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dejablu503
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Name: Andee
Gender: Female
Interests: wild art dolls, art quilting, beading, embellishment, altered objects, art journaling, alt constructed house building, painting with acrylics, painted furniture, herbal medicine, cooking, multimedia art, medicinal herbs, mosaics, purse making, sewing, textile manipulation and embellishment, textile and fiber art, sculpture, recycled art,spirit dolls, wearable art.
Expertise: If I told you, I'd have to kill you....
Occupation: Hospice care giver and artist
Industry: medical,- doing what I have to
Message: message me
Website: visit my website
ICQ:  dejablu2u
Member Since:
8/8/2007
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| I'm off in a new direction once again, I saw this "quilt" made of wire while surfing the web the other day and fell in love with it;
Of course I decided I needed to make one something like it when I saw the price tag of $6000. Not saying it is not worth it but I sure don't have it to spend. I was going to play around with it this weekend but couldn't wait so I came up with the following rough sketch of my own design at work today:
Okay so there are sun faces in it, I confess, no big surprise there eh? The small circles are beads, to add glitter. Still working out the fine details and need to make a few more blocks for it.... for the most part I am happy with it, now I need to find some wire to make it out of.... I think I even know where my soldering iron is from my stained glass experiments.
I picked up my B12 shots today, and my cholesterol medication. (it's hell getting old). The needle is rather impressive. I get my first lesson in sticking myself with it tomorrow. I hope all of you are doing something more fun than this over the weekend.
Portland hit 90+ today, out by us it hit 95 outside, the house is still like at oven at 3am.... heavy sigh...... I have changed my clothes 3 times since I got home from Vi's at 930pm, even the cats are sweating like pigs. Sadly that somehow amuses me. I offered to hose them down, but they ran like rioters eluding the police. I brought them the left over Tilapia from dinner, the least they could do in return is humor me.
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| I am having cravings:
For Knowledge I do not have (mostly mechanical and alt power in nature)
For salads of all kinds
For hot rice smothered in butter, with cheese and green onions sprinkled on top
For more uninterrupted art time
For more order in my life
I want:
To design a human powered pedal car that holds 2 people and that has eco-friendly back-up power (prompted by our gas prices jumping from $3.49 to $3.65 over night)
To be done with the down sizing/decluttering
To figure out how to insure a brighter for myself
To stabilize my life
To lose some weight
Thursday was fairly productive, I at least did not sleep through it. I have been battling fatigue lately on a major level.
I did in fact cook:
Crock Pot Roast Beef Ala Oopsie ( I really AM a
good cook, but I had lots on my mind and this turned into a comedy of
errors, hense the name I gave it. I forgot to brown the roast before dropping it into the
crockpot with the 3/4 cup of Safeway Cuban Lime Garlic marinade, but I
added the sliced onions anyway and let it cook. When it was almost done
and I was siphoning off juice to make gravy with in a separate pan, I
accidentally grabbed the cup I had just poured fresh coffee into and
did not realize it until it was too late.... not to be beaten I added
more flour to some of the actual broth in the other cup and dumped it into the thickened
coffee, for pizazz I added 1/4 cup red wine, then I sliced up the roast and
put it and the gravy into the crockpot for the last hour of cooking).
I
gotta say it was the best roast I ever cooked...honestly, the flavor
and tenderness was amazing, and I mean, how could it taste bad.... it
had coffee and wine in it. Keegan ate 3 servings so did my duaghter, out of over 5 pounds of roast we only have enough
left for a couple of sandwiches.
I also made a marinated salad
of pinto beans, diced baby corn, butter beans, peas, olives, bulgar
wheat, cauliflower, diced tomato, fresh parsley and onion.....YUM!
I
cleaned house. I did laundry and the dishes. I talked the garbage guy
into taking the 3 extra bags that resulted from my recent attempts at decluttering. I
discussed a new hospice client with the agency that I might be taking
on much closer to home. I did some sorting and decluttering, and I
played space rangers with Keegan and his pal Mikey since they did not
have school today. You will all be happy to know 7 year old boys buy
into a pressed paper cup holder from McDonald's being an alien force
field generator that makes you un-killable. They didn't like it but
they bought it.
