Camping Out

The Cub Scout Webelos camp-out at Fremont Peak started with a hike.

A steep hike. With lots of switchbacks.

Some people made it to the top.













Then we went back down and pitched camp at Doe Flats.

These guys are Jeremy, Neil and Joseph. I don't think they got much sleep. I had allergies and took Benedryl, so I slept fine.

They cooked breakfast on Mother's Day. The pancakes were for the scouts, the parents had bagels.

Many of the scouts wanted bagels instead. Safer, maybe. They earned actitvity badge credit for making the pancakes, not for eating them. That was good because there were enough pancakes left for the parents who wanted them, like me. I put cream cheese on mine.

The campout was really great. It was far enough out that we could not run into a town or zip back home for what we forgot, so there was a lot of sharing and loaning. I borrowed a walking stick and needed help with precarious footing on the hike. Having a spinal cord injury and a left leg that is asleep is normal for me, but a major liability in some situations. I loaned a flashlight because I had two and somebody forgot to bring even one. I gave Benedryl to another parent who would otherwise have had to go home.



Tomorrow, I start adding some new things!

Growing

This picture was taken last Sunday. They are interesting pets. Really getting tame. If you dit them on your lap they will sit while you pet them, and shrip quietly. But...they have to BOTH be there. You can't separate them!


They are kind of like the Wal*Mart version of parrots. "Rolling back the prices" Parrots, $1.50

Webelos Campout at Fremont Peak starts this morning. We are there until tomorrow at about 11:00 am. Only one paretn may go, but I parent must go. That is me. I'm not taking a project to work on. I'm hoping my roll will be primarily ornamental.

Swallow disaster yesterday. I was ready to cry. I was riding Janow, and came back to see the nest on the ground and the parents screeching. I untacked quickly and then gently put the nest back up, with a wad of duct tape betweent the nest and the platform. It wasn't down for long because it was intact when I left on my ride---maybe gone 40 miutes or so.

The parents flew away, but eventually came back. One was in the nest fixing the linning, the other was looking on.

No eggs yet, at least. It was lined with dark horse hair-so not Janow's, and feathers of larger birds.

Nesting

I took these pictures in Janow's stall yesterday morning. The two were flying in and out a lot, taking turns and making a lot of noise. I think the mud phase is finished and now they are lining it. Janow is shedding like crazy, so there is planty of material to line it with.

There was another pair that picked a spot along the same wall, but I think there were territorial problems and they left to find another spot.

Denise says she has a pair nesting in Dodger's trailer. I hope Dodger doesn't have to go anywhere until the babies are out!

more shirts

Here are more shirts in progress, these were not done yet when these photos were taken.

Design wall

Here are some of the sweatshirts I am working on for the Country Store at the Legacies of Love Quilt Show in May.

My neck feels better today. Sunday, I was tying blocks of wood near the ceiling in Janow's stall for swallows to nest on. Last fall, all the stalls were rebuilt and the new ones don't have any ledges for swallows to nest on, but the same swallows came back to nest in the same place they always have.

They seemed pretty upset, so I scrounged some wood pieces to hang as nesting ledges. Tying them up near the ceiling just about killed my neck, but I got three up. Yesterday, the birds were definitely checking them out, though I could not see any nest building evidence. I will keep watch.


Chica and Paula are growing fast! They hate to be out of site of one another. Chica, the Brahma, is supposed to be the better breed for human freindship, but, while she began as the easiest one to handle, she hasnt inproved much. Paula, the Plymouth Rock, has changed a lot. I can hold her surrounded by my hands and she will fall asleep, all the while Chica chirping fantically. Chica is a real chatterbox.

Paula Pullet and Chica Chicken

Here they are.

They are growing fast. We are holding them as much as possible so that they will be easy to handle. Maybe. Jospeh is helping a lot.

I am hoping they will be more effective than pesticides in the garden, or insecticidal soap that makes the vegetables taste soapy. We have snails, earwigs, cabbage worms and tomato worms.

Right now we have a crop of mosquitos that is phenomenal. I have to look over the fence and see if the nieghbors pool cover is full of water. If it is, I have to walk around and talk to them, or call the West Nile Virus authorities. Mosquitos are usually not so prevalent in Milpitas!

I am working on Primiitve sweatshirts for the Country Store at Legacies of Love Quilt Show. I ordered frames for many of my batiks too. And I'm trying to learn GIMP.



