#PHOTOADAYMAY

Another month has gone by... I know this because I photographed each day.  May was fun, interesting, and a little challenging.  Here is May's challenge list as posted by Fat Mum Slim

Here are my photos for #PHOTOADAYMAY.  

Day 1 - peace

Day 2 - skyline

Day 3 - something you wore today

Day 4 - fun!

Day 5 - bird

Day 6 - you

Day 7 - someone that inspires you
~Mother Nature~

Day 8 - a smell you adore

Day 9 - something you do every day

Day 10 - a favorite word

Day 11 - kitchen

Day 12 - something that makes you happy

Day 13 - mum

Day 14 - grass

Day 15 - love

Day 16 - what you're reading

Day 17 - snack

Day 18 - something you made

Day 19 - a favorite place

Day 20 - something that you can't live without

Day 21 - where you stand

Day 22 - pink

Day 23 - technology

Day 24 - something new

Day 25 - unusual

Day 26 - 12 o'clock

Day 27 - something sweet

Day 28 - the weather today

Day 29 - a number

Day 30 - your personality

Day 31 - something beautiful

I've decided to continue on this #PHOTOADAY journey for June as it is actually a lot of fun.  So many friends on facebook are following along as well, maybe you should too!

See the previous #PHOTOADAY posts here: http://karenmarchetti.blogspot.com/2012/05/photoadayapril.html

MQS... honorably!

Yay me!  Last week, while at MQS, Wonderlust got some new bling... an Honorable Mention ribbon!  I was tickled, actually still am!  My husband laughs at me and tells me that an Honorable Mention is really "first official loser" -- NOT!  It means I did well, that my quilt was recognized.  Seriously, I am nuts -- my award could be for "Ugliest Quilt Evahhh", and I'd still be tickled pink winning a ribbon!

So here is Wonderlust wearing her new bling!  Thanks Claudia Pfeil for the photo!

I don't want to multiple-post the same thing, but I must share this one, which is now an absolute favorite, provided by Lisa Sipes...

Yes, that is Lisa (better known as McLisa on Facebook) crazy-quilty-girl-loving all over my quilt!  And if you haven't seen any of Lisa's work check out her blog -- although I would find that hard to believe.

In the meantime I'm crazy-seriously working on a new small wholecloth, not "Mama's Got the Blues", a totally different one.  I'll let you know more as I know more... scary huh?

Oh and also trying to "rush" my Journeys Thru Art projects.  So that we might possibly show them in November... stress "trying to rush" but in a good way, not a crazy-must-finish-way.

Have a happy day quilties!

10 things you might not know about me...

Okay, here goes:

This is going to be fun!  Hopefully I won't scare anyone away with my freaky oddities.  Some of you may know some of these things, but I don't think anyone will know all ten!

I have extreme ADD.  Really!  Okay, that one was free and doesn't count toward the ten!  I refuse to medicate as it removes (kills) any and all creativity that is bouncing around in my head.

1 - I am ambidextrous.
I write with my left hand, but I am right-hand dominant.  I can cut with both, actually I can write with both but prefer my left.  I draw and paint with both, but prefer to eat with my left.

2 - I hate lightning.
Seriously!  Scares the sh*t outta me.  Not to freak you all out, but I can "feel" lightning in the air.  Guess that's part of my sensitive-ness.  I am getting better with it, but it has taken all of my life to get to the point that I can tolerate it.  While my husband stands in the garage watching it, my skin is tingling and twitching all over and must go into the house to deal with my freaked-ness

3 - I sleep with my eyes open.
Okay, let me rephrase.  I fall asleep with my eyes closed and then while I'm sleeping I open them, about halfway.  Freaky right?  It took me a while to figure this oddity out -- people kept talking to me and waking me up while I was sleeping and then acting all confused when I said I was sleeping.

4 - I curse/swear, a lot.
Sometimes to the point that drunken sailors tell me to keep it down!  Okay, that was one that almost everyone knows... but not quite, so not a freebie!

5 - I can out blink the air puff.
Yep, the eye doctor hates me!  It usually takes 4-5 tries and my total concentration to not blink.  I have a red sticker on my file... it's not nice, the second eye is actually worse.

6 - Favorite movie of all time... "Who Framed Roger Rabbit".
I love him, his silly voice, stupid behavior, he fits right in with the cartoon characters in my head.  I will pretty much stop everything to sit down and watch when it is on.  Now, I don't actually go out of my way to look for it on TV, but if flipping through the channels and its on, I'm done.

7 - Obsessed with butter cream icing.
Yep, and since this diet it is pretty much ALL I can think about!  I love it, could put it on anything, cakes, cookies, spoons!  I have been good and only had it once since my diet.  The hubby had a cupcake and I got the icing, it was heaven!

