Digital Tech Skills • Exposé

2 weeks and millions of image files later....
I have a small body of work ready to present for grade.
Yee-haw.
I'm so excited.
I'm so exhausted.

I think I should use the above text for a composition for him! May do that.... later.

Still have to mount these images- but, the web-images are through and so I can post them here.

These are more of the vector drawings. Reference the last few posts to see the single crayola and key to better understand how the compositions were built upon and studies of gradations, contrast, etc..

Quilted Art Revealed

I failed to post a link to these after teasing them earlier in the month and gifting them over Mother's Day weekend.

While they are technically not quilt squares- they are textile art nonetheless. And, do have a bit of stitching on them, some batting and fabric on both sides.

I call them prayer squares as they can be hung on the wall and be a visual reminder to pray for the JJ's while on their mission journey. The photo of Jocelyn & Jessica (the JJ's as they are affectionately known) and the iconography is Russian and Christian symbols, hearts for the Harts (the host family), crosses, St Basil's cathedral (and it's lovely onion domes), matroyshka dolls and a Russian postmark.

I've got several more made and a couple more to be stitched this next week. BTW-- Mae heartily endorsed them and said that they were very nicely done. She finally understood my desire to integrate modern technique with less traditional methods to create something and I never meant to infer that she was lessening the process of mine (or other's) quilting projects.

A hibiscus by any other name....

is still a hibiscus!

From Illustrator class! a preview of my projects!

Enjoy

Colors EVERYWHERE!!

Yup.

My other vector drawing is.... a color crayon! Rachel's blog-banner inspired me! Thanks Rach!

After manipulating on it all afternoon- I finally played around and made something FUN! Not that all the assignments aren't fun... it's just that some are more so that others.

and, here it is!! 

Go out and COLOR yourself HAPPY!!

But, before you do.... take a look at this! I'm just sure it's Wrigley's long lost family member!!

Notes from Art Class

Illustrator assignment: 

1. Take one simple object
   
2. Photo or scan into photoshop image
   
3. Import into Illustrator, draw object using pen tool. Experiment with layers, vectors, holding handles, etc.
   

Using original image- turn into compound design. 

Experiment with radial rotation, mirror imaging, scaling, etc.

So far, so good..... 

Lace is at Stake!

Elizabeth Gaskell 

painted in 1832 by William John Thomson

The story of Cranford was written 1851-53 and can be found as an e-book on Project Gutenberg.

“This is Cranford. 

Everything unchanging. 

Perpetual. 

A society that knows itself.

A place at peace.”


“Young man! out of my way! we are in the throes of an exceptional emergency!”

“Is someone in need of medical attention?”

“This is no occasion for sport! there is lace at stake!”


Ahhhh… yes! Cranford. Poor kitty.

Happy-it's-not-Mexican-Independence-Day!

or.... Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Oh? And, you thought this holiday was when Mexico celebrated their independence from Spain? Wrong. That would be in September.

Yes, I'd thunked incorrectly, too. Nor is it a Mexican federal holiday. *gasp*

So say many sites I googled and Wikipedia.

History of observance
According to a paper published by the UCLA Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture, about the origin of the observance of Cinco de Mayo in the United States, the modern American focus on that day first started in California in the 1860s in response to the resistance to French rule in Mexico. The paper notes that "The holiday, which has been celebrated in California continuously since 1863, is virtually ignored in Mexico.

Some Americans would rather that our culture didn't acknowledge this event... but, I think it is an excellent reason to raise our margarita glasses and toast independence at any and all occasions (Gen. Sam Houston would heartily agree!) and especially if it's freedom from the frenchies. Not that I have anything against champagne, the community or the beverage. But... now, about those frogs- absolutely NO ONE wants to have to subordinate to the likes of them.

Our family has almost always recognized this holiday.... yes, we like to eat.... and drink... alot. This is how my parents explained it to us. Keep in mind- we were transplanted and raised Tex-i-can- so celebrating rebellion and independent thought was as natural as having an oil well in your back yard.

Historically, the Mexican people have an inordinate fondness for – indeed, a LOVE of -- MAYONNAISE.

A little known fact surrounding the tragic loss of the Titanic in April, 1912 was that her holds contained several thousand cases of fine French mayonnaise.

After depositing her human cargo in New York, the great ship was to have continued south to a Mexican port where this French delicacy was to be unloaded for distribution there.

When word finally reached Mexico of the loss of the precious cargo to the cold waters of the Atlantic, they declared a national holiday.

It is known as “SINKO DA MAYO.”

A far less well known April holiday.

