Pounds, Tests, Ribbons...

Some NQR and some QR...

Last week I lost 5 pounds, that's 13.5 total so far.  It is rough, but seeing results really helps.  I am no longer a grande muffin top, I'm more like a homemade muffin now.  Here is a photo I took for my photo-a-day challenge.  That days challenge was "how you feel" -- well, most definitely, lighter!  Sorry, but to show the weight loss I was unable to keep my head attached!  And I honestly can't get over the weight loss in my feet (really!), all my flip flops are flopping right off!

So..... last week I also went through a nuclear scan on my thyroid.  I have a 2 cm nodule on the right side of my thyroid..  The preparation for a nuclear scan was rough!  No, I didn't glow from the radioactive pill I took...  I was put on an iodine-free diet for 72 hours.  Let me tell you, there is iodine in a lot of foods, especially green vegetables.  With my no carb, no sugar diet I am eating mostly vegetables.  So for most of last week I was only eating egg whites, greek yogurt, cucumbers, and carrots -- rough!  So the scan is actually three visits over two days.  Finally on Friday my diet returned to normal -- I never thought I would be excited to add vegetables back into my diet.  I don't get the results until I see the doctor on the 23rd... I will surely keep you all informed.

Now on to the ribbons... LOVE hearing that word!
Last week was MQX-East (Machine Quilters Expo) in Providence, RI.  I was lucky enough to have "Wonderlust" accepted for the show.  I didn't place, which is fine, I am just soooooo happy to be included in such an awesome show!  I haven't yet been there in person, but it is on my list, really close to the top too!  So I sat reading the list of winners and congratulating everyone.  So many beautifully amazing quilts this year and that was just in the winner list.  I can't imagine how much fantastic beauty was hanging at the show.  See, like I said, happy to be included!

BUT, to make things even better.... Teri Lucas sent me a photo she took of my quilt - with a ribbon!  Yay, I had received a Teachers Ribbon.  Teacher Ribbons and Judges Choice are two of my most favorite ribbons.

I was beyond thrilled, until I realized I would have to wait until the show package came back (as MQX was shipping my quilt directly to MQS) to see who had awarded the ribbon.  Pffft... me wait, patiently?  In less than 4 hours it was driving me insane.  It was all I could think about, really!

Well, I managed to get through Monday, and on Tuesday, Margaret Solomon Gunn posted a picture of the back of my quilt while hanging at MQX.  This was great, I love that MQX hangs the quilts so that the really cool backs are visible.  Thanks Margaret, it is always great to see your quilt hanging at a show, but now it stirred up the wondering all over again... (hehe, and you all are probably wondering how "Wonderlust" was named.... I wonder, one of my most famous sayings).

Who... who had awarded "Wonderlust" a ribbon?  Not like knowing would change the world, just calm my mind.  So I waited, again.  Me waiting translates into me driving my entire household and half of my speed dials insane... it is not pretty.

This morning I sign on facebook and have a notification from Teri.  It tells me that I should really read her blog today.  Which, of course, I would have, but now I am super-curious.  I started reading before I even sipped my coffee.  Yippee!!!!  It was Teri, she picked my quilt as her favorite -- and she picked it from the back, OMG... !!!  You can read all about it here, on her blog.  So now my mind has calmed and I can go on with my day...

Happy Day quilty peeps!

Weight Loss - Week 1

The first week has gone by, they say that it is the hardest.  I tend to not think so.  I am so full of hope and excitement during the first week, it is usually during the second and third week that I tend to falter.  But, still being the little optimist-that-can, I won't even entertain those thoughts!

Big news... I am down 8.5 pounds.  Crazy right?  But, when I think about the amount of carbs and sugars I was eating I'd have to expect that there would be significant weight loss once I removed them, and there was!  I know I can't expect these results every week, but I am thrilled with my first week!

I am also amazed that I survived this week.  My dog, Mabel, also had life changing events.  She is now diabetic and started insulin the same day I started my diet.  So while I'm eating every 2-2.5 hours, she is drinking water (every hour) and then going for a potty walk (every hour) and getting shots twice a day (glad both me and her are okay with that).  It's pretty much insane here, I haven't gotten much of anything done other than food prep and potty walks.  My front door reminds me of a clown car at the circus -- in and out, around and around.  I guess it is a good thing I work from home.  Well, usually work.

