My Inner European...

Well, I stopped through Dijanne's blog and found a fun quiz called "What Is Your Inner European?" Well...

Your Inner European is Italian!

Passionate and colorful. You show the world what culture really is.

Who's Your Inner European?

Bahamas Photos!

I thought I'd post a few vacation photos!

A gorgeous sunset from the ship...

the beach...

Out & About

Bonfire party

I'm Ba-aack!

Back from fun-in-the-sun in the Bahamas! The cruise was fun (Dramamine's GREAT! No motion sickness!) and we had a nice time in Freeport, Grand Bahama Island. Who knew conch fritters were so yummy? We spent our day in Fort Lauderdale hopping on/off their water taxi ($5 for an all day pass) seeing the sights. I'll post pics for you all ASAP!

Grandmom: 1, G'Daughter: 0

OK...I have already packed my bags and I'm not even leaving until Wednesday for my Bahamas vacation! What does that say? I am ready to go! I'm taking a cruise, even though I'm terrified of open (deep) water and being on a boat (yeah, I know, cruise ship) on said open (deep) water. The very thought of cruising has had me on edge since my husband surprised me with this a while back. Too many years of The Poseidon Adventure and Titanic. It didn't help that my grandmother called me tonight:

Gamey (as in "gammy"): "Did you hear about that cruise ship coming from the Bahamas?"
Elle: "W-h-a-t cruise ship? Are...you...kidding...with...me?"
Gamey: "It ran into this bad storm and a 70-foot wave..."
Elle: "Oh Lord...don't go any further with this one. Ugggghh...I don't feel so good."
Gamey: "Oh my! I shouldn't have told you all that! Oh dear, I'm sorry!"

Relax. Relate. Release. Everyone was safe and OK. You can read more about the incident here. Thanks Gamey.

Still doing couching on "Tish Groove". I'm trying to do as many of the outlines as I can before I roll out.

Giant Pieced "Appliques" in Tibet (thangkas)

In Tibet, giant pieced, spiritual pieces called gochen thangkas are created out of antique silks and brocades that are displayed by monasteries for worship. Imagine an art quilt covering an entire hillside and that's how large they are. I mean, huge! They have backing fabric, borders and a special protective layer that is pulled away before they are shown for 4 hours on special days of the Tibetan year. One thangka can use as much as 1500 m (about 1600 yards)! They also have a special leather bag and it can take 70 monks to take it to the hillside. This site has great photos from the process of reconstructing two whose originals were destroyed during the cultural revolution. These are incredible.

Tish Groove "Soundtrack"

I'm glad everyone's enjoying this piece! I've gotten questions about what they could possibly be grooving to. If "Tish Groove" had a soundtrack, this is it (at least in my mind):

1. Kool & the Gang--"Get Down On It"
2. Parliament--"Flashlight"
3. Amerie--"1 Thing"
4. Beyonce'--"Crazy In Love"
5. 50 Cent--"In Da Club"

Songs that make ya bounce!

"Tish Groove"--Getting There...

Here is "Tish Groove". This is by hand, so I'm getting there progress-wise. All figures are in place. The central one needs her mouth and jacket fringe. I decided to make her wear pants instead. I also found that due to the dimensions changing, the quilt version of the illo is wider, which meant I needed to add the pale green guy dancing. I dunno, it looks like they're having a really good time, huh?

"Tish Groove"--Detail

I kind of got slightly frayed edges with my removing the Wonder Under, so I'm couching on variegated perle cotton to outline the figures (like on the pink dancer's "left" leg).

Guilty Pleasures

Diane, Queen of our Artful Quilters ring, asked us all a simple question: "What is your guilty pleasure?"

Well...

Plain Hershey's chocolate bars, rice & gravy, America's Next Top Model, Japanese animation, non-Japanese animation, comic books, the Simpsons, chili cheeseburgers from Checkers, tiramisu, string cheese, Nong Shim noodle bowls (picante!), kung fu movies, caramel apple ciders from Starbucks, my Playstation 2 (great for stress!), karaoke singing, Project Runway, fashion mags, tuna melts, Nabisco fruit snacks, and peach yogurt.

