decisions, decisions.

I've been aimlessly flipping through quilting books and magazines for the past couple days searching for some sort of quilt design that looks feasible for me to accomplish.  After all, this is my first attempt at an entire blanket.  I finally came across one last night while I was half asleep. I confirmed my find this morning when I was slightly more awake, but before my first cup of coffee.  After my second cup of coffee, I reconfirmed how awesome my decision was, and started planning my trip to JoAnne Fabrics.  Behold, the string quilt from Sew Quick Scrap Quilts.

Looks easy enough...right...? ...Right?!  No, people that are reading this (unless you're a master quilter with robot hands); this does not look easy.  But it looks like fun, and it certainly looks like something I can accomplish. Especially because there are no real straight lines other than the muslin blocks that I have to sew.  The scrap fabric can be any width I feel like, thank you very much.

Oh, and if you didn't guess this before: I'm finished with stained glass for now.  Making that light box seemed as fun as hitting myself in the face with a raw chicken.  That's one FAIL I can be proud of.

emotional fabric.

This weekend as I was driving up to visit mi familia, I passed by my grandmothers house and unloaded some big heavy tears in the process. It's been four years since I've been to her house.  Four years since our family moved out all of her furniture, polished the word work, and closed the front door for the last time.  Four long years since she passed away from lung cancer.  In that time many things have happened: I've moved (4 times), been on TV (once) and started dating a wonderful person (one that she'd like, she wouldn't say "I never liked that one anyway" about this one). But the one thing that hasn't happened is the one thing that I vow to accomplish during the winter: I'm going to make a quilt, and I'm making it for Audi.  I always wanted to learn how to quilt from her, but I never got the chance. And you can't imagine how angry I get at myself when I say "I never got the chance" because in all honesty, I had the chance.  I had 24 years of chances.  I would have made them all count if I knew how limited my time was.

This past Saturday, three generations of us visited her local quilt shop, and we all left with a goody-bag.  That was a rule with Audi: if you go shopping, you don't leave empty handed! (Ahem, I should also say that we did the same when it came to antiquing, too...)  I found some wonderful scrap fabrics, made even more wonderful because it was only $5 for a bag o' scraps.  She'd be proud.  I have been collecting scraps over the past four years, and now I'll finally begin assembling them into something that I can be proud of.  Something that she'd be proud of.  That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

hot yoga, you're hot

Recently, I tried out hot yoga and MAN IS IT HOT.  And really enjoyable, too!  This is coming from a person who hasn't even taken a "normal" yoga class.  I just have yoga DVD's that I got from the sale rack at TJMaxx a couple years ago.  HAH.  Being in a class is totally different.  You can't turn off the yoga instructor when you're spaghetti is done like you can with a DVD.  And you can't fast forward him to "child's pose" when you're too tired. I wish I could compare the hot yoga to regular yoga, but alas I cannot.  Alls I can say is that:
I concentrate on my breathing and my posture.
It is so hot that I sweat more than I ever sweated in my entire life.
It gives me crazy amounts of energy after class, and the next day.
It makes my soul feel good.
It's as hot as a _______________ in there.  You can fill in your own blank.  Mine is too vulgar.

It's amazing how much different yoga is from traditional exercise. It's inspiring to see so many individuals that benefit from it, you know?  Maybe after my two weeks are up (I got a two week pass for cheap, yo) I'll sign up for some more classes.  Looks like my interests have shifted from food, to crafts, to yoga?!  This leaves much to be explored.

fall is in the air. art is all around.

So it's true, I've temporarily fallen off of the crafting wagon.  Although I'm not going through withdraw.  Other exciting things have been happening, all of which have been breathing new life into my soul.  Gawd, that sounded cliché. Let's start with Friday, shall we?  

HomeSkooled Gallery hosted a remarkable show at PhilaMOCA.  The Art Anti-Gallery exhibit allowed visitors to participate in the exhibit, which is a far cry from "the usual" art exhibit which can sometimes come across as stuffy and strict.  I posed as a Greek Frisbee sculpture, helped sculpt another figure out of clay, played with sounds, created my own rules, made my own art to hang in frames, ate chocolate covered doodles, and made my own gallery sandwich.  It was a fantastic night, and I think everyone would agree that we're all looking forward to whatever HomeSkooled Gallery does next!