Quilt show info is on my web page, the first page, as well as pictures of my entries. Four quilts and a 'doll'. ust click on the red-yellow-orangy DOUBLECATBATIK banner, it's a link.

Chicken!

I got "Key Search" done just in time, stitching the sleeve down at about 6:30am. Then I put the paper label for the quilt show on it. Those labels come one to a page, with a reciept for the quilt that is signed by the quilt show official who takes your quilt. I had misplaced the receipt for "June Four Patch," but I figured I could Xerox a new one, if I could find a blank one to copy. It's one of those little things that you count on being easy to resolve at the crucial time.
So on I went, to sew the label onto "Sue Crack's Up." I thought I had done it already, but there was the label, filled out and ready to sew on. But....There WAS a label on "Sue," it was the "Coniferous Child" Label. So I took it off and sewed the "Sue" label on "Sue." Then I took the "Coniferous" label to sew onto the "Coniferous" quilt.......That's tight, you guessed. There it was, the RECEIPT for "June Four Patch" sewn on in place of the "June" label. I got it all straightened out, but I think I had to remove and re-apply nearly every label.

The turn-in location for south Fremont was Sisters 'n' Stiches quilt shop, which I had looked for twice but never found. It's a new shop. I didn't have a lot of faith. It is in a sort-of-rebuilt werehouse. I found it this time. It is very small, packed with fabric. A very sood selection of the lighter values, which the much closer Fabrics 'n' Fun is lacking. So, of course, I bought fabric. But I only bought for the Charm Square Exchange whcich was comming up and I ended up playing hooky on it anyway.

Now I have a lot of work to do getting ready for the Country Store at the quilt show. I Downlaoded The Gimp Photo Editor Freeware and got a new printer and some photo quality blank greeting cards with envelopes. Now I have to learn that.

Yeaterday, there was sun, so I went to Concord to get hay for Noble Steed. An hour away, remember? And can't go in the rain becuase the hay will get wet and then mold. Well.......They had chicks there, cheeping and scratching under the heat lamps, so I got two pullets. and some starter scratch, and a water reservoir. Not to mention three kinds of horse wormer and another box of Rounders Horse Treats. And a few cans of cat food that Mr.Picky Eater has never seen and so has never rejected.

I am hoping that my 9 year old son's friend calls today. He has had the whole week off school but has not been able to get together with any of his friends. Many of them go to different schools that do not get his week off for Spring Break, they got last week. People are really bad about getting back to kids or making commitments and following through. Grown ups seem to have no problem standing up little kids. Of course, that teaches their own kids a great lesson too. A promise is only good until something better comes along. Grrr.

Closer Still

Just finished putting on binding at 6:57am. Now I have to sew down the sleeve by hand, and snip loose threads. There are a lot of loose threads! I think I'll make it...........maybe............

Down to the Wire

Yet another photo of Key Search in progress. The deadline for this quilt to be done for the show is April 13th. It's already entered and the paperwork submitted, but I am still quilting the top, and haven't even cut the binding or the sleeve! Will I make it?

The quilting pattern and colors are very interesting. I'm glad I picked white for the backing. I backed Merry Horses in white, with red quilting, and it was very striking. It was up in Ohlone Arts during the Misson San Jose Outdoor Quilt Show last year. Flipping it around to the back surprised everyone who saw it.
(You can see it on my website. Just click here On the picture of it)



Key Search has the quilted image of five antique keys hidden in it. My intention was to sell this quilt, but the more I work on it, the more I like it. I think I will keep it for my own bed......

Ring Bling

My friend Chris sent me this website. This is something I never thought of! It's worth checking out.


CJs
Phone
Jewelry

Horse of a Different Color

Janow slept in poop. Horses do that. Since he is white, the poop left some very visible green stains. I showed the stains to Jay, saying "Someone swapped my Lipizzan for an appaloosa!"
Jay replied: "That's not an appaloosa, that's a crapaloosa!"
He has three white horses, he should know.

Lost

I had battery problems in the car this week. I had to drive a bit to increase the charge. We, 9yr old Joseph and I, started at the library. We took Calaveras to 880 North, exited Dixon Lanidng and went East. Passing Mill Creek Apartments, we turned left on Milmot. We passed the park with tennis courts and playground, the into some new attractive single family homes with zero lot lines, over an aquaduct and into a business park. Huge square builings, combo office space/wearhouse/R&D, all uniformly landscaped. I said, "Wow, look at this! I didn't even know it was here!"
Jospeh replied "I did. Denise got lost here."

