the kitchen.

I'm glad I took a break from writing in between last night and today.  I was a little out of it, and I promptly fell asleep on the couch watching a show on Russia.  I'm afraid my writing didn't reach it's usual witty potential.  I plan to make up for that with my kitchen post.

hell no.

First, let me start out with a picture of what the kitchen looked like before Lou moved in.  Oh... hell no.  When I see that much wood and wallpaper, I think Cracker Barrel.  Not that there is anything wrong with that.  Those little games they have are awesome, and don't get me started on how tasty the menu is. After Lou and his bro moved in, they replaced the counter tops, dishwasher and refrigerator.  They took down the wood craziness above and under the cabinets, de-wooded the wall next to the fridge, and painted.

NO!

Flash forward to 2011.  The kitchen still needed a little help.  The tiled back splash was... well...  not installed properly.  All of the seems (next to the counter and the cabinets) were grouted.  A big no-no.  You caulk those seems to allow for expansion/contraction.  Since the person grouted them, the tiles began to crack and break.  Which showed that they tiled over wallpaper.  WHO DOES THAT?!  The tile had to go.  I told Lou that I'd give him a proposition and a budget showing that I could re-tile the backsplash into something special.  Skeptical at first maybe, but once he saw my research, drawings and spreadsheet... he caved agreed.

love notes on the backerboard. 

I was perusing Ebay and Googling Mexican Talavera Tiles when Lou suggested that we look into pricing glass tiles.  Nothing against glass tiles, but most tiles I saw were plain and uninspired. So, I decided to Google "colorful glass tile backsplash" and most of the images came from a company called Susan Jablon Mosaics, located up in Binghampton, NY.  Ah... the colors, the colors!!!  After choosing several 1/4 sheet samples, we locked into ordering our favorite: Aurora Blend.  We started demoing the kitchen in September, and after months of work (on and off and on and off and...)  we FINALLY finished, at 12:15am on the morning on Friday, December 2nd.**  We still have a little more to paint, but there's no rush on that.  After we finished the tile work, we vowed not to do anything else until after the holidays.  We're going to install under cabinet lighting, some extra storage drawers in the bottom cabinets, and finish painting in the coming months.  I'm just waiting for a snowy weekend to do it.

**WHY would I stay up that late to work on the kitchen?  Because on December 2nd, we were hosting Lou's 40th birthday party.  Our last weeks of working on the kitchen were that of a marathon pace.  After ripping out the stove and range hood, we finished up all the hardibacker, installed the range hood, cleaned profusely, repaired the walls, primed the bare drywall, taped the seams and started tiling.  Tiling took FOREVER.  We had to do a couple repairs for tiles that didn't adhere correctly. We had to wait 24-48 hours after tiling to grout.  Then another day before the caulk.  Finally, the oven went in.  You don't realize how much you miss an oven until you don't have one to cook on for three weeks.  You are correct in assuming that I didn't do s*** the rest of that weekend.

Whoops, there goes a month!

Ack, it's been too long since I've posted!  So much has happened in the past month, so I decided that I'm going to break it on down into a couple posts over the week, so I don't get carpel tunnel updating what's going on. First, let's chat about the quilt.  The last time I wrote, I mentioned that I had finished sewing all 224 squares... still an accomplishment that I'm proud of!

I brought the squares with me to my family's Thanksgiving dinner.  I asked everyone that was there to sign the back of a square, so that when I sewed it together, I'd have all of my family with me.
(Pause for loving moment).

Here are all the signed squares!  There are 15 total that will be inserted into the 14 columns of the quilt.  Last weekend, I started said columns and so far it's going quite well!  I have 6 columns of 16 squares completed so far (96 total!).  I'm hoping that I can actually finish sewing the top of the quilt this weekend, which would be awesome!  Once that is done, I'll have to choose a backer fabric for the quilt.  That means a trip to the fabric store for me, huzzaaaah!

Here's a picture showing how thrilled I am at my progress. The quilt is starting to look real!!! I can't believe that all of these pieces of fabric I cut so long ago are forming an actual quilt.  Also, it shows how many lemon squares I ate over the past month.  Good thing I went to the Y today.

the benefits of being grateful.