Inspirations for the Week

1. The cherry blossoms here in Washington, D.C.
2. The encouragement I received from 4 talented friends on Friday.
3. How lionesses (sisters, mothers and daughters) living in prideland territories have bloodlines extending back for hundreds of years.
   

New Moon Circle

Last night I got together with four other artistic sistafriends to enjoy a night of talking and commiserating. We sat in a circle around some yummies and talked and talked for hours like old friends. Before we knew it, it was 3 am! One was my best friend from college and three are now new friends that can hold me accountable for achieving my goals in life. We were shocked at how much we all had in common and two women found out they even shared the same birthday!

One of our main discussions was that as multitalented, educated, well-traveled, independent, out-of-the-box thinkers, we often felt alone in a world that just didn't get how we ticked. That being creative doesn't always fit in and why would we want to? We talked about how financial need and being our own worst critic sets us back, as well as the "little voice" that kicks in to distract us. We determined that the way to do things was to team up with one another and set small goals for ourselves to accomplish things. Baby steps to avoid feeling overwhelmed.

I had a wonderful time and next Sunday we're getting together for a clutter purge. In other words, show up w/a bin of your clutter and let your unbiased sistafriend help you purge it. I am looking forward to meeting with them again next month.

Thread Frenzy

Went to my favorite fabric shop and ran into two guild members who had a table full of fabric, trying to decide upon some solids needed for a workshop Sat.

After buying some super-cool hand dyes, more solid black, and some tan, I found myself standing in front of a mind-boggling array of thread. I wasn't quite sure what to pick. I vaguely remember tossing in some Sulky and Mettler into my bag and some great sparkly dark blue metallic yarn kind of thread by YLI. Hmm... I also got a great lesson on needle types from one of the saleswomen. I honestly learned a lot from her.

Got mad when I got home and realized my purple thread was off. It was more dark purple than the brighter grape of the figure. I think it'll work, but that's what I get for switching purses and leaving my swatches in the other one. I was tickled at matching the other three though.

Salvaged from the Fusing Fiasco!

Well, got my digicam reader. Yay!

Here's the beginning of "Tish Groove". I think I was able to salvage it from my fusing fiasco the other day. Right now it's just the background dancers. With it being reversed it threw me off, so I might add another figure next to the pink one or alter the main figure's dancing position (yet to be added). The background's such a pretty indigo to me, but it's not showing up as well in this pic. I want a whole "at the club" kinda vibe.

Escapism

Today has just been an awful awful day at work. It was so incredibly beautiful outside, why did it have to be so very ugly inside? I just had to stop and sit and breathe and collect myself because I had been made to feel so nothing.

I found myself zoning out and remembering driving this past summer from L.A. to Vegas w/my husband in 112-degree heat through the Mojave Desert. Being from and living on the East Coast, the West has such an alien landscape to me with its rugged, rocky, craggy mountains and barren desert plains. I loved the small canyons and the way there was nothing there at all but desert, mountain and sky. The clouds would pass over, casting these large shadows over the ground. I had never seen anything like it before.

Beautiful.

Gosh Darn It!

BIG Uh-Oh of the Day:

Thought I'd try fusing and I forgot to reverse my design. Arrrrrrrrrrrrgh! Crap!

Enough said today.

Inspirations for the Week

1. Boudiccae--Celtic Queen of the Iceni in Britain. Her people were threatened by the Romans, her daughters raped...she did what any angry mom would do in her situation--gather an army and sack cities.
2. The beauty of St. Peter's in Vatican City. I'm not Catholic, but I have to note the passing of the Pope and the splendor that surrounded his position.

First of April! Yay!

I've finished all the quilts on my idea list in record time, learned to embellish like a champ in 2 days, my stash is at maximum capacity, I finally got my dream machine of all dream machines (no more Ol' Singer for me!) and my machine quilting skills are so fabulous that I want to kiss myself. I've gotten up to 20 stitches an inch hand-quilting and can turn out a perfect quilt in 3 hours. Only 3 hours! I mean, the only thing I can say right now is: Happy April Fool's Day!