Here's some pics from the night.

I spent Saturday and Sunday outside, and it was desperately needed!  The air was chilly and crisp, the sky was dotted with clouds and starts, and the sound of a crackling fire was barely audible though everyone's laughing.  Sleeping was amazing.  I woke up refreshed... and cold!  The day was spent hiking, biking, and watching downhill mountain bikers speed through a custom course.  Kudos to the past couple of days.  Even though they were not filled with me making my own pieces of art work, it was filled with art of a different kind: LIFE!

where d'crows at?

I thought I'd divert a little from the posts that I was posting to post something different.  (That's right.)  Many if not all of my latest posts were dealing with goals and deadlines pertaining to artwork.  Which differs slightly from the main reason why I started this blog: Which was to document the things that spark my imagination and inspire me to create artwork and to be productive.  The two aren't completely different to be honest.  The inspiration and the drive are needed to create, and the goal is the completion of the task...correct?

That thought came across me this morning.  I left for work an hour earlier than I usually do, and was delighted by the cool, almost fall-like air.  The crickets were still chirping, and I could hear crows in the distance.  That's one thing I miss about living in a suburban area (not that where I live isn't suburban... it's more suburban than city, but I haven't heard a crow in YEARS.)  I wonder if you can buy crows to import to your town?  I google'd it, but the only thing I found was the American Society of Crows and Ravens. I couldn't find an answer in the FAQ section.

As much as I love being inside and being crafty, I think this is a good sign that fall will be the season that I spend outdoors.  I want to spend more time in nature and just listen to what the world has to say.

frustrated.

I've been trying to upload a damn photo of my damned stained glass, and I can't get the damned thing to upload in the right direction.  DAMNIT damnity damn.  I've been so friggin' frustrated this week (and by this week I mean pretty much all of last week, this past weekend and today) with my lack of... well, ANYTHING!  I had all these lofty plans to do SOMETHING and basically none of it got done.  Trying to demo the backsplash in the kitchen?  Fail.  Starting the mounting for the stained glass?  Fail.  Starting the two little side-by-side paintings?  Semi-fail.  Exercise?  BIG FAIL.

I need to get my friggin' act together.  Today.  NOW.  These are my plans.
Work:  Retype all the recipes I've printed out the past year.  Yes, you read that right.  I will do this at work.
Gym:  I will run 3.1 miles and stretch like hell before and after.
Art: I will paint the negative space on the side-by-side paintings.
I will also research where to by the solder patina I need.
I will also revise my stained glass frame drawings, as I was stupid and did not measure the glass before.  I thought each panel was 10x10.  Yeah, it's actually only 9x9.

Time to hold my self accountable for stuff.  Time to get this shit done.

I need his help.

Pepper Festival

SUCCESS!

sketchy sketchums.

This morning in an attempt to play catch-up, I was going to blitz through all of my work and write a new blog post!  My attempt was thwarted however, when I got into work and realized that the phones are down.  And so is my internet connection.  Then to my obvious joy and delight, I saw my USB thingy sitting in my purse.  Therefore I am typing this post at work, and I’ll upload it later from home.  Don’t be jealous of my brain skillz.

So no, I did not get in my copper foil over the holiday weekend.  But that didn’t stop my productivity!  Would you like to hear what I did?  OF COURSE YOU DO!  Why else would you be reading the ramblings of a crazed hamburger-addicted girl?  (I had three hamburgers over the weekend, now I have meatbrainitis.) 

I sketched out a design for two small paintings that I would like to do.  The canvases I have are 5”x5”, and the design flows from one panel to the other.  I’ve been fiddling with similar design patterns for awhile, and it’s something I’m excited about!  Think organic/geometric windows with a touch of intestines.  You read that correctly.  I’m still debating what medium to use (acrylic or oil) but I know that I’d like to somehow incorporate wax.  Should be a fun project to start later on!