Trusty Juki

Here is the ongoing progress on Key Search. It's taking a long time! It's quilted in a fun way that I make up as I go, it's very unique. I was making it for sale, but I like it so I may keep this one for my own bed!
I have not worked on it very much because I have spent a lot of time on the computer, working on the website. That is also slow going since I am teaching myself html, the hard way. I think quilters tend to do everything the hard way.
This quilt will be in the Piecemakers Quilting Guild of Southern Alameda County Legacies of Love Quilt Show on May 6th and 7th. Entry deadline in next Tuesday for forms and photos, the actual quilts must be in by the 13th! Can I make it? Big question!
I just finished up making a gallery on my website. You should check it out. My online artist group, Folk-of-Art-friends, had a challenge called All Creatures Great and Small. It was simple, sort of. Each artist picked an animal, limit of 2 people per animal, and made that animal. Most are listed for sale on eBay. I made a gallery page on my site that you can click to from the first page. It's Pretty obvious where to click.

design wall

This is what I have on my design wall right now. These are for wearable fabric collages. I will post them as I finish them.

I want to have them done in time to sell at the Country Store at our quilting guild show in Hayward on May 6th and 7th. It's at Centenial Hall. That's Hayward, California.

The Capucin with Biscotti will be in the show. I'm trying to finish Key Search for that show too.


Folk of Art Friends is finishing up a challenge called All Creatures Great and Small. I'm working on making a gallery on my website to show off all the pieces. I'm adding them as I can. You can go to Doublecat Batik and click on the link to the gallery so see the ones I've got so far. Just click on the little orangey-yellow banner thing under here:

Ruben

Thanks Ruben, for the beta test. I'm fixing the link from website to Blog. Then I'm checking on the email link. After that, I have to decide if I should first persue the graphics changes of see about the message board.
Thanks Bunches and Bunches.
C

Drippy

Formerly Stuff Forever and Ever

I fell drippy,
Oh, so drippy.......

Not exactly wallowing is success. I've decided not to continue as an artist on Folk-of-Art.com. I've been on it since November of '05, which isn't exactly a long time. I've been paying monthly to have three items featured. More experienced people tell me it takes time, but after 5 months, I have not sold anything from there, and have only recieved one email. It was not even an inquiry, just somebody warning me about the dangers of breathing wax fumes. My site stats show that I am not even getting lots of hits to my site from the Folk-of-art site. After five months, I should at least see an upward trend! I don't think that's happening.

I have been informed that I have to sell stuff cheap at first, but that doesn't work. Pricing below cost doesn't seem to do it. Maybe pricing higher will make it worth more?

But my web site isn't wallowing in success either. I haven't done much to drive traffic to it. I have spent much of the time learning about making a site. My site has improved vastly in 6 months. I'm learning new things all the time. There is only so much time I can spend each day, and I want some time left over for actually DOING art. If it's not done by 7am, it's not gonna happen. The rest of the day starts and when it finally ends, I'm pooped. Last night is ended at 9:00pm.

I just changed the name of my blog and it's URL to better reflect my site name.

I want to make a better feedback, or maybe a forum. Any opinions? Even "Hi, I read your blog, it sucks scissors" would help!

my new eBay listing, these look great!

Comming Out

Here he is! He has clothes, so he can come out. If you had hair like that, you'd need clothes too. His vest is reversable. His shorts are not. He won't share his biscotti.

Done, but naked

I finished the capucin monkey, but I need to make clothes for him. No naked pictures!

Fartful Prose

Joseph wanted a book from the Mountain View library, so we had it sent to the Milpitas library and I went to pick it up. At the desk, the librarian said

"You have a book overdue." I asked

"Which one?" She checked her computer screen again and mumbled

"I don't know." This is odd. She turned her computer screen artound so I could see.

"Zombie Butts from Uranus." She just couldn't SAY it. I renewed it.

Joe read it himself, I didn't. I read the preqel out loud, The Day My Butt Went Psycho, also by Andy Griffiths. It was terrible writing, but for little boys, artful prose means how many times you can work in the words 'butt' and 'fart' and still have a narrative.

Machismo and Poop Stains

Bedtime is difficult for kids. The end of the day, the part with no school, is over. Also, they seem to become frenzied right before they are ready to drop off. This frenzie includes dancing around in their underwear and ignoring orders to "Go brush your teeth" and "Get your jams on."
And I say, from across the room:
"Is that a poop stain? I don't have my glasses on." Dad says
"Yes. That's disgusting! Go fix that!" Joe jumps up on the bed to look in the mirror. He gives his best Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka "eeew" and bolts to his room, singing.....
"Macho Macho Man.....I've got to be...a macho man...!"

