Eating at the owl?

Here we are in Albuquerque, where we will be doing our show tomorrow --

One of the things that we enjoy about this show is the chance to get together with the other artists the evening before to share a meal and catch up on what's happening in each other's lives.

The selected restaurant this year was The Owl Cafe --- yes folks, this picture is the outside of the building!!

I was a bit concerned about being able to find anything on the menu I could eat since the big advertised thing is a big green chili cheese burger. And there are a lot of "no nos" on the menu, but they did have a veggie quesidilla that looked like a good thing for me to try and it was excellent

The inside of the restaurant is standard chrome craft 1950s style decor (if you've watched Diners, Drive Ins and Dives on Food TV you've seen this kind of interior!!), but the outside is pretty cool -- this huge stucco owl head (oh yeah, lots of owl things inside too)

It was definately a pleasant evening




one of the things I do when we're traveling is work on charity knitting, these two squares (one completed on the way down, one in process) are in honor of being in New Mexico -- the red, yellow and green of the chilis on every sign everywhere, and the purples and turquoises for the great way they paint the railings and color the concrete of their highway bridges --- the landscape is pretty much desert, and the sun sort of leaches the color out of anything pastel, so bright colors are the order of the day. A lot of the highway overpasses, etc., are these lovely terra cotta, salmon and turquoise colors with some purple thrown in for fun --- who says highways are boring?!

And as we drove down we had a couple of little showers and we had the lovely fragrance of wet cedar ---- mmmmmmm, a delight in deed

so now its time to get my stuff organized for the morning ---- and we're hoping for a good show ----

Oh look, a finished piece of jewelry!

After having had this piece of agate for quite a while, I finally did something with it.

When I first got the stone, I had no idea how to create something to hang it by without covering the back of it, and since its such a cool stone, I wanted to be able to suspend it so light would still come through it

Well, I've finally figured that out!

The stone is in a net with a loop bail, the "chain" is right angle weave with a peyote stitched toggle bead.

So, I'm pleased with the way this came out -- and while I was messing with this one (it only took a couple of days to do it), I came up with an idea for a new piece that will take some planning and figuring to design -- (about time!)

Meantime I've finished all of the black and white beads over the wood shapes, and its time to start in on the beaded spacer beads that will go between them -- except I need to get some black and white delicas to make those from. Here's the deal -- for working in peyote stitch over a curved shape, regular ol' seed beads work really well because they are NOT all alike -- there are always thicker and thinner ones in each batch, which work to one's advantage covering a curve (thicker ones at the "equator", thinner ones at the "poles"). The spacer beads, however need to be made up of beads that are all the same size and shape so the results are smooth and even.

I'm actually hoping to get what I need while we're in Albuquerque this weekend. There is an area in Albuquerque called Old Town that we're hoping to go check out before we go to dinner with the group tomorrow night, and I just happen to know that there is a bead store in Old Town (ok, I do read the ads in the back of the bead magazine!)


And on a whole other subject: I had to take the van over to the shop this morning because it had developed this "noise", and I was concerned about the safety of taking it to Albuquerque. The guy there gave it a VERY complete going over, checking out the tires, struts, etc., and pronounced it safe to drive -- and hopefully we have eliminated the noise --- there was a piece of rubber trim around the windshield that was loose, and might have been the "flapping" I was hearing -- until we get it out on the highway I won't know for sure, but at least I know the underside is safe for driving.

While I was in the waiting area of the shop, I watched the staff work their way through the morning "chores". Let me tell you folks, my world has been turned upside down! I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes! I actually saw a guy cleaning a bathroom!!! OMG, who knew?

Ok, enough levity for this morning, time to go pack and all that!

where creating ends and smithing begins

the white bear is done

at least that is the rumor

while I had really loved the look of the feet, the face leaves me cold

however, since this is a design the DH created and he likes it, its going to the show (where frankly I hope someone falls in love with it so I don't have to deal with some future rework)

the white bear -- and thanks, but no thanks

I always thought black bears were the hardest to photograph, but by the time this one is finished I may revise my thinking on that issue

Here are the hands and feet of the last bear that I'm trying to finish before we go to Albuquerque this weekend.

