Recuperation and Odd Birds

Miss me?  I've been laid up with the drrrreaded diverticular attack, but thankfully it hasn't happened for a year and a half so that's the good news.  The other good news is that it didn't land me in the hospital this time because I had an emergency supply of antibiotics to start me out.  Saw the doc yesterday and he assured me that 'maybe I would be feeling better today'.  So I am proceeding as if...

I simply HAD to feel better today because my ArtQuilt Elements quilt is overdue to be shipped.  First thing I did was race to the studio and get it wrapped and ready,

then off to the UPS store where 2nd day air plus the box, plus return shipping plus insurance cost me $109 plus aggravation.  And the small detail that in order to have them include the return shipping label, the box has to be returned to the UPS store from whence it was sent.  Of course that is in Jupiter, but *I* will then be back in MA.  So I guess I will have to prevail on a friend here to fetch it for me when it arrives.  What a pain, but then, everything about UPS is a pain:

I got my arrangements partially made to attend the opening-  I fly up to Philadelphia and stay with friends, then have to take Amtrak up to Boston because there are no affordable flights between cities.  I'll be happy on the train, at least I can knit and read, certainly difficult activities if I had decided to rent a car and drive.  I don't yet have a flight back to FL after all this, but usually at the end of April the tide is rolling in the northern direction, rather than southern, so I should be OK.

On the studio front, I ripped up the 'Curiouser' collage piece because of frustrations at what the gel medium did to the surface. I was happy with it before, but now, not so.  I tried a few additional ways of dealing with it, but finally decided to try to replicate the original.  So, I had to piece the background in a few places but being marbleized it doesn't show too much.  In addition I was particularly taken with some old Lunn fabric I had used for the border.  It was called Pointallist Palette and ran from yellow at one side to black at the other going through a succession of dotty squiggles.  I had run out but had enough for the side borders only.  I re-used the top, mostly yellow, piece from the original, then found a black edge from another piece of the fabric in a hideous pink-black colorway that I am using for the bottom replacement.  Fortunately it blends bright in even though it's pink.  Who knew...?

I had ripped all the fused elements off the original background and am now trying to 'fix' them back to normal.  I contacted the Golden and Liquitex emergency help lines to see if there was a gel medium antidote.  I got back notes of sympathy.  So now I am busily scanning and printing out new images and hope the color comes true.  Whatevah, as they say.  So, I am back in the studio today messing with this and hoping that it can be at some form of completion so I can take a picture and send it off in a few days.

Horror-scope:

On the surface you're looking good, but you still aren't as confident as you would like to be. Others see your unwavering commitment today and believe that you are more solid than you actually feel. Nevertheless, don't go out of your way to talk about your uncertainty; there's no reason for you to show this kind of vulnerability now, as it will only lessen your chances for success.

Oh oh. Guess I have been talking about my vulnerability afterall!  So just ignore this post and go on to the next one.  Maybe tomorrow will be better, thanks to the miracle of modern medicine:  Cipro.  BTW, combining a diabetic and a diverticular diet means I can eat just about nothing.  I might be after even smaller pants pretty soon- ten more pounds off and I will be at my high school weight when I thought I was way too fat!  Like Catherine said all those years ago, 'Do not hate me because I am bootifulllll'.  Just know that I am also damn hungry.

And my studio hot plate arrived!  I went to five places trying to buy one, finally found one on Amazon, of course.  Like TY says, 'Let your fingers do the walking!'  I'm set for soup, for making paste papers, and for heating water to do marbleizing again.  Or take a sponge bath.





Additional good news that arrived on my sick bed is that I sold another piece to a neighbor.  'Peter Finch Interviews Housekeepers' is now living in a real house and hanging on a wall as opposed to being rolled up in my medium size log o' quilts.  I am so happy he has found a place to live because I always liked him.