I also rustled up four paintings that I completed a while ago.  I’d like to look into getting frames for them and hanging them up around the house.  One painting will have a standard frame, but the other is a triptych.  I don’t know what my obsession is with triptychs, but it looks like that one will have to be custom made too.  Damnit.

I started drawing a design for the light box that I’ll be building to house my stained glass piece.  I really hope that I can plan this out and execute it properly.  I might need more brain skillz to figure this one out.  Or maybe another hamburger?

And lastly, I am going to be starting a tie-messenger bag for my sister!  She’s in her last year of grad school, so I thought I’d make her something pretty that she can bring to class.  I hope I can sketch out the right dimensions and make it work!

delays? but it ain't m'fault!

Great news!  After much deliberation, and many broken-slash-failed pieces of stained glass, I decided to slightly reconfigure my design.  My main purpose for doing this?  The blue glass is still on back order.  For me to complete my piece without more delays, I figured I'd have to push forward at some point and work with what I have.  Here's what I ended up with...

Ta-daaaaaaaa! Here it is. I still love the flow of the design, even though it's slightly different from my original sketch.  And not all of the dark pieces above are black: Most are the transparent purple/magenta color.  I'm hoping that when it's back-lit, the colors will really shine.

Onto my little subject title about delays.  I noticed today that I don't have enough copper foil to complete my goal by this Sunday.  Faaaaaaaaaaaaail.  As soon as I realized that, I ordered more 1/4" 1mm foil from Warner Stained Glass.  Alas, it's a Friday before a holiday weekend.  I sincerely doubt that I'll start foiling again until maybe Tuesday.  I made great progress today though!

schnitzel, stained glass and hurricanes.

Holy schnitzel Batman!  I fell off my blogging wagon for a couple of days.  Many apologies.  I figured I'd do a brief recap of my extravagant filled birthday weekend.  And by extravagant, I mean hurricane/tornado induced hysteria.  Onwards!

Thursday was my 28th birthday.  It was also the 10 year anniversary of my first day of college.  It was also the 28th anniversary of my mom's c-section.  I thought I'd throw that in there since she's always asking me if I want to see her scar.  I find myself getting off track of this recap in mammoth proportions.  Onwards, once more!

My day was spent yelling at stained glass and crafting with my good friend Lauren.  After telling the stained glass to go f*** itself numerous times, we carried on to Michael and made a quick stop at the Salvation Army.  I got some supplies at both places for my next project... secrets, secrets!!  I spent the rest of the weekend tracking the hurricane, succumbing to tornado warning instructions, and riding my bike taking videos of the flooding and damage.  I also watching numerous episodes of gypsy weddings.  That s*** is ridiculous.

I realize that I haven't set a goal for myself to actually finish cutting and foiling The Beast... I'll say by Sunday, September 3rd.  The design has changed slightly, but I still think it embodies much of what I want it to.  Look at me, using big words!   This post also feels naked, so I think I'll just upload a picture of myself.  Your welcome.

PS... the cucumber soup tasted like glorified vomit.

NOM NOM

Small post!  I finished foiling the middle panel last night in between eating grilled cheese and watching Cupcake Wars on the Food Network.  This is what happens when I'm left home alone.  I lapse into a state of simple meals, stretch pants and entertaining television. Don't hate.  This also means that I reached my goal one day early!  I think I'll reward myself with more cheese.

In other news, I am planning on cooking a lovely dinner tonight and catching up with a dear friend.  Here's my menu:

Cold Cucumber & Dill Soup
Goat Cheese and Cranberries with Crackers
Sauteed Spinach with Shallots and Sun Dried Tomatoes
Grilled Portabella Mushrooms with Couscous

OH OKAY.  I'll take a picture and post it later. 

foiling the beast.

left panel

You know what I just realized? I can type in different colors if I want. It's about to get silly up in here. ... on second thought, no it's not. That took me entirely too long to type. Screw colors.

right panel

Last night I finished cleaning and foiling the right panel pieces that I had previously cut. Tonight I'm going to finish up the pieces in the middle panel, which I already cleaned last night. Then... onto cutting the new pieces... SHIT, that is scary! I'm terrified of messing up.  Maybe I should do some practice pieces first so I don't throw a fit if I break a piece. Good idea...

beginning the beast.

