My agent?

Oh my! I never knew that I was so well received by the general population that I might need an agent! Thanks to the US Postal service for letting me know. They indicate that either me or my agent needs to pick up a package and sign for it.  The accolades of my fans has been thrust upon me! Thank you. Thank you! Thank you!!

..a touch of analog...

I finished (and probably most important...started!) my first quilt! It's just a "rag quilt" or "chenille quilt". Extremely simple design, really. I made it for a friend who is turning a ~certain~ age. I wanted to do something with fun, retro and *ahem* youthful fabrics. Classic but not entirely. I settled on a fat quarter pack of Denyse Schmidt's new collection purchased from Cia's Palette.

It's all backed with flannel and "filled" with some lightweight cotton batting. I've sewn for...what...about 25 years now...and never made a quilt. I feel like the shame of this virginity is now over! Now, I can move on to more challenging projects like this . Well, not exactly like that. Just using freeform design & techniques. I love the look of art quilts, but find the size/scope and, of course, potential for procrastinating mid-project too great. :-) I can imagine a piece like the one linked could take months for some and decades for others. Of course the pay off of the finished project would be awesome. Well, we'll see. For now, I'm pleased with my random, frayed edge quilt! Yay me!

It's not every day...

It’s not every day that one sees a dead body. Well, maybe if you’re a coroner or medical student. If you watch CSI regularly, you see ‘em a lot, too. But in real life…really not that often. Typically, just at funerals for most people.  That’s why when we saw a woman on the street dead, after getting hit by a car, it makes a pretty strong impression. It was a couple of days ago. Ivan and I were downtown Salt Lake, just got done looking at a lot to dig. We drive down North Temple and see a BUNCH of police lights. I figured it was a car that got pulled over and they found drugs. That’s the usual scene with lots of cops on the road in one spot. Anyway, Ivan wanted to drive by and take a peek. I was thinking that guns would be drawn, so I thought maybe we should pass. Ivan was driving, so down the few blocks we go. There on the street was the body along with a bag of groceries. You couldn’t see anything gory, just the body under the sheet and the feet sticking out.  It was just one of those reminders that life is pretty fragile. Here walking along with your groceries in hand. The next minute flattened on the road. You just never know. 

 

The news reports indicate that the car hit the woman in the inside lane no where near a crosswalk.  I’m a big fan of crosswalks, especially at night, and even more so on a 5 lane road. I feel bad for the victim and their family. I do wonder however, why she chose to cross there? The crosswalk wasn’t *that* far down the street. I feel even worse for the driver of the car that claimed that she didn’t see her at all. Sure, maybe the driver was exceeding the speed limit. I have no idea if that’s the case or not, but how many of  us DO exceed the speed limit every day? Pretty much 99% of us, right? So, there you are, driving along and BLAMO, you hit someone. How much is your life suddenly changed? I’m guessing quite a bit, whether you’re charged with vehicular homicide or not. Just the weight of the emotions with having snuffed someone’s light when you potentially could have avoided it happening. I’m sure you would question everything over and over again. You’d start seeing people in front of your car every time you start the engine. Anytime you step into your car, you’re reminded of that night.  Reminded that life is fragile and that you are driving a huge weapon of destruction every day.

 

So,  yeah, it’s not every day you see a dead body. It’s not every day that you get run over. It’s not every day that you kill someone either. Death touches people every day. Maybe this is your lucky day where you won’t be touched, but you just never know.

Illustration Friday -- Tattoo

I couldn't resist doing Tattoo from Fantasy Island. Much more interesting to me than flesh art. Well, depending upon the flesh involved, of course! :-) Click the image to see full size.

Yay! Finally he got his due...

I'm very happy that Phillip Seymour Hoffman finally got some major recognition for his craft as an actor with the nod from the Oscars tonight. He's been in so many great roles and rarely got a second glance from the Oscars or anyone else. I do wish that Catherine Keener would have won as best supporting actress too, as she's another one of those wonderful actors who supports so many films, many of them indy, with such great work. Ah, well, maybe next time!

My Space

Am I the ~only~ one that thinks that My Space is a giant style vacuum? It’s an ugly, annoying, personalized cross between Yahoo Groups and Geocities sites. So, of course I had to have one. Well, only so I could join a friend of mine’s site. You know give the rah-rah-support-ya-tons in this ugly venture kind of prop. Luckily, I have no idea what the login was. Bottom line, can we delete My Space now? Its 15 minutes has come and gone. Pull the plug!!