How Weird Am I?

You Are 50% Weird

Normal enough to know that you're weird... But too damn weird to do anything about it!

How Weird Are You?

I think this is about right. A lot of the time I feel WAY more than 50% weird, and my kids are always telling me "Mom, you are WEIRD." To which I reply, thankyouverymuch.

Bead Store Bonanza

Months ago a bead store opened up in the next town over from me. Now that I'm driving one kid to junior high, I pass by it every day, so temptation was growing to drop in and visit. I'm so surprised that it is still in business, several businesses have come and gone really quickly in this little building, so I rationalized that I need to support a local business. I'm on a hunt for a nice turquoise cabochon to make a necklace for myself. It is a teeny little building between the feed store and a cafe, but there are tons of beads crammed in, nicely displayed, in two rooms. It fit the several customers who were browsing and the owner's very enthusiastic friend was manning the cash register. A nice feeling place, and it sounds like they've been successful so far. The prices weren't bad either, so now I have a good store to spend my bead money in (and save all the internet shipping charges!). Ben Lomond Bead Nook is a good place that I hope stays in business.


Some of the purchases, two glow in the dark skull beads, two hands, silver wire and misc. beads to match the green turquoise cabochon.















I made these earrings for Samhain/Halloween. They are nice and dangly and sparkly. Unfortunately I lost one on Saturday when we went to see the Wallace and Gromit movie :( Guess I'll have to go buy another glow-in-the-dark skull bead...





I didn't get this locally, but on my trip to England, bought in one of the many nice little witchy/pagany stores in Glastonbury. She is Sheela-na-Gig, and I plan to make a prayer necklace with her (aka Goddess Rosary). I'd been looking for a pendant with her on it for a long time, and there she was. Still deciding on which beads or gemstones to use in the construction.
I learned about the Goddess Rosary idea from my friend and teacher Lunaea, and she sells hers here. I am really pleased with the one I bought from her(You can see it on the Sold page, Brigid's Protection.)

Self Portrait Tuesday, Gasp, ON Tuesday!

Oh my stars and garters, here I am ON Tuesday posting a "Self-u-mentary" for Self Portrait Tuesday - Self Documentary Series.

So here it is:

A Morning in the Studio with Julie

I arrive at 10:30am, ready to work on anything and everything. The sun shines through the dirty second story window. There isn't a flat surface available to work on though.


Think I'll start on some beading work, since all the beads are out anyways, from yesterday's mad search for the rosary pliers.















Using those pliers to close some jump rings.
Note how well I use the 8"x8" cleared space. Just think how much more productive I'd be with more cleared off desk space....













I hear some dramatic sighing from the other room upstairs and go to investigate. It is Zelda, settling in for a nice nap on my son's bed. Guess she'd rather go for a walk than sit around watching me make stuff. Too bad for her! I'm on a roll.









Time to draw a watercolor pencil card for a friend, for her 50th birthday. Better get out the glitter though, she loves glittery stuff.













Onto some sewing now, need to put a hanging sleeve on a quilt going out to a show.










And of course if I sew, that usually means ironing.












That's it! A morning of work, jumping from project to project. My version of "gritty" is me showing pictures of myself braless,make-upless, hair un-brushed, etc. This is how I'd look if you surprised me at home when I'm working.

Which Serenity Character Am I?

You scored as Capt. Mal Reynolds. The Captain. You are the captain of the ship, so the crew are your responsibility. You just want to do the job, get paid and keep flying. Why is that always so hard? The Operative 88% Capt. Mal Reynolds 88% River Tam 75% Zoe Alleyne Washburne 75% Inara Serra 75% Simon Tam 75% Kaylee Frye 63% Hoban 'Wash' Washburne 56% Shepherd Derrial Book 44% Jayne Cobb 38% Which Serenity character are you? created with QuizFarm.com

Hooray! I'm Mal! He's my favorite character of all. I really admire him.

Funny, I get Aragorn when I do the LOTR which character quiz.

Guess I do like to be in charge, even if I don't admit it to myself.

Point-of-View Gun

Do you know what we really need to come out of movie-land into the so-called "real world"? The Point-of-View Gun from "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."
You shoot it at someone and they instantly see things from your point of view.
Wouldn't that be nice?
It would solve so many problems we all face, all day, every day.

