Quilt Testers In Action

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Friday, November 2, 2012

Speedy Inspiraton

I was thinking today about the funk I've been in lately. It's time that I started pushing negative thoughts aside, and begin replacing them with positive thoughts. This may take a lot of practice. Then I thought, "who is the most positive person I know?"

Instantly, an image of Speedy popped into my mind. OK, I know he's not a human person, but we all know that lagomorphs are the superior species, so.... And really, he's such a positive little big guy, that he's almost risking his Rabbit ID card. (Not to worry, though. Mr. Mick disapproves enough for two!)

That is why Speedy made it into today's collage. I hope his Mom isn't upset that I stole borrowed his picture from his blog. Don't you just want to beep that nose?

 
I think maybe every rainbow should have a Speedy at the end of it!

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Art Every Day Month Begins

November is a month of projects. Some of us are busily creating things for holiday gifts, or to keep up with the seasonal rush of small businesses. Some of us are writing novels as part of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I thought about that, but it seemed like too large a mountain.

Instead, I decided to try  the Art Every Day Month Challenge  being run by Leah over at Creative Every Day.  The rules of the challenge leave the choice of what you do pretty wide open. I've decided to put some limits on myself, and do a collage for each day of the month. I'm hoping to get over my reluctance to cover up layers. I tend to get a little too attached to early parts of a project, sort of like a writer becoming attached to a sentence, and trying to force the story to work around it!

This is today's creation. First, I wrote all over the page about what was on my mind, then with pastels, I drew a variety of symbols. Then, some paint, followed by some strips of paper that I had painted, and a couple of magazine pictures. Since this is just an exercise for myself, I felt it was OK to use the magazine bits. Of course if this were going out of my house, I wouldn't use copyrighted material. Then, I added more paint, cut out words, more pictures, more pastel, more paint (with stamps). I finished as I began, with writing. Whew! That was a lot of layers.

 
 
I'm pretty happy with the results, but it was almost a disaster. I started making this in an old sketchbook that I hadn't ever used very much. Apparently, I had only used that paper for dry mediums in the past, because the paper started to disintegrate when I added the paint! Once I realized this I stopped and let the paper dry. I got a book of watercolor paper, and sewed the first paper to the watercolor paper before continuing. Project rescued, and the horizontal stitching lines add a nice touch.
 
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Over the last month, I have been taking an on-line class in Photoshop 10 through the local community college. The class has been quite time consuming, but I really enjoyed it. This is a Photoshop collage that I made early in the class. I have since learned how to fit things together more smoothly. In this image is a passage and statue on the Chatham University campus, and some trim from one of their buildings. Also, a pillow from the oldest one's apartment, fireworks from the Fourth of July, and both my girls. And the Neighborhood Lion, can't forget him!
 


This first series of classes focused on the basic mechanics of using Photoshop. I've had one version or another of the program for several years, and only learned how to use a few of the tools, so this was useful for me. I'm much less intimidated by the program now. It doesn't feel quite so much like a foreign language. Has software ever given you that feeling?

Since Weasley crossed the bridge, I've had a hard time getting back into blogging. So in addition to AED, I'm going to try BlogHer's NaBloPoMo (National Blog Post  Month), and attempt to post every day in November. Have you heard the saying that it takes 30 days to form a new habit? November has 30 days, so I guess we'll see if it works. Is anyone else working on one of these November projects? If you are, I'm rooting for you. Stay focused, and have fun!

Thursday, October 18, 2012

It's Been A Long Time

As you can imagine, it's been strange around here lately. The house fees so empty without a rabbit. For the first couple of weeks, I couldn't stand to be in the house. I was doing a lot of walking, and some gardening. Then, I decided to take on some home renovation. I have been working on giving the Oldest Daughter's room an update.

I have been stripping. Wallpaper, that is. What a messy job!

 
And then, there was some spackling and sanding. It's amazing how many tack holes a kid can put in a wall. There were even holes down near the floor. Why??? I can't imagine any reason to tack something to the wall that low....

 
Priming followed. See that fabric hanging by the window? That's the inspiration for the room.


The walls have now been painted to match the blue of the fabric (no picture yet). It's an odd blue, with a touch of green in it, and then greyed down. The color name on the paint chip is "Blue Stream".

Since the kid took her furniture with her when she moved south, we purchased a futon for the room. It will have a red cover, and eventually I will make a quilt to match. I'm also going to refinish the built-in drawers, replace the tacky old ceiling fan, and gather some of my treasures from my blogland friends into the room. Unfortunately there is no budget to replace the carpet with flooring, so a throw rug will have to cover that pink for now. I'll show you more pictures as the work goes on.

In other news, the Younger One was home from college this past weekend. It was actually parent's weekend at her college, but she came home to attend the opening of Tom Grady's show, 100 Portraits: A LifetimeAt A Glance, at the Sprinkler Factory in Worcester, Ma.  In a little over a year, he painted 100 portraits, one of someone for every year from 0 to 100. The Younger One was the model for 18. Here she is standing next to it. It was done back when she still had all her curls.

