100 Movies on the wall

Got this from Debra at A Stitch in Time.
The rules are simple. Copy the AFI top 100 movie list, and highlight in BOLD the movies you've seen.

1. CITIZEN KANE (1941) Just watched this recently, still a great movie.
2. CASABLANCA (1942)
3. THE GODFATHER (1972)
4. GONE WITH THE WIND (1939) Way too long imo.
5. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962) This one too.
6. THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) I liked Wicked better!
7. THE GRADUATE (1967)
8. ON THE WATERFRONT (1954)
9. SCHINDLER'S LIST (1993) Hey, this is Me! See two posts down. And no I haven't seen it.
10. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952) I have the same shoe size as Gene Kelley
11. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) Watch it every year and cry every time.
12. SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950)
13. THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1957) Don't like war movies much.
14. SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959)
15. STAR WARS (1977)
16. ALL ABOUT EVE (1950)
17. THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1951)
18. PSYCHO (1960)
19. CHINATOWN (1974)
20. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (1975) The book was better.
21. THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1940) The book was better.
22. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)
23. THE MALTESE FALCON (1941)
24. RAGING BULL (1980) Really don't care for boxing movies either.
25. E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982)
26. DR. STRANGELOVE (1964) This one is in MY top 10 movies.
27. BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967)
28. APOCALYPSE NOW (1979) I still have nightmares about this one.
29. MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939) Where is he when we need him?
30. THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (1948) We don't need no steenking badges!
31. ANNIE HALL (1977) Made me want to learn to play tennis
32. THE GODFATHER PART II (1974) Only seen parts of it, and me a Sicilian!
33. HIGH NOON (1952)
34. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962)
35. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934)
36. MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969)
37. THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946)
38. DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944)
39. DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (1965) This movie is way too long.
40. NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959)
41. WEST SIDE STORY (1961) Horrible casting, but still a great production.
42. REAR WINDOW (1954)
43. KING KONG (1933)
44. THE BIRTH OF A NATION (1915)
45. A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951)
46. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971) I hated this movie! Eeew!
47. TAXI DRIVER (1976)
48. JAWS (1975)
49. SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937)
50. BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969)
51. THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940)
52. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953)
53. AMADEUS (1984) Rock me amadeus!
54. ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930) Again, the book was better.
55. THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965)
56. M*A*S*H (1970)
57. THE THIRD MAN (1949)
58. FANTASIA (1940) This is better than the Fantasia 2000.
59. REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955) I want that jacket!
60. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981)
61. VERTIGO (1958)
62. TOOTSIE (1982)
63. STAGECOACH (1939)
64. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977)
65. THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)
66. NETWORK (1976)
67. THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962) This is in MY top 10
68. AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (1951)
69. SHANE (1953)
70. THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971)
71. FORREST GUMP (1994)
72. BEN-HUR (1959)
73. WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1939)
74. THE GOLD RUSH (1925)
75. DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990)
76. CITY LIGHTS (1931)
77. AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973)
78. ROCKY (1976)
79. THE DEER HUNTER (1978)
80. THE WILD BUNCH (1969)
81. MODERN TIMES (1936)
82. GIANT (1956) One word for this movie: Sprawling
83. PLATOON (1986)
84. FARGO (1996)
85. DUCK SOUP (1933)
86. MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1935)
87. FRANKENSTEIN (1931)
88. EASY RIDER (1969)
89. PATTON (1970)
90. THE JAZZ SINGER (1927)
91. MY FAIR LADY (1964) Misogyny a la carte!
92. A PLACE IN THE SUN (1951)
93. THE APARTMENT (1960)
94. GOODFELLAS (1990)
95. PULP FICTION (1994)
96. THE SEARCHERS (1956)
97. BRINGING UP BABY (1938)
98. UNFORGIVEN (1992)
99. GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER (1967)
100. YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942)

Hey, only 15 to go. Some of those may even be worth watching! These 100 best lists are pretty silly. Only two animated movies? Hmmmm.
Geez, my last 3 posts have been about movies, guess I'm being artistically unproductive at the moment....

Pod People

Last night I watched the original "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" movie with my kids. They picked up the phrase "pod people" from somewhere, and I was trying to explain where it came from, it was easier to just show them the movie.
One of my favorite lines is from the small town doctor hero who says "I'm used to seeing people who have lost their humanity, but it happens slowly to all of us, over time."
After we watched the movie we had to see the trailer which featured these words of course:

They're Here!!!!

You're Next!!!!

So we decided that calling someone a pod person could be a really good put-down. Not everyone would get the meaning though.