Between all the food prep and potty walks I did managed to squeeze out one little project this week.  I'm sorry but I can't share it just yet, but I will, no worries.  Oh, and I did manage to press, starch, restarch, and cut into strips about 5 yards of fabric for a kaleidoscope class I'm taking.  Now I just need to sew ten sets of strata before tomorrow morning!  That and get my tushy back in gear on customer work.

More soon... have a wonderful week quilties!

Weight, lumps, and hormones...

With that title I'm sure you realize this post is not quilting related (NQR).

Let me start a little over three years ago.  I was a smoker, a very heavy smoker, so was my husband.  On March 26, 2009 we woke up and became non-smokers.  It was rough, very rough, we rediscovered our taste buds -- wow, we were missing some really good foods over the past twenty-some years.  All that food was great, but... yep, with every bite I was putting on weight.  I know, I was told to expect 10 or 15 pounds, I was prepared -- it had to be better than smoking, right?  Well, if you don't already know, I am an over-achiever... I didn't stop at 10, 15, or even 20... over the past three years I have put on over 60 pounds, 68 to be exact!  That's a lot of weight!   It was progressive continual weight gain of about 1-3 pounds per month, way beyond any quitting smoking poundage.  I'd do weight watchers, walk on the treadmill, run on the elliptical and maybe lose a pound over the course of a month.  Something was NOT right.  In the meantime I developed this strange lump in my throat/neck.  It made me cough every so often, then it started making me choke every so often, then... all the time, coughing, gagging, choking, sleep was almost not existent.

So last week I went to the doctor.

He ordered a plethora of blood work, as I am also peri-menopausal, depressed, have lower self-confidence than normal, etc. and also ordered an ultrasound of my neck as we are pretty sure it is a thyroid issue.  Great news, we can fix all of this!  The doctor explained to me that he can balance all my hormones to their proper levels and correct the thyroid issue and I may drop 5-10 pounds, BUT (damn that dreaded but), the rest of the weight is all mine until I lose it.  Lose, what a word, I lose my keys, I lose my grocery list, weight - I know exactly where it is!  In other words, I must get rid of it.

So... here comes Monday.  I started (as suggested by my doctor) a NO carb NO sugar LEAN protein diet.  Hello, my name is Karen, I am a carb/sugar addict.  Do you know how hard it is to find NO carb recipes... very hard, you need to look in Mother Nature's recipe book, because they are called vegetables!   Now this diet isn't permanent, the doctor is trying to shock my system because right now it is storing everything I eat.  But, it is also a serious change for me... I love bread.  I love whole milk.  No breads, okay, got it, I'll adjust.  My milk choices are skim (ewwwwww) or unsweetened Almond Milk (okay not too bad).  None of this matters -- I MUST LOSE WEIGHT!

Here's a picture of me a few days after I quit smoking.  My Mom, so proud of my accomplishment, treated me to highlights and a new haircut.  I was at a good weight -- not high school skinny, but normal, no double (triple) chin, healthy cheeks, normal upper arms, no inner tube belly, not even a muffin top (you can't see, but I know)...

Here is me now (ugh, in all my unedited glory).  But hey, that's what I really look like, well, what 68 extra pounds looks like.

So, here begins my journey of weight loss, hormone balancing, and thyroid corrections.  Have fun sharing it with me, along with all my ups and downs, mishaps, goofies, and crankies!  Oh, and by the way, I wasn't supposed to weight myself til Monday (1 full week), but this morning I peeked -- three pounds in less than 3 days.  I am keeping totally optimistic knowing I have no other choice!

JTA 2012 Challenge - Fauvism

I belong to an art group -- Journeys Thru Art -- a wonderful group of artists.  You might remember last year we did a Door Challenge, if not, here is a collage of the eight doors.

Well, the door challenge was loads of fun, struggle, aggravation, thrill, surprise, and learning all rolled up into a quilt -- well at least for me.

