Missing in Action

Yup - that's me. I've been missing in action from posting on my blog here. First, not much to say, second, I've been busy working, working, working, and boy do I need a break. Thirdly, overwhelmed with life and the economy and, well everything. Then to top off all those great feelings, one of my babies got sick very fast and I had to put him to sleep right after Thanksgiving. And so my heart has been very heavy. Do you ever just feel like curling up in bed and pulling the covers over your head? Well, thats about where I am right now.

Peanut was only five - but he melted our hearts. Wish him well - I see him running in the green hills of heaven
This is Aubrey - he is 8 weeks old and we hope he will help the family feel complete again.

But I did want to mention one of our own, at Skwigga-Zine. Kelly of Macaroni & Glue has cheered me up a little this morning with an image of her daughter decorating the Christmas tree (I should really get that done as well), and her great nostalgic greet cards and gift tags. I love old fashion Christmas. But the other great thing is that some of her cards have a modern touch as well.

Finally A New Listing - Didn't I say that before?

Check out my new listing at Etsy. Hope your all like it.

People who support

I belong to a blog ring group who tries to feature each other in really positive ways. This week is our own Michabella Creations , who does all she can support her fellow artists and Swquiggazine. She goes all out. Let's raise a big loud cheer for her and check out her work.

This week I have started on a wedding gift. After the fact, of course. I also finish the mystery quilt challenge top for my quilt guild. Both will go to people as gifts.

More to Share

My friend send me the greatest pictures sometimes. So twice in one week she has sent me the best "aaaaawe" pictures. This little one was born cesarean after its mother was killed. He is sooo tiny and precious. It's amazing.


But that's one kind of awe. There is anther kind and that when you see something the makes you stare in wonder and disbelief that something could be so beautiful. Talking Tulips Lily Wrey accomplishes that wow factor with her jewelry. Really suburb and something I can only dream about.

Have to Share

I just have to share this image. My friend sent me the article with this picture. The article talk about two white tiger cubs who had to be separated from their mother after Hurricane Hannah, because she became stressed. So the woman who took the cubs, who is a professional animal care giver, also had this two year chimpanzee, who helps and mimics her. This picture was just to precious not to spread to a wider audience.

I Wish

I wish I could figure this all out. What is blogging really and this whole ranking stuff. And how do you find out how you are ranked. How does this affect by ability to sell my quilts. I'm feeling good about stuff - but I still feel a little lost about all this networking. Hilary, however seems to have it all down a lot better then me. Designing Hilary is ranked two, if I read her blog correctly. Now don't get me wrong. I do understand that a higher ranking means that more people will possible visit your site - so forth and so on, but I still feel like I'm missing something. Either that, or I am not giving enough time to the computer. Honestly - I am so very busy doing other stuff.

Maybe I am a little old fashion (she says as she sits munching on bread that she made Saturday - yum). I have been trying to be more self sufficient - cooking my own meals, planting fruits and veggies. Believe it or not I occasionally receive a free rabbit from my neighbors hutch. I try to be more conscious of how and where I travel, use things that are more user friendly to the environment - which, actually, sometimes, requires more work. I putter around the house and yard so much when I am not at work and I have had to resort to going to a sewing room to get my sewing done. I say resort - but I love it - really allows me to concentrate, away from everything and just sew.

So how to get a handle on this blogging/networking thing and move it forward is all I'm asking. Is there some kind of thing that really aides a person like me.

Oh well - here are some pictures that I took today. My quilt guild does an opportunity quilt every year, which is raffled off. We are doing an art quilt this year based on orange blossoms, because we are the Orange Blossom Guild. Also in my area of California, we grow a lot of citrus. I have lemon blossoms right now and we needed examples for the quilt. I also attempted to photograph a butterfly - not easy.

Some things Feel Great and Others Feel like a Challenge

The Seasons change and life speeds up and slows down. Everything ebbs and flows. Just when you think you can not take one more moment of the day in and day out, something happens to remind us that we do count and mean something and that there is something to be said about the lives we are living. Check out Eight is Not Enough and you will come to realize that every life is different and challenging and a blessing.

