Thursday, August 31, 2006

Little bitsa fabric fun



I've had two swap-bot deadlines worrying me this week - one for a handmade item and one where you had to show your heart. In the depths of the night I realised that I could do two things almost the same, so voila - two wall hangings very similar to each other!

As well as free machine embroidery to secure the raw edge applique, I've scrawled about with markals and a chinagraph pencil, added buttons and wrote the description of each heart next to it, then hung each very simply from some bamboo cane with my favourite hairy string for hanging.

No idea if the people receiving them will enjoy them half as much as I did making them.......

I've never smoked, never even wanted to because both my parents were smokers when I was a small child. Yet I know exactly when I would have a cigarette throughout my daily life. Walking home in the pouring rain I realised I was thinking - if I smoked I would get home, have a coffee and a look at the paper (I don't get a paper) and have a cigarette. Exactly what my mum does every morning.

It amazed me that I could absorb my mum's routines so very very deeply - especially as I haven't lived with her for almost 20 years. Even more terrifying is the revelation that I know these routines because I've observed them from babyhood (along with the thrill of playing with empty B&H cigarette packets which I've know got an olfactory memory of and the joy of wafting my hands through the beautiful curls of grey smoke) - what the heck have my children absorbed for good or for bad? What will they be doing or not doing for the rest of their lives because I did X or Y?

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Visual Feast

Oh my word - more chunky pages came this morning and wow, wow, wow! I am so looking forward to putting these books together - they are looking magnificent just loose leaf

Amazing cloud pictures

Kind of scary looking if they were on your doorstep eh?

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Creative Journey

Creative Journey

here it is - the blog where we will be exploring one subject / object with different challenges each month. Please contact me with an e mail addy if you are interested in joining in

Peek a boo



Don't think I showed you this yet - a 3D doodling I made at my retreat earlier in the summer - guess who'd been looking at the Stampington transparencies book earlier that day? Middle top is a pill capsule - if I'd thought about it I wouldn't have swirled paint in it then wondered why it started to dissolve! It ended up being a race between the setting point of acrylic and the dissolving point of the capsule. No idea what I'm going to do with this - let it hang around and gather dust probably.

Wading Through Treacle

That's what this catching up feels like. Suddenly I have a million things to do and only seconds in which to do any of them. Guess I'm feeling a bit out of sorts but I'll shake it off soon.

On a brighter note toot toot for Maz getting some of her fabulous photos in Lisa Vollrath's new edition of her zine. She's been far too quiet about that herself so I'll shout from the rooftops for her!

Monday, August 28, 2006

Hrmph

The past might be a great place to visit but not to live there

Friday, August 25, 2006

Molly's birthday card


August2006 058
Originally uploaded by lalheg.
Happy Birthday tomorrow sweet thing

Continuing with my fabric obsession, here's a card that's mainly a gel medium transfer from an inkjet print, plus a bit of sewing, two gems and the ubiquitous rub on lettering

Chunky book roll call - it's growing

In my box of delights so far I have pages from

Lori
June
Katrina
Wendy
Pat
Annie Hester
Alis
Sarah Hutton
Birthe
Scraphappy
Fiona
Skippy
Flo

and every single one of them a delight - can't wait to see the others.

If you have sent to me and you don't appear, please get in touch - the post has been this morning

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

NYO - New Yorker's Diary 2

NYO - New Yorker's Diary 2

There is a killer line in this:

. My late mother interrupted a successful career for 15 years to be a stay-at-home mom, which, she was finally able to admit, made her profoundly unhappy. Besides gardening, I don’t recall her liking much about her daily routine. She never enjoyed cooking, and I always thought she burnt the meat in revenge. Maybe, though, domesticity is another thing entirely when you get to choose it.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

When Maz returned from Kari's degree show, she talked to me about how inspiring it was to see artists create a body of work exploring a theme. I've been mulling over this ever since and have finally come up with a workable concept. I'd like to invite anyone who wishes to join with me and share a blog with all participants.

The idea is that each person picks a theme or object that they will work with over an extended period. Either bi-weekly or monthly (to be decided between participants) the group will be given a technique to try with the subject of the piece being the theme or object. In the example I gave Maz, maybe the first month I would have to draw a pear in pencil, then in the second month I would have to create an embroidered pear, the third a print etc etc

I'd like people to join me and would also love some suggestions for a name for the blog we could show our work on

Big Brother (From MSN)

BB7: Where Did It All Go Wrong?

