blue, oh so lonesome for you.

well, here's a look at the blue boy:

I can hear some people cringing about the cat being present through this process, but honestly, I didn't feel like arguing with a 20 pound cat that growls. The recipient has pets, so she will understand.

Martin Luther King Jr. arts contest... thing

ta da!


the result of over 40 hours of toil and labor, sweating and bleeding fingers. The black stuff in the upper left corner has stars on it- I bought it a few days before Halloween, hoping I could use it for something. Obviously, not a great picture, I really need a shot of each block besides the whole piece, but something is better than nothing. Most of the fabric was lying around the house. I did the applique with wonder-under, to keep it stationary. This was one of those times I wish I had a serger- the machine applique would have gone better and looked nicer. The little people are all hand appliqued. The sun is machined, but the beads (if you can see them) in the center of the sun are all hand done. I put a knot every three beads, in case one got pulled off, they wouldn't all come off. Also not really visible, some of the quilting and applique was done with variegated thread, to mirror the rainbow children.

I hate describing what I intended it to represent, because every time I've shown it to people, I get a slightly different response every time. My grandmother said the people were "the children of the world", someone else said they were the freedom marchers. So, it's up to interpretation I guess. Obviously, the rainbow people could be any one, at any time, from any place. It is my hope that it's obvious the top right is "day" and the top left is "night", that the jumbled stippling in the bottom indicates chaos, and that there is no chaos in the upper panels. The people are separated from the new day above them because they are not there yet- the New Day is when all peoples are truly free, not just in word but in deed. It is for that same reason the people are not to the gold rectangle: We're not there yet. The observant (okay, any one who can actually see the quilt) will note that nothing grows from anger hate and fear, but peace, joy, mercy, tolerance, and hope. I was going for a sort of Faith Ringgold feel, sans painting- that would have required gessoing the muslin, and I have no gesso, and I couldn't find my acrylic paints. So I did what I could with the materials I had on hand. Which is obviously a ridiculous amount of fabric. I'm sure the prof has absolutely no idea who Faith Ringgold is.

Right now it is in the hands of my professor, and I am more than slightly concerned for it, as it was not packed for traveling very well, and he seemed to treat it as one of those "oh, that's nice dear but I'm not really impressed because it's * insert a word indicating inferiority *". face turns red with rage I worked just as hard as the person who turned in the song, the casting or the graphic design, just in a different way, so please don't treat it as a quaint, cutesy, folksey project. I refer you to Michael Kashey, an Edinboro resident who won the National Quilt competition in Paducha, Kentucky. I have no idea if the prof is going to pass the quilt on to the contest or not, but I got an A in the class, the requirement category the quilt filled was something like 15% of my grade. Hurray.

festivus for the re'stuv us

The semester ended well. Very well, considering I had two lingering contagious diseases in the space of three months, plus a musical. Plus a pizza delivery job, a church choir gig and full time course work at the local university. All A's, yes, even in French, and a B+ in piano, for lack of a jury.

Best part of the semester? Being able to make a quilt for class. I beaded, appliqued by hand and machine, and finished the sucker of with some hand quilting. This project was brought to you by the History professor, who, if he liked what you handed in, was going to pass it on for consideration in a Martin Luther King Jr. arts contest. I am slightly peeved at the thought that my quilt, which is about half the size of a crib, is sitting around his house being shed on… all this AFTER I read an article about submitting quilts to judges which included all kinds of shipping advice like acid free tissue paper between the folded layers to discourage wrinkling, double bagging, writing the full address of the maker on the quilt, et cetera. *headdesk* I have pictures somewhere*… *addendum 12/30/07 here's a picture



Every time I find the camera, I can't find the card reader... ugh ugh ugh. Now I can't find the camera. The latest quilt I'm working on, since no semester break can be with out a quilting project, is a simple charm in shades of blue, thank you eBay. The blocks are 3 1/2" finished, set on point with a piano key border. It is for a friend who is having open heart surgery this summer… again. Not sure if I want to quilt or tie it, but it will have batting, as soon as I can get to the store for the fluff stuff. It has been pet tested and approved. There are copious quantities of purple charm blocks, 7 1/2" that have to be dealt with yet, and the pieces of the ocean waves that are stuffed in an Amazon box that also require attention. The summer kimono is done, and I finally found the obi fabric, so that will be finished (finally). It turned out very nice. Mom said something about making a short one for dad, but I highly doubt he'd appreciate the crap load of work I'd have to put into it, let alone where'ma going to find quality black silk for the sash without having to sell my kidney on the black market?

Last but not least, I figured out how to cable this semester, and made mom a cabled scarf to match a hat she bought at a craft show years ago. I originally started out with three cables, but it was more of a baby blanket than a scarf, so I ripped and settled on two - worked out perfectly. And she loves it. Two skeins of Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick n Quick. Again, when I can find the bloody camera, I'll provide some pictures.

Quilting goals for 2008:
quilt the jewel box
finish the ocean

be be or not to be... mmm yeah. totally to be.

so I announced my intention to be a theater minor. they want me to be a major of course, but I seriously don't think I can squeeze out another two or three or four semesters. I really want to move on with my life, go to grad school maybe... some place far away from this guy in the department that... well, he's into me and I'm not into him... and it's awkward right now, to say the least. I have to reach a point that I'm not creeped out being around him to tell him how I feel. Which could take a while, because we've been through this before. I'm not sure how our friendship is going to weather this, and it isn't as though there's another guy I am interested who is reciprocating the feeling... When did this turn into a blog about the emotional messy stuff? Agh!