On this, the day before Thanksgiving, I wanted to post something that is fitting for the upcoming holiday season.  It doesn't have a lot to do with art.  OK, so this has nothing to do with art.  But it has everything to do with being grateful.  Without trying to sound pompous, I'm one of the most grateful people that you'll ever meet... that sounded pompous, but I promise it wasn't meant to be.  I thank my lucky stars everyday for the big things (family, friends, life, love, job, health insurance), for the little things (sounds, textures, moments) and everything in between (bunnies, cats, no traffic, remembering my lunch). To me, being grateful is honorable, wonderful and self fulfilling.  It's not something I ever had to think about in recent memory, because my parents instilled this moral on me at a very early age.  And for that, I'm grateful.

Like many things in life, there is a flip-side to the positive. If you Google "antonyms for grateful" two of the big ones that come up are unappreciative and thankless.  These two words sadden me.  To me, being ungrateful would be like living in a world where the glass is constantly half empty.  And I hate to sound like a curmudgeon, but the ungrateful attitude I see from adults and children alike sickens me.  The selfishness.  The negativity.  The complaining.  Why are people like this?  The answer is simple.  It is easier for them to be ungrateful.  In most cases, they never learned how to be grateful in the first place.  Parents lead by example, and children soak that shit up like a sponge.

I read an interesting article today in The Washington Post about teaching children to be grateful.  In all honestly, I didn't exactly exclaim "THIS IS GROUNDBREAKING!".  It did, however, confirm my feelings and attitude about raising grateful children in our ever growing society.  I'd like to share a quote from clinical psychologist Eleanor Mackey of Children’s National Medical Center. “Generally speaking, it’s like anything else: It takes time and energy to raise grateful kids, but if you make it a priority, it is doable, and the payoff can be enormous”.  Well said, Eleanor.  What's the payoff like, Mr. Jeffrey Froh, an assistant professor of psychology at Hofstra University? "[Grateful children] report better relationships with friends and family, higher GPAs, less materialism, less envy and less depression, along with a desire to connect to their community and to want to give back."

WOW.  So... hang on with me here... being grateful has lasting personal benefits, and is also helpful for the community (being friend, family, etc) that surrounds said person.  Damn, that's awesome!  Here's a question I leave you to interpret as you see fit:  What are the personal lasting benefits of being ungrateful?

So, you may ask, what's the big point you're trying to make here Jill?  My point is this: To make Thanksgiving a state of mind that we can share everyday, not just the one day out of the year that for some, is just a prelude to the Christmas season.  Give it a shot.  Be thankful for the things that you have, from the air you breathe to the company you hold.  Maybe try extending a 'thank you' to the stranger who holds the door open for you, or maybe hold the door open for that stranger.  You'll never know how powerful those words or gestures might be to someone, especially one who doesn't know of gratitude. And honestly, it's not completely their fault that they are ungrateful.  After all, they had to learn their behavior from somewhere.

if at first you don't succeed, take a nap. then try again.

First off, I'd like to explain my cryptic brain rant that I said I would update 'tomorrow'. Unfortunately, tomorrow is now 6 days from tomorrow.  Wait... 6 days from then.  From the last post.  This post isn't clearing anything up so far. Let's try again.

FAIL

Last Wednesday night I decided to start tiling the back splash in our kitchen.  My goal was just to do the tiling behind our now non-existent stove. It took me about 3 hours to do it, but I did get it done.  Not as successfully as I'd like to, though.  All in all, about 43 tiles fell off the wall due to, A: bad tiling advice and B: bad mortar application.  After feeling sorry for myself and developing a migraine, I struck back.  I used my Dremmel tool to grind out the dried mortar and I hand applied the missing tiles to the wall.  Lou and I got an additional 8 square feet done tonight. I can't wait to get our project done, and to cook something on our new stove!

SUCCESS

I also got ALL ALL of the squares done for the quilt!  That's right.  I finished all 224 squares... THEY'RE ALL DONE.  I finished sewing the last of the squares on Friday night, and I just trimmed them all up last night.  I'm really excited that I accomplished this much so far.  Now, I'm ready to start sewing the rows and columns.  Pretty soon, it will start looking like a real quilt!  It's going to be such a fun winter project!