For me - just when I think I don't want to sell my quilts anymore I have a great moment. This last month was pretty productive.

I delivered a commission,

sold another quilt, finished two charity quilt tops,

and am almost finished with a spur of the moment of inspiration. I may have gotten a little over the top with embellishments - but it is a work in progress.

Continued Look at Early Art

Below I have and excerpt from the series How Art Made the World, which was shown on PBS a few years ago. I use it in my class room. The episode poses the question of how, we, as human beings, began making images and uses the early image of the cave painting, found in Europe, and the Drakensberg rock paintings done by the San people of West Africa, to begin to examine that question. On their web site they have also focused on the study of the rock paintings that have been found in California. But we must also be aware that, in reality the last of the great rock painters are found in Australia, to the best of my knowledge. And we must tip our hats off to the Aborigines, for trying to maintain the traditions of their ancestors.

Aboriginal rock paintings appear earthly and innate to their surroundings, yet often mysterious and supernatural. The naturalness is partly due to its unique ragged canvas. The rock or cave wall is from nature, formed from various stones, surfaces, consistencies, heights and lengths. Wet ochres and rocks as the painting tools also signal an attachment to the tangible world(S. Haider. "Ancestral Rock Paintings The Wandjini figures." Aboriginal Culture & People Articles. http://www.aboriginalartstore.com.au/aboriginal-art-culture/aboriginal-culture/ .

Whether in the prehistoric caves of Europe or the Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa, artists saw visions and recreated them on rock walls. But the act of making these images seemed to be the exclusive preserve of a select few. So how did we get from there, to today's modern world where just about everyone can make a picture?

The rock art was part of a site reserved for an initiation ceremony for girls.
David Whitely, an expert on California rock art sites, became fascinated with ancient rock images painted in the heart of the Cahuilla Indian community in Riverside County. Images not hidden away, but seemingly painted for everyone to see.
The rock art was part of a site reserved for an initiation ceremony for girls. The ceremony began with the girls being placed in pits and given hallucinogenic tobacco.
"The idea being that…would ultimately cause them to have visionary images, one of which would be their spirit helper, they would obtain supernatural power that would help them not only through childbirth but throughout their lives. "
"At the termination of their puberty initiation, they would run up to these sites, these sites located centrally in their villages…and then they would paint the spirit helper that they saw during their visionary experience on the wall."
At other sites, boys went through a similar ritual at the onset of their puberty. It meant everyone had this experience. In other words, pictures had gone from being the exclusive property of a shaman/artist, to being owned by the entire tribe ( N. Spivey. "David Whitely - the Cahuilla People." How Art Made the World. http://www.pbs.org/howartmadetheworld/episodes/pictures/whitley/).

It is very interesting contemplation, from my point of view. Is this how we began to make images and the lasting beauty they have brought as we have rediscovered them.

Newest Quilt - and it was commisioned

Here I present my newest creation. This is a baby quilt, which was commissioned by a local person. The theme that her daughter came up with was a beach/ocean bedroom for her soon to arrive baby boy. So i took examples of the crib sheets that she had picked and came up with this really cute and cool surfer quilt. Personally, i love it. I don't always get overly excited about one of my "creations," but this one was fun to think about, pick out the fabric for, and then create and make. And it is really ooohhh soooo soft. I hope they enjoy it.



Another of our artist seems to always be full of great ideas, which she gets really excited about. Meet Corinne Sullivan (Day Dream Art Studio Blog ), who love to make sunshine and cheer with just about everything she does. She makes jewelry and here she is adding her style to her display walls for her booth, for her next craft fair. They are wonderful.

And to top that all off she loves to give that joy to her children and their friends by passing on her love of creating. Great job Corinne.

Well I'd Love To Say....