As of yesterday, I re-started working on the stained glass piece... I think from now on, I'll just call it The Beast.  Here is my original sketch for the piece:

The sketch was made before I went glass shopping, but luckily most of the colors are almost exactly the same. I chose opaque glass for the project for one main reason: The triptych will eventually be back-lit, so I thought using opaque glass would give the piece a really unique glow.  However, I couldn't find an opaque glass in the purple/fushia category, so I decided to go with a deep fushia translucent glass.  I thought it would contrast really nice with the opaque colors, and will definitely give a focal point to the finished piece.

Here is what I'm starting with.  The pieces that are in white are the ones that have already been cut.  All of the spots that are blank... well, those are the ones that I still need to cut.  The blue and black glass is still on back-order for the time being (FROWN) but I check the site every day to see if it's back in stock.

In the meantime, I'm going to clean and foil all of the pieces I have already cut.  Yesterday I finished the left panel.  I forgot to take a picture though... I hope to get them all cleaned and foiled by Wednesday, which is my first goal date.  I'm hesitating on setting a final goal date until I can get my hands on the materials I need.  Don't judge me.

MUST CONQUER THE BEAST!!!!!!
(that's what she said.)

two more purses! 2+2=4

Well, well, well... look who finished a project early?!  Again! That's right, I slapped those two purses in the face with my sewing skills.  ...That came out a little harsher than I meant it to.  What I meant to say, is that even with my time constraint this week, I still managed to sew the purses by my deadline.  See?  That's what I meant to say.  Now, for my obligatory purse shot:

The one on the left had a lot of red, blue, paisley and a two different polka dot fabrics... the one on the right has American flags, shamrocks, more polka dots, and red plaid.  These two were a lot of fun to make!!  I even learned a little short cut while I was sewing the front panel ties together.  Awesome!!  Here's close up pictures of them...

hot sauce and bunnies.

I just realized how sad my other posts look without pictures.  So here's a shot of me gazing into the future and reading the words that you're seeing here.  Nah, I'm just thinking about cookies, fried chicken and hot sauce.  I had two of the three for lunch today.  Guess which?!

Last night I sewed the bases for both purses and fully completed the front panels, buttons and all.  High five!!  I even had time to choose the tie flap (which will be sewed to the back panel) and cut out the fabric for the back panels, too.  I'm working hard to get back on track to finish up everything by my goal date of August 21st.

As I mentioned, my next project will be to complete a stained glass piece that I started back in April of last year, and promptly abandoned one month later in May.  There were two main reasons that I put the project on hiatus.  A handful of the pieces are extremely complex to cut, and at the time I was not successful in scoring and breaking those pieces properly.  I quickly exhausted my glass supply on mistakes.  Also, my bunny Moe developed a habit of running and jumping on to my kitchen table where I was working.  Twice, he skidded onto the table and sent glass pieces a'flyin and a'breakin.  But I can't stay mad at my fluffybuns.  How could you stay mad at this?

This glass project cannot be rushed: But when it comes time to do so, I will set a goal date.  I have run into a little snag so far: Two of the colors that need are currently out of stock, and they cannot be placed on back order.  I'm not sure how this will affect the piece, or my ability to reach my goal.  But I guess we'll see when I start it up again! 

holy s*** batman, my renewed energy is ridiculous.

On Monday night, I was thinking about how tired I was from running around like a nutcase and how I hoped that I'd be able to stay awake (and un-grumpy) to fully enjoy Tuesday night.  Little did I know then, that my mind tried to secretly sabotage me into thinking that way.  All because of that tiny bit of self doubt!  Shit, this thinking is impressive.  I need coffee to finish these thoughts.  Let's reflect.