4 new wine bags, 224 squares!

A friend of mine (and also my former landlord) ((and also the nicest landlord I've ever had)) asked me if I could make her some wine bags for the holiday season coming up!  I'm really proud that I started cutting them out and sewing them together on Friday night.  I'm hoping that I can complete them tomorrow, and maybe bring them to her sometime this weekend.  

The reason why I was trying to get all of these things done before the weekend, was because I traveled down Washington DC!  It was a lot of fun.  We had great weather, we saw a ton of things around town (both by foot and by bike!) and ate amazing food.  I wish I had more time to browse around the museums and national monuments. I feel like I just was beginning to scratch the surface of the city, then all of the sudden it's time to leave and board the train going back home! I picked up a new book as well, and I'm hoping that I can incorporate some of it's philosophy into future blog posts!  

Well, that's an awfully long post, so I'll end it at this. You can do anything you put your mind to.  Especially when you have coffee.

durp?

Tiles. Mortar. Tonight? Yes! SKUUURED. (dontmessup) Quilt? Squares. Only. 14. Left. Must. Get. Done. Tonight?! No. Tomorrow? Maybe. Fabric! New! Wine Bags?  MUSTMAKE. When? Weekend? NO. Travel!  DC! Hotel! YAY!

(I'll translate tomorrow.)

the greatest gift of all.

Today I was going to write a quick update aptly titled 200 down, 24 to go! with an picture of me holding a giant stack of sewed fabric.  But, my story quickly changed last night when Lou yelled up to me “Hey, you got a package in the mail from Jenny!”  First of all, I was doubled over in excitement that I actually got a package in the mail.  I think I did a little happy dance, but I can’t be sure of that.  Secondly, my thoughts instantly went to… did I forget anything at her house that she had to send back to me?

I retrieved the box and carefully opened it. And I literally, literally could feel tears of joy welling up in my eyes.  She had sent me memories: Fabrics, pictures and wonderful things, all from Audi’s house.  I immediately pulled out a small coffee creamer, and a note that read “One of gram’s coffee creamers (DO NOT put a carton on the table anymore!!!).  I laughed out loud as tears streamed down my face.  I dug deeper into the box and pulled out pictures: The ones that I used to stare at aimlessly in the hallway in between the bedrooms.  Deeper still, I found stacks of fabrics from around her house: The curtains from the guest bedroom, pillowcases from sleepovers and fabric from the armchair.

For about 20 or 30 minutes, I went through everything… reading and rereading notes that Jenny wrote to me, looking at pictures, feeling the fabric.  I’m pretty sure I was fantasizing about asking people over for coffee, seeing that I now possessed a prized creamer.   I felt like I was back in her house.  And that felt so nice.

 

Tonight I’ll hang up all the family pictures that Jenny sent to me in my art/sewing room, but only after I pour myself a cup of coffee, with half n’ half from my new creamer.  Twenty four squares will be made out of the fabric that she sent to me.  Call it a coincidence, but that’s one square for every one year that I got to spend with Audi.  Honestly, I don’t think it’s a coincidence at all.  I think there are other forces about.  I think it’s love. 

Let this be a lesson for everyone.  A simple thought or gesture, no matter how big or small, can lift a person’s spirits and (re)fill their heart with love, enthusiasm and faith.  What an incredible gift she gave to me, as I was struggling with anxiety and gradually loosing my faith in humanity.  Boy was I wrong about it all.

badasssssssssssss.

My legs are literally covered in gross looking bruises.  Not the cool kinds where someone is like "Hey look at that hardcore chick and her awesome leg bruises.  She must be super awesome.".  It's more like "Ew, she should cover up those legs, yo." My pale skin is no match for purple, yellow and red markings.  Especially the ones with the scratches imbedded in them.  What was I doing, you ask?  Boyfriend and I rode at Nox on Friday.  I did great for awhile (minus my triumphant falls off the bike), launching myself down hills and pedaling my tush off on the uphills... but I'm pretty sure I was crying around 2.5 miles. Thank goodness for hot showers and bottles of wine. They're like security blankets for adults.