...that I have been on the ball the last two weeks. But the reality is that I have been somewhat on vacation.. Mostly in my mind, but still after teaching solidly since January and finally getting two weeks completely to myself has been too tempting. So again I make up for my lack of diligence and want to express my delight with Flory's poetry, which was featured last week and Teresa this week with her beautiful jewelery. It looks like all of us have been having varying degrees and heavy work and blissful quietude.

A Little Naughty But NICE

I don't know, there seems to be a allure in the air. Have you ever wondered why certain things seems to happen in synchronicity with one another?

I was thinking about what to write about in my blog this week and checking out all my different ports, if you will, on the Internet, when I came across my friend Laurie's plea to buy her corset. It is just adorable. So I decided to help out in a little promotion for her and I thought that I could tie it into Skwigga-zine blog ring promotion, when low and behold I discovered that we are promoting our own Skwigga-zine this week. Today when I went to our front page there was all the eye candy of wonderful bits and pieces that we all work so hard on and one in particular that went with my idea was Corinne Sullivan's new painting, which she was showing us on our magazine. Just what I needed. So now I am really thinking out three different elements of promotion. Laurie and her great designs in corset and just about anything else you might want (such a talent), Corinne and her new painting, which is flirty, sweet and a little naughty, and Skwigga-zine, because it really affords us the opportunity to get out there and hopeful encourage us to be seen!!!!!!

"This is a blue and white vinyl corset lined with corset weight coutil. It is boned with Rigelene so it is great as a fashion top or as a corset. It is bound with red bias tape and laces up the center back with 12 silver eyelets "

Badger Couture

Corinne's newest painting.... "Everyone Found Her Charming... 'But She Was A Mess Inside'. 16 x 20, mixed media.This painting is a mixed media experiment where I painted an under painting in acrylic, collage translucent paper over it and painted the pinup and border in oils. I then set Swavorski crystals into the painting for a little extra sparkle. This painting will be in the PAPA Gallery in Paducah starting today through the end of October."

Day Dream Arts

So enjoy and give all these artists your sincere contemplation. They are all very talented and without Missy of Skwigga-zine some of this might not be possible

I made two sales this month - very exceiting

I have finally had a couple of sales this month. It just makes you feel better about what you are doing. The one piece that I sold, which has been a personal favorite of mine is my alphabet wall hanging. It is so colorful and so cute. I can just imagine a small child looking at.

I love to hear stories about children and I really loved my childhood. Which might be one reason why I don't have any. I sometimes think it couldn't be any better then mine. But Michelle of Michabella Creations seems to be have a great yet realistic mommyhood. Like my mom, she recognize that "mommy" is a better person with a little "me." Something I don't think that enough of us do any way, let alone moms - the hardest most loving job in the world.

Now Annette on the other hand is really just one a creative edge lately - and busy, busy, with the making and selling of her jewelry (gorgeous by the way). You should check out Under the Loupe. She has a real eye for color and arrangements. She is also another busy mom.

When it cools down here - like autumn I hope that I too will be busy, busy busy. Almost done with my baby quilt commission. I am so excited - surf boards and palm trees - for a baby no less. So much fun to do.

I DID IT - just a little Henry Higgins boast

Well with some hard work and an awful lot of procrastination I finally finished my Hoffman Challenge quilt project and she goes out tomorrow. Now all I have to do is bite my nails waiting to see if it makes it there. Hoffman Challenge is one of the many "contests" out there for quilters to show off their stuff and get feedback from experts and master quilt makers. It is very exciting to do it, but very nerve racking because you just never think that what you made is good enough.

But if you ever need inspiration I have to say that you need to keep Lily from Tulip's Talking in your hip pocket. She is just a bundle of excitement and creative energy. Her jewelry is sublime and I wouldn't mind eating at her house every now again. She described, with pictures included, a fabulous Halibut dinner that was made for her. I don't even really like Halibut, but I sure wanted to taste that meal. Wow.

Also as a fellow pet owner she seems to have the same take on them as I do. Here is another of my crazy kitties. She is hard to photograph, being a beautiful sable color, but she was looking her cute 7 years self here and little one year old Odin ( below him you can see Emmett, Sadie and Hilliard) in his favorite napping place - so enjoy!!!