How do I explain this properly?... if I have tasks to do today, I'll do them in the order that I've placed them... A,B,C, D, etc.  Before I go about these tasks, I think about how I will feel when I complete them. Remember?  On Monday night, I thought that I would feel tired and grumpy last night.  However, for one reason or another, last night I diverged off my usual path of inadvertently predicting my feelings, and I meandered into uncharted Jill waters.  It was very freeing, and it felt wonderfully un-anxious.  At the end of the night, I felt enjoyment because I did enjoy myself, not because I thought I would enjoy myself.  I think that's about as clear as that thought is going to get.

Diverging off my set path breathed life into my night and gave me this renewed sense of energy.  That sentence might not be grammatically correct, but honey badger don't care.  I face today with excitement about upcoming art projects and about life.  Move over Confucius, there's a new thinker in town. And she just finished her coffee.

f-f-f-f-f-faaaaaaaaaaaaaaail.

Yesterday was a whole bunch of fail.  But I feel oddly content about it.  Maybe because I was busy until 11pm at night doing other things I mentioned in my post yesterday... grocery shopping, going to the gym, cooking, spending time with friends and family and (oh joy!) banking.

The gnocchi was a fail.  The whole dinner was pretty much a soupy-potatoey mess.  It was still pretty tasty... But the two hours I wasted on making glorified mashed potatoes was a downer.  Sewing the bases/straps to the purses?  Fail.  Didn't do it.  Making a list of the supplies I need for the glass?  Win!  I ended up ordering 1/2 of the things I needed because... FAIL, two of the items are OUT OF STOCK.  Let's hope that I can actually get those piece of glass, or I will be in big trouble on the next project.  On the plus side, I ordered a new glass cutter, too.  I'm hoping that it will help cut down on the glass breaking into pieces after I score it.

Today there will be no time to work on those projects because... WIN, I'm going to the Phillies game with the DTGP's. 

balancing act.

Something just hit me.  No, not a flying tomato nor was it Lou.  It's this: My next goal date for completing two new purses is August 21st.  In between now and then, I'll have only two nights during this week to work on them.  I might have some time on the weekend, but I'm not quite sure as to how much I'll have.  Could this be a potential problem?

I want to be able to successfully set goals and meet them, but how does one balance those tasks with other daily responsibilities?  Grocery shopping, work (HAH), spending time with friends and family, going to the gym, personal upkeep... hey, I like to try to look nice every once and awhile!  Don't judge me for wanting to color my hair and paint my nails blue. 

Maybe for this project, I'll set smaller daily goals to see if I can accomplish them.  Today I'll be sure sew the ties for the base/straps together and make a list of things to order for the stained glass.  Of course, I'll be doing all of this after I make AND EAT my first batch of handmade gnocchi, with spicy sausage and Swiss chard.  See details below.

great success!

s-u-c-c-e-s-s, that is how you spell success.

TA-DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!  Peppers added and painted in, varnished and ready to go! I'm excited that I've finished project #2, and I'm ready to conquer the next battle!  I decided to sew another two tie-purses as my 3rd task.  I'm hoping that while I'm doing that, I can take a look at my stained glass project and figure out what other supplies and materials I'll need to finish the job.  Hopefully by the time I'm done the purses, I'll have those materials in hand and I can begin to finish what I started!  I'll set my next goal date for finishing the purses as..... August 21st.  Let the great experiment begin...

ninja with a paintbrush.

Well, well, well... lookatdat.  I actually did manage to squeeze in about an hour of work before my nights festivities.  The text is 100% finished, I transferred the design onto the sign and painted the jalapenos green.  Just a little bit more work and I'll be ready to seal it and deliver it! 

The weather here has been glorious.  Stepping outside is like a breath of fresh air!  Lou brought me lunch today:  Eggplant parmesan, made by Paul with fresh vegetables from our garden!  It's getting me more and more excited about dropping of the sign to Gary at his farm-homestead on Sunday.  I might pass out with glory from seeing so many vegetables in one place.