She's not as calm as she looks.

And she doesn't like the new back door...

she can't see through it,

it opens the wrong way (on the right now & not the left),

and it beeps (every time it opens) - doors aren't supposed to beep.

An open letter

To the jackwagons who kicked in our back door and took our stuff:

Thank you for not harming our dog.
Thank you for rampaging and looting, but not being destructive.
Thank you for the opportunity to upgrade our security system.
Thank you for only taking stuff that can be replaced.

Of course, God will have to forgive you (it is His job...), but I'm not sure I can...I do feel great sorrow: 

I'm sorry you are forced to make such bad choices.
I'm sorry that your life probably sucks.
I'm sorry that your life will (statistically speaking) be so short.
I'm sorry you took away our peace of mind and that of my neighbors.

Jo

p.s.  I hope you herniated yourselves lugging out that flat screen.
p.p.s.  I have great faith that the Universe will give you what you deserve.

Good things -

Well...it finally rained enough that SOMETHING bloomed in the yard - not sure what it is (probably a weed), but we didn't care!

Have worked at getting a clear space to work in my studio...it went from this:

I know! Didn't help that the contents of one of
the shelves came tumblin' down!

to this:

So, while I still don't have enough storage space (had to get a couple of new bins), at least I can get to my machines now (I use both my Bernina and my Singer Futura).

Bought this little charmer for $100 a few weeks ago -

(yes, it's a Hello Kitty Janome...) - it is designated as my "workshop" machine, so now I'll have to find a couple of workshops I can afford to attend!  The best, of course, will be at the Houston Quilt Show, but I'll be at the department retreat that weekend...sigh....I wish the HQS would go back to being in October.

I have taken an initial leap into textile design by ordering my own fabric from Spoonflower.  If you will remember from my 8/5 post, I was working on some of my photos with this goal in mind.  I took one of the "dirt" pictures, an abstract of a picture from Vegas (I can't identify the original), and a slightly abstracted photo I took of a Dallas building and ordered yardage.  A little expensive, but very unique!

While Spoonflower recommends "warm setting, gentle cycle", I decided that's not very practical for quilts or baby blankets, so I threw them into "hot, normal" and "cotton setting" on the dryer.  Saw no dye transfer and little shrinkage!  I think I really am on to something.  Spent several hours working on several of my other photos - will show you those when I can afford to order some!

This weekend was great - cooked up a batch of "No Alarm" chili -

- that means a miniscule amount of chili powder...whatever was in the two packets of taco seasoning...and no peppers of any kind - but I more than made up for those missing ingredients with onions and garlic!  We invited a few friends over for movie viewing (and the baseball game on their iPhones) and we had the tabasco, jalapeños, and chili powder available on the side and they could make their individual servings as hot as they wanted!  It was popular and I thought it was pretty good (especially since I haven't made chili in the last 20 years!  Dave did not marry me because he thought I could cook...I can, he just didn't know it!).

Sunday, I was back up in the studio and got things ready to finish off the Challenge quilt and laid out the next crib blanket on the design wall. 

Also worked a little on the 2-b-auctioned mini-quilt for the Spring Dallas Quilt Show and re-located the base (it was hiding under something) for the mini-quilt I'm making to go in the Alzheimer's Quilt Initiative display at that same show (they'll be shown and then they go to the Alzheimer's Quilt Initiative for auction.)  If I can get really ambitious, I'll complete a small quilt to actually go into the show...but there is only so much time and the University insists I show up to work 8-5 if I expect them to pay me.  There will be pictures of those when they happen.

And, as you can see, I tried to take a picture of Miss Roxie for her adoring fans, but she will not stay still for that to happen...

She thinks the camera is evil and will steal her soul...

Randomness...

Not being one to whine about being sick (I have been) or not getting anything done (I haven't been), there hasn't been much to blog about. 

But things are on the upswing again!

Dave and I celebrated 18 years of being married yesterday (hooray us!!) - low key, since this has been such an expensive year - this was the new A/C Unit Anniversary, by the way - the real list has nothing to do with paper, or diamonds or any of that other malarkey - we've also had the Timing Belt Anniversary, the New Set of Tires Anniversary, and the New Garage Door Opener Anniversary - stay married long enough and you discover the real list as you go along!  We had great Carolina Barbecue at Red Hot and Blue followed by an in-home viewing of The Tempest (starring Helen Mirren as Prospera - my review = 5 stars).

Also managed to find the cord for my phone and was able to download the few pictures I had on there...I really need to get a new phone (...one should always make such a purchase based on the quality of pictures it can take...).  Did recover this one that I took of the board in the lab...it started with "pizza in the office" and I added "clouds in the sky..." and then it just took off!

Brings some great images to mind, yes?



jack in the box

 


Pizza in the Office



Clouds in the sky...



Fish in the water



 



A bird in the hand=two in the bush
(Jerry Riggs, Dobbs Ferry NY
quilt entry for the Proverbial Challenge)

 


ghost in the machine

 










Cats in the cradle...



virus in the zombies
(cartoon by fizgig)



...silver spoon,



little boy blue...


















cactus in the desert




it's the writing on the wall....
(my photo)



Spent the majority of the weekend cleaning up the studio (and yes, I did take a before picture), but it will take the rest of the week to get it back into working order...I guess I took the opportunity, when I moved everything downstairs, to just generally wreck the place...great piece of sabotage:  if you can't even walk in the room, then you can't get anything finished or even started!

Well...that will be changed soon...it is what it is.

I have forgotten to mention, I have finally gone to The Dark Side...I bought an iPad and, I am amazed...but I LOVE it.  I already find I'm not using it like my Kindle (which I still love)...all of my fiction is on the Kindle...all of my pdfs (most geneaology research), including pdfs of my subscription color ezines (Quilting Arts, Piecework) and free pdfs of 19th century magazines (Godey's and the like) are on my iPad.  The reflection isn't too bad inside a building, so it's okay for reading the pdfs...but I also love being able to just pop out to the net and watch episodes of things I missed (Project Runway, for instance...).  One of the students was remarking how much he enjoys being able to do all of that on his phone...I'm afraid my eyes aren't up for that!

So...here's to being back in the swing of things...