I did not get any art done nor did I get the
yard mowed, it kept raining... but they are promising a clearing in the
wet by the weekend. Hoping to tame the jungle Saturday morning.
I've been reading up on the Orphan Works panic, lot's of useful, rational info can be found here: http://maradydd.livejournal.com/
I
am not a great info person when it comes to political panic. Whenever I
hear a politician say "But it's for the public good", my eyes
immediately roll back into my head and my head spins, then I develop a
seizure sized twitch, (ask my kids).... So when this stuff hits I start
reading the input of other people and pick the one I think makes the
most sense when they dissect it. The take of the blogger above makes
sense to me, and I am looking forward to the final tally from her once
the text is released.
I could have gotten more done today but
being a space ranger took longer than expected... so all in all the day
was good and productive. | | |
| One amazing clay tutorial for doll making, I sure wish it was a PDF file!:
http://www.emilysfairies.com/hints/EF_Tutorial.swf
Also very cool if you are into trying dolls a new way:
http://www2d.biglobe.ne.jp/~dhnoah/make_00.htm
Great tutorial on making a wire armature:
http://themagicbean.typepad.com/the_magic_bean/files/wire_armature_tutorial.pdf
Great tutorial on doing sashiko:
http://www.purlbee.com/sashiko-tutorial/
If you need new artsy software to play with, and who doesn't? ArtRage is one of my favorites and they have a new free version out:
http://www.download.com/ArtRage/3000-2191_4-10309276.html?part=rb-watchlist&tag=watchmail_sc_name
Busy, busy week... hoping things slow down next week.
Because my oldest daughter Ramie has MS my grandson Keegan announced he wants to do the April 12th MS Walk For A Cure here in Portland on behalf of his aunt, and he would not take no for an answer, even passed on having his own birthday party in order to do the walk, so I have been fund raising for him and his mom (my youngest daughter, Karina) since she is doing it with him. They decided to try to raise $500 a piece, Keegan has almost gathered $500 worth of sponsors thanks largely to quilters all over the world, he seems to have stolen all the donations away from his mommy and she is feeling a tad sad about how little she has raised so far. WE have until next friday to get their sponsors signed up online, so if anyone chancing onto my blog wants to sponsor her, (it all goes to the same place she simply is just not as charming as Keegan is)... her donation page is here:
http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR?px=4652035&pg=personal&fr_id=8131
I cannot say enough good things about the National MS Society, without their help Ramie would not be seeing doctors or be medicated. Seems people with MS are not insurable... without the MS folks she would be facing MS untreated since one neuro exam alone is over $300.... her pain meds are another $400+ a month and the Copaxone she is on runs $1800 a month if we had to pay for it. Don't even get me started on the cost of MRIs.
This is one nonprofit that does what they say they will do, and they need your support, so do thousands of uninsured people with MS like my daughter. It's a good cause and tax deductible. Minimum pledge is $5, you set the amount you want to give when you sponsor them in the walk as a one time donation. If you cannot donate yourself, please share the link with friends who might be able to, Keegan got this inspiration late in the game and it has limited the time we had to dig up sponsors compared to the amount of time the other walkers had.
Anyway, that's what I have been up to.... working tonight and tomorrow and then I get 2 whole days off! Might even get some art done...
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| The 2 art collages are done for Collage Mania2 ( and 2 more are in the works for the shop I am opening on etsy in April:
Sale of the 150 original art collages that have been donated is to raise money for Cancer Research. The sale takes place May 5th and 6th. More info can be found here: http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/CollageManiaII.html
 
I am into the home stretch on my quilt art challenge doll who took off in a different direction on me last week, and I am finishing up the stitching on a fiber Postcard and ATC for Sue Lenz so I can get them into the mail on monday, ( these took way longer than I intended).
I have one of my 13x13" baker's dozen art quilts designed, and I have a rough draft for the other one.
