Caityquilter.com

Have you heard?

Caitlin — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 02:47:19 +0000

tackorama.net

Caityquilter.com will gradually be shut down – please adjust your bookmarks and links and come on over and join me at my new site, Caity Makes …

Swoon – we found the local fabric heaven!

Time to…

Caitlin — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 02:39:17 +0000

MOVE!

I reckon every so often, you need to MOVE. (Not just your body – although please, please PLEASE let the Oroxine work and me stop being such a slug!)

No, I mean, a MOVE. Where things get sorted out and clutter gets thrown, and you get to actually organise and start fresh.

: tackorama.net

So – I’m packing (virtual) boxes, loading them into my (virtual) car and caravan (so cute!) and moving. Stay tuned!

Another day, another diagnosis…

Caitlin — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 11:57:17 +0000

AHA! Went to the doctor today – my thyroid levels have gone quite wonky since my last lot of bloodwork. So – I get to start on yet another medicine (Oroxine) – which hopefully will help with the constant cold, dry skin, and generally feeling like a particularly lazy three toed sloth.

Our internet access is throttled so I’m spending a lot of time waiting for pages or mail to load (playing a lot of “mah jong” – it’s not mah jong at ALL, it’s like memory or patience or something, anyway…)

Did I mention that the Oroxine could well help with the thingummyjig? You know, the bit where my remembery isn’t working terribly well? Hmmm.

Must go now. Cold.

Also – new domain coming soon. Wheee?

… so it’s not all bad

Humble Pie.

Caitlin — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:06:15 +0000

Sorry if my words are a little indistinct – I’m talking to you whilst eating (dreadfully rude, I know!) HUMBLE PIE.

(Thankfully, not Umble pie – because, you know, the origin of that? The umbles were the guts of the beast. I don’t care if that is venison, beef, whatever – it’s still OFFAL PIE. And I do not eat offal, it’s awful… (And to further parenthesize that statement, the joke probably only works with a certain sort of accent) (and can you tell I just re-watched The Pirates of Penzance on the weekend?!) (how many parentheses does that make?))

Not that long ago (see post HERE and here…, because I forgot I’d already done a rant about the same topic) I was VERY dismissive of scrap-booking and scrap-bookers. I believe the question “where’s the creativity?” may even have been asked, in ALL CAPS yet.

ANYWAY.

Humble, humble, apologetic pie. Because I have been doing some surfing online and maaaaaaaaan! What I saw! Yes, there are a lot of people out there doing ho – hum – follow -*to the millimetre* – what - Simon – says (for “Simon” insert magazine/tutorial/teacher/whatever) – they’re not the ones I’m talking about. No, the really inspiring ones are people like Ali Edwards, Jen Fei-Fan Balzer, Dina Wakley…

And the TOYS! I want a Cricut Expression (with the design software, please and thank you), oh, sooooo much. (And not just for its possible use in ummmmm… pirate stencilling, *wink*).

And spray inks! and oh, the pretty pretty papers… and grungey papers… and rub ons (not as dirty as they sound, you feeeeelthy minded person, you!).

And then there’s the digital side.. which has opened my access to whollllllllllllllle ‘nother world, even if I am still at the stage where I like to play with the images on the computer screen but then print and hand colour and cut and paste (nothing wrong with hybrid stuff - – I mean, have you SEEN Marsha’s work? She makes beautiful wonderful art… and so does CD Muckosky - and so do many others, I’m sure).

And it’s not all expensive stuff – check out this tutorial (which I haven’t watched because our internet is throttled, arrrgh!)

Apart from the fact that ‘they’ tend to work on 12×12 pages, and generally use a few more photos than I do (although THAT will be changing, I’m taking LK’s Point and Shoot Journalling class in just over a week!) – where is the difference between what ‘they’ are doing and what I’m calling art journals?

Not a whole lot. I tend to use more handwritten text but even that’s not a distinguishing factor. So do ‘they’. So – (as I take another slice of humble pie) – I was WRONG.

WRONG WRONG WRONG.

Sorry.

