Marsbarn Designs...

Family Dinner, or multitasking conversations by mom

Big E: "So I have an idea for Anniversary Weekend."

little e: "Can I have more chips and cheeeeze pleeeeze?"

h.: "Oh, what is it?" (To Big E) "Eat fruit first." (To little e.)

Big E: "Well, if we really wanted to save our money, and spend what we have on food we could..."

Sweet G: "Is this watermelon seedless?"

little e: "I ate my watermelon!"

h.: "No, that's why you're picking out all those seeds."(to Sweet G) "Drink your water." (to little e)

Big E: "We could stay at my folk's house in Eugene. We explore about and have our only expense be food."

Sweet G and little e at once: "Can I have more chips?"

h.: "Yes, just a minute." (to girls) "Well. What do you want to do on our vacation?" (to Big E.)

little e: "See my feet?"

Big E: "I want to eat good food, spend time with you, and.."

Sweet G: "Finish your sentences without being interrupted?" (Pause for a two count) "I even got my timing right!"

Thoughts taking shape

I was reading the latest issue of Cloth, Paper, Scissors, and one of the contributers recommended Golden Gel Medium as an adhesive for multimedia collage. It made me think of the Auction Quilt I made last year with Sweetheart G's class. I've been asked to make another art quilt like that for a pediatrician's exam room, but it would need to be able to be cleaned regularly. Do you see where this is leading? If I could make a sealed mixed media collage instead of an art quilt, it could be easily surfaced cleaned. So, I've started experimenting with fabric, gel medium, and canvas. This is my first try. I'm not very happy with it. It is flat. It needs more layers. But, I did learn alot.

This is my second try. Lots of layers, maybe too many. Sure the first collage is closer to the Auction Quilt, but this collage I like better. Obviously I need more practice. Luckily I bought lots of cheap little canvases yesterday! Any thoughts?

linking it back together

Yesterday, I felt pretty poopy. It was just not a good day. But. But then, I saw these wonderful words and the balance started to shift.

Marina's Handmade Blog is one woman's search for handmade wonderfulness. She is a woman with a mission, and I would ask you to visit her blog and take a look.

Today was a better day. Big E took us to Alberta's art district where we stuffed ourselves with the best fish and chips EVER (seriously!) at Halibuts. Oh and the sweet potato fries... ga.. I only wish I could have eaten more.. next time I have to bring a bigger stomach. I finally visited Bolt, a fabric store I had heard tons about but never been to. Sadly, they didn't have enough of the Kaffe Fassett fabric I needed so I will have to go to some more fabric stores later this week... (Suffer, suffer, suffer) Then, after a brief stop at a gaming store for Big E, we stopped at an Art Supply Store (!) which means I picked up the stuff I wanted. I've skipped my normal incubation period for new creative supplies and have started playing! (Okay, you are saved from yet another link. I know I've talked about this need to sit and stare at a new toy for weeks, months, or years before I figure out just how I'm going to use it, but I can't find the post... errg...)

Anyway, I think I am back on track for the moment.

common cold or life crisis?

I feel out of sorts.

Maybe I'm getting a cold.

Perhaps it is that lull between projects where I get antsy. I've been cleaning and organizing, but getting fulfillment from neither. I have fabric set in piles for the different holiday projects I have in mind, but I haven't been able to get scissors to fabric yet. I have a list of things to pick up from the art store, but don't know when I'll make it downtown. I have things to do, but I'm stuck in this twilight zone between summer vacation and school. This year will mark my first year with both monkeys in school full time. My plan was to sew, sew, sew, and take stock of where I want to go next.

Do I want to continue as I have been; occasional markets, slow but steady Etsy orders, handbags and dice pouches with the odd collage thrown in? Should I branch out into more art? Or do I want to go back to school, further my degree, go into education? Big E says, probably wisely, that I should just tread water for a year or two to get my bearing, but I don't like uncertainty. I like to have a course set before me.

Or maybe it is just a cold.

I had a thought

I had a thought this morning. A new idea. A new project.
Trouble, I know. I think I'll need some new supplies.

But, it will use up some of those dreaded scraps that I can't throw away.
Obviously the doing away with of scraps legitimizes the purchase of supplies... These will be Art Supplies, not Fabric.. Totally different.