And so, plagued with accusations of vote rigging, unwise housemate selections, and a healthy lack of respect for its audience, Big Brother 7 has at last whimpered to its predictable conclusion.

Pete's victory was assured the minute he staggered, gurning and spewing expletives, into the house 13 weeks ago, despite barely-disguised attempts to con the public into voting for Nikki. This, of course, had nothing to do with the fact that she'd already been signed up for her own E4 show, in which she 'attempts to hold down a job'.

What next? Monosyllabic Neanderthal Mikey presents an educational film in which he 'attempts to string a coherent sentence together'? Shahbaz 'attempts to convince men in white coats that he's sane'? Glyn 'attempts to wipe his own backside'?

I can think of a hundred reasons why this was the worst ever Big Brother (yes, worse even than the Big Brother 4 snooze-fest won by Orkney virgin Cameron in 2003), among them the Golden Ticket fiasco and the desperate ratings drive that was the decision to vote housemates back in. I'm sure the Golden Ticket ploy seemed like a good idea at the time; certainly the joint revenue it will have raised for Endemol and KitKat is probably more than you or I will earn in our lifetimes, but it was a disaster for the show thanks to the winner.

Boring, self-absorbed, silicone heavy, boobs in different postcodes, 40-something 'model' Snoozy Susie takes the prize for being Big Brother's dullest housemate of all time. She had already auditioned for the show and been rejected several times in the past, and with good reason. Her sole contribution for the next seven weeks was to make infinite cups of tea, complain about the mess, and hide toilet paper behind her bed.

Had BB replaced her with a piece of two-by-four with a couple of balloons and a wig stuck on, I doubt if anyone would've noticed. She even achieved the unachievable in making Imogen, look interesting by comparison.
The Housemates From Hell

But Susie wasn't the first (or indeed the last) poor choice of housemate this series. Whatever happened to Big Brother's much-touted 'rigorous selection process'? This year it threw up at least two borderline breakdown cases and innumerable slack-jawed bullies and bottom feeders with nothing – absolutely nothing – to contribute. Let's take a look back at some of those housemates because, God knows, by this time next week we'll have forgotten the lot of them.

In Richard's audition tape, he described himself as a "sexual terrorist"; so much of a "sexual terrorist" is he that, in his words, he'd even "seduce a corpse" (which, to be fair, is probably about the only thing he could seduce). In reality, Richard floated around the house, a bald, leather-glove wearing bore who did little more than emit an annoying nasal drone for the entire 13 weeks.

His main ally Lea (or Leer, Old Mother Hubbard, Le-aaarrrrghh! - take your pick) was the oldest looking 35-year-old I've ever seen in my life. There aren't many people on this planet who can make Jackie Stallone look human in comparison, but Lea is one of them. And what a sad, self-pitying old crone; she looked like she'd been made out of balloons – two for breasts and another with some eyebrows and lips painted crudely on by a particularly short-sighted three-year-old. The scenes in which she slobbered all over innocent children Glyn and Pete during a game of spin the bottle were among the most vomit-inducing and objectionable in TV history.
Speaking of objectionable, both national disgrace (diss)Grace and vapid cretin Sezer the geezer entered the house with the wholly misguided belief that they would sail through to the final. They didn't, and here's why.

Lets start with (diss)Grace – a vile, lemon-sucking Sloane Ranger with a face like Ermintrude from The Magic Roundabout after going a few rounds with Mike Tyson. She preyed on the weak, engineering Shahbaz and Sam's downfall/breakdown and driving a wedge between Richard and Lea by spreading he said/she said misinformation throughout the house.

Even the shock of the jeering crowd during Sam's eviction ("Get Grace out! Get Grace out!) wasn't enough to shake her out of her inherent bitchiness. Her relationship with Mikey, who was often to be seen slumped in a corner trying to remember his own name, drool cascading down his chin with the sheer effort of concentration, was one of convenience, her sole ally in a world of hate.

