Hey!

In case you haven't heard....

I Opened An ETSY SHOP!
You can find it here:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/FunkyCFiberSpree

I'm super excited about this!  To kick things off, I took the fabrics to a near-by art group and sold over half of them.  There's 16 pieces left and I'll announce the next update soon.

Because she's a good friend, Lynn is offering a give-away on her blog---3 fat quarters.  She's promoting a new surface design video class that starts soon and has at least three different give-aways going right now.  Be sure to check it out!

Happy, Happy!

Here it is, my first post of 2011. I am officially sticking my tongue out at last year and looking toward the horizon.

New Year's Eve was a quiet evening with a few friends. There was 'Settlers of Catan', finger food, and fireworks at midnight. My friend Deanna was here. She's an artist (and high school art teacher). We broke out the Mandalas and markers:


This one's mine. It was going downhill fast but seemed to level off and end in a good place.

Deanna's

Pen and ink happens to be one of her favorite mediums, so it was no surprise that this lovely design evolved under her hand. I am inspired by the way she brought color into it. And that's the signature of a creative mind, don't you think?

My daughter's also been caught up in the spirit:

Lots of color! She's responsible for the first picture too. I'm so proud of her for throwing herself into any project that comes our way.

I took a break after this, my head being full of other details. Real life elbows it's way in line and has a way of taking precedence over personal projects and cyber-life. But here I am anyway, Super-Speck in the face of the universe, determined to keep moving forward.

New to Me

Loretta Grayson, Australian artist.


I am in complete love with this work.

Check her blog. Lynn, scroll down for granny squares.

The Good, the Bad.

....there's already plenty of ugly in the past few posts.

The Bad: My 400 t-shirts project has somehow gone awry. The shirts are pale. They either didn't get warm enough, or I goofed up the soda ash somehow. The shirts were left in garbage bags (one per class) in a room set to 85 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm not sure the warmth got through to all the shirts. As for soda ash, there's a good chance I used too much. Am going to the school tomorrow for a personal peek.

The Good: Scrumbling. I love it, though have never tried it. For those not in the know, scrumbling is free form knitting and crochet. Scrumblers know who they are and Prudence Mapstone is their Chief. Her blog makes me happy. Check it out.

Be Inspired

Hello, Blogophiles,

I've noticed a rash of bloggers posting about inspiration this morning. Here are a few of my faves, in case the cyberverse doesn't take you to the same haunts I frequent.

Lorraine Glessner:
lorraineglessner.blogspot.com
Lorraine is a mixed media artist and an academic. She posts work from a wide variety of artists. This feeds my eyes and my soul.

Sandy Snowden:
sandysnowden.blogspot.com
Sandy is a garment-head from the UK. Today, she has posted about finding inspiration in photographs. She encourages us all to look at our photo collections a bit differently to find inspiration. Fire up that camera!

Christine Predd:
www.christinepredd.com/quiltingontheedge/
Christine is an art quilter who posts "Tuesday's Ten", a list of 10 inspirations that riffs on one subject. Today's flavor: Scents. It took me straight to Olfactory Heaven. Check it out.

As for me, stamp carving is on hold this week. I'm knee deep in planning for an event next week. Will post more about that tomorrow. I can still think about stamp carving, just can't pick up the tools, or nothing else will get done.

So that you're not left completely fiberless, I'll share a little knitting, my "waiting for kids" passtime:

This is a sock trial based on Cat Bordhi's new book. For those not in the know, Cat is to knitting what the globe was to Flat Earth believers. She's the knitter's physicist and I find her to be very inspiring.

Time Warp

Hello Blogophiles. It appears that I have time for a post. Doesn't this make you happy? It makes me happy.

Let us go back in time a bit and chronicle certain events from my spring.

Concert

3 of these tax exemptions are mine. The 4th is somebody else's, but she fits in well with our family. Photo taken in April. We're standing in line for a free, open seating concert. We're praying the wind does not rip the meat off our frozen bodies. Note the Calvin imitator back left.

Apnea

Your very own Super Spec (moi) rigged up for a sleep study. Turns out that even though I stop breathing 5 times per hour and sustain a 93% blood oxygen level, my condition is not severe enough to warrant insurance coverage of the recommended equipment. So now, not only am I a spec in the face of the universe (and my charming insurance company), but I am not properly rested. This makes me surly.

Girl Time

See Mary. See Mary laugh. See Mary not wet herself while laughing.


See Lynn. See Lynn hide behind her camera. See Lynn take my picture.


See Mary's quilt. See all the pretty colors.

More about this episode of Girl Time here.

Flash Back

Here's a flashback to an art show presented by Eye For Fiber, an art group in Michigan. The show was in 2006 and was great fun. Click slide show for larger version.