(Hmmm.. I think I can hear Big E groaning somewhere.. )

[Photo by Big E.]

we came, we swam, we rocked

The day started with a trip to the post office to send 7 custom dice bags winging their way to Germany (whoo-hoo!), then with picnic in hand the girls and I marched off to the pool for swim lessons and lap swimming. (I finally got myself together and remembered swim suit, money, and towel.. not bad for a third attempt..) Big E joined us for a picnic while we waited for our favorite pirate band to set up their annual free concert in the park. Captain Bogg and Salty rocked our waterlogged selves. I think next year the library, who sponsors this show, will need to provide a better sound system.. some of the songs were hard to hear. (Prepare for a gripe... ready?) Although, if some parents would shut their gobs (oh, did I say that out loud..?) the sound levels would have been fine. (Honestly, if you go to a concert the least you can do is not chatter on during the show. Really. It's not that hard.)

two steps behind

Both little e and Sweetheart G have this habit of walking two or three steps behind me. If we are holding hands, this means I end up pulling them along. If they aren't, this means they just lag behind like little ducklings. This isn't an issue of speed; if I slow down, they slow down. If I speed up, they speed up. If you have the ability to keep pace two steps behind, you have the ability to walk in step with me, right? Is this habit to take advantage of my wake, like in speed skating? Are they drafting behind me to save energy while my bulk pushes the pesky air away from them? Or maybe this is just a way to say "Wha-at?" a lot when I try to speak to them... "Wha-at, mom? I can't hear you... you're too far ahead."

we never have these discussions in fabric stores

Yesterday Big E took the girls and I to a gaming tournament put on by his club. I brought my dice bags, and the girls kept me company while Big E chatted up his fellow gamers. In this fortress of testosterone, little e's voice pipes out:

"Mama, when I was a baby you fed me breast milk" (Pat-Pat)

My eyes dart around... how much of an audience do we have?

"I drank milk from your breast." (Pat-Pat)

Why don't these discussions come up at the yarn store? "Yes dear, you did."

"You used a machine to get the milk out, didn't you. A breast machine.." I grab her hand, before she can pat my chest again.

"Wanna play tic tac toe?" I ask brightly.

"Okay, I go first..."

Oh

The Answers to my questions

Here you go.. the sources of the quotes that get bantered about our house. Are they highbrow? Certainly not, but they make us laugh.

1. Have fun storming the castle. Princess Bride
2. Stay on Target. Star Wars, as in the first one or the fourth one depending on how you count.
3. Look Younger! Lee Ang to Emma Thompson while filming Sense and Sensibility
4. Hulk Smash! The Hulk cartoon show (the one from the eighties)
5. We make holes in teeth! Crest Toothpaste commercial. (featuring the Cavity Creeps)
6. You think it will work? It'll take a miracle. Princess Bride
7. Knowing is half the battle. GI Joe Cartoon show
8. When I talk do you hear "blah, blah, blah."? Jackie Chan Adventures cartoon show
9. It's all warm and squishy, I kept it in my pocket. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
10. He's the brains sweetheart. Star Wars (Hans Solo to Leia about Luke)
11. Nii! Monty Python and the Holy Grail
12. That's a whole lot of bubbles Olie. The Great Defenders of Fun, Rolie Polie Olie.
13. The lingerie is on the floor. Bill Raftery during a basketball game just as the game heated up. This is one of many versions of "lingerie" comments he uses. (Yes, I have watched basketball, but only for the funky commentary, after all Larry Bird doesn't play anymore.)
14. I kill him bad. I kill him two times. Cafe Americain (So this sit com lasted maybe 3 shows and gave Big E and I at least two phrases we use all the time. Kinda scary....)
15. You look great.. in Pants. Everything is better in Pants. Cafe Americain
16. Lords of Light! Demon dogs! Thundarr the Barbarian
17. This is my friend Mr. Pointy. Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Eclectic? Maybe. Are there more? Tons!
So who won? I would say Bunny and Jade sent in the most correct answers. I know how to find Bunny (and I know what she wants for her prize), but if Jade would email me her address, I will send her something nifty!

salvaging selvage

So... I have this pile (of filled quart sized ziplock bags) of fabric scraps that I just can't toss. The dice bags leave odd sized triangles in their wakes, and then there is all that selvage.. what to do with it all? Throwing it in the garbage just seems so.... wasteful? wrong? cruel? And then the piles grow, and topple, and get placed in a bag, which is put in a box, and then what do I do with it? Well, apparently, I do this with it.

These collages are all sewn, and each measures 4 x 6".