008%
… of like everything. I’ve spent more time over the last few days in the bathroom holding my poor baby’s head or rubbing her back than I have in front of the computer even, so I’m not getting ANYTHING done.
I’m a bit pissy about having wasted a chunk of puking-preschooler-free time posting a request to SCQuilters AND the NSW guild for assistance in recompiling a list that someone claimed to have lost, only to have her magically find it (MONTHS after it was first requested) just as responses started flowing in. I really do like helping out with group projects and also really like many of the women in our local quilt club, but quilt clubs are no exception to the general rule of groups. There’s always at least one complete tool in any given group, and the politicking (more accurately a fairly noxious combination of politeness & fear) drives me pure batshit, which is why I’m not a joiner (and seriously, I SO miss smoking sometimes, with the built-in excuse to just go outside when I’m about ready to throttle someone). Exhausting, makes me tired & cranky just thinking about all the stupid hoops you have to jump through to get the most basic things done in a group situation, because the only people who are willing to risk offending somebody by taking charge are socially retarded self-aggrandising boors. I don’t want to be the loudmouth obnoxious bitch everybody hates so I’m as bad as all the other panderers I guess, letting that Nice Girls Don’t socialising stop me from telling everybody to quit being daft & make a bloody decision – and tough titties if 1 person out of 70 gets the shits! If only I had the balls to be the benevolent dictator type *G*
bah. ANYWAY. So not only have I got some catching up to do on ebay stuff (post office included in trip to collect my car from the panelbeaters this arvo), but I didn’t even get to take & post pics of the nifty stuff Mum brought back from Melbourne for me. I guess I could do that now … I’m all in a tizzy feeling behind & swamped & dithery about which whatever to do first, but too tired to do much useful really, & nervous that El’s going to up & barf on anything I lay out anyway. Thank all the small gods for ABC2, I tellyouwhat – at least I managed to get her interested in the various kiddy offerings so I could pry her off my lap long enough to have a shower & a whinge ;)
|
|
CHITCHAT