This year the project is quite different.  We are doing six mini quilts -- only 12"x12".  Each mini quilt will be our interpretation of a specific style of art.  The first style is FAUVISM.  Well, you would not believe the dilemmas that followed!  Do I choose a single subject matter for each of the styles, do I do something different, keep color schemes matching?  The questions were rolling out of my brain faster than I could think, let alone, answer any of them. 

So, we'll start here... practice day at my kitchen table. Nancy and I get together just about every Friday, for sewing, shopping, chit chat, bitching, moaning, complaining, and altogether general fun!  Some days we don't make it beyond the coffee and donuts, other days we conquer world peace!  Natalie came over for this special practice day, she brought her So Soft paints -- all 9 bazillion colors of them (there goes that exaggeration problem I have).  Here is Natalie and Nancy, and you can see in the picture she's got oodles of those cute little paint bottles.  We figured with all these beautiful paints it would be more than easy to get our creative juices flowing in the proper fauvism direction!

We were ready... for what, I have no idea, we were just going to let the creativity flow -- it does that a lot at my house, even if you aren't prepared for it, it'll still happen!  Just ask Nancy!

For those that don't know, here is the definition of fauvism according to The Metropolitan Museum of Art  Fauvism was the first of the avant-garde movements that flourished in France in the early years of the twentieth century. The Fauve painters were the first to break with Impressionism as well as with older, traditional methods of perception. Their spontaneous, often subjective response to nature was expressed in bold, undisguised brushstrokes and high-keyed, vibrant colors directly from the tube. 

And here is a very interesting blurb from WebMuseum, Paris - Fauvism, French Fauvisme, style of painting that flourished in France from 1898 to 1908; it used pure, brilliant colour, applied straight from the paint tubes in an aggressive, direct manner to create a sense of an explosion on the canvas. The Fauves painted directly from nature as the Impressionists had before them, but their works were invested with a strong expressive reaction to the subjects they painted. First formally exhibited in Paris in 1905, Fauvist paintings shocked visitors to the annual Salon d'Automne; one of these visitors was the critic Louis Vauxcelles, who, because of the violence of their works, dubbed the painters "Les Fauves" (Wild Beasts). 

And my most favorite description comes from artyfactory, Fauvism was not a formal movement with a manifesto of rules and regulations. It was more an instinctive coming together of artists who wished to express themselves by using bold colours, simplified drawing and expressive brushwork. 'Les Fauves' simply believed that colour had a spiritual quality which linked directly to your emotions and they loved to use it at the highest possible pitch.

Now, armed with all this information we practice and play...

FUN... nothing planned, just let magic happen.  So I think we pretty much conquered practicing fauvism.  BUT... the real project... ahhh.... nothing coming out of my brain yet.  Other than, YES, I am working on a tree.  I decided that ALL six of my mini quilts (blocks) would be based on one simple drawing.    This way, there would be a consistency when the six of them were hanging together -- you would see the differences in the styles better because they are all the same drawing.  Yep,  that's what I decided... then I realize, one drawing, six different styles of art... this would be much much more difficult than to use six different subject matters that lend themselves to that style of art.  Never have I known myself to take the easy route... never.  So I drew a tree, of course I added my own little life to it, which will make the six styles even more difficult!  But, what good is a challenge if you are not challenging yourself!!

So... I was thinking what am I going to do.  How am I going to make this simple drawing into a beautiful interpretation of fauvism?!!   I layered a bunch of scraps of a beautiful terracotta orange fabric on top of each other (held them there with a little glue stick), traced my tree in reverse and started stitching from the back.  I had no idea if this would work the way I had intended or not... Yep, it did, it was beginning to look exactly like my plan.  Don't you absolutely LOVE when this happens?!!

So I conquered the tree, and it turned out pretty cool.  But what about the ground???  Well, Friday while packing my husbands lunch it hit me... I ran into the studio (haha, the old living room), and started my idea before it fell out of my head.

Wow... again, don't you absolutely love when things work out exactly like you were thinking?  I took some scraps of a turquoise and orange batik and cut them into strips of varying widths, then I cut pieces of a variegated wool yarn and I randomly stitched a giant zig-zag to hold them down.  Then I cut more strips of fabric and more pieces of yarn and filled in all the open areas, and zig-zagged some more.