 
Here she is standing next to her sister, the model for 23. When I saw the photo of this one on his website, I didn't like it as much as her sister's. Then, I saw it in person, and was blown away. Tom totally captured her in this portrait. 
 

Quite a few of the models were at the show, and he did a wonderful job with all of them. The only ones who didn't look exactly like their portraits were the youngest kids, but that had more to do with them changing. Kids have a tendancy to do that. You can see all the portraits here.   But, if you are anywhere near Worcester, I encourage you to check out the show. It's on until October 28, 2012.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Going To A Party!

Some of you may have heard already, but my fuzzy nephew (yes, he adopted me) is one year old today. Speedy is such a personality, it's hard to believe he's only been around such a short time. Anyway, he's having a party, and I'm going. First I have to get his present ready.


  1.  Me
  2. Carrots
  3. Apple sticks
  4. Carrot cake
  5. Bow (he can wear it on his head later, it goes with his scarf)
  6. Crumpled paper balls (to play with)
  7. Banana chips 
  8. Rabbit Ears 2012B, the basic model. I couldn't afford the fancy one that shell has.


Here I go, into the closet transporter. I really hope this thing works. Don't want to end up in a wall or something by accident.


 OMG! It really worked! Amazing. And there's the little sweetheart big, strong, adventuring bunny now.



Looks like it's going to be quite a party. I think I see some carrot rum over there. Right next to Harrington.....



So what are you waiting for? Come join the party. Quick, before all the rum is gone! See you soon.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Weasley On Wednesday-The Finale

As you can guess from the title, our beloved Weasley has crossed the Rainbow Bridge.  It had been obvious on Sunday morning that he had taken a turn for the worse, and we decided it was time to let him go. We took turns holding him all day. He slipped away from us very early Monday morning, after spending all night sleeping in my arms. Very sad, but the last couple years haven't been easy on him. He handled all the adversity so valiantly,  hopefully he is restored to his youthful self on the other side.

I thought I would share some pictures with you of earlier, happier, times. Weasley came to us in the Summer of 2003 when he was a year old, from a farm called The Fuchsia Fleece.  It was Sarah, the former Pittsburgher, now the Southerner, who picked him out. She always said that if he had been a person, she would have married him.These  two pictures show him in the hotel room, the first night he was ours. He had been named Matthew, and we always joked that it should have been "Matt". He matted up faster than any of our other buns. All you had to do was look at him, and think the word, and he would be matted!


Look how bright and shiny his eyes were!
 We found him a friend in Molly. Weasley is on the left, and Molly on the right.


I had just decided that I didn't want to breed rabbits after all, and someone left the cage door open. Ooops! Our sweet Ginny was the result. For awhile they were all happy together. Eventually Molly decided she wanted to be elsewhere, so it became just Ginny and Weasley.


Weasley was a prodigious eater, as you may have noticed.


But his favorite thing was couch cuddling, especially after Ginny crossed the Bridge. He loved to be held, for as long as you would hold him. We've never had another rabbit like him.

With the Curly One
He liked to sleep, and would flop out so completely that we would have to check if he was breathing. He also liked to be inside things, like tuba coils.


And dust pans. How's this for a dust bunny?


He loved to be in the sun, no matter how hot it was. But you know that already. You've seen plenty of pictures of him sleeping in the sun. Here's one more.


He also liked to sleep inside vacuum cleaner coils, especially with Ginny along side.



 Actually, stretching out next to Ginny may have been his favorite thing of all.

Weasley is in back.
Ginny had a way of leading him into trouble. She would go someplace she shouldn't be, and he would follow. Here he is getting ready to jump up on the trunk.


She was amazingly curious, and he would go along for the ride. It cost him a toenail one day, when he followed her down the basement stairs. He fell, and in trying to hold on, he pulled out a toenail. It never grew back.


The hay bin in the kitchen was a frequent target, whether someone had left it open,

Ginny on the left, Weasley on the right
or even if the bin was closed. Here Ginny has already jumped down, and is acting innocent.


One of their favorite cuddle places was this old brown chair, which is next to our computer.

Weasley in front
Ginny liked to chew the chair., but Weasley had a licking habit. At first, I thought he had done something naughty, but after watching him, I realized that the large wet spots were from him licking the chair, for a very long time. He licked other things, too. Actually, he licked almost anything his face came in contact with.


The last couple years have been hard on the Old  Man, and I know he has missed Ginny. I imagine they are together now, both  healed, sleeping in the sun, eating tasty greens, and cuddling. Ginny is probably leading Weasley into trouble, and he is loving it.


Goodbye, my Sweet Bunny Man. We love you deeply, and will miss you until we are together again. For now, see clearly, and hop well.