eavesdrop

wk 13-10

Last weekly of the month and I was struggling with what to do. I spent too long just staring at empty space. I finally started thinking about going to Ashland and what I'll do there: the plays; a little shopping; dining out; and people watching. Thinking about people watching led me to the idea of eavesdropping - listening to little tidbits of broken conversations.

Eavesdropper... one who stands on the eavesdrop in order to listen to conversations inside the house.

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to give ear to

wk 12-10

This weekly is influenced by the politics I've been watching lately. In short, it reflects how I feel about how hard it is to "listen" when people are shouting. I remain optimistic that our political leaders can behave with civility and respect.

I've been playing 'catch up' all month long and don't feel like I got anything done - maybe it was just running in circles! I'm hoping to get the last weekly done today as we are off to OSF tomorrow morning to see Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Hamlet. I'm looking forward to both play but I must admit I'm a little nervous about what they've done to Hamlet after reading a review that had this line:

And it's perfectly natural to fuse hip-hop with Hamlet, by adding "sick hooks" to the iambic pentameter, said Claudia Alick, hip-hop dramaturge for the play and curator and producer of the festival's musical Green Shows.

hmmm... not quite sure what 'sick hooks' are.

In the meantime, reveals for the March Interpret This! will be starting this Saturday. I'm planning to use the "scheduled at" feature for posting my reveal on Saturday afternoon - hope it works!

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life laughs best

wk 09-10

This wraps up my month of "Laugh" weeklies and includes a Norwegian proverb Der som ler sist, ler best. (He who laughs last, laughs best.) I've been watching the Olympics and have been really impressed with Norway's Marit Bjoergen who has won three gold medals and a bronze in the four events that she has competed in - and she still has one more event to go! The woman looked absolutely joyous today as she crossed the finish line.

Speaking of joyous - click on over to Interpret This! ... the reveals are in process!

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One laugh, out loud.

wk 07-10

wk 08-10

I spent the afternoon catching up on my weeklies. My inspiration for week 07 was this quote:

We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once and we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche

I just love a good Nietzsche quote to work with - someday I might just 'become what I am' (Ha!)

For week 08, a quote from (approx.) 65AD:

It is more fitting for a man to laugh at life than to lament over it.
~ Lucius Annaeus Seneca

with a irreverent modern twist - LOL@Life.

My Interpret This! piece is done and I'm looking forward to reveals that will be starting on Thursday, the 25th.

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Laugh and Live

wk 06-10

This month's word is 'Laugh' and for this week I was inspired by a quote attributed to Erma Bombeck:

If you can laugh at it, you can live with it.

It was simple and fast - and yes, I can live with it.

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changing how I look at things

wk 05-10

I can't believe how fast this year is going - the end of January is just around the corner. In finishing up the weeklies for this month, I played around with a quote attributed to Wayne Dyer:

If you change the way you look at things the things you look at change.

Simply made, tossed on a few button, quilted a few lines, and I'm happy with the results.

Sometimes I try to force change in how I do things, other times I'm happily marching along to a change theme without realizing it. This month, while working on my Interpret This! challenge piece I was aware of how my perception of my parents changed and that I felt different about the role they played in my life. Something I didn't expect.

Speaking of Interpret This! do go over there and check out the reveals that have already been posted: Libby, Rian, Kay, and Judith. Read the comments and enjoy! Two more will be revealed tomorrow.

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Give

wk 04-10

It is so easy to be overwhelmed by what is going on in Haiti. My heart goes out to all who have suffered and I'm thankful that the nations around the world have been so generous.

This weekly, to look more deeply into what I can do... we gave cash (with matching dollars from my husband work) and I'm asking everyone to give what they can.

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Haiti

wk 03-10

I've spent some time over the last few days working on my Interpret This! piece and I needed to take a break from all that looking "inward", so I decided to work on my weekly. It wasn't long before I found myself thinking about the earthquake in Haiti. It's so sad. It's nice to see the world helping, we need to look out for others more.


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My Interpret This! piece is coming along but it's been a wild ride. I made one of the design elements bigger than I had originally planned it to be which started a cascade of changes. I switched from what was a landscape orientation, switching up the design element, rotated pieces... on and on it went. I think I've got a working plan - again! - and I'll be back to work on it again tomorrow.

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Week 02 - Epiphany

wk 02-10

I am clearly exercising my procrastination skills today. I had planned to take the ornaments and lights off the Christmas tree. We put the tree up on Christmas Eve Eve and I thought it would be nice to leave it up until the Epiphany. I really enjoy the lights in the evening... maybe I should just wrap a couple of bare tree branches with lights and set it up in the corner of the room. Instead of taking down the tree, I did some reading about the Epiphany. After I read that on the feast of the Epiphany priest would use chalk to write the initials of the three Magi over the doors of homes, I got an idea for my weekly (certainly fits in with my goal to look into more.) - CMB, the initals of the three wisemen: Caspar, Melchoir and Balthasar, and also of the phrase Christus mansionem benedicat (may Christ bless this house.)



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I also got the binding on 'now,now,now' but have decided that it is not done. There are a few areas where I want to add some additional embellishment. It'll happen, but, now, that I've gotten it this far it will be a work-on-it-while-I-watch-TV activity (low priority.)

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Week 01 - Look More Closely

wk 01-10

My first weekly piece of this new year.

I took over a dozen photos yesterday and after looking at them on the computer I deleted all but two. (Must admit I do love the world of digital photography!) This is the ornament that I've had since my first Christmas in 1952. I think my mother sent it home with me when I was in my mid-twenties, can't remember when exactly. I always place it near the top of the tree close to a light. Shot this picture with only the tree lights on in a dark room (with the flash, of course.) I like the shadow that the ornament cast.

fragile glass: shadows of Christmas past


My theme for January is "Look" and as I was thinking about what to do for this first weekly I consider the phrase 'look more closely,' and zoomed in on the ornament in Photoshop until I found an image that I was happy with.


I'm happy with the way the fabric piece turned out as well.

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Finishing this piece today tested my patience - and it really was JUST as I was trying to square the thing up and run a blanket stitch around the edges. My rulers were buried behind a wall of books that will be finding a new home (hopefully in the next couple of days.) I tried to be all Zen-like and accept the fact that my space is still in chaos but truth be told I'm... what's that string of symbols that one uses when they want to swear but not offend anyone - well, imagine those RIGHT HERE.

Yeah, yeah, I know, it's going to be fine. Breathe.

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