April 21st was the famed Battle of San Jacinto where General Houston led the charge: yelling and screaming "Remember the Alamo" and woke Santa Anna from his afternoon nap and completely ruin-ated 4 o'clock tea. Today's school children are convinced that the Republic of Texans (that's not to say that they were in fact Republicans) would have won even more quickly had they just climbed up on the monument and fired their weapons down upon the Mexican army below. Makes sense to me.

The Mexican tend to think of the whole affair like a disaster movie; A Tacolips Now.

Yet, they do seem to always get the final word. By sending us all their illegals; practicing superb marketing skills enticing tourists into spending money on their seasides then sending them all home with Montezuma's revenge.

Howsomever- enjoy your empanadas with a little holandaise sauce and pass me a Corona, please?

Project Peek!

I just can't stand it!! I have to share a peek to my newest project that I mentioned the other day....




I'm so excited!!

Oh? And the poor quality of the photo..... duh! It's a SURPRISE for someone special! I can't show it YET!!

P.S. (added 5/26/08) here's the link to the finished project!

Domestic BLISS!!!

Not much rambling here.... just color and form.

This guy's an engineer!

The Engineer's Guide To Cats, by Paul Klusman with TJ Wingard
No animals were harmed in the making of this movie.



Now... remember... the man making, producing and starring in these videos is an engineer.
Here is shown doing his job.

You can lead a horticulture...

You can lead a horticulture..
but you can't make her think!

Ohmigosh! I read that and almost spewed coffee! WHEW!

Okay- I know I'm supposed to be continuing the saga of "Sally's Adventures in Quilting"- but, I'm not! At least I'm not today! Tune in next time for that... I am quilting though!! HA! and Mae did approve!

This morning though... I've been up since before the crack of dawn and in spite of all the coffee am probably gonna have to back and lay-down, but- THIS morning... I've been stamp-surfing for future projects.

Ohmigoodness!! My wish-list just keeps getting larger and larger. Uncle George better hurry up and let me stimulate the economy!

Check out these sites:

River City Rubber Works - the site with the most clever quotes I've seen in a long while!

Try to guess which ones I'm lusting for at GreenPepper Press

The round monogram stamps and interchangeable alphas and the cool new borders by Just Rite!

My Beautiful Sisters! and the textile arts

These dresses are from the 80's.

I'm not going to tell exactly how old these girls are... but- those dresses are well over 20 years old!

The neat thing???

The sisters can still fit in them in 2008!!

You GO, GIRLS!!!

The other neat thing... they were sewed by our grandmother, Mae!

Which brings me to the subject of sewing and textile arts.

Growing up- most of our nice clothes were sewed or altered by our grandmothers. Our mama didn't sew except for that one time one of us had to have a reindeer outfit for the Christmas pageant. The story of how one child appeared looking like an extra terrestrial being is legendary in East Texas.

Mae tried to encourage each of us girls to sew- and sometimes we actually finished a project. Mine usually were whump-sided and she had to do some serious alterations in order for me to wear it even inside the house and it probably wasn't going out in public either.

Grandmother Nancy was always sewing costumes for her drama classes and she had the most luscious fabrics.... all glittery and spangles. Probably not the best for little girls out in public either- but, since I couldn't sew all that well anyway and when I was at her house for too short of a time period to actually finish a sewing project- I made do with just draping and wrapping all those lovely textiles. Had some really great shawls and veils, too!! I decided then and there my sewing efforts should be limited to costume events only and since I attend so few of those- it wasn't going to be necessary for me to have to address the Singer very often.

That's not to say that throughout the years of dear son growing up I got away without sewing... when he was young I did sew several costumes and in a fit of domestic/holiday euphoria a "little Lord Fauntleroy" outfit with a companion jumper for me! No snarky comments on the 80's hair there, sisters... you suffered it, too- remember?

And, isn't Jess just such a sweet little boy?? He was! Still can be at times!

The fact is both my sisters can sew. Very well. One can quilt. As can our SIL, click here for her site! And, my MIL is the best seamstress I know! I'm not sure if she's ever quilted- but, she could if she chose.

Me? I admire their lovely handiwork and love to go to quilt shows; but, just content myself with paint & paper, glue and inks and a rubber stamp that looks like stitches.

Until last month.

I found some fabric on eBay that I just swooned over. At first I thought it was paper and hit the buy-it-now button before realizing it was *gasp* fabric. Oh MAN! What have I done???

Oh, well it's okay. I like pretty fabrics. Occasionally I drool over them in the notions department when I'm selecting some calico for Mae's quilting projects and I do have a small fabric stash that I use to make decorative "puddles" around my house.