Today I talked with them about the time the movie came out (1956), and the cold war situation, and how the movie is really about the American fear of how Communisms' aim was to turn everyone into the same, unfeeling, easily controlled creatures. Seems to me that TV and the media culture we have now is doing a pretty good job of that without any communist help.

And don't even get me started on the political version of pod people, there's a rant for another day...

Friday Quiz

Since I did the Friday meme yesterday, I thought I'd do the quiz that Stephanie had on her blog today. So what classic movie am I? According to the exhaustive 45 question quiz I'm:

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Note, I've never actually seen this movie, but know about it of course from reports in other media sources. It is in my Netflix queue. Guess I better watch it now since I have been classified as this particular movie.

Ten Things Meme

Thanks to DebR for this meme, even though it isn't Friday today. Why do we like these memes so much Deb? Is it the self-analysis, getting to talk about ourselves even more, liking to fill out all the boxes on a form, or???
Anyways....here it is, one day early:

The 10 Things Meme

10 Things I liked as a teenager, but don't like now:
1. Going to church
2. Summer vacation
3. Reallllly tight jeans
4. Hot rollered hair, every day, no matter what.
5. Bartle & James Wine Coolers, or wine-in-a-box
6. Hot weather
7. Being deeply tanned, with the help of basting by Johnson&Johnson Baby Oil
8. Riding a bicycle
9. Disco music
10. A long list of semi-rock bands: Foreigner, Journey, Styx, REO Speedwagon, Loverboy.

Things I didn't like as a teenager, but do like now:
1. Coffee
2. Dogs
3. Going anywhere without makeup on.
4. Hard alcohol.
5. Driving long distances
6. Art Galleries
7. Math
8. Making art
9. Wearing sunscreen
10. Babies (I thought they were quite scary)

10 Things I've never liked and probably never will:
1. Wearing a bra(when you gotta,you gotta)
2. Country and Western music (except for a few, like Johnny Cash)
3. Intolerance in any form
4. Rap music
5. Dishonesty (in myself or others)
6. Getting a Pap smear.
7. The whole idea of war. Sing it with me:(War,What is it good for? Absolutely Nothing!)
8. Forgetting people's birthdays
9. Whiskey, even the really good stuff
10. Running out of time every day to do what I want to.

10 Things I've always liked and probably always will:
1. Going to bed late and getting up early
2. Knowing a little bit about everything
3. Gardening
4. Sewing
5. Reading
6. Traveling to foreign countries
7. Chocolate
8. Having long hair
9. Cotton sweaters.
10. Funny socks that are at least 60%cotton.

See that wasn't so bad, why don't you do it now??

Weird Quilt

The QuiltArt list was talking about the weird quilts in Quilt national this year, guess there are some unusual materials used (to which I say cool!), and the topic morphed into a challenge. Now I'll admit, I'm a sucker for challenges. I've done almost ALL of them actually. And I feel I make weird quilts, let's just say, a lot of the time. I have to consciously work at it to make a normal quilt. A lot of times my weird quilts come about by me being lazy. Too lazy to get out boxes and boxes of fabrics and pick and choose the perfect colors. Instead I'll just reach over to the right side of my work table and pick things out of the pile of scraps, or is that heap, it is usually about a foot high. So this time the first thing I laid my hands on were the "Do not remove under penalty of law" tags from the pillows that I made my mom last month, and I was off, eventually making this quilt which is named "Penalty"
Here are some details so you can see what's going on.

This shows the penalty tags, which by the way are heat reactive, must be some type of Tyvek like material. I liked how they curled and crumpled when I hit them with the steam. Then I added the beading.

The white shapes were scraps from the Kona coffee quilt, cutting out the blossoms. And remember I never throw away anything.

This detail shows the stitched out word: Penalty, and the freebie conference badge/pass tag complete with clip. It was fun to bead upon!

Another detail to see the stitching. I had fun using the Madeira polyneon (really is neon colored), with the cool stitches on the new machine (Janome 6500).

And here is my materials and artist statement in case you want to read it!:
Materials: Cotton scraps, cotton knit, convention pass tag/clip, glass beads, fusible batting scraps, metallic thread, polyneon polyester thread, letter beads, edge trimmings from quilt sandwiches, silk burnout chiffon, gold glitter pen, sharpie markers, pigma pens, selvedge edges, tyvek "do not remove under penalty of law tags from pillows."

Artist Statement:
Weird in this case is the shape, the materials, the message. I always found it weird that the labels that arrive sewn into the seams of our pillows, mattresses and other stuffed items don't always get removed by we consumers. We read the "Do Not Remove Under Penalty of Law" line, and read no further. Instead we put up with scratchy, sharp, noisy labels under our ears and hope for them to eventually soften up with washing. Pay attention and read the whole thing, there are NO mattress police that will swoop in and nab you if you cut that tag off. Really.