The bear is this really interesting string finish mohair, and I did the paw pads with a white upholstry velour (its close in color, but isn't exactly the same)

When I got ready to do the paw pads yesterday I realized that I didn't have any embroidery floss or perle cotton that was the right color, so I took the bear down to the local Hancock fabrics and found some nice perle cotton that matched the color of the mohair -- perfect!

Its subtle -- that classy white on white thing is pretty cool

So today I'll be doing the face. The plan is to also do the nose with this perle cotton -- I'm not sure yet exactly what the eyes will be like -- its a work in progress

And as a side note: have you seen the new, very cool stuff that DMC is doing in the area of embroidery floss? They have rayon where the colors practically glow in the dark; and linen which is very soft, matte finish; and a bunch of metallics and other very cool stuff --- I'd like to go back and get some of those "glow in the dark" things to do bright floral embroidery all over one the of the "lab animal" bears I've been remaking --- if I get time


Thanks, but no thanks:

On the issue of shows, I did something yesterday that I have never done before.

About a month ago I had sent in my application for a show that takes place in August. This show is one of those that has one area for the Fine Art booths and another for the Folk Art booths.

I have done this show before, and last time, even though I applied under Fine Art, they put me in the Folk Art area and for the entire weekend I had practically everyone that stopped in my booth (including their show staff) asking me why I wasn't over in the other area.

When I send in my application this time I once again filled out the Fine Art application, and when my acceptance letter came on Saturday, they had once again put me in the Folk Art area.

I called them and told them I did not want to be in that area, and that if they were going to put me there they should have contacted me first, and that I wanted my money back.

I realize that this probably sounds silly, but my experience at shows in the past 4 years has taught me that my bead work and the DH's silver work so not sell well when we are grouped with the crocheted potholders and wood-on-a-stick yard art. And frankly if we're going to spend what it costs to pay for a booth, drive 2 states away, stay in a motel, etc., etc., I want to be in the part of the show that at least gives me the opportunity to at least recoup my expenses.

Besides, I was annoyed with the condesending attitude when I asked about the change. Like I needed a few crumbs tossed my way, so they gave me the consulation prize and put me there.....judge me fairly, even tell me what I need to change to fit the catagory, but DO NOT talk down to me!!

Ok, I'm stepping off my soap box now and returning to our normally scheduled programming .....

time to get to that bear!

Cheri (the "remade" bear), and going to H*## for sure

Well, the pink bear is FINALLY done (I think)

After the first foot took almost 2 hours to do, the other 3 were a bit easier, but still time consuming.

Turns out that was the EASY part.

3 tries at the nose/mouth combination, uncounted "re-dos" on the eye placement and a couple of goes at the ears and a lot of muttering about "you better find a new home!"

I named her Cheri

I'm hoping to NOT bring her home from Albuquerque!



when they drum angels out, do they pluck off their wing feathers?

am I now going to hell for sure?

After several attempts with individual double sided feathers and rows of double sided feathers, I have decided that this is not a technique that will work in this case.

So, yesterday I removed all but the very first foundation row and returned to plan A -- individual feathers appliqued in layers, but not free floating at the edges.

The one thing that upsets me the most about this is that I'm loosing that little metalic gold glint on the edge of each feather because I had put that in when I top stitched each turned feather edge. Guess I'll be trying to figure out a new way to get some "glitter" on those edges.

so today I have one more bear that needs to be finished for this coming weekend's show (I have 3 others that it would be nice if they were finished, but I'm not going to stress over those), and there is the usual laundry and other household stuff to do

and away we go.....

Show Invitation

If you're going to be in the Albuquerque, NM, area next Sunday, stop by and visit us at this show!

one foot in front of the other

the picture is a bit overexposed, but this is the new foot on that big pink bear that had the "gender reassignment" surgery last week

this foot took me almost 2 hours to do, but since it was the first one and I was "fiddling" with the idea, I'm hoping the other 3 will go a bit faster -- like hopefully getting them done today as I'm quickly running up against a show deadline (this time next week we'll be on our way to Albuquerque for a show on Sunday, May 18)

Goldie's Extreme Make Over

Remember this face from last week's posts?