Hmmm.... my own quilting project. That can't be tooo hard, right? There are so many mixed media artists out there doing this very thing.... it's do-able! I can quilt! I just know I can! In retrospect the 9 patch square pillow top I made way back in Camp Fire Girls was a bit hideous... but, I've matured since then. Surely I can sew a straight seam- I mean how hard can that be? I can draw a straight line, right? Right!

Fabric arrives. Man! It's so cute! Not quite enough to make a real statement.... go to Hobby Lobby to pick a couple of complimentary patterns to make the project large enough.... oh! There's so many to choose from! I can't choose! I bring home a yard each of seven different patterns. A tad bit overboard but I can easily see me cranking out a dozen or so of these little creations!

Discuss with Mae just how to get started... oh! What a PAIN! I'd forgotten you had to WASH, dry and iron the fabric before you even got to cut it! UGH. BORING!

Now I'm beginning to remember just why I hated whipping up a cute little dress from "McCall's Fast & Easy Only 3 Steps to a Lovely Sundress". My 3 steps- choose fabric, snip, sew. Their 3 steps... includes a 12 page (that is map sized pages by the way) pattern (oh, I'd forgotten how much I hate diagrams, too!) of seam allowances, dart points, bias and selvage compensations, arggghhh.... my blood pressure is going up just recalling it all!

After a chill-pill and a glass of wine- I'm now ready to cut my squares. I remember the old adage; measure once, cut twice. Or is it? Well. Whatever!

Before long I'm going to be the happy quilter working away on my lovely little piece of art, the birds are singing, the creative juices are flowing- I can see myself offering gorgeous pieces of hand-dyed, original textile arts for sale on ETSY and being featured in the likes of "Cloth, Paper, Scissors".

Okay. Straight seam sewing. Not a problem. Because I like to look at projects and figure the short-cuts; I figure sewing all my squares into strips is the most expedient way to get the piece work outta the way and onto the more important (read that FUN part) of quilting.

Snip, zip, strip. This is going fabulously! It's EASY! Three horizontal strips (rows for those of you thinking like a word processor). Now... to combine those three strips into one lovely 9 patch.

Wait a minute... those seams are STRAIGHT! So why is my 9 patch so whumper-sided??? It looks as if some drunk seamstress tried to replicate Picaso in fabric. What's up with THAT?? Why??? Everything was even and symmetrical when they were plain little squares, and again when they were plain little strips. Why can't I do THIS??? Just "sew" you'll know... I was only kidding about the wine earlier- I know better than to try to stitch "under the influence" as it were... but- why aren't these darned squares even????

Take it to Mae. She'll help. You know what she said??? "How do you sew such straight seams?" HA!!! Ta-DAAAHHHHHH! I'm glowing! She also says it's easier to start from the center of the strip and sew out then to try to line everything up from one end and expect the other end to not get stretched in the meantime.

All right..... I'm cooking with gas, now- baby!!

And, then she drops the hammer. "What design do you intend to use for the quilting?". That's easy.... I've heard that term "stitch in the ditch" many times on the quilt shows! Besides-- if it was easy enough for me to straight sew these seams then it was going to be a breeze to do the same with three layers.

But she says...."by machine? Why would you do that? Why would you want anything quilted if it wasn't done by hand? Who would want THAT?" uhhhhh..... I'm flummoxed.

I wasn't intending on doing this project by HAND!!! No WAY!. Hello?? All the quilt-artisans (including my SIL and sister) are quilting with a machine! Hadn't she realized this? No, she'd not by the way... just thought they had extraordinary skill!

*to be continued"

Link to the finished project here.

Simple fixes for High-Tech Devices

Ahhhh.... electronic telecommunications. What a conundrum.

You're damned if you do and
damned if you don't have a cell-phone and/or the internet.

First technological snafu for the week.

.
For quite a few days now our satellite modem has not been giving a steady signal. No surprise there-- it has been cloudy (which is a whole other reason not to use that means, but- I'm stuck with it until December). Okay... so we steadily watched the skies and worked around impending squall systems.

Until... it just wouldn't pick up a signal at all- and the sun was shining, dagnabit! It finally occurred to me to go out and look to see just WHAT my satellite "sees" when it looks up into the great beyond.



It should see this:











But this is what is the actuality.

No WONDER there's not much reception!!

And, mind you... this picture was made after B managed to pull some of the limbs down with a ski-rope and a rock. It may not look it in the photo- but, those limbs are well over 30 feet off the ground and there's no way a tree-cutting service could get near without miring in the muck.