Kona and Chandler, Yes!!!

So I've had some good mail lately. Of the real type and the email type.
My coffee quilt will be shown at the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival, hurray! Now for the hard part, convincing Dear Husband that we need to go and visit it in person!!
I think after 12 years of this parenting gig we deserve a long weekend away, don't you?
We have the airmiles, so why not use them before the airlines all go belly up and erase them.

The Kona Coffee quilt show will be in the Kamehameha Kona Beach hotel November 10,11,12 from 10am-5pm.


The next good news I'm busting out to share is the news that I got a quilt into the Art Quilts X show at Chandler Center for the Arts in Arizona. Hooray! "Icon: Venus of Willendorf" will be getting the sunny treatment in Arizona. Art Quilts X: Xhilarating: Joy in the Making will be exhibited from late November 2005 through early January 2006.

So after all that good mail, what else should I expect? More good mail perhaps? Sure, why not? Guess that means I better enter some more shows, right? And make some more work, right? Which means I better get off this computer and get up to the studio!

Simple Still Life for August

So for the Simple Still Life here is the picture that is what we are to work with. I wasn't immediately interested enough in it to try a fiber version. So, I used the free photo editing program Irfanview with a filter program I bought called FiltersUnlimited. I'm not lucky enough to have Photoshop, so this is what I have to work with.








The first image reminds me of the kaleidoscope/mandala quilt that I did for my husband's office, the "Ayn Rand Mandala". In other words, I could actually make this into a quilt!

This one would be harder to do in quilty fashion, but I love the way the mirrored images make new shapes, like the heart which is part of the ceramic pot.

Then lastly is a swirly whirly image that looks like the plant is getting taken off in Dr Who's Tardis or something. This would be more fun to paint this time of image I think.

So I'm not sure if I'm done done yet, as I may actually translate one of these images into a small quilt, we'll see how the rest of the month goes!

Adventures in Chinatown

Where have I been anyways?? Well, the in-laws were visiting, so we did a lot of driving around. Hanging out with the new baby in the family and generally just eating ourselves silly. Didn't leave me much artmakinging, blogging or blog-reading time!
So one day we decided we needed to actually GO somewhere and picked Chinatown in San Francisco (since Alcatraz was sold out, none of us have ever been, and me a lifetime area resident!).
We took the BART from Fremont to SF, big adventure for us, being such country mice and all. My boys loved the sights from the train, and how noisy it all was. I liked that I didn't have to drive.
We walked through Union Square up to Chinatown and looked around. This is a beautiful round fountain that is made of cast metal,completely covered with little figures from scenes in the city, here is the dragon from the Chinese New Year parades.

Several spots were must-see's according to my youngest son who had gone on a field trip last year with his class. We made it to the Fortune Cookie factory, what a cool machine, and the people were talking a mile a minute as they folded all the cookies, and no, we did not buy the X-rated ones. We did buy the chocolate ones, eh, not really chocolate, more like chocolate colored.
Here is a fun toy, a random fortune cookie generator:*

Great and noble bear loom in near future. Run for your life. Add a fortune to your website orblog, clickhere.

* We had lunch at an absolutely terrible dim-sum restaurant (Golden Dragon, do NOT go there). Visited several herb shops which all smelled like my acupuncturist's office. Some of the food shops had very interesting dried things for sale, like swallow's nests, sea cucumbers, seahorses, scallops, abalone, and deer tail (eeew).
How about this, the 98cent pigeon!

My favorite site was getting to see the oldest Chinese temple in the US, to Tien Hau the Goddess of Heaven, Goddess of the Sea and Holy Mother of Heaven. It was just beautiful inside, mostly reds of course, and we had a personal escort who explained the whole thing to us.














I loved the juicy ducks hanging in the windows, and you can see me in the left part of the pic in the reflection (hah!).

So that explains where I've been! Now to go catchup on everything all....at....once!

Show Off Shoes

So, for you knitty folks, I've found the perfect shoe for showing off your lovingly hand-knitted socks, the waterproof see-through boot. Must have maximum size 10 child's feet though, sorry grownups need not apply :( Might just have to get some for my brand-new niece (and learn to knit too).
I was looking for some new muck shoes to wear in the garden on the advice of Dr. Leda Horticulture the hilarious rosarian columnist from Regan Nursery. She even mentions Manolo the shoe blogger in her recent column.
I've been wearing the sturdy, plastic/rubber Birkenstock look-a-like's for 5 years, and they are deadly slick on the bottom. Like if I mowed the lawn I'd been in danger of losing a toe or something. So I need some new treads. I don't like wearing the garden clogs (just fill up with mud, and are tooo hot in the California sun), or old tennies (too many stickers and burrs in the yard), so it looks like the Muck super sandals are it, easy on the feet, easy to get off when wet, easy to rinse off and keep my feet cool. Just have to find some IRL (in real life).
But I may just need to get these zebra wellies for the upcoming rainy season from the Wellie Art shop:

Friday Meme

Got this Blog Meme from Diane at Going to Pieces, leave me yours in the comments or put it on your blog and send me the link if you want to, I'd be interested to see what other people write. Who knows, I may have already done this one, but what the heck, it is probably different from a few months ago, right?!

