thank goodness for weekends

I accidentally slept in until almost 9 this morning, which I never do so I must have needed the rest. I've tidied the kitchen, fed the cats, and decided what to have for supper (sausage lentil soup and sourdough bread), so I've earned a few minutes to catch up on my blogging.

I plan to do some fiber work today but have nothing new to post at this moment so I thought I'd revisit some jewelry I made earlier but had never posted. I may put some pieces on etsy later.

This bracelet involves handmade borosilicate beads in a sort of black cherry color, with handmade (by me) sterling silver links and clasp, and a hilltribe silver charm. Detail below. It is much more colorful in person. Borosilicate glass is notoriously difficult to photograph accurately.

This is another what I call "linky-link" bracelet with cranberry colored boro glass beads, plus some ivory glass and Swarovski crystal accents, again with handmade sterling links and clasp, and hilltribe silver charm.



Thanks for all the well-wishes for Dylan. His fever broke in the night and he's acting almost back to normal this morning. I'm keeping him out of public for the remainder of the weekend to give his system time to rest and recoup. He dislikes his antibiotic, but takes it stoically.

Happy Saturday, everybody!

friday

A quick update on Dylan: he does in fact have tonsillitis and is on some high-powered (and expensive!) antibiotics to get rid of it. He feels better when he's got ibuprofen controlling his fever and the antibiotics will kick in soon. Thanks for your well wishes for him.

Apologies for having no artsy photos to post today. I hope to get busy this weekend.

Here are the internet addresses of several of my fellow VAAM artists you might want to take a look at.

gingerz.biz

llmpsilverworks.com/

weavingsintersections.blogspot.com/

meliciasfiberartandmixedmedia.blogspot.com/

Happy Friday, all.

no joy

...and no photos, either. I was too busy caring for a sick boy last night to do anything artsy. Dylan seems to have gotten tonsillitis as a result of his immune system being down for so long with the respiratory virus he had earlier. Since I must be at work today my mother is taking him to the doctor. Let me just say that I don't know what I'd do without my parents who are always willing to step in at a moment's notice and do whatever is necessary to help out. I appreciate them so much!

Just in case there's anyone who has not seen this hilarious youtube video, take a look:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxT5NwQUtVM

Thank you so much to everyone who has commented on my blog recently. I love hearing from you all.

new hanging at VAAM Gallery

This is one of the pieces I completed for the current exhibit at the VAAM Gallery. It is mostly fabric embellished with stitch and the face was made by printing on a piece of wonder under and ironing it onto copper shim. The bead fringe is handmade.

This piece of mine was previously exhibited but I liked that they hung it vertically this time.

A ceramic tile piece by VAAM artist Estelle Renberger.

This tile piece is by new VAAM artist Jake Rhodes.

Our guest artist is potter Ron Michael whose pieces are very interesting and sort of aboriginal.
This is a large hanging bowl.
The interiors of Ron's pieces are really cool. This one reminds me of cork.


The section of the gallery where Ron's pieces are displayed looks like an exhibit of ancient pottery at a museum. Austere, kind of, and archaeological except that nothing looks as if it were broken and put back together.

I love the shape of this large vessel. The bottom's texture and color are great.


Another large piece. A very unique potter and a wonderful exhibit.

Hope you all have a good day.

question: what is it?

Answer: I don't know! This is what is evolving from the set of quilting fabric strips I sewed together the other night. I cut them apart in strips and sewed them back together top to bottom. The first thing you will notice is that I am NOT a quilt piecer. Any edges/corners that match up are purely chance, I can assure you.

I tried out all of my sewing machine's fancy stitches (not that many, but some are interesting) using a variegated quilting thread which seemed to highlight the piece's many colors. It is backed with ordinary craft felt which gives a firmer surface for sewing and seems to work quite well.

I'll start embellishing this with various things and probably turn it into artist postcards. The squares are too big to translate well into ATCs, I think.

I was working on this at the dining room table last night, keeping company with my middle son who was doing homework preparatory to returning to school this morning. He has been down with the same virus I had earlier, and my youngest son before me. Now, of course, my oldest son has it, to be followed, I'm sure, by my husband. Did I mention that we're all REALLY ready for spring here?

Hope you all are in better health at your houses.

monday morning

I surprised myself by not only finishing my parents' taxes and completing a grant, but also finishing two pieces to be included in the hanging going up today in the VAAM Gallery. Naturally I omitted photographing said pieces, but I will go in when they're on the wall and snap them for posting. Until then, I can tell you that one involves a version of this image:

I started stitching together strips of some scrap quilting cotton of various colors and prints, a lot of batik which I love. I have no idea what it might turn into, but it was rather addictive when I got started, strip after strip.

I tried a new recipe from Sara's blog, called 3 cheese sausage lasagne. Let me just say that it didn't last long. The family thoroughly approved, even the avowed non-lasagne eater. It was delicious.

Our weather this weekend ranged from mild, warm and breezy on Saturday (lulling us all into a false sense of spring) to severe spring thunderstorms (including a tornado and golfball sized hail) in the eastern part of the state and blizzard conditions in the western part. We got quite a bit of rain which turned to snow as the temperature dropped through the night. This morning we've got a 40% chance of more snow. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if the forecast included frogs and grasshoppers with a chance of pestilence. Welcome to March in Kansas.

Hope you all had a pleasant weekend.

bleah

No fun this weekend, at least not yet. Helping my parents file their taxes (which isn't difficult, just takes a bit of time), then writing grants for some community organizations I'm involved with, specifically Visual Arts Alliance of McPherson and McPherson Community Theatre. Not my idea of a good time, but since I love both organizations and as non profits they are in constant need of funds, I will do what I can.

So much for thinking about studio time! Maybe later...