A sincere warning to anyone getting dish-tv or satellite internet installed in the late Fall or Winter season. Just because that's an old tree and those limbs look dead on the ends- they may not be! Don't let the just-out-of-high-school installer technician put it where there might just be some leaves growing out in a few short months!

Second technological snafu for the week and a really weird solution.

I washed my lovely red Motorola Razr phone.

Yup. It was definitely not a "Cheer"ful event as the gravity of what I'd just done "Gain"ed momentum in the "Tide" of horror when I gazed down into the Maytag and saw its little lifeless body laying amongst the very clean laundry.

No kidding aside- but, I was almost sick and let out a very loud and unlady like euphemism when it hit me. I prayed forgiveness for every cuss word I've ever used over my air-time cuz it was obvious this phone had paid the price for those sins and had now been washed as clean as a whistle. I would say as white as snow, but it's still red!

After I very quickly remembered to take the battery out, B came to lend in giving it some CPR (clean-phone-resuscitation) maneuvers. He very carefully laid it on the counter and proceeded to toast it with the hair-dryer. In retrospect- probably not the best method, but it doesn't seem to have bothered it much. After a few minutes of this- he decided I should just go and replace the thing cuz it was a goner for sure.

Fast-forward to the Alltel store where Chad (yes, that is his REAL name!) gave me his technique for reviving drowned cell-phones.

Give it the big chill in the freezer. Huh??? Do WHAT?

Yup, you read that correctly. Pop it into the freezer for 30 minutes and then leave it to air-dry for 12-24 hours. Then, stick the battery back in and voilå! He didn't really know why (and the other clerk was pretty stunned, too!) but, he said it should work.

Well... it wasn't exactly voilå when we attempted it- but, after B had a moment of inspiration and plugged it into the wall-charger, it was up and sputtering. It flickered off and on a few times, but kept trying to live, 'er- I mean, work. At first it said no signal, no signal- but, eventually it found the mother ship, connected and I was talking to my MIL!

Who knew such primitive methods would be the solutions for such highly advanced electronic tools? A rock, a rope, and a freezer. I guess the old adage KISS *keep it simple, stupid* is right again!

Anywhoozie--I can communicate again... well- at least until it rains! And, I will really have to watch my verbiage! No more disrespectful, snippy, catty or disparaging gossip lest the evil cell-phone demons decide to punish me for good.

Blue skies and no roaming signals are my wish to you-- have a Happy!

Scrapbook widowers get unglued

Their houses a mess,
their wives MIA,
some husbands are wondering where it will all end

JULIA MCKINNELL | January 23, 2008 |

Attention husbands: are you tripping over your wife's glue guns, her ribbons and rub-ons? Is your house overrun with half-finished craft projects? Does she steal your tools? Worse, are you babysitting the kids again while she and her girlfriends set sail on a scrapbooking cruise to the Mexican Riviera? You are not alone. Around the globe, husbands are uniting to ask such questions as: what about the mess? What about
the money? Where does it end?

Some women spend more per week on scrapbook accessories than they do on groceries, says Calgary entrepreneur and mother of two Allison Orthner. Scrapbooking is not only a multi-billion-dollar industry, says Orthner, who organized last November's first all-Canadian Crop and Cruise, "it's the fastest-growing hobby in North America."

The latest Scrapbooking in America survey finds that one in four homes has a dedicated scrapbooker (most likely female, between the ages of 30 and 50). On Orthner's seven-day Mexican Crop and Cruise, the cruise line provided three rooms, open 24 hours a day for scrapbooking. "There were some diehards who didn't leave the ship," says Orthner. "They scrapbooked the whole time."

In Australia, a husband (under the pseudonym Mr. Grendel) writes a blog called "Scrapbook Widower," a reference to the time he spends babysitting while his wife indulges her obsession. In a typical entry last year, he writes: "Mrs. Grendel is off at one of those scrapbooking and craft fair thingies. This one has been going on for five days, which is just way too long if you ask me. Five days to see Disneyland I can understand, but five days at a craft fair?" Later, Mr. Grendel wonders, "Why does Mrs. Grendel buy so much paper in one go?" More recently, he's found himself pondering the etymology of the word. "Why is it called scrapbooking when all of the materials are bought new?" Mr. Grendel acknowledges that while a name like "High Grade Paper and Expensive Embellishment Archival Decorator Album System" is not as catchy a name as scrapbooking, "I reckon it's a lot more accurate."