10 years ago: Marc and I lived here in Boulder Creek, California, with our 21 month old and two month old boys. I was still deluding myself that I could go back into the work world. And I was just starting off into my quilting adventure. We had just finished building our garage.

5 years ago: No longer deluding myself that I'm going back into the work world, I've immersed myself in the stay at home mom thing completely, while artquilting for sanity's sake.
Boys are now almost 7 and 5. I am looking forward to both of them being in school this year.

1 year ago: We had just returned from camping at Mount Lassen, oldest son broke his wrist biking in parking lot, shuttling youngest son to soccer camp every day in Aptos.

Yesterday: I spent the morning waiting for my children to wake up, turns out they had stayed up all night watching movies with their cousin at my parent's house, hmmm. So that meant quality time with mom, and my aunt, we looked through old picture albums which was immensely satisfying. Finally the boys woke up and we went off to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (wow! I loved this movie!!) Then my boys and I went off to my sister-in-law's, to meet up with the visiting father-in-law and step-mother-in-law and of course the NEW baby! Ended up eating at the Elephant Bar (an Asian fusion chain restaurant is how I'd describe it), pretty good. Collapsed when we finally arrived home.

Today: Got out of bed at 10am, we all slept in. Watered front yard, and deck plants, it has been baking hot lately. It is 92F at 11am. Picked up our weekly produce basket at Camp Joy with Alex, we walked around the farm and said hi to the goats and ducks, and admired their enormous pomegranate tree. Listened to AirAmerica and read email, played Word Whomp online instead of taking a pain pill. Did dishes, laundry. Wrote this!

Tomorrow: Another day of visiting with in-laws, and probably my parents, hopefully swimming at the hotel pool where the in-laws are staying. Yes, I will remember sunscreen this time!

5 snacks I enjoy: Good dark chocolate, salt and vinegar chips, Barbara's Cheese Puffs, frozen grapes, terikayi turkey jerky.

5 bands/singers to whose songs I know most lyrics: Dave Matthews Band, U2, Peter Gabriel, Sting, Seal.

5 things I would do with $100,000,000: Buy beachfront property and house in Northern California, buy my husband a super-cool and new car, send boys to private schools, travel around the world, run for congress.

5 locations I'd like to run away to: Vancouver Island, New York City, Tahiti, New Zealand, Yosemite.

5 bad habits I have: Staying up late, procrastinating, eating unconsciously, being uncommunicative, spending too much time on the computer.

5 things I like doing: Reading, making stuff, being with friends and family, hiking, making things grow.

5 things I would never wear: A bikini, rude t-shirts, uncomfortable clothing, lacy frilly stuff, shoes that don't fit.

5 TV shows I like: The West Wing, Daily Show, MythBusters, Law and Order, and Whose LIne is it Anyways?.

5 movies I like: Brazil, Dr.Strangelove, Manchurian Candidate, Holy Grail, Lord of the Rings (all three!).

5 famous people I'd like to meet: Hilary Clinton, Jane Goodall , Sherri Tepper, Helen Caldicott and the Dalai Lama

5 biggest joys at the moment: Getting through a day without taking pain meds, sleeping in, making whatever I want, eating fresh summer fruit, and waking up every morning with my family around me.

5 favorite toys: My Janome 6500, my digital camera, my computer, my brain, my kids.

Color Harmony Completed

Here's how the final piece looks, I'm sending it off today for the California Fiber Artist's show "Tranquility, Harmony, Renewal & Peace" at the Auburn Arts Building Gallery. Opening reception will be held on 8/11 from 6-9pm. I won't be there unfortunately, but my quilt will be!

And again here is a detail so you can see the quilting closeup and personal. Lots and lots of thread was used as you can see. It was fun and I'm very impressed with how well my Janome 6500 worked with all of this freemotioning. I still do not like stitching on fused fabric, so sticky, gummed up the needle, just with Steam a Seam, sheesh! Think I'll stick with glue stick.
I had to figure out which needle to use too, ended up using an Embroidery needle instead of a Sharp or Quilting, that handled the rayon really well with no shredding.