Perfect Pair: Best Buds

Max, rescued cat, now 5 years old

Isabelle, rescued cat, now 5 years old

We SHOULD be inspired...

Here are a few shots of an inspiration board I made to inspire me to sit down and actually draw birds. I love birds, and I love this inspiration board, but I have yet to sit down and...you know...actually draw birds.
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I used the "Cartoon" feature of my camera and got this effect:

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But I'm in good company. Here are my cats who also show absolutely NO inclination to sit and draw birds despite the presence of said inspiration board:
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Embroidery Imbroglio No More!

A few weeks ago I posted the beginnings of an embroidery project which sadly featured bird legs that were awkward at best, and downright mutant at worst. Despite Carla's kind comments, I opted to surgically remove the initial stitching and try the legs again.

I'm must happier with this version, and as you can see, I added Dr. Seuss-like flowers and embellishments for the bird.

I'm loving the chain stitch. I used it for the bird's tail feathers and kind of for its head and the dangling vines. Making big, open loops is a great way to cover a lot of real estate without spending a lot of time...great for someone who likes more immediate gratification like moi. Apparently the random stitches on the bird's wing are examples of a technique called "seeding"...who knew?

Here's are a couple of closeups of the chain stitching:

Now the question is what to do with my embroidery. Covering a pillow is the obvious choice, but given how my cats love to shed and drool on such things, I'm reluctant to give them another "toy" to play with...

It's been way too long!!!

Oh my goodness...I knew it had been a WHILE since I blogged, but I didn't realize it had been almost a month! In my defense, I have been crazy busy remodeling the downstairs area of my house. It's a daylight basement with 2 bedrooms, full bath, laundry room and odd sort of common area.

It was also covered with old, tired berber carpeting. That carpeting looked great when first installed, but the cats have had their way with it over the years until it showed signs (both visual and olfactory) of too much clawing and "liquid immersion", shall we say.

Anyway, using my tax refund (some good financial news for a change!) I hired a handman recommended by Salvage Sisters Beth and Lisa who spent many an hour ripping out my old carpeting, taking up the tack strips, sanding the wooden stairs, removing the baseboards, replacing old light fixtures and painting areas I just couldn't get to.

I spent that same time painting the stairs leading down from the kitchen, painting woodwork (clean, crisp white), painting the stairwell and one bedroom (robin's egg blue), painting the laundry room (shiny white) and painting the common area (sage green).

Did I mention I did a bit of painting over this time? And cleaning and piling up stuff to get rid of and chasing the cats away from the paint...

One night I cleverly painted the stairs on my way down to bed thinking that they would dry overnight with only the random cat print. I did not count on having a massive asthma attack (from the new cat litter I poured out) and having to run upstairs to get my inhaler. I felt the paint squishing underfoot as I wheezed my way upstairs; when I got to my kitchen floor, I scrunched down the legs of my sweatpants to make impromptu slippers to cover my painted feet so I could walk without making huge trackmarks.

I sucked down enough albuterol to bronchodilate an elephant and then had the bright idea of putting plastic bags around my feet as I walked/sloshed backdownstairs, so that I could remove said bags when I got to downstairs. However, I quickly found that the surface tension between paint and plastic is such that the bags were sucked off of my feet after about 3 steps so I had to replicate my sweatpants-as-slippers maneuver to get to my bed. The next morning there were teeny little cat paw prints next to my size 9 imprints which was pretty amusing. Thank goodness that was just the primer; I learned to sequester the cats when I put the top coat on.

But the really, really, really big news is the new flooring I had installed. I originally toyed with the idea of painting or staining the concrete under the carpet for a funky faux look. Then I took one look at said concrete and realized it was way too bumpy and cracked and covered with discolored adhesive for that. So I looked into laminate flooring but found out my basement is "peaked" meaning that any rigid flooring would basically be "high centered" in certain spots. My options were rapidly dwindling unless I wanted to spend $$$$$ having my entire floor re-concreted which was not feasible. Then the wonderful sales person at the flooring store mentioned a linoleum product that looked a lot like wood that she thought I'd like.

When I first heard 'linoleum' I immediately had flashes of avocado shag rugs, harvest gold appliances and badly paneled basement rec rooms. But in to the store I went (covered with paint) to check it out and my to my surprise, I LOVED IT. I couldn't belive how much it resembled actual wood. And it was less expensive than the laminate, so I could afford to have my laundry room covered, too. Woohoo!

The guys who installed it were great...even though it took them WAY longer to repair the concrete that they had anticipated. As of last night, the baseboards were back on and I had touched up the paint around them and had gotten the boxes of stuff back into the correct rooms.

When I unpack my camera I will take and post some pictures. I absolutely love the new look...clean lines, soft colors, less clutter. Ahhhhhhh.

Which means that I will finally be able to get back into my studio and make things AND I will be able to get back to posting on my blog and working on the upcoming Salvage Studio Art Party!

Cats, yarn, prototypes and bubbles

I just found out that the deadline for submitting workshop proposals for the next Art Fiber Fest is in a few days. It's an annual art retreat organized by Teesha and Tracy Moore and it's basically a smaller, fabric/fiber version of ArtFest. I taught at Art Fiber Fest for its first two years and it was fabulously, wonderfully fun. Go here and look under Workshops to find out more.

Anyway, I'm completely booked tonight and my weekend is literally packed from 5pm Fri until 10pm Sunday. That means I've got to come up with samples, photograph them and write up descriptions on Wednesday and Thursday evening. Eeek!

Last night I spread out a bunch of yarn and fabric and started prototyping like mad. My beloved cats, not understanding the dire nature of my schedule, offered to help. Their version of helping is to turn skeins of yarn into tangled piles that resemble nothing so much as hairballs.

I found myself getting exasperated with them and then I took a few seconds to look into their furry little faces and I really saw how happy and playful they were being and really, how much I loved them. So I took a few minutes to play and cuddle with them before I went back to my project.

So...I am envisioning being in a bubble of "creativity, focus and ease" to carry me through the next few days. Stay tuned; I'll post said photographs of said prototypes as soon as I take them.

Silly Cat Head

Don't you just love the expression on this little guy's face? I bought him at the Mukilteo Artists Garage Sale (a don't-miss event if you're in the Seattle area); I think perhaps the rest of him got broken off or something. But all I needed was his silly little head anyway.

Can't deny it any longer...

The rumors are true. I've got a jones for birds and all things birdy...birdcages, birdhouses, nests, eggs. The only thing I don't have is an actual real bird.

What I do have are 3 cats (including Ms. Isabelle posing and preening in a patch of sunshine) that are the boss of me and it would not be pretty if I brought home a little surprise guest. I realized long ago that by sticking to faux feathered friends everyone would be MUCH happier.

Psst...don't tell Isabelle but can you see those funny tufts of white hair sticking out of her ears? She's got the same thing going between her toes. She thinks she's so elegant, I hate to burst her little kitty bubble.