And then... the felting of the wool yarn.  Let me start with I have never felted wool, ever.  The only reason I had this wool yarn was to help Nancy knit some wool for her special woolies that she makes.  She is the felting pro... I just listen.  So I took this beautiful thing I'd just made and put it in the sink with very, very, hot water.  Then you pretty much beat the living crap out of it... seriously.  You rub it, stretch it, and even scrap it with a metal sieve... what ever you have to rough it up.  Then you throw it in the dryer on very high heat and wait.

So then comes the fun part... I wasn't sure how this would turn out, because it wasn't knitted, it was just stitched in with the fabric strips.  Well, turns out, it turned out perfect!  This was the exact look my mind was seeing!  Kinda like some crazy lumpy mossy grass.  I know you can't see in the picture, but there is so much depth to this mess, I love it!

Gee, how could I make this any more wonderful... why not use gauzy fashion fabric for the sky background -- remember no rules, no regulations, just expressive wildness -- love it!!  The deep turquoise was the perfect color for this project -- it totally made the orange fabric of the tree pop, and pulled the turquoise out of the batik in the grass.  At this point I was super pleased, and both new things I tried worked -- not only worked, they worked perfectly and exactly as my mind saw them!

So then on to the quilting (my favorite part) -- nothing crazy, just follow the flow of the felted wool in the grass and some detail in the tree and some simple lines in the gauzy background.  But holy cow, look at the amazing textures in the grass.  I was more than pleased at this point.

I even couched some decorative thread -- I have had this amazing spool of YLI Designer 6 for eons (I have three different colors and I guard them, they are my absolute most favorite decorative thread, they are like a little satin cord -- I guard them because I have found them to be difficult to find), and it just happens to be the most amazing dark turquoisy-teal color.  Look how fantastic this is -- it is exactly what was needed to pull it all together!

Well... let me just say, gauze is not the easiest fabric to bind with... even with oodles of starch it has a mind of its own... but why do easy now?  Here is my finished mini-quilt "Strong Roots - Fauvism"

I hope you have all enjoyed the journey of this block as much as I have.  I really wanted my project to be more than just painted fabric -- that would have been way too easy -- I hope that it translates well and still speaks the style of fauvism even though it is all fabric, no paint.  Thanks for reading all the way to the end, I know this was a really, really, long post!

PS... just got back from the big "reveal" meeting... OMG, awesomeness as always!  Here are pictures of everyone's projects:

Eyvonne Smith

Natalie Carlton

Kathy Rentz

Judie Gutke

Pat Foust

Pam Post

Quilts, Shows, and Schedules...

So it wasn't until last night when someone asked that I have two competition quilts going to two different shows that I realized I haven't filled you in on all the goodness that has been happening.  Yes, I let FB know everything and neglected my blogger peeps... so sorry!

So, to sum it all up:

"Wonderlust" has been selected as a finalist at MQX-East, April 11-14, 2012 - Providence, RI.

"Clouds in My Latte" has been selected as a semi-finalist at AQS-Paducah, April 25-28,2012 - Paducah, KY! 

"The Choice" (along with all the other door challenges) has been accepted to NQA - June 14-16, 2012 - Columbus, OH.

Woohoo, how freaking sweet is all that?! I know, bring it down...  thank goodness that we don't have blog posts via skype because you would have a hard time watching with all the excited wiggling and jiggling. Believe me, there would be a lot of jiggling with all this extra weight... LOL 

Told you, loads of goodness!  I think that is all the show reporting I have to do so far... if you happen to be at any of the shows, feel free to snap a picture of my quilt and send it to me and/or post it on my facebook page!

Clogged Creativity...

Do you ever feel like you have tons of creativity just below the surface.  It's there, you just can't access it, almost like its clogged -- just like a drain.  Everyday life is just sitting there like the water stuck in the sink, not moving, just containing the creativity so that it can't flow.  Customer quilts that need to be quilted, phones calls that won't stop ringing, emails waiting (sometimes for far too long), laundry piled up to the ceiling, insurances that need to be quoted, bills needing to be paid, taxes that need organizing, schedules that need updating, dog goobers on the wall (how the hell did that get there), dust bunnies so big you should be charging them rent, and don't even get me started on the unknowns in the back of the frig -- you know, every day life.  Don't look so shocked, you too have these issues, they may differ slightly, but they are the same issues.