Meanwhile Sezer the geezer slimed his way around the house like some sort of idiotic walking erection, quickly targeting exceptionally impressionable/thick prey Imogen (Dimogen, more like) with his vile smarm offensive. In one memorable episode, he promised to keep his hands to himself as she drew closer to his bed, like a particularly stupid moth to a particularly cheap and nasty 40 watt light bulb. He lied of course, and was all over her like a particularly chronic bout of dermatitis. Sezer the geezer spent most of his last week in the house (week 3) laughing off the idea that he'd be evicted because, he thought, girls would want to keep him in the house. Girls didn't. He was booted out with a record 91.6% of the public vote, to everyone's amusement; I don't think I've laughed so hard since Pete Doherty was voted Sexiest Male by NME readers.

Runner-up Glyn was this year's token 'boy-becoming-man' story. This despite the fact that the only skills he appeared to have added to his limited repertoire by the end of the show were a) boiling an egg, and b) making a sandwich. (he's yet to master speech). Even Mikey was able to get away with calling Glyn 'dopey', which is no mean feat. But 'dopey' didn't even come close.

Astonishingly Aisleyne – the real-life female equivalent of Ali G; the self-styled ghetto princess who thought that saying things like "off the shizzle," or referring to the house as her "yard", didn't make her look like a complete imbecile – made it to the final three. Her finest moments (other than looking exactly like a cheap blow-up sex doll on final night) were her scenes with rubbish Irish 'rapper' Spiral (Shpoiral), one of this year's more interesting characters (so you voted him out at the first available opportunity, obviously).

Following the eviction of pointless meathead Jonathan at Aisleyne's own hands, she returned to the main house grieving as one might for a dying relative, as opposed to some imbecile she'd only known for five days. Shpoiral was on hand to comfort Aisleyne in her hour of need, all the while weighing up his chances of a snog. "She's got an a**e loik a loaf of bread, and Shpoiral warnts a sloice," he later 'rapped' as his obsession began to border on the psychotic.

But the blossoming romance (in Shpoiral's head) wasn't to be, and he later reduced her to tears again when asked if he'd like to lick curry from her body. "I wouldn't lick it off her body," he responded, "because then oi'd vomit on it." Lovely chap.
But the indisputable star of this year's show was 24-year-old Nikki, a ten-year-old trapped in, well, a ten-year-old's body; a terrifying tantrum machine with a face like an angry scrotum. When the public stupidly voted her out in week 8, it was inevitable that Endemol would have to take drastic action to get her back inside, a move which really couldn't have backfired more spectacularly. Instead of embracing the concept, the tabloids turned on the show like a pack of hungry wolves.

Worse still, when Nikki did eventually return to the house it all seemed like one big act, wholly informed by her time spent back in the real world: the tantrums yet more spectacular and prolonged, the Diary Room rants more frequent, and the relationship with Pete turned up to full throttle, presumably because Nikki now knew that he had it in the bag, and wanted a piece of his limelight for herself.

If we are to see a return to Big Brother's former glory next year, and I think that even die-hard fans will acknowledge that something was extremely putrid and rotten in the state of Elstree this summer, series 8 will need to include the following things: a damp cellar kitted out with medieval torture instruments; a live homicide; and a menagerie of half-starved wild animals roaming the garden. Endemol should also lift any ban on the inclusion of criminals, illegal immigrants, and former contestants. Failing that, at least budget for some bloody soundproofing for any future not-so-secret houses next door. Or, better yet, maybe they should just put it out of its misery altogether.
Big Brother Quotes Of The Series


"Don't ever think positive. Always think negative then when the positive happens it’s better." Plastic surgery disaster area Lea was a real ray of sunshine.


"I don't think you've lived until you've slept with someone who's not up to scratch." Sleazer Sezer's past girlfriends would probably be the first to agree with him.


"Fat birds work harder." (Diss)Grace quickly endeared herself to the nation's womenfolk.


"He'll get more than boos; he'll get fireworks thrown at him." Sweet, innocent Nikki had nothing but compassion for the deposed Shahbaz.


"Birds are the same as us." Misogynist Mikey thinks that the entire female population is as vapid, sleazy and dumb as he is.


"I want to be remembered as Sezer The Sleazer." Your wish is my command, Sezer.


"Most guys, if they have any sense, wouldn't go near her. She's a dog." Grace didn't get on with Aisleyne then. Or perhaps she was talking about herself.


"Susie is a posh bird, she doesn't like dog turd." Pete made some wild assumptions about Susie in the poetry challenge.


"Grace don't have to put make-up on to look good." Mikey knew how to charm the ladies. By lying, obviously.


"It's awesome. It's overwhelming. It's off the shizzle." Aisleyne: the real-life female Ali G.