SO what IS the difference, can anyone enlighten me? Between – hmmm, let’s call it ‘liberated scrap-booking’ (and hope no one else has already called something that!) and art journals – WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE?

“]

[click for big - be warned, LARGE so you can read if you want

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Brought to you direct from Central and South Australia

Caitlin — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:26:09 +0000

Nope, not a sepia tint – this is really how it looks outside right now!

[clicky for big on these images]

The air is full of dust. Super fine red grit is all over everything. And it tastes… dusty. We’re both snuffling and sneezing and my eyes are watering (it’s going to be a day when I use a LOT of my eyedrops – I have chronically dry eyes anyway, so with dust in them? BLEAGGH!) Planes have been diverted from Sydney to Brisbane (! ) and Brisbane planes are waiting for the dust to clear.

I’m going to be hiding in bed, possibly with my CPAP (continuous positive air pressure) machine running – it has good filters and the humidifier really helps – I can feel my chest getting tight so I’m off to grab some ventolin (bronchodilator) . Hope everyone else is ok!

And who were you, again?

Caitlin — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 07:33:23 +0000

[clicky biggy, yada yada]

Yep, my memory… what was I saying?

Not much… and the lack of men?

Caitlin — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 14:03:52 +0000

A bit insular – behind tinted glasses (they’re those ones that go darker in the sun, but I won’t be buying them again – I think ordinary glasses plus sunglasses are better) and with my MP3 player blasting P!nk.

I was thinking about how most of my time is spent in the company of women … apart from Mr Beloved I have very few interactions with men. Most of my doctors are female; most of the shop assistants I talk to when I shop – the only men (apart from Mr Beloved!) I talk to on a regular basis are my Dad (on Sundays, during the weekly phone call) and the Butchers at the shops.

It’s not that I’m anti-men, there are many good blokes around. Just not that many around ME.

Most of the BOOKS I read are written by women. Most of the music I listen to is created by women. (Well, written/sung by , if not produced by.)

Ah, I’ve just thought of the exception: the radio. I listen to ABC Radio National a lot, and on there I’d hear more men that women, every day.

As I was thinking about this, Ricë wrote a post about men & art. I think I am stuck in a bit of an “all girl’s club” – but to be honest, I’m grateful to find people who ‘get’ me at all, regardless of how they identify.

Thing is – I’m not very good at people right now. Men OR Women. I’m feeling pretty vulnerable, tired, fragile, uncertain. Like if just one person comes along with a sharp pin that I might just explode – or maybe just sag away quietly, a soggy mess in the corner.

The visit to the gastroenterologist was… interesting. Let’s say that she and I have very different values. And because it was the first time we had dealt with each other, she didn’t really know (or take time to know) the back issues that got me here… ah well, I’ll take some of her advice, but I don’t think what she suggested is going to fix the problem. At least she’s sent me off with a form for more blood work in January.

Meantime, I keep plodding along…

Work in Progress, and a confession

Caitlin — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 03:38:46 +0000

So I’m doing this online thing with Kelly Kilmer and it’s AWESOME, a painting prompt, collage prompt, and journalling prompt every day. I think it’s really pushing me out of my comfort zone (layers of acrylic paint!) and yesterday I was happily painting the background when I saw this figure start to emerge.

(Be gentle, she’s not done yet, and I don’t normally paint – ummmm – recognisable things! )

What do you think? I’m not quite sure where she’s going next, why there’s a bird on her head, or what she’s doing but we’ll work it out.

And now my confession: I LOVE ALL THINGS HALLOWEEN-Y!!

There, I’ve said it.

It’s not a holiday we celebrate down under (sadly!) so the very few bits and bobs of Halloween stuff we get in the shops tend to be of the very low end, cheap-nylon-witch-hat-with-attached-purple-wig variety. (No disrespect intended to any cheap nylon witches.)

And alllll the arty blog girls are making AWESOME Halloween stuff – I mean, check out these bunnies who’ve decided that Bunnies aren’t just for Easter! And of course the SPOOKTACULAR stuff over at Cart Before the Horse (who BTW are having an awesome giveaway, go there now! Oh wait, DON’T, cos I want to win it! No, hang on, DO, because their stuff is WONDERFUL!).