But of course it doesn't work on women, since we women supposedly already have that functionality built in. Although, I can think of a lot of women that have suppressed that instinct....not naming names, but think of the most intolerant types around, the loudest ones in my experience tend to be women.
I spend so much of my mothering time and energy focusing on getting my boys to understand all the points of view in an issue or argument. Honestly I don't know if it helps or not, seems to sometimes, but not if they're really gone into that too-mad. I feel that I am playing the role of the interpreter.

Well, I looked it up on Wikipedia (could waste all day on that site!), and there is a celebratory day having to do with THHGTTG, Towel Day, May 25th. Better put that in the calendar for next year, and whatever you do, don't forget your towel!

Whever you need the answer, remember, 42...............................................

View to Spring

No, not the season spring, but the water-full kind.

A view of an ancient sacred spring (now named St. Andrew's well) through a small yet interesting shaped archway peekhole in a wall. This was taken at Wells Cathedral, the spring is in the Bishop's Palace Gardens.

I found myself taking a lot of pictures through openings in walls, or out of interesting windows, so I captured a lot of them as frames to the pictures, I like how these look and can see how they would apply well in a quilt format.

Simple Still Life Photos for September

For the Simple Still Life this time around, we were told to "get our our own danged photos" (well of course said in a much nicer manner than that (grin)). Instructions for this photo are 1) single object, 2) with a shadow.
So I think, hey, I know on my trip I must have taken something like that, and sure enough I did, so I picked two to choose from. Either the piece of a gargoyle face from a part of an abbey, (love the texture of the whitewashed stone wall behind it) or the jug on the windowsill of the same abbey. Shoot I forget the name of the abbey right now, they all kind of blur together.




Here is the full picture that the jug is isolated from. It kind of explains the "extra" shadows in the smaller picture. I think I'll go with the stonework face, since it has a simpler shadow setup.

Self Portrait Tuesday but on Friday

Well, on Tuesday I wasn't anywhere near a computer, or mine specifically. I was alllllll the way around the world in the UK. And I did take a bazillion pictures, some of which were body part self portraits. So here is one that sums up the trip. A shot of my feet, from the position of lying down in my bed with my pj's on, after a very long day of driving around seeing and doing cool stuff.

Hike up to the head of the White Horse of Uffington? Check.

Pub Dinner at the Wheat Sheaf? Check.

Sunset ritual ceremony at Stonehenge right in amongst the stones? Check.

Feet tired? Check.

Ta for now...

I'm off on a trip and won't be posting for a while here.
I'll miss reading all your fun and inspiring blogs.
Hope you all are creatively productive during my absence.








And oh, one last thing! Here is how my "Tarot: Red Five of Wands" turned out. Can you see the five wands quilted in? They kinda look like cigarettes or dowels, not too wand-ish. TTFN! (TaTaForNow!)

New Work in Process

This is the new piece I'm working on right now. It is made with a selection of red fabrics I purchased at the Marin Needle Arts Guild Show a couple weeks ago. They all kind of jumped into my hands, saying : "Put me together, puhleeze!". Three are silk, dupioni and brocade, the rest are cotton. The plain white is actually my design wall showing through, and I will end up filling it in with a plain black fabric.

This is being made for the California Fiber Artists' show at PIQF, "In the Abstract". This is a quilt about the tarot card the five of wands. More on that later......

Dying to Dye More

Dyed up a bunch of stuff last week.
Including cotton doilies, some Pimatex, and teeny tiny baby clothes for a brand-new California girl that I know :)



Dyeing seems like such a pain, so much work just to get ready to do it (like cleaning up the kitchen so I can use the sink!), all that standing up which unfortunately exhaust me, but I can't stop doing it, I love seeing the magic happen, getting my hands and usually my feet colored by the drips and drabs. I count myself lucky and indeed blessed to be able to have the space, time and money to create in this manner.

Self Portrait Tuesday

Well, here it is, my first post for Self Portrait Tuesday.
This month's theme is body parts.

Surprised Inner Child

Don't know how accurate this is, but I suppose rather than being cynical I am sarcastic. I love seeing through the eyes of my children, that has been one of the best things my kids have given to me. And I certainly do cherish all the details of my life, which is my excuse for keeping every letter and card ever sent to me.

Your Inner Child Is Surprised

You see many things through the eyes of a child. Meaning, you're rarely cynical or jaded. You cherish all of the details in life. Easily fascinated, you enjoy experiencing new things.

How Is Your Inner Child?