"Boring, bland Imogen. Hmm, let me see, shall I watch paint dry, or sit up and chat to Imogen?" It was pots and kettles at dawn for Richard.


"I smell like a cow's udder." Nikki smelt like one; Lea looked like she had two.


"It's only a little f****** melon." No Shpoiral, that's a f****** grapefruit.


"I say 'Do you speak Welsh?' and if they say no, I ask them if they'd like a bit of Welsh in them." Glyn could teach Mikey a thing or two about what women want.


"Some people make the worst tea." And others, Snoozy Susie, make the worst BB housemates.


"I wouldn't lick it off her body, because then I'd vomit on it." Shpoiral had a unique way of impressing the ladies.


"You got to give me a little bit of warning. Because a girl needs to shave the legs. Tan the fake. Wash the hair." Tan the fake, Aisleyne?


"Why are you doing this? How are we supposed to get out of bed with this f****** blizzard?" Ever heard of a jumper, Nikki?


"I'm not qualificated. I'm not intelligent like Glyn. He's intelligent but he's a simpleton in everyday life." Nikki: the first person to ever think herself thicker than Glyn.

Spread Some Joy



I was thinking about the C word yesterdy - no, not THAT one - the jolly December festival! I'd like to run a round robin type present thing and wondered if anyone would like to join me.

The deal

I'd like someone to make something for me. Once whomever is kind enough to volunteer signs up, they can ask for someone to volunteer for them etc etc. At the end of October, whoever is last on the list will get a present from me, thus completing the circle. I think maybe we will have a blog or a Yahoo group to sign up to so we can keep track of sending and receiving etc.

Does this sound like a reasonable idea?
(Image from www.stampin.com)

Monday, August 21, 2006

EDB entry


EDB entry
Originally uploaded by lalheg.
Before being seduced by paper arts, I was strongly into textiles - sewing, patchwork, quilting, embroidery - it was all me! I've been resisting the call of fabric for far too long and have started experimenting with ideas from Pam Sussman's Fabric Journals book. I've started on an experimental journal, but this is my entry into Sheilagh's everyday book (the theme this month was 'growth' with the colours of gold and green). I suspect the colours on screen are more muted than IRL - the green at the top is almost like those '80s luminous socks (oops were they really a fashion?!) and the orange section is luscious silk from Designers Guild

Makes you think

Lessons in Life

Five (5) lessons to make you think about the way we treat people.

1 - First Important Lesson - Cleaning Lady.

During my second month of college, our professor gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions until I read the last one:
"What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?"
Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired and in her 50s, but how would I know her name?

I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Just before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our quiz grade.
"Absolutely," said the professor. "In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say "hello."

I've never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy.


2. - Second Important Lesson - Pickup in the Rain

One night, at 11:30 P.M., an older African American woman was standing on the side of an Alabama highway trying to endure a lashing rainstorm. Her car had broken down and she desperately needed a ride. Soaking wet, she decided to flag down the next car.

A young white man stopped to help her, generally unheard of in those conflict-filled 1960s. The man took her to safety, helped her get assistance and put her into a taxicab. She seemed to be in a big hurry, but wrote down his address and thanked him. Seven days went by and a knock came on the man's door. To his surprise, a giant console color TV was delivered to his home. A special note was attached. It read:

"Thank you so much for assisting me on the highway the other night. The rain drenched not only my clothes, but also my spirits. Then you came along. Because of you, I was able to make it to my dying husband's bedside just before he passed away... God bless you for helping me and unselfishly serving others." Sincerely, Mrs. Nat King Cole.


3 - Third Important Lesson - Always remember those who serve.

In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10-year-old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him.

"How much is an ice cream sundae?" he asked.

"Fifty cents," replied the waitress.

The little boy pulled is hand out of his pocket and studied the coins in it.

"Well, how much is a plain dish of ice cream?" he>inquired.

By now more people were waiting for a table and the waitress was growing impatient.

"Thirty-five cents," she brusquely replied.

The little boy again counted his coins.

"I'll have the plain ice cream," he said.

The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and walked away. The boy finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and left. When the waitress came back, she began to cry as she wiped down the table. There, placed neatly beside the empty dish, were two nickels and five pennies. You see, he couldn't have the sundae, because he had to have enough left to leave her a tip.