8 - Serious fear of fire.
Beyond normal... okay, just like everything else!  But I can't even cook on a grill.  Apparently, in a past life I was a witch and burned at the stake during the witch trials.  Really... too many things that we won't even go there!

9 - I am 5'6" tall.
Most people who haven't met me think I am tall, people have have met me think I am taller than I am.  I guess I just have a stature that appears tall.  With the national average at 5'5" - I am so very close to average, well, except for my weirdness.

10 - My love was the result of a blind date.
Joe and I met on a blind date, set up by his father and my friends mom.  Long story short, we met, had our date, and he came back at 5am to take me to breakfast.  We've been together ever since!

Okay, so now you know a little more about me, not all of it is weirdness... hope you aren't scared away!

JTA 2012 Challenge - Cubism

Well, when you leave something until the last minute it usually bites you in the ass.  And, it did!  I did not start working on my cubism block until a few days before it was due.  Not smart, not smart at all!  I rushed it, skipped some things that I probably shouldn't have, but in the end I think it turned out okay.


Let's start with some research of CUBISM...


According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Cubism was on the the most influential visual art styles of the early twentieth century.  It was creative by Pable Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973) and Georges Braque (French, 1882-1963) in Patris between 1907 and 1914.  The French art critic Lous Vauxcelles coined the term Cusbism after seeing the landscapes Braque had painted in 1908 at L'Estaque in emulation of Cezanne.  Vauxcelles called the geometric forms in the highly abstracted works "cubes".  Other influcense on early Cubism have been linked to Primitivism and non-Western sources.  The stylications and distortion of Picasso's ground-breaking Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (Museum of Modern Art, New York), painted in 1907, came from African art.  Picasso had first seen African art when, in May or June 1907, he visited the ethnographic museum in the Palais du Trocadero in Paris.  The Cubist painters rejected the inherited concept that art should copy nature, or that they should adopt the traditional techniques of perspective, modeling, and foreshortening.  They wanted instead to emphasize the two-dimensionality of the canvas.  So they reduced and fractured objects into geomtric forms, and then realigned these within a shallow, relief-like space.  They also used multiple or contrasting vantage points.


And the official definition from Dictionary.com

cub·ism

 

[kyoo-biz-uhm]
noun ( sometimes initial capital letter ) Fine Arts .

a style of painting and sculpture developed in the early 20thcentury, characterized chiefly by an emphasis on formal structure,the reduction of natural forms to their geometrical equivalents,and the organization of the planes of a represented object  independently of representational requirements.

And then, my favorite, artyfactory.com, which explains the two different styles of cubism, Analytical and Synthetic.

Cubism had two distinct phases.  The early phase which lasted until about 1912 was called Analytical Cubism.  Here the artist analysed the subject from many different viewpoints and reconstructed it within a geometric framework, the overall effect of which was to create an image that evoked a sense of the subject.  These fragmented images were unified by the use of a subdued and limited palette of colours.  

Influences by the introduction of bold and simple collage shapes, Synthetic Cubism moved away from the unified monochrome surfaces of Analytic Cubism to a more direct, colourful and decorative style.  Although synthetic cubist images appear more abstract in their use of simplified forms, the other elements of their composition are applied quiet traditionally.  Interchanging lines, colours, patterns and textures, that switch from geometric to freehand, dark to light, positive to negative and plain to patterned, advance and recede in rhythms across the picture plain.

Needless to say, I marched to the beat of my own drummer and did my own thing.  I probably came close to the synthetic cubism style, but I don't think I nailed cubism quite as closely as I wanted to.  Although, I came pretty close in my rushed time... at least I think so!

Here is my mini-quilt for cubism, it still needs to be tweaked and quilted, which will definitely add more interest:

And here are the others in the group, well except for Pam's as she was away on reveal day.

Kathy's

Pat's

Natalie's

Judie's

Eyvonne's

I can't wait to see what Pam created.  I think they all turned out fabulous!  Our next block/mini-quilt is "Expressionism" -- can't wait for that one either.  It's not due until July but hopefully we'll all get ahead of schedule with the challenges and possibly have them done for the Mancuso Show in West Palm in November... hopefully!

Check out the previous JTA challenge block "Fauvism".

Down 1/3

I've done it!  I have hit my first milestone... 20 pounds, gone!  Yes, I feel fantastic, but only 1/3 fantastic -- I've still got a long way to go, but in the meantime I am most definitely doing the ohhh I am 20 pounds lighter happy dance!

Here is the 20 pounds gone pic, and yes, I'm still missing my head!