Yeah, we thought this was was done and just looking for a name

Until the photo shoot, and then I just didn't like the whole look of the thing





Behold!

The new and improved bear!!

Oh yeah, and while she was in a "drug induced" fog (we don't operate while they're awake after all!!), she told me her name was Goldie

much improved after having her eyes, mouth and ears redone!!




Got a few more beads done too --- these are coming out even better than I thought they would




and so, its back to work.....

Unveiling "Love Squared"

If you've been reading my blog for very long, you may remember that back in February I was working on some beaded squares to donate to The Pink Artist Project.

This is the doll that was created from the many, MANY!, squares donated by artists from everywhere. In the smaller, close up picture, in the yellow square (added by me) is one of the two blocks that I contributed. I spotted it in one of the pictures of the back of the skirt of the doll that Monica posted on her blog (see link below), and I was so tickled by being able to pick one of mine out, I decided to show off here.

(to see more pictures and read about the process that created the doll, use this link)

This doll, titled "Love Squared" will appear in the Autumn 2008 issue of Art Doll Quarterly which should be on the news stands on August 1.

There will be raffle tickets available for winning this lovely piece of art. I will put up the info as soon as I have it so you can have a chance at owning this great piece, and proceeds of the raffle will be donated to the Susan B. Komen Foundation.

I'm proud to be a part of the group that created this piece.

Mission Accomplished

I have now met the Mittnz challenge

This is the 8th, smallest and final pair of mittnz for the great mittnz mailing which will take place the last week of September.



And here is my Kaleidoscope Mittnz picture (ok, think of the elaborate dance routines from those old black and white movies -- or the end credits from Sister Act II)

I'm frankly amazed how quickly I was able to get these all done. It helped that I actually ended up using basically the same pattern for them all so that by the time I got to the last pair yesterday, all I needed was the proper row count numbers, and I didn't really need the pattern any more -- I had it memorized!

Now the charity knitting will return to afghan squares (I need to do 20 more to fill the box I'm working up), and vests or sweaters for the Warm Woolies group.

Meantime I'm also knitting on some Christmas projects and an experimental "blankie" for me that is made out of scrapped sweaters -- we'll see how all that goes.

Today, amongst the trips to the laundry room I'll be trying to get the face back on the little yellow bear.

onward and upward!!

meantime, back in the surgical center.....

remember this?


As you can see, the issues have been resolved
















and we're sitting up!!







the need for an adjustment here was not so clear, except the face just didn't look right to me

notice the line that runs across the picture -- that is lined up (approximately) with the underside of the top jaw



and here we have a line in approximately the same spot

notice the totally different angle?

AH! much better!!




So now both of these bears will be getting faces a bit later in the week.



moving along on the angel panel.....I had never used the markers to create details in a quilted piece before

In fact, I was nervous enough about the "wash safety" that I used a piece of the peach fabric to create a "test" with the markers which I then washed by hand to make sure they didn't "bleed" -- ok, paranoia reigns, but when I put in this much work, I want to be sure it won't get ruined when I cold rinse it to take out the quilting marks!!

Everything that is done with the markers will also be quilted for additional definition and texture -- I'm liking it!!



This is the quiz for the day.

What is this object?




Ok, enough blathering for this morning, we're heading out to visit with my dad who was hospitalized yesterday (after spending about 9 hours sitting around in the ER!!! -- but that's a rant for another place)

and we're off.......

rollin' along

This is pair #7 of the Mittnz

only one more pair to go to meet the 8 pair challenge, and I have decided to make this last pair a real small one as I've done a whole assortment other than that (this pair would fit my hand)

We were out and about for quite a while yesterday running errands, so I didn't complete a lot of things....

should get a lot more done in the studio today -- hopefully!

MayDay! MayDay! MayDay!

The subtitle here really could be What the ????!!!!

