Silkworm's Life

Fabulous dyer, fiber artist and author, Karren K. Brito is showing her small crop of silkworms' progress day by day. Fascinating creatures those silkworms.
I love those cocoons that I bought from Deb at MeinkeToy. I haven't painted them yet, but enjoy looking at them uncoloured.

Kona Dream Cycle

It is done! Now presenting.... "Kona Dream Cycle" Made especially for the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival Quilt Contest. It is 40" x 40", and all fabrics are hand-dyed or painted by moi. If it gets in, then we're going to Kailua-Kona again.

Details details

That's some steamin' hot coffee there, please use caution, do not spill in your lap, the management shall not be paying damages!

More Coffee M'am?

My design sketchbook and webpics of kona coffee trees, flowers, berries, and environment.

Showing a work in process, building up the imagery, piece by piece. Thank goodness for GlueStick!!

Sensitive or ?

So are you a highly sensitive person?
Try taking this quiz that is on painterskeys today.

No big surprise to me, but I am. Very much so. Turns out that lots of artists and creative types are, which may explain the extra depression that we experience as a group also. I find it interesting that I personally find it helpful to know this about myself.
What is even MORE helpful is realizing that not everyone is as sensitive as I am. So when I'm swooning over how beautiful the new green stoplight is compared to the old one, and everyone looks at me like I'm crazy, it explains it to me, I don't have to feel bad about it, or feel like I'm weird.
I have always noticed colors, textures, shapes, shadows, etc. more than other people. It is part of being a visual artist. I became very sensitive to smells during pregnancy and that hasn't gone away, now that I haven't been pregnant for ten years. And then there are all the people interactions that I'm sensitive to, that's a whole 'nother conversation.

Coffee Quilt Begun

Kona coffee berries painted with Tsunieko inks, background is a hand-dye.

The beginnings of a kona coffee quilt. More on this one later, time for a cuppa!

Hoop Dreams

Hoop Dreams or why we always paint every thing PURPLE around here.
I actually hate watching basketball, but it is fun to fool around shooting baskets. And this summer I finally insisted we get a hoop so we can learn that. We've been playing over at my SIL's house, with her dog Aviv, who always ends up winning, that dog could play for the Lakers as a guard! . The boys have to play it at school and don't like it since they aren't good at it (can totally understand that!). So I figure our duty as parents is to give them a fighting chance to fit in on the playground. So now they are out there getting used to the new toy and Zach says "since we're so bad at this Alex , I don't want to play HORSE, let's play antidisestablishmentarian instead." Ah the joys of having literate children.

But why is the backboard purple you may ask? Well, it all comes down to trim. We have been trying out various colors of paint for the trim on the house, most of them in the purple category, so we have lots of little cans of purple paint to use up. So now we have a purple basketball backboard, which contrasts very nicely with the red hoop. And will eventually blend in well with the trim when we finally repaint the house.

Dresden Plate

Dresden Plate quilt that we use on our bed, my grandma and several other relatives made a bunch of these one summer. And I was lucky enough to end up with one. It is hand quilted in a, shall we say utilitarian manner. But it is smooth and heavy in a old timey cotton kind of way. I always find a new fabric when I look at it too.

Feeling Blue Quilt Top Done!

Feeling Blue Top is Done, now to quilt it!

CQFA Row Round Robin Back Home

CQFA Round Robin Back in my hot little hands







Some of the blocks close up. Weren't the CQFA artists so creative??! I'm very pleased and can't wait to put it all together in a quilt for our bed.

Studio Views

Studio Window View at about 11a.m. What does yours look like? I'd be interested to see what other art quilters are staring at while they muse on their work.

The obligatory messy desk shot, hey at least it is Colorful!

Art Forms in Nature

A postcard book from the Monterey Bay Aquarium, "Art Forms in Nature"by
Ernst Haeckel

Wouldn't this make a great medallion quilt??

ArtBra Update

Well, my art-bra Hot,Hot,Hot didn't get chosen for the Way to Women's Wellness ArtBra 2006 calendar, but it will be on the exhibit tour along with the calendar bras and others too.
So Woohoo for that!
I hope that many of you will be able to see the exhibit, and that all of you will buy a calendar for next year, you can pre-order at Way to Women's Wellness.
And if you haven't yet this month, consider this your reminder to check the girls...

