Catching Up: Christmas Tongue and Drawings Done

So, about catching up on my blog...

Here are some items I've been meaning to address.

Charles and the Green Tongue



Sorry ladies, this handsome commodity is taken. And I'm the lucky lady that gets to call him mine! This, my friends, is what you get when you put my husband in the same house with six or more dozen holly cookies.

For those few who may not know what these are, they're kind of like Rice Krispy Treats. Only they're made with Frosted Flakes instead of Rice Krispies. And they're dyed green. And they're dropped on a cookie sheet to create a small ball-like shape. And Red Hots are placed in the middle to look like the holly berries.

Regardless of how they're made, the end result of eating at least one entire batch in one night is a condition I like to call greenicus tongicus. Or verdilingus for our sophisticated friends. Sadly, it's an affliction that is brought on by oneself, and your only recourse is to wait it out.

Pretty Dead Tree

No, that's not a tree that's pretty dead. It IS dead. I just thought it was pretty, too. Maybe someday this will show up in one of my quilts.

This tree lives outside the house (not the one in the picture) where my brother and his family live. We stayed with them on our trip back home for Christmas. It was surprisingly calm, considering the 1-year-old and 3-year-old running around the house at Christmastime. It was a wonderful stay. Our puppy Roxy had so much fun romping around in their ginormous backyard. To be off a leash, and able to run so far at one time really does her good. Ah, how I'm sure she longs for the times when we had a backyard of our very own. Somehow, the courtyard of our condo building now doesn't quite compare.

Drawings Done

The last several weeks of my drawing class were focused on drawing the nude figure, which was a great learning experience. However, it wasn't so great for putting my drawings on the refrigerator or showing off on the Internets. However, there are two that I feel safe sharing. This first one was the result of a flaky model who didn't show for our class session. Instead, our teacher was the model, with clothes on! This was an interesting experience, all the same, because our teacher was pregnant at the time, so it was a change of pace in terms of the figure we were drawing. It brought a whole new dynamic to foreshortening.



Finally, this next drawing is definitely the most modest of the nude figure drawings I did, due to the pose the model chose. So, it's more appropriate for posting. I also love the lines in the figure. I have to say, I think that this is my favorite figure drawing so far. How appropriate that it was done on the last day of class!

Illuminated Grove, Finished

These are the finished pictures of the Illuminated Grove quilt. They're pretty similar to those I posted before, only now they have the benefit of the quilting lines. This is the big payoff, I think. It's one of the best parts of the whole process. It's as though the work that you put into piecing the top together all pays off at this stage. Lowering those feed dogs and watching the lines appear under your needle is what keeps me going through the end of a project.

I really had fun with the thread in this project. I bought a ton of it to use, which kind of defeated the purpose of using scraps up in this quilt. As did the other yards of fabric I bought to complement my scraps in this quilt. Ha! But, the threads will come in handy on other projects, I'm sure. And what fun it was to use them to pop with all the different and luscious colors of this quilt.

At the bottom of this post is a picture of the whole quilt. Those legs at the bottom are not the quilt's primary mode of transportation; they belong to my niece. She was doing the honors of holding the quilt up to be photographed.

...And She Lay There, Like a Slug

...Night after night, transfixed by the shimmering, blinking light from the television.

I've been spending way too much time in front of the television. Thing is, I can feel my will to do anything being sucked out through my eyeballs, as I stare at this strange machine that somehow has power over me. There is a list of things I should be doing, rather than rotting on my couch in front of this beast. Here's part of it:

- Getting some exercise. Fresh air in these blindingly cold temps is sort of out of the question, but exercise isn't, thanks to those cardio videos I bought recently for just that purpose.
- Compiling the files for the first draft of my novel so I can get it printed. Once it's printed, I can start reading through it and making notes for revision.
- Making my way through my scraps pile of fabric. I pulled it all out and laid it on my crafting table to see what could be made of them. I've started some fabric collage pieces, and have some intentions for weaving long strips together. Now I have it in my mind that I need to deal with these goals before moving on to other quilts.
- Reorganizing my fabric storage system. This seems to be something that always needs attention. But now, as I have embarked on a few projects and a few classes with the intent of using my stash, I have dozens and dozens of fabrics that need to be put away, but haven't been due to this need for a better system of organization.
- Writing to friends who don't live nearby.
- Writing in my journal.
- Reading one of the three books I have started.

These things and more have been thwarted by my love affair with the television. Though, maybe it's more fatal attraction than love affair.

So it is that I have decided to end the cycle. I intend to break free! This weekend, I have vowed to go the entire 2.5 days (to account for Friday night) television free. Except for maybe the afor-mentioned workout video. That's right. I'm taking a stand. It's time. To fight. For my right. To BRAIN CELLS. So, take that pantheon of technology and programming designed to suck me in. Take that nexus of mediocrity and sloth. I don't need you.

You'll see.