I think we need to make a quiz about the types of people who TAKE these danged quizzes. Hopeless addict, dabbler, neverevernowaynohow, etc.

Monday's Child is Quizzical

Since I won't be here on Friday, I'm posting a quiz today, this one came via Gabrielle.
You are the Justice card. Justice preserves the
harmony of the world. Working with opposite
forces, Justice does not seek to criticize or
condemn but rather to accept. The idea behind
the card justice is that opposite forces are
complementary; you could not have good without
evil or light without darkness. Justice's
position is to make sure that if a thing is out
of balance, the weight of its energy is
realigned with its opposite force. This card is
also a card of humour, for it is in pointing
out contrary positions that humour is often
found. The attitude that is found in the
humourous person, being able to shift
perspective and flow with an instinct, is
important in the maintenance of good balance.
Image from The Blue Moon Tarot Deck.
http://www.themysticeye.com/pics/bluemoon.htm

Which Tarot Card Are You?

Monster in a Box

Just a weird picture I took in San Rafael. This was in the window of a trendy clothes store.

Feeling Blue Shown

Here was my "Feeling Blue, Again" shown at the Marin Needle Arts Guild 27th Annual Show. It got good comments from the judges, except for, as usual the binding. I was happy with how it looked hanging near Jaye's.

The show this year was smaller, but had a better group of quilts. It was the first year that they had a CD with pictures of all the entries done. It was wonderful not to have to take pictures of absolutely everything. You can buy one at online very soon, they're very well done, professionally photgraphed and all. No one standing in front of them, or signs hanging on them either! You can go here and tell them you're interested in one.
The vendors got a lot of my money especially the Bead Dude of Harlan Beads, who had a lot of unusual glass lampwork beads and was just a fabulously wonderful guy to talk to.

A Reminder From The Management

Bateman Short Films

If you like web animation you've got to check out Scott Bateman's Bateman365, where he has challenged himself to post a short animated film a day. He's up to day 27, the Subway ABC's, so you don't have too much to catch up on. One of my faves is on day 9.

Bags of Fun, Why not?

No, not the bags under my eyes.
Or the large collection of plastic market bags next to the microwave.
Or the bags of magazines I'm "saving for using in collage someday...."
But the Bags of Fun challenge hosted by Sharon B. over at her blog In a Minute Ago, emphasis on FUN. Three months to make a bag out of recycled jeans. She has a Flickr group set up for participants to share pictures, go check out all the amazing embroidery getting done, wow!

My first delay getting going on this was a decided lack of suitable recycled jeans around here. I didn't want to use any of my old ones, because, frankly I just don't need a bag quite that BIG thankyouverymuch. ahem. And then there weren't any to grab from the boy's drawers, since we just went through those and donated them. So off to St. Vinnie's (the closest Op shop/thriftstore) where I found a huge array of jeans in all shapes and sizes and colors, picked a smallish size in this nice gray. The sparkly thread looks pretty good on there so far.


I've been having fun with using all the zillions of fancy stitches on my Janome6500, with variegated threads, especially words. And embroidered patches that I've been saving for "something", guess this is something. And fusible patches made with fussycut images from conversational prints.




It's a total mishmosh so far, and there is a loooong way to go til' I'm done. But this is the start I've got on it. Including a good plan for making quilted,comfy shoulder straps out of the pant legs. I'm keeping the pockets functional (ie not sewing through them, at least on purpose!), and I'm going to create a pocket out of the zipper on the front. The more pocketses the better, right? Eventually it will be lined, with some sort of exciting fabric, and there will be a closure of some kind at the top. I bought a magnetic snap closure at PumpkinSeed Quilts, that is by Clover.
And lucky me, in the brand new Quilting Arts Magazine issue, there is an issue about "painting with decorative stitches", so that is cool, I'll practice on this! And, no I'm not doing it all by machine. But I'm doing as much as I can (grin). But I am planning on doing some Embeadery, (embroidery with beads) following along with the fabulous book by my Mav friend, Margaret Ball.

Mystery Picture

3 Clues to figuring out the mystery picture:
1. I did something for the first time on Saturday.
2. It wasn't hard, but it was scary.
3. I found more than I thought I would.
4. After I finished it, I felt silly for procrastinating and thinking it was scary.
5. I'll be doing it a lot more often.

Guesses anyone?
First correct guess will receive a fiber postcard in the mail from me.