4 - Fourth Important Lesson. - The obstacle in Our Path.

In ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock.

Some of the king's wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the King for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the stone out of the way.

Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. Upon approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded. After the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the King indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway.

The peasant learned what many of us never understand Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve our condition.


5 - Fifth Important Lesson - Giving When it Counts...

Many years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at a hospital, I got to know a little girl named Liz who was suffering from a rare & serious disease. Her only chance of recovery appeared to be a blood transfusion from her 5-year old brother, who had miraculously survived the same disease and had developed the antibodies needed to combat the illness. The doctor explained the situation to her little brother, and asked the little boy if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister.

I saw him hesitate for only a moment before taking a deep breath and saying, "Yes I'll do it if it will save her."

As the transfusion progressed, he lay in bed next to his sister and smiled, as we all did seeing the color returning to her cheek. Then his face grew pale and his smile faded.

He looked up at the doctor and asked with a trembling voice, "Will I start to die right away?"

Being young, the little boy had misunderstood the doctor; he thought he was going to have to give his sister all of his blood in order to save her.

Friday, August 18, 2006

The Museum of Temporary Art presents The Rebsch-Collection


The Museum of Temporary Art presents The Rebsch-Collection

I love this idea!

' The museum itself is located in my home. It is about 40x50 cm big and has 33 compartments. This website is a representation of what is currently in the museum, i.e. the compartments.

The Idea
Most of the objects in the museum are linked to a memory or anecdote which increases their actual value far beyond the materialistic one. The museum is a chance to give such seemingly meaningless objects the platform they deserve. They are Temporary Art.

The Contributors
Anyone, who is able to see beyond the surface and is willing to part with such an invaluable item and its story. For details see 'Participate'. '

Chunky book Reminder

For everyone who is in the chunky book 'Words to Live By' - it's due at the end of the month.

so far, the pages I've received are fabulous - can't wait to see the books come together.........

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Something and nothing

I love del.icio.us but it frustrates me.  I've networked with someone whose links I really admire but I can't see on that site any way of contacting them, so I'm linking her here in the hope that she will get in touch via the comments............ Convoluted or what?
 

Quote

Good Friends

the good kind of friend not only encourages you to grow
and inspires you to grow ~
the good kind of friend makes you believe you can grow.


Which of your friends gives you belief?

change of plan

I was going to blog about some other stuff, but now - argh!  bloody kids.  Nuf said?
 
 

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Soul002

SoulCollage Card


Soul002
Originally uploaded by lalheg.
I Am Interpretation

I am an ancient figure, a fertility goddess. I stand naked, proud to be who I am, accompanied by others, not afraid of their gaze. I am free in nature, enjoying the trees and flowers.

I want to give you body confidence, the ability to accept yourself as you are, to trust your choices and value your personal freedom. I want you to think about your body, to treasure its capabilities, to not worry what others think.

You will remember when you worry about eating something, when you compare yourself with others.

Monday, August 14, 2006

I'm back!

I've been away camping and have come back refreshed and ready to make things, so expect a flurry of posts soon.  I'm scared to look at my bloglines cos there are at the time of writing 1332 new entries
 

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Bloglines probs

Bloglines doesn't seem to be reminding me about any blogger blogs. Anyone else having the same problem?

It's also online

at
on page 4. Frustratingly that link doesn't seem to be working on blogger so please just google washingtonpavilion.org and punchcard

Punch card exhibit entry


Punch card exhibit entry
Originally uploaded by lalheg.


Punch card exhibit entry
Title: The Collapse of the Red, White, and Blue

Medium: gouache, gloss heavy gel medium, punchings from a comb binder

Exhibited at the Washington Pavilion Visual Arts Center

Round as a pound, that's what I'll be.

I'm up incredibly late because I've been out on yet another restaurant review and I over ate. I worked out that by the time I finish my last review on Wednesday, I'll have eaten out 6 times in 10 days - 5 reviews and one family wedding.

I've loved it - it's not exactly a bind or punishment to go out with DH or a friend for a 3 course meal for free after all, but I'm now dreaming of the simple food we'll be eating when we go camping next week.....

Skippy's Everyday Book


EDB - brown and cream memories
Originally uploaded by lalheg.
Here's my entry into Skippy's everyday book - the colours had to be mainly brown and cream and the theme was memories. I punched the flowers out of an expensive rug catalogue that came through the door.