It is Hot

Wow - the area I live in California can be just miserable in the summer time. Part of the central valley to day topped out at 112 degrees - breaking a record from something like 1986. Really not necessary, if you ask me. You simple can not do much of anything but sit a stare and sleep. You walk out of the door and it's like a hot wall hits you in the face. Also the breezes have finally died down and that only makes it worse. So why do I live here - well it's just beautiful - both the landscape and the people. Kinda of like Georgia O'Keeffe felt about New Mexico. The reality is that after 100 degrees its really makes no difference - its just when you see the number that your head goes into a tail spin.

Speaking of hot - the most current member Stacy of Squwigglzine is a pretty hot blogger. She just recently won an award for her blogging and you should check out the really cute tutus she makes. I love it when I see artists make items that allow children to have creative play. Her tutus really allow the young ones imaginations to fly. Check her out at http://www.busymommyproductreview.blogspot.com/ .

I've also started teaching summer school - another session of Art Appreciation. We are just finishing up contemplating why, we as humans, create in the first place. The idea is really mind boggling to me. The idea that art and creativity is not absolutely necessary is of course a scary thought. But the truth is that we need it to have satisfying lives.
Humans need other stimulation then just food and shelter. They need to have outlets to answer those unanswerable questions that are out there in the world. Gosh - it makes my head spin - but in a good way!

It Really is in the Air

Maybe Spring cleaning has just hit me really late this year. It really does seem that a lot of people are in flux this year. Hilary Johnson of Designing Hilary

said she had been feeling that same way I have been feeling. But to her good stead, it looks like she has been working, creating new luscious items for us to drool over, along with the rest of that stuff we call life.


For me - instead of getting to work - I decided to start redoing my floor in the main part of my house ( uh - mobile - euphemism for easy to tear apart and recreate all by myself). I did about 1/3 of it because that is all I can afford right now. I will have to add the rest as money will allow. And I went green - if you remember Lily of Tulip's Treasure challenge of a week ago. I went with bamboo flooring - a renewable material. I really like it and per square footage was the best price for a quality product. Man, I sound like a salesperson. But also the other big deciding factor for me was that I could install it all by myself. There is no gluing or nailing involved. Right up my alley - because I can use a table saw to cut pieces and then they just sort of snap into place.


So evidently I haven't been sewing those quilts. I have been working on charity quilts for my quilt guild and I just received a commission for a baby quilt - which I will post once it is made - its all about the surf board - I think the idea is so much fun.

Still Catching Up

For the month of June, for that past 5 or 6 years I have been hired to paint and help co-ordinate the look of the sets for the Tulare Office of Education's summer theatre program. This year we are doing Le Miserable (spelling?). This is part of what I am working on. It's not finished yet - but I am pretty pleased with it so far. I think that it still needs toning back up on the top, but its getting there. The bottom is obviously just started. Here are some other examples of the process I am doing.

It's quite a process but really fun, and I work with middle school and high school students who seem to really enjoy being a part of it.

It's been Awhile

Well I haven't written anything for awhile. Between being busy and tired and my computer finally calling it a day, I haven't been much interested in keeping up with just about anything. New things in my life is, of course a new computer. Wow - it is just beautiful and is sooooooo fast and smooth. But I have also acquired a new family member - another dachshunds.

Sounds crazy - I know - but it's one of the things I do. I love animals. And this little guy (Not really - he is the largest doxie I have ever had), came along right at the same time that I lost my beloved Fiona. Now I am 5 and 5 - Five kitties and five doxies. It is like kindergarten is always in session and there is rarely a dull a moment.

Although everyone seems to know when Mom - me - wants quiet time.

Here is Sadie (Sarah) - my little old lady at nine and half

And this is Hilliard - one of Sadie's sons and he is just about to turn eight.

This is Steifel - Fiona's brother in his new favorite position and look on his face.

This is Peanut - the newbie at five years old