Still Blueish

Feeing blue (again) or is it still?! Here's yet another combo I've come up with, only demo'd with a few of the blocks to be used. I think this may be it! I like how the suggestion of complete squares is there, the randomness, yet orderliness.

Summer Bliss

What I did on my summer vacation...
or
how I learned to stop worrying and love video games.

Our summer vacation is off to a rip-roaring start. We have been slugs at home recovering from the crazy week before. Yesterday I spent just about the whole day sorting through the boxes of toys in the boys room. Found all kinds of interesting detritus, and some toys they'd forgotten and were thrilled to see once again. The sorting came down to five boxes of miscellaneous stuff and we are going to take it one box at a time to get through the rest. Like I told them, it isn't any good to anyone in this discombobulated state, so we need to sort it, and then either use it, sell it, or give it away.
Stats so far:
Kitchen recovery total: 3 spoons, two cups, two bowls, one plate.
Two bags of garbage
Two bags of recycling.
One box of donations.
One box of really good stuff to give to SIL (who is sooooo PG! Wheeee I'm almost an auntie!)

A Rainy June

Stormclouds a-brewing for a rare June rainstorm.

Never see this kind of cloud, wish I knew what kind it was...

Okay, one more, and by the way these were taken from a gas station parking lot in Los Gatos which is at the edge of the "silicon valley". That explains the stoplights. As we have no stoplights in our town! The reason I got excited about these clouds is that they looked to me just like the stylized ones that are drawn in Japanese prints and fabrics.
We were taking a drive right after the boys got out of school for the summer, sing it with me: "Schoooooools Out for Summer! Schooooools Out For Ever!" The object of the drive was music acquisition, speakers for the boys computer (our rabbit who formerly was a house rabbit ate partially through the cords, making their speaker rather unreliable), and CD's. We're going to the record store , I said happily. "Mom, it isn't records anymore, it is CD's!" ok ok fine whatever, I'm still buying.
Off to Fry's electronics we went, found an old Moby cd and the first Dave Matthews Band cd, as well as a book on Flash animation (which we plan to learn this summer), a new pen, and some kickass speakers. Well that wasn't enough music, so off to TowerRecords(see it is Tower Records!), where we found the new Coldplay, Gorillaz and Moby. Yummy stuff.

Silly Faerie 

Back from Faerie Land

Thanks to ezabelle for this quiz:

You scored as A Too Silly Faerie. Well you had to be silly to take this test hadn't you :-P You love a good laugh and playing pranks on others and take jokes very well. You love all things wacky and random and are always up for a laugh. But be careful, not everyone has such a light-hearted view of life and may get the wrong idea of something you say. See All Results/Comment A Too Sweet Faerie 100% A Too Kinky Faerie 100% A Too Sporty Faerie 100% A Too Silly Faerie 100% A Too Depressed Faerie 75% A Too Evil Faerie 75% A Too Lazy Faerie 75% A Too Astral Faerie 75% A Too Serious Faerie 50% Which Dysfunctional Faerie are You? created with QuizFarm.com

Elementary Graduation

Tomorrow my eldest son will be "graduating" from elementary school. Hard to believe, those years just zipped by. I enjoyed them though, and I know he mostly did, however much he claims to "hate" school. So onto junior high he will go in the fall, (that is 7th and 8th grade).

That also means that school ends tomorrow. And summer vacation begins. Gulp.
I am half dreading and half looking forward to the summer ahead. The sleeping in and doing what we want is wonderful, and spending time with my funny sons. The fighting and hassling, not so fun. We'll see how long it takes until they are bored! That's when things get really fun.

My youngest's birthday party is this Saturday too. He is going to be 10, double digits for both of them, wow! And I have done NOTHING for his party yet. Eeeeek.

He is having a "Mad Scientist" party. This should supposedly involve some experiments or things exploding or at LEAST changing colors, right? We'll see! Someone needs to clean the house up in case they all decide to sleep over. The party is at the park, so at least the crazy running around will be happening there.

I've not been in the studio much at all this week, because I've had a huge spurt of energy and have been outside....wait for it.....gardening!!!! Hooray! I'm trying so hard to think of this energy as being a permanent thing and to enjoy it while it is here. I think the acupuncture is really working for me now. Thank you Dancing Crane!