I started the Irish Hiking Scarf in Lion Brand Wool Ease Think n Chunky "fisherman" because it would work fast, and my mom has a hat that it will mach. I need another two skeins (at least, maybe four), and I had to take out a couple stitches because otherwise the darn thing would have been a baby blanket and not a scarf. Live and learn. It will be ready for Christmas. Now if only I can keep it a secret...

long silences

September 27 was the last known communication from me... And I can totally explain.

I was in a show on campus. Not just a show, a musical, whee!! "The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd" We had a great time, we got nominated for some awards, fantastic-ness. now if I could only convince the assistant sage manager I am not interested in him...

I started working on the Irish hiking scarf about a month ago as something to do while sitting around during rehersals. The first eight inches or so were fine, but by the time I added another ten inches, the sides of the scarf had begun to curl. Hmm... Not entirely happy with this turn of events, I ripped the whole thing out, and have started a hat with three baby cables. I had made myself a baby pink wool hat a few semesters ago, and a matching scarf, but it has gone missing. No doubt one of the school mates took a shine to it. Back to the scarf, I'm going into the city today, and I'm going to stop at the store and try to pick up coordinating yarn for a new scarf to match a hat that we already have lying around in the coat closet.

Much better than personal projects are school sanctioned projects. For a Martin Luther King Jr. celebration at my school, there is some kind of creative contest. The prof said we could do what ever we wanted, as long as it expressed something to do with MLK Jr. and what his work means to us. So I'm making a quilt. Soft sculpture.

the next greatest thing

Two posts in one day, what is the world coming to?

I haven't got OW completely pieced, and I have my next project all lined up:

http://www.jasa.net.au/quilt.htm

OMG, gorgeous…!!! doesn't hurt being a Jane Austin fan either!

with a will...

I have a history test in an hour, and I still have to pull myself together for that...

Am very excited about stage craft- we're starting our first project on Friday, huzzah! Power tools are so much fun!

Ocean Waves is stalled right now beause I have been super busy with, surprise, the musical on campus. I have one half of the quilt finished, it's just all in random shaped rectanlge and square pieces waiting to be put together. Somehow in this process I have lost every single straight pin that I own so at the tale end of the last work I did on it, I was using sharps and very large tweeners. What a pain. Somewhere I saw pins with glo-in-the-dark heads, and I think that would be genious, especially given my track record.



The professor for the aforementioned test has a list of public service/community awareness things we have to do, and if I get this quilt done, I might just enter it in the art contest he's got listed. I don't remember all the specifics, but it has something to do with anti-racism. I would probably have to submit something with the quilt about why I submitted it, and I have a few good reasons for that. I just need some time to do it! and some pins...



I also just joined the Irish hiking scarf knit along. next time I get into town, I'll have to pick up some supplies. Oh darn, that means yarn shopping...

The missing piece

It's a little crisp this morning, but that is to be expected in September in the Northeast.

I started out the sewing machine to patch a pair of jeans initially. they're pretty worn out, and I need a crappy pair for Stage craft anyway- we're doing a "lab" with power tools today- and why wear a nice pair that doesn't have holes? Now they look like those trendy ones you can by brand new that are already distressed, the kind I don't have money for, and wouldn't want anyway. The hard work was done! There's no great story involved like, well, the rip in the knee was from this hiking trip... anyway, I digress.

I was poking around in the scrap bin and what should I find but the large sea foam triangles that went missing a few weeks ago. Huzzah! Production can begin again.

And I found the fabric for the dog bed. That'll have to wait for another day.

the end of completion

I was leafing through my photo album last night, looking at all the empty slots for pictures and thinking that now the England and Paris scrap book is over, I can fill in the pages with other stuff from school, like my senior recital and all that stuff, sort of a photo portfolio, plus programs of the stuff I did, if I have extra (since performers really should have a portfolio, just like art majors…) and I discovered the White Tower… and the Tower Bridge, and… could that be the tower housing Big Ben and the Houses of Parlaiment?, and oh no, there's the Beef Eater tour guide and Traitor's gate. Looks like it isn't done after all. Alas.

I miss London. It's such a beautiful city. Much cleaner than Paris. Paris got nasty gross.

So that meant stopping after an appointment at the craft store, where I got extra page protectors… and then I saw all the little Jolie's and I though oh why not, I'll just grab some stuff and start my senior recital page; the piano with the lights and the sheet music, the sparkley music notes (why can't they just be black, eh?) and a little white dress, which I'm pretty sure is supposed to be a flower girl's or a bride's or something, but mom and grams always said I could get married in that dress anyway.

And then I saw that they had music paper. Ugh and a sigh. This project means an e-mail to my lovely accompanist, to see if she has any pictures, and a new scrap book…

Go Jane!

My best friend A was in town this weekend, she's been off and away at the Grad School. So the two of us spent Saturday together doing what we do: going shopping and watching Chick Flicks. I had to get material for my obi, and I settled on a pale orchid purple. I got a few other pieces, too, that I didn't exactly need, and enough paper to keep a doctoral theses alive. The yukata jst needs to be hemmed, and the obi sewn, and it will be finished.

We saw Becoming Jane. It was wonderful, fairly accurate and slightly depressing. A was certain that the amount of kissing that went on in the film wasn't the least bit accurate for the time. I argued that it was improprietous, née scandalous, to mention anything concerning, heaven forbid, a fiery romance. Just because they didn't write about it doesn't mean it didn't happen. Case in point, the two of us were living and breathing, the details of which, especially at that time, were not polite for conversation, civil or otherwise. A laughed and said I was probably right. I knew that Austin had never married, and I was very glad that the film makers decided against changing history. As Wistley said, the good seldom have a happy ending. Sigh.