Hairy

It takes a lot of time to put hair on a monkey!

Vintage Moments quilt

This is our Opportunity Quilt for this year. Each year our quilt guild, Piecemakers Quilt Guild of Southern Alameda County, makes a bed size quilt, very high quality, and we raffle it off. It's one of our biggest fund raisers. We use the money to help run our guild and to work on different projects like community quilts for the Police and Fire departments to give to people in unfortunate circumstances, preemie quilts for babies born to soon to go home from the hospital yet, and ditty bags for shelter residents who need toothbrushes and soap for their stay. We make over 200 Community Quilts each year.
We sell the tickets for $1.00 each. The drawing is May 7th. The quilt will be on display at our Legacies of Love Quilt Show at Centennial Hall in Hayward, California, on May 6th and 7th. Contact me if you would like a ticket.
Caradrouin@sbcglobal.net

Horse Butts

These are decorative horse butts. Each one is modeled after a real horse. They are on eBay this week. The listing includes a mini bio of each horse. Check 'em out!


Horse butts on eBay


That's right, and I'm still putting hair on my monkey.

and more monkey

He is currently getting hair. Dave asks if it is "The Hair Club for Monkeys" I made him some biscotti yesterday. Joe was excited until he found out it wasn't made of food.
I'm not going to be able to list this for sale on Ebay March 19th. I want to have it in our quilt show in May. There aren't usually many dolls. I dont know, IS this a doll?

more monkey

still working on it!

capucin

Project in progress. The artists in Folk-of-Art are participating in a challenge initiated by AntyMs Garden. A challenge is where a theme is declared and a deadline set, and everyone who wants to participate makes something in that theme. There are sometimes rules. For this one, the challenge is animals, the rule is that only two people may do each animal. The implied rule is that it must be suitable fro veiwing by all ages. The deadline is March 19th, when most of the animals will be listed on eBay.

I picked capucin, a new world monkey, but I'm making mine retired, so it's an old new world monkey.

To see what this group has currently available: Ebay foa items http://search.ebay.com/FOAF or click on the link on the right of this screen.

on motivation, which isnt the real problem

Joe has had the camera again!

Someone on the Folk-of-Art message board posted a question about how others get motivated. Personally, I dont need motivation, I need to be left alone long enough to get something done! This is my reply:

So common! Artists are easily distracted.
Another problem, nobody else takes our art seriously. It's something we can do 'another time.' The problem with being able to make your own schedule is that everyone thinks they should have input.
I need to work WITHOUT DISTRACTION!!

WITHOUT DISTRACITON!


WITHOUT DISTRACTION!

I think I broke my keyboard typing that!!!
My family does not realize the without distraction means with asking me a question every 5 minutes to make sure I am still available if they really need something. My son comes in and asks "Can I have a piece of candy?"
"ask Dad."
"He said to ask you."
WHAT! He was going to run interference for me!!!! Now he can't decide if Joe can have a piece of candy!!!
&@*$
"Yes, you can have a piece of candy."

I am sewing, there is a tap on the glass. I ignore it.
There is a tap on the glass. I ignore it.
There is a tap on the glass. I ignore it.
There is a tap on the glass. I look up. Dad smiles and waves. I wave back. I shout "I am sewing!"(Obviously)
He shouts "Hi"
"Why are you bothering me?"

I am sewing, there is a tap on the glass. I ignore it.
There is a tap on the glass. I ignore it.
There is a tap on the glass. I ignore it.
There is a tap on the glass. I look up. Joe smiles and waves. Dad is holding him up because he can't see through the window by himself. I wave back.

I am sewing, there is a tap on the glass. I ignore it.
There is a tap on the glass. I ignore it.
There is a tap on the glass. I ignore it.
There is a tap on the glass. I ignore it.
There is a tap on the glass. I ignore it.
There is a tap on the glass. I look up. Dad smiles and waves. He shouts "Which tree was it you wanted pruned?" This is BS. He never prunes what I want pruned. He only prunes what I want un-prunned. I shout back "You're pruning NOW?"
"Well, I might prune later." (I'll prune you!)