Been doing battle with the incredible weeds which flourished with all the extra late rain. One of which, and I am not exaggerating here, was 6 feet tall, three trunks each about as big around as my wrist, weighed about 30 pounds, was covered with evil spines (it was a bull thistle) and about to burst into flower spreading its evilness about my garden. Pshew, I won that contest! Wish I'd taken a picture of it while it was still standing and in one piece, it would have scared the *&(&#( out of DebR's giant peony.

Today I planted one cherry tomato plant, one basil, one dill, three different hot peppers, and some nicotania flowers (related to the tobacco plant). I also set up a new fountain on the deck, which the boys tell me sounds like someone peeing, and they both ran in to go use the "facilities". Hee hee. Zelda (my yellow lab) thinks it is her new drinking fountain, so I may have to move it up higher, lest she drink all the water and burn up the pump motor.

Virtual Marching

It is too hot to quilt today, so won't you: Please Join me in the Virtual March on Washington, to Stop Global Warming.

Thanks!

Oxymorons, Colors and Gardens

The Glue Book challenge for May was Oxymorons, you can see some of my collages such as Flying Fish at my picture trail site.

This month the GlueBook challenge is Colors (much easier!), here is Red, the rest are at the picture trail site.

Here's my buckeye tree that I've been photographing on an almost monthly basis. If you haven't gotten your fill of garden related stuff yet, I created a big journal of garden pictures for the year in my garden so far over on picture trail.

Organizing Nature

Orderly Leaves.
I went on a 3.5 mile hike with my son's sixth grade class in nearby Quail Hollow Ranch . Quite fun, not too hard of a hike, with a great view at the end. Our docent was very well-versed in the plants and animals, we got to see the endangered Ben Lomond Spineflower, a purple martin singing to us while we had lunch, a baby rattlesnake at the side of the trail, and an osprey circling and diving into the pond.

On the way down the mountain the docent left us one by one to sit by ourselves on the trail for 10 silent minutes "to see what we could see". I took my camera along of course and after listening to the birds for a bit, I started getting restless and noticed the leaves I was sitting on. Then I started arranging them, which resulted in the above picture.

It wasn't quiet for long because there were some kids who just weren't comfortable being alone in "the wild" for 10 minutes, .....sigh. Shouts of "hello? Is anyone there?" began ringing out, then laughing, giggling and rock-throwing. So much for quiet introspection, but it was a good idea. The best part was when one of the boys who was in my group came up all excited with big wide eyes and said "Mrs. Stiller, when I was sitting alone, I had my sweatshirt on my head since I was in the sun, and a hummingbird flew up in my face and hovered right there and looked at me!" This is one of those wiggly kids that can never settle down and focus or be quiet, and here he was with this amazing encounter. Gotta love the lessons nature hands out whether we are looking for them or not!

Coulda Woulda Shoulda

On her blog Gabrielle Swain recently asked: What would we do differently in our lives?
And I instantly flash on the old refrain that used to play in my head "Coulda Woulda Shoulda", such a paralyzing train of thought. Do I really want to get on this train today? Sure, why not?!
So these aren't regrets per se, but are recognitions of roads not taken, turnoffs passed by on the path I've negotiated through this life. They aren't regrets for me anymore because I now believe very emphatically that this isn't my only spin around the wheel. I'll be back for more, and I'll learn (or not) from my experiences in this life.

So here are my 10 things I would do differently in my life to date:
1. I would not have listened to my dad that math would be too hard in college and gone into the sciences instead of business school.
2. I would not have joined a church against my parent's advice in my high school years.
3. I would not have stopped running, hiking and biking because of starting an evening MBA program that I quit and didn't finish anyways.
4. I would not have used progesterone cream when I thought I was having perimenopause symptoms (it led to current complications I'm enduring now).
5. I would have kept working full-time when I became a mother.
6. I would have continued racing cars.
7. I would not have given up playing the saxophone in high school.
8. I would have kept in better touch with old friends.
9. I would not have started dyeing my hair when it began going gray.
10. I would have traveled to all the continents by now.

How about yours?

Beginnings of Entanglement

take a stack of fabrics to begin with, start slicing and dicing and picking and piecing and you get....


The result of never throwing any scraps away results in:
The celebration of your entanglement pillow


Entanglement in process, the final borders may change....stay tuned