In Holland, "Bubbah" keeps an online diary called The Life of a Scrapper's Husband. His bio reads: "Married, two kids, no life 'cause my wife won't let me." In a July 2007 entry he writes: "Ever had 13 women packed in one living room? Care to know where I'm going to be? NOT AT HOME." Bubbah says his wife talks about scrapbooking all the time. His advice to husbands? "Build her a scraproom. She will have her own space and you will have a scrapbook-free living room."

Calgary oil company engineer Rick Bawol concurs. "In our last house, we had stuff strewn all over the place." In their new house, "everything is contained in this one room. It's kind of the envy of all her scrapbooking friends. She's got a fancy office set up for it and that's fine by me because I have the rest of the house back." Bawol notes that his wife got involved after friends invited her to scrapbooking events. "Then she starts buying supplies, then she starts buying more and more of the paraphernalia and it works its way up, and then you've got a little computerized cutting machine that's programmable."

His solution for how expensive it all is? "Make a lot of money," he advises husbands. "Scrapbooking will still be stupidly expensive but you won't notice as much. How to make 'a lot of money'? Hey, don't expect me to solve ALL your problems."

Orthner's husband, Brad, accompanied his wife on the Crop and Cruise and offers such tips as, "Expect a mess and you won't be disappointed." And "Remember when asked, 'Do you like my new layout?', employ the same rules for 'Do I look fat in this?' "

Bawol, on the other hand, advises husbands to show little interest in her latest layout. "That would only encourage her to do more.She shows me the stuff, and sure it looks nice, but I'll never be able to get my head around spending several hours to make three or four photographs look nice."

Back in Holland, Bubbah has detected a worrisome link between women who scrapbook and women who wear Crocs, and has started an offshoot site called Scrappers with Crocs. Meanwhile, the Scrapbook Widower has launched "a serious investigation into the relationship between scrapbooking and the quality of the sex life of scrapbookers and their partners." Sixty-one per cent of respondents identified with the answer, "Oh God, I can't even remember the last time we had a 'lay down' instead of a 'layout.' "

Some views from Hot Springs....

Mmmmm...... our favorite pizza restaurant in the entire world!

Rod's Pizza Cellar, home to the Godfather Pizza,
is also a vision in the Springtime!

More flora and fauna from Arka-dilly!

A bandit in the bird feeder!

Begging for Trouble....

I hate typos.
I hate mispronunciations.
I hate poor punctuation.
I hate bad grammar.

And... I'm the worst offender of them all!

Ah, well... I'm happy regardlessly! I talk, write and speak with a hick voice, dialect and intellect. That's not to be confused with Southern or red-necked. I am those, too- thus explaining the influences and the intermingling of vernaculars.

Nor am I a hypocrite! I speak hastily and regularly pound out mistakes on the keyboard and gaily sail along in my daily life. Cést la vie! If you find 'em (the mistakes) please overlook. And, when I do call attention to other's mistakes... it is only because my brain kicked into gear, recognized it and my mouth voiced it before I thought "keep it to yourself!". Really and truly... does it matter if everything is correct? Exceptions being résumes?

But this guy is looking for trouble!

Jeff Deck is on a mission and he carries a punctuation repair kit.

His most recent conquest? OREGON! Now, I've got good friend out there who is a whiz-bang at English... I can't believe that he found any in her neighborhood!

Check it out.

an dunt grad e me bye mah arrows.

P.S. I have another good friend who used to be a whiz-bang at chemistry and she correctly identified caffeine in an earlier post this week! Good going, Kat! I'll send you some! I just this morning spotted that comment!!

One for Jess...

Ahhh..... bliss.
Some folks never outgrow their toys or childhood dreams.

Kid has been all excited as there is to be some big zombie campaign over on campus this week- real.... well... as real as mortals can play zombies, anyway. With Nerf guns.

He and the Chadster had to come dig through the attic room and find the vintage weapons.


Oddly enough... I found this news article about this other college kid in Michigan building his own Panzer Tank. Don't you just know his folks are proud of him??

Yes, Jess... I'm sure your Dad will help you build this as a History assignment...and Barry.... and Newton, etc!!

Basic... just basic.

a prize to the first correct guess!

The view from N 15th

These iris were planted by a former (very dear) neighbor, Miz Pat!


She won't recognize the gate-fence though!














The pink dogwood planted in honor of the birth of a beloved son!
It's 21 years old! And, that's our house far off in the distance!







Red honeysuckle on a white azalea that has not yet bloomed out.










New plants in the salt pot- water lettuce... and a little lady-bug!