Saturday we all (and by we, I mean 10 adults and 5 chillins) went on a death march 10 mile bike ride through Lehigh Gorge State Park. I was super surprised when I realized where we were: The same exact place we went whitewater rafting earlier in the summer!  (Dang, I sound pretty bad ass in this post. Did I mention I got two nosebleeds this weekend too?  BADASSSSSS.)  It was pretty chilly in the shade that day, a far cry from the sweltering temperature there in the summer.  Here in Philadelphia the leaves are just starting to fall to the ground.  The colors radiant and bold.  Up in the Poconos, most of the leaves were gone: Already dead on the ground.  The only colors left were in the rhododendron forests and coniferous trees.

Sunday we went on two death marches hikes, which probably all totaled about 8 miles.Yes, I am physically whooped from the weekend. So why this long post that has nothing to do with art?  I don't know.  I felt like writing, and this is all I got for now.  Here's a picture of some leaves from a plant on my desk.  Tonight I'll be working on more quilting so I'll have more to post tomorrow about art and life and ... art. My mind is still like mush from so much physical exertion.  Let's never speak of this again.

Plus, a small animation coming called Brownies or Death.

person virus vs. computer virus

The similarities are that they both infect you and make you feel terrible.  I’m pretty sure that’s where the similarities end.  A person virus... let's just say the common cold for this matter, makes you feel crappy for about 4 days.  Eventually the headache disappears, the snot dries up, and the raspy voice and mucusy throat are a distant memory.  Congratulations! You’re back to normal.  Let’s celebrate by going out to a bar and getting another cold!  A computer virus makes you feel crappy to the 10^th degree until it’s finally gone.  I don’t even know what that means, but it feels like shit. And it’s not like tea and chicken noodle soup will help.  You need a computer-ninja, someone to sneak into your computer like those people from the Matrix sneak into the Matrix and set shit straight… a master of the hard drive: Like my friend Mike.  Onto the story.

On Saturday morning after I wrote my previous blog post, I decided that it would be an awesome day to sit and sew whilst listening to Pandora radio.   This was not to be.  The second I clicked on Pandora, things went to shit.  Instant virus.  Windows kept popping up telling me how bad shit was, and that my memory was gone.  I believed that lying piece of jerk virus for about 5 seconds, until I saw a window that said “buy the full version here!”.   That makes NO SENSE. Why WHY would I want to buy a full version of a virus?  For the next 4 hours, I was closing obnoxious windows, restarting in safe mode, running virus software (that kept saying that nothing was detected) crying and sitting in my pj’s trying to figure out how the hell I was going to fix my problem.  I just wanted to listen to the Fiona Apple station.  Then shit got real, yo.

I finally decided that brownies would fix my problem.  Usually when something in my life goes wrong, I try to temporarily forget them by making myself something delicious.   It’s not uncommon to find me in the kitchen after a bad day.  Then out of the blue (the blue sporty-car they own, I knew they were coming over so it wasn't out of the blue-blue) Mike and Lauren arrived and solved two of the biggest problems in my life.

1) Who would help me eat all these brownies so I don’t get a fat-ass?

2) Can someone solve my computer virus problem?

Answers: THEY DID.

All was right in the world again. I only finished 20 squares this weekend (170 down, 54 to go) but all in all, Halloween is supposed to scare the shit outta you right?  Mission accomplished.  Next year, I think I’ll go as a computer virus.

In slightly related news, this was my Friday night. It's self explanatory.

new design + 150 sqaures.

Do you like my new design?  I'll keep tweaking it here and there until I... don't... well, until I like it I guess.  But I like the new header I did.  See what an extra free twenty minutes at work and an old magazine can do?  I took a photo of my cutout letters and manipulated some of the brightness and contrast in Photoshop. 

In other exciting news...

I tried to make myself look nice, but that doesn't work at 9am.

I finished a total of 150 squares!  Only ONLY 74 to go. I couldn't be more excited!  Actually I could, if I had 210 done and only 14 to go.  But I'll get there!  And I could this weekend, seeing that the Philajerseynewyorkeverywhere area is supposed to get pounded with a Nor-Easter like whoa.  I don't think it'll be too bad here, but it'll be enough to keep me productive and warm inside the confines of my home. 

Different hair!  And... braaaaaaaaaainssssss...