Am I a lone Aussie in love with Halloween?

11 & 12 of 365, a journal page, and what I’m reading

Caitlin — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 05:43:25 +0000

Loved

Stairs

I didn’t forget to take my 365 self portrait yesterday – I just didn’t have my computer. It had been getting a wee bit unstable, as these things do, so it was time to save all the data and do a “nuke & pave” – wipe the whole box clean and install a whole new Operating System. I must say, I LOVE LINUX MINT!! Super easy to manage, (I did the install by myself! Try doing THAT with a w1nd0ws OS!) and the price is awesome (FREE!). My computer is now back up to date and running faster – I just have to make time to trawl through all the backed up files and see what REALLY needs keeping.

And I’m very gradually learning how to do more things in GIMP – all the layers and brush tools and so on like ph0t0sh0p, but again – FREE!! We love that price!

Today I had a lovely shopping morning with BFF Sue – I only bought a couple of very necessary T-shirts, booooooorrrring! Oh, and a small pressie that I have to mail off tomorrow for a friend in Oregon. (Tee hee! I will show what it is once she has hers – it was so cute I had to buy one for myself, too!)

Off to the gastroenterologist this arvo. *shudder* Hope she can at least point me in the direction of some answers – I’m really tired of stomach/abdominal pain. Ugh.

Open the door and come in

[clicky biggy, obviously]

And finally for this post – a book recommendation. I’m a hyuuuuuuuuuge fan of Elizabeth Peter’s Amelia Peabody mysteries, but she’s getting on (both Elizabeth and Amelia!) and I dread there being no more new books. So I was delighted to read a new (to me) archaeological/mystery heroine – not the same as Amelia, no one ever could be, but quirky, completely in her time period ( I have been known to throw books at the wall for the sin of anachronism) and with delightful detail. Barbara Cleverly is possibly my favourite new find this year! I stayed up finishing the first book (Tomb Of Zeus) last night and started the second over breakfast this morning. I’m hoping this will be the start of a looooong series of Laetitia Talbot books!

(Barbara Cleverly also writes the Detective Joe Sandilands series, but I haven’t read any of those yet.)

Right, that’s about it from me, gotta go find where I’ve put the papers I need to take with me to the specialist…

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Caitlin — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 08:21:44 +0000

He’s 70 today but in this photo he was still showroom shiny!

Look at that booful smile! Look at those chubby cheeks! Who’s got wuvvy curly hair, then! (You were a beautiful baby, Dad, who grew into a beautiful man, and I love ya!)

This was a postcard preview made by the studio photographer – on the back it has “Mrs Miller” and her address in Rozelle (A Sydney suburb they lived in , this would have been in 1940, and Granpa was probably already away at the war). Then the scrawl continues:

1 Colour Panel, 2 Sepia Panel 11/6

Fair hair

Blue eyes

apple green suit

collect Nov 9th

deposit 2/-

When Nana gave me this photo she told me that the “apple green suit” was her first bit of knitting. (She went on to become a PROLIFIC knitter!)

I don’t know if the colourised or bigger sepia versions of this picture even exist anymore. We weren’t a big family for having photos up – probably because Granpa and Dad both used slide film up until they mid 1980s. There are HUNDREDS of yellow boxes of slides sitting at Mum and Dad’s that need to be scanned and recorded (or tossed..) – again, I’m really ITCHING to get my hands on them, but I have to be patient!

(If nothing else, all those potential altered slide mounts! Wheeeeee! But do I really need any more clutter?)

I’m hanging out for some photos of us all from younger days – as my memory gets worse (and yes, I have booked the tests to attempt to quantify this) having pictures seems more important.

By the way, I’m taking a class next month on using photos in art journals – L.K. Ludwig’s Point and Shoot Journaling.

(Bugger – does journaling have ONE L or TWO? I can’t decide and the spellchecker is not helping.)

I’m all set for the class to start – just need to find a better alternative to “Clear spray paint” (I assume to seal the images once we’re done working on them?) because that stuff a) totally sucks for the environment and b) flares up my asthma. So does anyone have any suggestions for me, please?