Then I get to play with paper beads some more this coming week between doing 3 orders for art purses and making a healing doll for Dave. I still need to get some packages into the mail, I am such a lamer... but the $218 van repair today set that back until monday after I get paid again.
I have an order for baby clothes, 6 more outfits as soon as I can get them done, but I am going to play a little and finish the challenge doll this weekend before I start them.
I have a full day tomorrow with my private home health client, and I work a 12 hour night shift for the agency both Friday and Saturday (I picked up an extra shift because the job is ending all together in Mid April). The next week is gonna be busy.....
Hillary Clinton gave me a major headache today, to get even I registered as a Democrat so I can vote in the primary.
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| To bring everyone up to speed... my brother-in-law Dave had a stroke... mid 50's, no warning, lives an extremely healthy life and had no major health issues that he knew of. He threw a clot, causing a major stroke. He is paralyzed on his right side, and cannot speak. He works for Adobe Software so his employment has always been very mental, reclaiming everything that he can is vital, the window for doing so is limited. Of course his frustration and depression levels are through the roof. His therapist said his extensive therapy would include PT, speech therapy, plus intense visual, sensory and tactile stimulation. He has a rough road ahead of him. I immediately thought of art, and the healing potential of it. I also thought of fiber and fabric, because you cannot get more tactile or stimulating that that in my book. I have to say here that Dave is the most loving, kind, sweet man you would ever meet, he has always done for others who needed help and now I want to help him all that I can, but I have limits on what I can accomplish alone.
Knowing my limits means I have also asked not only close friends, but also total strangers in yahoo groups I am a member of, and any artists who stumble onto my blog to please send any small art pieces they have laying around doing nothing to be used in his therapy and to help cheer him up (he loves textiles and fiber and art made from them, he is a collector of ATCs, he adores funky multimedia art, collages and assemblages). Things like this can provide great visual and tactile stimulation. We want to stimulate his brain so he can reclaim as much of his pre-stroke life as we can. It does not have to be a huge effort for anyone to do something special but special is nice if you want to take it to the next level. I want to surround him with color, texture and hope. Art heals, and I know if you get artists working together we can prove that it does.
So if you do miniature paintings, small water color pieces, fiber art cards, ATCs, make funky pocket shrines, small whimsical assemblages or art dolls, or anything that can used in his therapy, things he can keep in a small rehab room, I want your help... I am asking you to add to the effort....and I am asking you to ask your friends to help out too. Please share this call for art with everyone you know, no matter where they live. For a little bit of effort, and very little postage we can all help Dave... and encourage him at the same time.
Most of us never know if the world notices we are here or that we struggle. I want Dave to know lots of people are pulling for him to recover by sending small pieces of artistic stimulation to help encourage his recovery efforts. Those who send art, please be sure your return address is on it, Dave may not be able to thank you himself for awhile, but if he can't someone will send you a thank you and acknowledgment so you know your art contribution got to him okay.
My personal thanks in advance to all of you who decide you are willing to take time out for a total stranger, who care enough to send him art stimulation and well wishes for a speedy recovery.
Dave's mailing info for at least the next 2 months is:
David Valiulis
Room 933
c/o Palomar Medical Center
555 East Valley Parkway
Escondido, CA 92025
Can you even imagine what it would be like to wake one day unable to do what you have always done, without warning.... and unable to say what you want to say? I can't...
Please help me fill Dave's room with art, encouragement and hope! (And spread the word).... I want to make his therapist speechless....
EDIT:
Virginia Spiegel just emailed me and she is very kindly asking those on her Fiber Art For Cure list (http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/NewFiles/ACS/FAQ.html ) to help out. Virginia has raised a ton of money for cancer research with the help of fiber artists worldwide donating their work to her auctions and art sales. Her Collage Mania II sale (http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/CollageManiaDetails.html ) is the one I am donating my sun face collages to. So a HUGE thank you to Virginia....and if you love collages you want to watch her sale, every piece is a fine art bargain at only $40.
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