Syracuse--sewing machine?

I'm going to work in central New York for six months while the cat stays here with Bryan and my furniture. Which sounds depressing...let's try "I'm going to test a new airport safety product for six months in a beautiful part of the country, where every weekend I can go take pictures somewhere I've never been before and drink beers I cannot drink in Wisconsin!" That's better.

The plan is to drive myself out with a Buick full of essentials, buy an air mattress, get a recliner and a table at the Salvation Army, and give it back to them in October (I have a friend there with a Jeep). Once I have an address, I can receive boxes of fabric in the mail. I will have my laptop and Photoshop. JoAnn, Hobby Lobby, Michaels, and AC Moore are all within 15-20 minutes of work; I already visited a traditional quilt shop in the area when I was there for the interview *grin*; I'm sure there are needlework and art supply stores somewhere between Buffalo (I have a friend there...) and Albany. So I should pack and ship odd stuff--hand-dyed fabrics, maybe my beer label collection--and not worry too much about forgetting a certain tool or color of thread. Although I don't see myself buying too much stuff, since it will all have to be donated or shipped back to Milwaukee.

I am dithering about whether or not to take the sewing machine...and/or the big plastic tubs of beads and sequins...and/or fabric paint. I haven't been using the machine or the embellishments lately, but that's different than not having them. I only plan to be "home" on rainy weekend days, and maybe not even then. And it would be fiscally responsible to pack the Buick with some dishes, towels, pans, etc, instead of art supplies. Handwork might be the best bet.

Whatever I pack, I will wish I had packed the other thing.

It has occurred to me that late April/early May is prime season for "dumpster diving around college campuses", which is how I obtained most of my dyeing/batiking equipment 10 years ago, including ironing boards (my iron is going with me for work clothing purposes).

The first week is obvious: I have been sporadically (on airplanes, mostly) working up a red, black, and gold paper-pieced Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt with 3200-ish hexagons. Three years, maybe 15% completed. No pictures--perhaps I'll have time tomorrow. Will be excellent mindless stitching for sitting in a hotel room thinking about a new job.

Take Me To Your Feeder

The aliens have mutated.



Look! Paintstiks! *heh*





And for thrills, I stacked 'em all up:


I may have been affected by the new episodes of Red Dwarf, even though no one has bothered to mention when or how they will be available in the U.S.

I'm still calling them "in-progress"--whiskers are definitely needed, and I'm still thinking about potential embellishments. But the stab-stitching is very soothing right now.

Harrington Beach

I've been spending my weekdays sitting around waiting for phone calls, which is simultaneously tedious and stressful.

Bryan took me to Harrington Beach on Sunday afternoon and we walked around for a couple of hours indulging my obsession with sand formations.



More here.

Flickr has installed a new feature where you can see your stats "So far today", so I have a new feeder-pellet bar to click on every thirty seconds or so. *snicker*

Milwaukee Photo Walk

Lots of people out downtown today, so I went south of downtown.



More photos here.

Aliens on backgrounds...

I've given up on making any sort of FFAC collage. Just not my thing--even in picking an image to work around, my good photographs are a whole composition and don't really lend themselves to being one element, photocopies of antique postcards look too flat, and most everything else that intrigues me has a copyright.

So then I was looking at my stack of aliens, and I noticed my stack of backgrounds, and I flipped them around for awhile.


The tacky metal word is too tacky. The background probably needs more stitching. Could also rotate the orientation 90 degrees. I wish there was more "stars" swirling above the alien...I could take the background apart try again, if I have more of the glitter fabric. I know I don't have any more dyed batting...


Same background, different alien. Same thoughts. Obviously, there can be only one here...


I'm not really sure about teal with navy blue, but I love the contrast between the orange the blue.


Same reservations about the teal, and about having horizontal stitch lines on both parts.

Obviously, a collage would need more than one element and a background. Stars, or stripes of color...

So, I could make a couple of pieces that finish to 8" x 10", but then I look around at other artists' submission, and the aliens seem...slapdash. Maybe childish.

I could use some honest comments, if you're inclined. :)

Minor adventure in FIBland.

Had a job interview yesterday on the wrong side of the Cheddar Curtain. Stopped at a state park on the drive home, to decompress. Wasn't really impressed by the park, but had some fun with the camera.



The whole set is here.

I resemble this lolcat.

The beat goes on and I'm so...something

Grey aliens.

These two are another upside-down Jinny Beyer print from 1997-ish:




An icky faux-country calico print, again upside-down:


I may never get to the "embellishment" chapter of the playbook.

I'm kinda impressed at how good the "icky" fabrics I don't like and thought I would never use actually look in a project, even one with only two fabrics.

Alien Apotheosis

I don't think they can get any better than this:



Here's another green E.B.E.