Creativity gets clogged by all that crap!

In the back of my mind (similar to the frig) are old ideas that never got seized, new ideas floating and wondering if they will ever be born.  All over the house are notebooks, in almost every room -- FULL of ideas, sketches, doodles, words, thoughts... creativity in some form or another.  What I need to find is the balance between everyday life and the creativity.  I need a day with Drain-o... just to move the clog at a schedule time and let the creativity flow.  I also need an assistant... not for the creativity, one that I can leave all this cleaning, phone calling, and organization to.  We know that's not happening anytime soon -- besides, I'm a nut (really) and suffer from anxiety so if anyone tries to move my stuff, palpitations... okay, that's another post, another day -- and no, you will not see me on an episode of Hoarders.  They secretly created that show to keep people like me in line so that we never cross over!

But back to the creativity clog... I am making a serious attempt to finish all my UFOs that are laying around the house.  This is partially due to the clog, and also due to the fact that I am becoming a quilting snob.  I no longer want to follow commercial patterns, I only want to do my own stuff -- I know, wow, come back down to earth sweetie, the airs a little thin up there!  But seriously, I want to do more competition pieces and you really need to have your own stuff, or at least elaborate on a pattern of some sort.  See, told you... SNOB!  This doesn't mean I'll never buy another pattern, I have a long (very long) list of patterns I'd still like to make, just not right now -- going through this snobbish phase.  And I honestly think that by clearing out all these UFOs it will make room (mentally and physically) for new creativity to bloom - or at least that's what I'm hoping!

Bobbin work - longarm style

So last week I had a few minutes to spare (no, not really, but I used them for myself anyway) and I decided to attempt bobbin work on the Gammill.  I knew after taking Bonnie McCaffrey's class (see previous post) I would run with this because the amount of ideas already popping out of my brain is insane -- I wish the extra minutes in my day would balance with the ideas in my head -- then I might get ahead of myself... maybe.

So anyway, let's share -- well, I'll share, you read... 

We'll start with one full M bobbin of YLI Candlelight thread (super cool stuff).

Now I'll share what the stitch out of one full M bobbin looks like. Not much, but the effect is absolutely awesome.

Remember, we're working from the back so to help me stitch my name I used a piece of stabilizer.

And here's a close up peek at some of the detail.  Don't worry about those little glittery feathers in the bottom right corner -- I'll get to them later.

So after the first bobbin full I was happy, but not thrilled, I still had some tweeking of tensions to do.  So round two started:

Still not perfect... even more adjustments, and

Viola!  Now I was a happy girl!  Not too much build up, good stitches, perfect in my little world.  So, what do I try next... Superior Glitter thread.

 

So the Glitter thread wasn't as happy as the Candlelight with the current settings.  That is another day's spare moments.  I was happy with the adjustments for the Candlelight so I left that bobbin case as is.  I'll be ordering some more Candlelight thread and I'll be using in on my latest UFO that I worked on over the weekend.

I had a mexican pinwheel feathered star (Marsha McCloskey pattern) that had been sitting around collecting dust.  So I pulled it out -- this is what it looked like (actually is was extremely wrinkly so I gave it a real quick pressing):

Then I worked on it over the weekend, and now it looks like this (still wrinkly):

It is not a masterpiece, there are quite a few things wrong with the star -- hey, Marsha did warn me on the cover of the book with her statement of "really hard blocks that take a long time to make" -- she was not kidding - it really should have said Karen, you've got attention problems,can't follow directions, and don't always read the entire pattern, this is NOT the book for you.  And to be honest, I never finished the block her way -- the center lemoyne is hand-appliqued because after three tries it still didn't work right!  Adjust and move on!  I may add some little circles here and there -- not sure yet, waiting til it tells me.  This will be my bobbin work debut quilt -- you can see it is begging for bobbin work right?  I'm really hoping they have black Candlelight thread... really hoping!  More to come on this one.

Synchronicity

Synchronicity, coincidence, fate -- call it what you may.  Everything happens for a reason.  I say this a lot, mostly because it is true.