It's Halloween weekend too.  I had high hopes that this year would be the year that I got off of my crafting butt and created a bitchin' costume.  Alas, my quilt making and zombie run made it a daunting task.  So this year... I go again as a zombie (like I'm complaining).  I'm banking on my liquid latex and makeup to make it look good this year, better than my zombie from three years ago.

Here were my awesome ideas that didn't materialize:
The "morning after" girl, present on every Saturday and Sunday morning Septa route
A #2 pencil
A box of Summers Eve
Lucile Bluth
It's Pat from SNL

ps...

I'm getting tired of the design of this blog.  This will be fixed.

dinoflagellates and the orchestra

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of accompanying my dear friend Brian to see the Enigma Variations by Elgar, performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra.  I had to borrow a quote from www.philorch.org so I could properly describe the performance. "... Edward Elgar brought forth a strange orchestral piece--a set of variations on an unknown theme in which each movement was a portrait of one of his friends--it was a matter for astonishment, an enigma indeed. "Here," declared one critic, "is a man who knows what he wants to say and knows how to say it!"

Imagine for a second that you have a theme song stuck in your head.  And you varied that theme song to fit the personalities of your friends and loved ones.  Some friends are small and delicate, while others are loud and bold.  That theme would have to be varied to fit their personalities, and that's exactly what Elgar did.  The first half of the performance was really interesting.  Narrators, actors, images and music brought Elgar (just a name on the playbill at the time) to life. Snippets of journal entries and stories where extracted from their pages and presented to the audience, making it seem like Elgar was right there in auditorium, describing his life and his work.  The second half of the performance was purely on the shoulders of the orchestra, and they presented the themes uninterrupted.  It was quite beautiful.

The rest of the night was spent at Parc on Rittenhouse, discussing life, art, food and zombies.  That's right.

Also, I did this drawing of happy dinoflagellates for Kara's thesis.  It's going to be published, and I'm excited that I could make this important contribution to the scientific community.  Who knew that dinoflagellates were so happy and rambunctious?  I did.  I think I'd like to do fun drawings of the bacteria and viruses behind STD's. ... I probably won't finish my actual work now that I've made this decision.

100 down, 124 to go!!

PROGRESS, PROGRESS, PROGRESS!  Wow, so far I've been sewing the squares with gusto and it's been paying off immensely.  I'm really proud that I've done 100 of them, and I love the random colors and patterns that were created. 

In other news, I'm training for the zombie 5k run this weekend.  Let's hope that I don't "get dead" during the run so I can continue to work on this when I get home :)

50 down, 174 to go.

The title was pretty self explanatory, if you ask me. I utilized my free time wisely tonight, and sewed another 30 squares.  I also rinsed and dried 3 new fabrics. I was getting a little concerned that I would possibly run out of fabric in the end, or end up having blocks of the same repetitive color.  Here's my progress!

20 down, 204 to go.

the first 10 squares!

20 squares, all sewed, pressed and trimmed up! It took me roughly two hours to sew them all. I'm so glad I kept track of my time.  So... if I have to sew 224 squares, it should roughly take me 22-23 hours to sew.  (Duh, me.  10 per hour.)  Obviously I won't be working on this everyday after work, but I guarantee that there will be large chunks of time when I'll be able to do more than 20 at a time.  Like... rainy weekends!

the second batch ready to sew.

 

 

 

all 20 squares, picture perfect!

48 fabrics, hundreds of possibilities.

LOOK AT ALL THE FABRIC!!!  Everything I have has been cut to size and I'm ready to roll.  Just looking at all of the colors together gets me very excited. I'm wondering how I should set a goal for all of the squares I need to sew. There's 224 of them... should I try to shoot for a weekly goal? Like, get 50 squares done per week?  Jeez, that seems like a lot. If I did 50 squares per week, it would take me a little over 4 weeks to sew.  I want to do this project right though, so it's important to take the time to sew everything correctly.

How about this.  First and foremost, I'll see how much time it takes me to assemble just one square.  From there, I can estimate how many I can do per day.  That sounds good to me.   I should also consider how I will be assembling all these colors... should I do dark and light patches?  A mix of everything together?  Hmmm...

just for giggles.

Here's what I do at work some days.  I draw and make comics.
These boobies are real.  I swear.