I go out to the living room. The TV is on, I can't use the computer because it is downlaoding some mega file from China. I go to the family room, the other TV is on. I return to the living room and turn off the TV. They come running in, "We were watching that!"
"Yeah, right! Through your fiber optic cable."
"No really. Our show is comming on in forty minutes!"( I thought you were going to prune)
"Watch it in the family room."
"It's a how-to show. We need to see it on the big TV."
Who needs to see Norm on a 61 inch screen?

"I'm going to the coffee shop."
"Will you be back for dinner?"(What are you going to cook us for dinner?)
"I don't know."
"Call us and tell us."
They turn the TV back on and run outside.

My time has no value, it is free time.

long time no see

It has been too long!
The watercolor episode in the fourth grade class was crazy but priceless!
There is a really odd break in achool for Milpitas Unified School District, so shorty has been home. Employment stuff has been odd for Dave, so he has been home a lot. It has seemed like Saturday here all week! Can't wait for Monday!
We went to Sacramento for two days, that was fun.

I'm trying to figure out what will sell on ebay, and trying to decide how important that is. My return per hour on what does sell is low. I am telling myself that the listing cost is the cost of being out there, and that's OK. Better to let that go than sell stuff for less than materials cost.

What I don't want to do is compromise on my art and produce crafts because I can make a little money at that. I want to make art. I don't want to get stuck in the craft trap, where I make tons of knick knacks for minimal profit and it feels more like cottage manufacter. I can't compete with the low grade knick knacks avasilabel at Wal*Mart and Target for nearlty nothing, produced overseas by people who get paid pennies per hour.

I have to remember, eBay is merely a facet to use, not to be steered by.

I got my Folk-of-Art items in for March. This is the 5th or 6th month I have been in it. I have not sold anything.

I have had my website for about a month longer, and I have not sold anything there either. The site improves as my programming skill improve. I know it needs more time, but if I sold at least ONE thing?

It bothers me that I send more time on the computer doing this stuff than making stuff. The thing that bothers me most is that this takes lowest priority in my life. Everybody thinks that I can do it anytime, so it isnt a problem to do something with/for them right now. Ruben gave me a hard time becuase I was trying to figure out a way to do something without having to drive to Wal*Mart. Like driving to Wal*Mart would ruin my life. He was not buying the idea that I spend too many hours a week on little tasks that don't increase revenue and that I am seriously trying to reduce that.

There is a tack swap/craft fair comming in May. I have done so poorly at the last three that I don't really want to do it again. I suppose I must.

The Peacemakers Quilt Guild quilt show is also in May. I have always done well in the Country Store associated with that.

Spring is here, but more rain comming.

Skeleton keys

Tracy,
Try here. I have not looked at this site in a while. I dont know about prices.

http://www.deabath.com/Keys/keys.htm

Bart Simpson's Nostrils

I have been so busy. I have been working very hard on my website. I am partly through a major revamp. When I get done, it wont be very different in appearance to anybody who looks, but it should load faster and navigate better on a variety of monitors.
My son's 4th grade teacher asked me to teach one of their "centers" on watercolor because she says she is not artistic. Considering my experience with watercolors, this is challenging. She has chosen dandelions as the subject, which is a good choice because it is simple. The center lasts 15 minutes on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I get the whole class each day, broken into groups of 12.
I decided on mixed media, since I can break it into three easy steps that they can get done within the correct time. For the first day, I am going to have them rough in their dandelion, and use white crayon to "color" the seed head. I will borrow hub's dremel tool and make plastic templates so the can outline the flower and the seedhead and a couple leaves without having to worry about size.
For the second day they will add watercolor. They only need two colors; yellow and blue. I will have them paint the sky pale blue, then add streaks of darker blue. The seed head will pop out from the wax resist they put down the day before. The flower will be yellow, sprinkled with table salt for texture. The leaves will be green, made from yellow with a bit of blue. They can add bits of blue to the green while it is wet and let it bleed out into the green.
The third day they will add black colored pencil to partly outline the flowers and leaves, and to show the stems.
I made four of these to check out how it would go. They went very fast, less than 10 minutes total for each one. I think I can lead this in 45 minutes. This weekend I have to outline what I will say on each day.
Did you know Bart Simpson doesn't have nostrils? How does that dude breath? You don't have to show every detail to make a good picture.

Crazy Horse

This guy is on ebay this week. Pretty fancy! I like him so much I havent sold him, but I cant keep everything under the sun! Find the listing by going here:
my listings
to see all my listings. All TWO of them!

Folk-of-Art 1 has the new Feb stuff starting today, I think. I haven't looked yet. FOA