Let me start with that fact that I don't usually take classes, for a few reason, namely my ADD - it is very hard for me to stay focused long enough to learn and also to not disturb the rest of the class.  This mainly is why I very rarely sign up for classes, also because I'm finicky -- the class must be a technique that I don't know, it can't just be yet another way to fuse something -- I've got to come out of that class saying wow, I can really use this in my creative process.  So, in my history of quilting to date I have taken two classes.  The first was a week-long retreat with Sharon Schamber -- you can read all about it on my other blog (just search Oliver and/or Sharon Schamber retreat as there are way too many posts to link each one).  Anyway, that class was where Oliver was born and started a special spark in my creative genius.  My second class was just yesterday.  One of the guilds to which I belong had signups for a class with Bonnie McCaffrey.  Well, turns out, so many people signed up that they had to hold a lottery as there were only 20 spots in the class.  I was lucky enough to be chosen in the lottery.   Before we get to the synchronicity part.... let me tell you, I suck at domestic machine quilting.  Yep, totally suck!  There is a good reason why I'm a longarm quilter, no one in their right mind would possibly even bother to look at anything I'd quilted free motion on the domestic.... don't believe me?  Let me share my practice piece that I did at home so as to not totally embarrass myself in class

Okay, stop it!  Pick yourselves up off the floor, stop laughing, wipe the tears from your eyes, and say it with me... I suck!  I think back to all those quilts I quilted on the domestic and say how?  But then I realize because all I did was meander, easy peasy!  Now my brain only wants to do amazing things and my domestic capabilities are nil.  So after my left brain explained this to my right brain I felt much better, and could totally accept my sucky stitches.

So starts Bonnie's class...  did I mention I was supposed to follow a line?  Oh no!  A line, and I was supposed to stay on it, can't be done!  Here is my wiggly, giggly, oh so glittery project:

I must say, the thread Bonnie suggests is YLI Candlelight... LOVE!  I also must admit that I can't wait to try this technique on the longarm.  I came away from this class with so many ideas blooming, the only difference was they were blooming in the longarm garden.

So, a little paint, some beads and in only three hours I had a super cute new technique piece of fabric, oh, and also a cute pic of me and Bonnie... notice she's the cute one, me, I'm the one with frizzy hair, sixteen chins, and googly giggly smile and thanks to magic of photography I can now see how much weight I really need to lose -- another day another post.

So, if you're new to this world and haven't heard of Bonnie, check out her website http://www.bonniemccaffery.com/ so many fun and exciting things!!

So, on to the synchronicity part...
I was honored enough to be included in dinner with Bonnie and two of my quilty buds.  Wow, what a fantastic evening... dinner did go on for almost 4 hours, I'm sure the restaurant was more than happy to see us leave, but the ideas, discussions, and general wonderfulness that happened was great!  One amazing thing that happened was Bonnie decided to do a vidcast of our art group, Journeys Thru Art, and showcase our door challenges.  What!  Holy crapola, you aren't kidding!  So... breathe, yes, we spent this morning filming and laughing, and nervous knot bellying (oh wait, maybe that was only me), and then we even had lunch!  Bonnie is an wonderful person, and really does make you feel at ease in front of the camera.  Haha... I say this now, when I see the vidcast I'm sure I will be totally freaked out by myself, but we'll deal, when it's time!  Oh, and the best part, I'm sick with an awful cold and my voice is equivalent to a strange squeeky toy.  So when you finally watch the vidcast, please remember I was sick, I really don't squeek!

And, for the totally synchro part....
I've been talking and talking about doing videos of my longarm quilting... guess what?  No, really, guess!  Okay... Bonnie just happens to be a fantastic videographer!  So, it's not happening yet, but soon, okay sometime in the kinda' near future, Bonnie will be filming me... yep!  Just as soon as I can figure out a plan you'll be able to view, rewind, fast forward... just don't pause, I am positive I'll look awful or have some seriously stupid look on my face, really, I do that, so please don't pause unless it's to look at stitches! 

Not to worry, I will keep you all informed when all of this is happening.  I will most certainly send out a link when the vidcast is on her website.  And I will most definitely let you know when, where, and how to purchase my video... now, to contain it all and come up with a plan...