Voon and Benson have done some cool stuff with el wire. Woven art pieces. Check them out

Here we are at Ren Faire

Our Family has a Thanksgiving Day curse. It started one year  at my husband’s family gathering, when one of the kids fell on a survey stake and needed a ton of stitches. The following Thanksgivings  saw other accidents.  My  93 year grandmother fell over my dog and broke her collar bone one year. My mother was walking my brother’s dog, a cat crossed their path and my mother ended up with 2 broken wrists! More often the incidences are mishaps instead of major injuries. Things like broken garbage disposals that spew turkey goop every where or toilets backed up. This year we got off easy with backed up sinks that somehow made the air  uptake shaft fill up with water and flood the game room!? My mother dubbed this a phenomenon a “Visit from the Shit Fairy” the year it visited her with backed up toilets.. So this year the Shit Fairy was good to us and left us only a minor gift <VBG> One year my Mother made me this beaded charm. It says “No Shit Fairy” and is modeled afer a Native American Whimsy (which I collect, more about those another day)

Life as an artist is a balancing act

Spent all day writing an article for Studio Art Quilt Associates Journal. And all night on the Fine Focus blog

Tues is set aside for FF08 pre-planning.

Wed cleaning studio and office and baking for Thurs

Thursday Turkey Day

Friday is for Ren Faire

This has been one of those months with a million distractions from actually quilting. It started in Oct,  hanging my solo and then another show for Mixed Media Artists of Houston. Then I decided to make an art car.Then came International Quilt Festival. AT IQF I bought a Handiquilter Simply Sixteen for my studio in Galveston

I have a home studio in Clear Lake with a big Gammil. This is for my garage studio on Galveston.
My husband and I are empty nesters and we are experimenting with downsizing <VBG> My son helped me put the frame together last week. I still haven’t gotten the leaders taped on and a quilt in the machine

I am going to have a hole cut in the garage for sliding glass doors to the garden

This will be the view I have at Studio 33

Denise DeMarie’s Aerial Geography

I thought people might be interested in what I do as a curator. One of the things Judy and I do after each FF exhibition is unpack each quilt and inspect it for damage. Each quilt is mounted on stretcher bars. I make a label for the plastic bag that protects each quilt. On the label is a pic of the quilt and the artists statement and techniques and so on. Then as the museum staff is arranging and hanging the the work, it stays protected in its bag and gives info for the staff to learn from.

We are currently negotiating FF08 so stay tuned!

Today I spent working on Fine Focus o6. In the morning I checked two of the 5 tubs and did a condition report on the quilts in those tubs. I have to take the show to the Houston Center for Contemporary Crafts on Friday, so I had to retie a few of the quilts that were slumping on their mounts. 
I counted 10 art quilts sold so far. 

This afternoon I spent on the Fine Focus Blog. We let our old barely functional website expire and are using a blog instead. It is so much easier to update.

Today was World Art Car Day and I spent the day working on the car

Boy this art car thing is exhausting. I spent the day trimming the edges with rick rack. First UV spray, then soak in Modge Podge and dry on the line. Then stick to the car by spraying the car and the back of the rick rack with spray adhesive. Then try to stick it where you want it without it sticking to you first! <VBG>
I am trying to outline the lines of the car to accentuate the space

And here is a pic of the El Wire inside the dashboard.

One of the things that is great about exploring a new medium is the new things you learn about. The art car folks turned me onto something called El Wire, or Cool Neon. This is strands of fluorescent wire that can be powered by your car battery or AA batteries or 9 Volt or home electricity. It comes in great colors and it is flexible. One company even makes it with an edge like piping so that you can SEW it into the edge of garments

This is the thinnest wire. I am going using this stuff for the “thread” on my giant spool of thread and in several giant needles. I bought it at http://www.thatscoolwire.com/
It can be set to blink or stay on and even to pulse to music!!