40 posts Q&A

For my 40th post, I decided to answer some questions people have been asking me lately about my blog.  And by people, I mean myself. 

Q: When do you find the time to write your blog posts?
A: You'll notice that most (if not all) of my posts are between the hours of 8am-4pm, Monday through Friday.  There's no coincidence that I post when I'm at work, due to the lack of actual work that I have to do.

Q: Why don't you allow comments on your blog posts?
A: Ah, I was wondering if I was going to ask myself that.  Technically I started this blog to keep me inspired, and to track my progress... not only on projects, but in life.  It's nice to be able to analyze my feelings and moods, and connect them to how productive I am.  If I allowed comments on the blog, I would end up shifting my focus to what people think of what I'm doing, instead of what I think. 

Q: What has been your favorite project to work on so far?
A: That's a great question.  Probably because I asked it to myself.  So far all of my sewing projects have a lot of fun... I love the purses because of the wide variety of colors that I get to use.  My least favorite is the stained glass.  It's not that I don't love stained glass, it's just that the project didn't live up to my expectations.

Q: If you could have dinner with one famous artist, who would it be and why?
A:  If I had to choose just one, it would be Kiki Smith.  Her works are amazing.  AMAZING.  I wish I could describe how awesome they are... on second thought, visit her interactive site at the MoMA.  See?  Amazing. If I could choose a bunch of artists to hang out with, I'd curl up on my couch in the winter with endless amounts of chili and hot chocolate and watch every single season of Art21.

Q: Do you miss sculpture?
A: Absolutely.  My time and space constraints don't allow me to work on big works of art at the moment.  Plus, I tend to become reclusive when I'm working on sculptures: All of my time and energy go into the piece, and not into socializing... or taking care of myself.  But some day, my sketches will come to life again, and massive figurative works will be born.  For now, I'm happy with sewing and crafting.  And having friends.

Q: Glass half-empty or half-full?
A:  I always forget which one I am.  It's the one where I'm real positive and optimistic.  Hold on, lemme Google that... Wikipedia says I'm half-full.  I try to make the best out of every situation.  You can't always dwell on the things that go wrong, or you might miss everything else that's going right.  That's not to say that I don't have my moments.  Everyone does.  But you've got to keep everything in perspective or you'll loose sight of the big picture.

Q: Why are you pretending that someone else is asking you these questions?
A: Because, I don't want people to think I'm nuts.

i'm drowning in fabric.

Holy hell.  There's so much fabric... so so much fabric.  Let me tell you what I did which the oodles of fabric this weekend. I went home and began bundling my fabrics, but the stack fell on top of me.  I survived the weekend by eating mother's preserves and retained my sanity by dribbling a basketball that was barely within reach of my one free hand.  I made a game of it.  Seeing how many times I could bounce the ball in a day, then trying to break that record.  When the police came to search the house, I called out, but they didn't hear me.  Desperate, I used a little fourth-grade chemistry to build a rocket, which I attached to a vacuum cleaner cord.  I launched the rocket which wrapped around a support beam.  I then switched on the cord retraction on the vacuum cleaner, which pulled me to safety.

No, not really.  That's from an episode of The Simpsons.  I'm actually really excited about my progress, although it sounds super boring: All of my fabric (5 1/2 yards of muslin and about 8 yards of assorted scrap fabric) was rinsed, dried and pressed.  I even took the time to rinse like colors together.  I don't even do that with my own laundry.  I cut the muslin down methodically: first into sixteen 11"x45" strips.  Then each strip was cut into seven 5-1/2"x11" strips... then into two hundred twenty-four 5-1/2"x5-1/2" blocks.  Lemme tell you: ROTARY CUTTERS ARE AMAZING.  Sounds like a lot of work, doesn't it?  Well, according to the directions I'm following, it's not.  I'm on step 2.

PS... I have this thing to do at work that I've been putting off since last Thursday.  I'm trying to do it now, but it's just too boring.  I know I'll get it done today... but I keep thinking about how cool the quilt will be.  OK... I wrote that last bit around 11:30.  It's now 12:46 and I still haven't done it yet.  But I did get a cup of coffee.  Now it's 12:53.  Maybe I'll just try tomorrow.

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!