This folks is what I woke to yesterday morning -- yes on MAY 1st!!

The weather in the mountains above 6000 feet is, mmmm, shall we say .... challenging

So, even though we had planned to run errands yesterday after breakfast, I just went back to working on projects instead.

The wind, however, did have its way with the back fence again, and this morning the big black dog that lives here decided she needed to check out that big expanse behind the fence. Needless to say, I went out promptly to try to put in another "patch". This one involved some heavy braided nylon rope and a piece of fencing wire that I had previously used to keep her off some grass we re-seeded last spring. For now, anyway, she can no longer go out to explore the field, and I'm hoping that will hold until we get the chance to make a more appropriate repair.


Remember the bear from Tuesday (April 29th post) that I had determined needed a different body? Well, yesterday we did the "gender reassignment" and made up a new body --- awwwwww, much better!! Now we can do stuffing and finishing and such.

And that little yellow bear from yesterday's post is going right back into "surgery". Sometime in the next couple of days I will be doing the following:

*remove lower jaw
*remove ears
*remove eyes
*open and unstuff body and head
*adjust placement of head on body (to correct "nose in the air" tip to head)
*restuff body and head
*redo face including removal of tongue for a lighter colored one and more shaving around the nose

we'll see if that fixes the issues




The stitching of pieces on the angel panels has begun!! You can only see 3 pieces here, but I have actually done 9.

Before I can go much farther I need to make a trip to our local Hobby Lobby for some fabric markers to do the shading I want to do on the face.

(I could put the pieces in and shade after, but since I've not done this kind of thing before, I don't want to screw it up after its all stitched down!)

Hopefully today I'll get that done




No, this is NOT a "hidden Mickey" test.

These are the first three pieces of the new necklace I've been working on.

All of these are worked in black and white beads over wood forms (and yes, I know the round ones are different from each other -- I did that on purpose)

There are a number of additional beads to be covered for this project, and I'd actually like to get some oval ones as well (while I'm in Hobby Lobby I'll take a look)

and so, there we are, and we'll see what I get accomplished today!

another bear -- maybe

Ok, this is basically what I did ALL DAY yesterday

and I'm still not totally happy with it

there's something about the face I'm still bothered by

maybe its the tip (upwards) of the head
maybe its the lower jaw (does it stick out too far?)
maybe more hair needs to be clipped off the muzzle
maybe I should outline the mouth with a rust colored thread

maybe, maybe

anyway, I'm thinking there will be more "messin'" with this one before I put her in the line for a hang tag

I should note, however, that the feet I'm pretty happy with -- those are EMBROIDERED -- not done with paint or marker -- took about an hour to do all of that interlocked satin stitch



So after I spent all that time with the yellow bear, I moved on to yellow fabric and the "wing works"

Remember I was talking about having the wings tips of the angels be "free" from the base of the panels?

Well, I decided to experiment with that and this is what I came up with -- I think its pretty cool -- it could even have the tip of each one top stitched with a gold metallic thread to keep them smooth and add some sparkle!

I definately think this idea is a "GO!"

and so who knows what I'll work on today -- there are a couple more bears (Ok, about FIVE more bears) that are semi-patiently waiting for me to put faces on them, and there's the new beaded piece I've been working on, and the flyers for the show to be addressed -- we'll see what I feel like doing when we get done with the errands out of the house that we have to do

and we're off!!

Look, an actual completed BEAR!!

I know

you were beginning to wonder if an actual finished BEAR would ever appear here again

well, here's the story on bears -- there's a lot more work to finishing the face of a bear than there is on a bird, so they tend to get shuffled to the end of the work order as they go through all the processes

(and truth be told, I've been in a "been there, done that" thing with the bears of late, so this little critter and the other 3 that are in the que right now are the designs of the DH -- I'm just "smithing" with these)

This is a relatively little bear - only about 8 inches tall. His lower jaw is the really unusual thing about him -- its applied after he's all stuffed almost like attaching an ear -- and it has a wire in it for posing.