My favorite shirts (I have like 5 of them) are getting bigger and baggier, and this is NOT a problem.  It is a reminder that I am smaller than I was.  I am down a pants size, and it is nice.  I truly think I'm down more than one size but I was soooo stuffed into my last size that I was probably two sizes larger and unwilling to admit it.

Here is the face so that you can see the weight loss there too:

This was from yesterday's photo-a-day challenge -- it was YOU, well really me... you know!

On to the follow up on the thyroid nodule.  The nuclear scan showed several "cold" areas.  A cold area is where the iodine/radioactive juices didn't take... a non-functioning part of my thyroid and/or nodule.  I don't know which, the scan was of both.  I was told that about 20% of "cold" areas actually turn out to be cancer.  So, the next step is a biopsy.  They are going to take samples of multiple areas.  I meet with the surgeon tomorrow so that's about all I can catch you up on.  I will, as always, share away once I know more.  If you are new to my blog and want to follow the thyroid/weight loss from the beginning, check out these previous posts:
4/18/2012 http://karenmarchetti.blogspot.com/2012/04/pounds-tests-ribbons.html
4/10/2012 http://karenmarchetti.blogspot.com/2012/04/weight-loss-week-1.html
4/04/2012 http://karenmarchetti.blogspot.com/2012/04/weight-lumps-and-hormones.html

On the quilty-artsy side, I have been working.  Doing some customer stuff, and attempting to work on my JTA project which is due on Wednesday.  This block is cubism, don't worry I'll have a blog post about it - and no, I'm no where near done!  You can check out the last block (fauvism) here.

I've also been designing, erasing, redesigning, erasing, sweeping up the mess of eraser dust, and once again redesigning my next quilt.  It is already named but no where near creation yet.  It's called "Mama's Got the Blues", and will be an innovative wholecloth using the robins-egg blue tencel I purchased at Houston last year, here's a pic of the fabric:

I hope that the color comes through across the computer.  I think is is absolutely delicious and can't wait to get the design finalized to get it on there!  I've got tons of threads planned, yep, you guessed it, blues!  I might even do some couching with beautiful silk fibers.  I'm not sure yet, don't know how that will affect the "wholecloth" status - if anyone has suggestions on that one, please feel free to let me know.  Is it still a wholecloth if I couch silk ribbon/fibers down.  Either way, I can't wait!  Hopefully it will be as awesome as I have it pictured in my head. 

And, I did take out, put on my design wall, and look at my kaleidoscope quilt -- a soon to be beauty created with all of Natalie's beautiful hand-dyed fabrics.  But looking is about as far as I got.

Oh, I almost forgot.  How could I possibly forget?  My most beautiful MQX-East Faculty Award Ribbon!  Thank you again, Teri Lucas!  Read all about it here (under the QR part).

Well, that's about it, at least until after Wednesday big reveal at JTA.  Happy day quilties!

#PHOTOADAYAPRIL

Yet another NQR post... no worries I am still a quilter and I am still creating amazing wonderful things.  This is still an artistic and FUN post and that is all that matters.  Last month I jumped on the Fat Mum Slim band wagon and started her #PHOTOADAY challenge.  What a fun time this was.  Some days I had my photo within minutes, other days it was a little more challenging.  Each day I'd share my pictures on facebook, but then I realized, all my blogger peeps wouldn't be able to see them.  I didn't want to compose a post for each and every photo, so I decided to wait until the end of the month to share them.  Some are stupid, some are creative, and some are just what they are... it doesn't matter, it was fun and getting out to take pictures each day was the main objective.

It starts with Fat Mum Slims blog, where at the beginning of each month she posts the challenge topics along with descriptions and rules. Here is April's challenge topics:

And here are my photos for April:

Day 1 - your reflection

Day 2 - color

Day 3 - mail

Day 4 - someone who makes you happy

Day 5 - tiny

Day 6 - lunch

Day 7 - shadow

Day 8 - inside your wallet

Day 9 - younger you

Day 10 - cold

Day 11 - where you ate breakfast

Day 12 - stairs

Day 13 - something you found

Day 14 - how you feel today

Day 15 - sunset

Day 16 - flower

Day 17 - something you don't like

Day 18 - hair

Day 19 - orange

Day 20 - something you drew

Day 21 - bottle

Day 22 - the last thing you bought

Day 23 - vegetable

Day 24 - something you're grateful for

Day 25 - looking down

Day 26 - black and white

Day 27 - somewhere you went

Day 28 - 1 pm

Day 29  - circle

Day 30 - something that makes you sad

So there you have it... all of my #PHOTOADAYAPRIL challenges.  Don't worry, there will be more to come, I've already started my May challenge.

Hope you enjoy!

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!