Erotically Embossed Dingbat

"Anyone can make the simple complicated. Creativity is making the complicated simple."
–Charles Mingus

Lately I have been thinking about simplicity as things get progressively more complicated in life around here, and here is another fortuitous confluence of events right in front of me! I received a 'Design Notes' email from DWR all about architectural simplicity but it reads well for any discipline- here:

Design Notes

He refers to John Maeda, an MIT professor, and a series of books he has written and sites the 10 'laws of simplicity' in design work. Well worth a look. Hey, I read it all, now it's your turn!

John Maeda's Laws of Simplicity site. When you get there follow some of his links and you will be busy for a nice long time, very interesting stuff here.

Yesterday I went with Sylvia and Judy to the Peabody Essex Museum to see the Joseph Cornell exhibit. I have long loved his work, as do my compadres, an the thoughts of seeing room upon room of it was very exciting. This museum does a beautiful job of display and documentation so it took a nice long time to get through all the rooms and read all the information. I have to say that the museum is a beautiful place to spend a day and the other exhibits, including a fully constructed Chinese House, are spectacular. If you are ever north of Boston, it cannot be beat as a destination- and right around the corner is the Witch House for the more touristy among you. Here is the main site:

Peabody Essex Museum in Salem MA.

And this is the Joseph Cornell interactive video where you can see larger images of his work. The show closes at the end of the summer and moves out to San Francisco for the fall catch it there if that is where you are.

Next objective is to get over to the MFA to see the Hoppers.

My dad used to call his future plans his 'lily pads'. He saw himself as a frog jumping from one floating leaf to another just to see what was there and how a new pad could improve or lessen one's enjoyment of life experience. After all, one could always hop off to a new place if the last move wasn't a good one. Hoppers? Hopping? OK, bad pun, but that's my next 'hop'.

Lately I am back working on a quilt I started years ago, not a winner for sure but I really need to blast through the stuff I have in the 'pending' bins, and this particular piece became more important when Sylvia gave me a pile of old butterfly blocks- the kind where they are appliqued on muslin with a black blanket stitch all around. HOW did that ever start, it is a hideous thing to see. Oh well, I have about a dozen and they work well with a piece I am doing about sunflowers in a field tentatively called 'He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not', using three different cut up quilt tops. And hand applique. Shoot me now, it's taking forever! I have recently also decided that it smells and is badly in need of a good washing but since the background Irish chain is hand pieced (poorly), it will probably shred. So, the plan is that I will finish it, get it quilted or do it myself, and then perhaps get it dry cleaned. i am pretty worried about dye transfer from all the suspect red blocks. I am also going to go on eBay and see if there are any free-range butterfly blocks available there- I think I need some bigger ones and don't much feel like making my own. The universe will provide me with SOMETHING, I am assured. And now, back to work.