In the past I have always used pipe cleaners/chenille sticks for wiring things, but after my daughter's wedding I have some floral wire on hand that ought to get used for something, so I decided to try it out.

I like the stiffness of the floral wire better than the pipe cleaners -- its great stuff! Needless to say, I will be going to a different section of the craft store for future wire needs -- no more kiddie stuff here!

So, now that "Pinkie" is finished, its on to a larger bear today.




It may not look like much, but this is the beginning of the next quilting project

When I started thinking about the angel panels, I had originally thought of doing them in a "stained glass window" technique, but I decided that the pieces were a bit too small for all that black bias tape stitching.

So, I decided to try to make it look more like a Renaissance painting, which meant a lot of use of batik fabrics to get that "brush stroke" look.

Since I now have all of the pieces set up to begin working on this, I needed to get some yellows for the wings and halos, and something to use for the armor on Michael.

Imagine my surprise when I was wandering through the fabric area and discovered that metal looking gray fabric in with the quilt cottons -- and it was on sale no less!! I'm excited about getting started on this project.



No doubt you're looking at this picture and wondering "what the...?!"

This folks is where the fact that I've done a lot of fiber arts begins to create fused techniques

This is a needlepoint frame. Its original use was to hold a large needlepoint canvas while working on it to keep it from doing that diagonal pull thing that needlepoint tends to do (does anyone needlepoint anymore? is it another of the "antique" fiber arts (like tatting) that I know how to do but no one does anymore?)

Anyway.....when I do my pieced/appliqued quilt panels, I use a thin muslin backing that has the entire pattern drawn out on it. I like this approach because I always have a "map" of where I'm going, but its a continued struggle to make sure there's no "bunching" when pieces get stitched to it.

Viola! the needlepoint frame! I'm thinking this will work for these panels anyway. At least I'm going to try it.

I'm also going to be using acohol based fabric markers (Copic) to do shading and such on this one, and there has been some random discussion about having the ends of the feathers in the wings be "free" from the backing -- I'll keep you posted (also notice, the new working "ticker" has been added to the side bar for this project)



this is Mittnz #6!

A more sedate color and a larger size

nice soft wool



and while I was in the store picking up the stuff for the quilt, I saw this lovely stuff in a sale bin, and I thought they looked just like Mittnz #7, so I brought them home and last night I started the first of that pair


And under the catagory of either "Knitters will try anything" or "Playing with your food until its too dirty", my sister (bless her!) sent me the link to this clip that will instruct you how to knit with raman noodles.....

raman noodle knitting

I know, I know, its a little nutty, but trust me, it's actually possible! Go check it out

Ok, enough fun for this morning -- time for me to get busy designing a flyer for the show I'm doing in 3 weeks and some other things......

y'all have a great day!!

Bear what?! {or another trip to the frog pond}

The caption for this picture should maybe read "is that a banana in your pocket or you happy to see me?" -- or alternately "consider a cod piece!"

needless to say, since this critter is a bright cherry pink, that look of male anatomy, just was NOT what we had in mind! (unless of course he's been out in the sun WAY too long)

this is typical of what happens, however, when we start in with a new design

the plan here was to create a bear with a long skinny body, but this is obviously not quite right

so while the head, arms and legs are great, the body will have to be redone --- AAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!

why am I screaming, you ask? well, because aside from the usual steps for the "frogging" (opening the seams, removing the stuffing, taking out the joints) there is the issue of the fabric

as in, there isn't any more of it, or at least not enough to make a new body

and its a hand dyed fabric that I did by over dying something else

the good news? I have some more of the fabric we started out with

so, today's challenge is to try to duplicate the color -- or at least get close enough that this doesn't end up looking like a bear that works for the Geek Squad (you know, saddle oxford looking VWs?)

it should be interesting ---- looks like a bit of time over the dye pot today!!

I'm now switching into my witch costume {bubble, bubble, toil and trouble!!}

no mittnz, just quiltin'

its all finished -- the dragon that is

this morning I put it in a cold water rinse to take out all the blue markings and its hanging to dry

feels good to have such a big project crossed off my list!

now, on to the next one!!!