4 Brass Ensembles, 16 Timpani, a Full Orchestra and Choir...Can It Get Any Better Than This?

I've been listening to music all day again getting ready for tomorrow's Music History/Appreciation class.  We're beginning the Romantic Era so I've gotten to listen to some of my favorite composers.  Of course, you can't study the Romantic composers without including Hector Berlioz.

 And, my absolute favorite Berlioz piece is his Requiem.  It is an incredible piece of music and the part that has all the stuff I mentioned in the title is the Tuba mirum section of the Dies irae.  Here's a link to one video of it on youtube.  Not as good as listening to the recording I have  but you get the idea of the sheer power of this composition.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2iMbTHPrc8   This recording (which is part 2) starts just at the Tuba mirum section but if you like it, try to find part one, which has the beginning parts of the Dies irae.

We're also listening to some Liszt, Schubert, and Chopin.  Perfect joy.  :)  Thank you God for giving people the ability to write such beautiful music and thank you for giving us ears to hear it.

Souvenirs From the Beach

The beach was lovely, the company awesome, the food incredible, the movies fun, the time...way too short.  I blinked and our lovely YaYa time away was over.  Guess I'll have to remember it by the souvenirs I have of projects finished and skills gained.  :)

Souvenir 1

Al's quilt, all washed and comfy, laying on the couch, waiting for a nap.

Souvenir 2

 

Lovely spun yarn just waiting to be plied and knit into something warm and cozy.

Souvenir 3

 

A watercolor study that I don't instantly want to rip up and throw in the garbage.  

For some reason (like maybe my brain was working for a change) the book on watercolor flowers I am studying right now has just the right combination of information and stuff that it's clicking in my brain.  Maybe I can learn watercolor and not suck at it so much!     

Souvenir 4 and 5

  

lovely henna tattoos and drawings

Souvenir 6--priceless memories of time spent with my best friends.

Immovable Object Gets Mowed Down By Unstoppable Force

Well, I'm officially a wuss.  After stalwartly resisting assimilation into the hive collective that is the Borg...I mean Facebook, I caved tonight.  Let's just say my oldest son is more stubborn than I am and I love him lots.  :)   I had to laugh when the security check screen showed up because here were the words I had to type.  Funny, huh?  

 She put on her dumpiest clothes so no one would notice the blood stains when her son stretched her on the rack until she said, "Okay, already, sign me up for a Facebook account!"

Counting the hours

Only 2 sleeps until the YaYas head to the beach for our annual get away.  I still haven't finished packing yet and I discovered tonight that I don't have any watercolor paper left so if I want to do some practicing/learning new techniques, I have to hit some stores tomorrow in search of paper.  I hope I can find some somewhere--I was excited at the prospect of playing with my watercolors again.  It's been a while.

Just 36 hours or so until I get to look at this scenery for 4 days.  I can't wait!

 

Grumpy Quilter

Well, I finally got Al's quilt machine quilted!  I started by making the back on Monday.  I used almost all the extra scraps I had left from piecing the top so that made me really happy--no scraps to have to put back into my fabric drawers.  :)  Add to that a couple of other fun fabrics I found and I had a really cute quilt back.

I decided to spray baste it instead of pinning it because I didn't want to work that hard, which was fine except I ran out of spray adhesive when I was almost done so I had to get out of my pajamas and go into town to get some more spray.  So much for trying to be lazy, huh?

So close and yet so far.  :)

Once I got everything sandwiched and rolled up I set it aside until today when I knew I'd have a little bit of time to get some quilting done. I wanted to figure out a cooler quilting pattern than stipple stitch so I spent some time this morning drawing out some ideas on scratch paper. I thought I had a really cool pattern but when I finished my first row of quilting, it looked really bad so I spent about 45 minutes ripping  it out.  A quick trip back to the drawing pad and I had another idea for a quilt pattern and I got back to the sewing machine to get the thing quilted.

All I have to say about that is I need a different set-up if I'm gonna quilt bigger quilts.  I even moved my machine to the dining room table and it was a miserable experience.  My shoulders are still burning and the quilting isn't very pretty.  I think the worst part is that I really enjoy the whole process of machine quilting when I quilt small quilts and getting so frustrated today with something I normally love has made me twice as grumpy.  It probably didn't help that the thread gremlins were on overtime today and I kept either breaking the top thread or having the bobbin thread run out at just the wrong time.  But...it's finished and that's what counts the most.  

It's a little hard to see the quilting pattern but it's a combination of straight lines and leaves.

Tomorrow when I get home from band I'll work on getting the binding machine stitched on and then I'll pack it up to take to the beach next week to do the hand sewing part.  And then I can give it to my sweetie so he can use it before it gets warm.  The very thought of it finished is enough to make me un-grumpy!  Well, that and hot chocolate and a book tonight. :)

Fat Cats Go Down Alleys Eating Bread

HUH?  If anyone wasn't sure before, I'm thinking they're sure now that I'm a little wacko.   I do have a really boring explanation for the title of this post although I'm really tempted to be mysterious because it'd be way more fun.  The title of this post is a mnemonic device to help people remember the order of sharps in key signatures (F,C,G,D,A,E,B).  I made a doofy little sketch today as a visual reminder for the kids in music theory class. 

Many thanks to one of the kids' Garfield books for the cat.  :)

I actually spent a little time in the studio today sketching and painting.  I am pretty rusty because I haven't been drawing much lately but it was fun anyway.  I always forget how much I enjoy it and spend weeks away from my sketchbook.  Anyway, today I decided to practice trying to draw stuff up close and fill the frames I'd laid out.

Can you tell what they all are?

Birthday Gift Card Goodies

Decisions, decisions, decisions!  After a month and 47 books put on my Barnes and Noble wish list, I finally made up my mind and went up to the mall and bought some goodies.  Whew!  It was a tough decision.  Do you know how many books there are on Photoshop?  Trying to choose something just about killed me.  Did you notice I couldn't pick just one?  I sense a theme here...  

Thank you Scott and Gayle and William!

I was really inspired today by this blog and I can't wait until I've learned enough in Photoshop to try some stuff like what she does!

http://djpettitt.blogspot.com/

My brain is percolating with lots and lots of ideas for stuff I want to try.  Better make room for some studio time in my week!

Beauty and Joy

I've been listening to Mozart and Beethoven today, getting ready for teaching my music history and appreciation class tomorrow at band.  The Queen of the Night aria from Mozart's "The Magic Flute", "Voi Che Sapete" from Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro", Mozart's Symphony No. 40 in g minor, The "Apassionata" piano sonata by Beethoven, the "Moonlight" Sonata by Beethoven, Beethoven's 5th  and 9th symphonies.  They are all such absolutely beautiful pieces of music and I can't even begin to describe the joy that they bring to my heart.  They make me cry, they are so beautiful.  I hope that you all get a chance to listen to some of them sometime.

Another joy I'd almost forgotten about is the sunrise the kids and I saw last Thursday when we were getting ready to leave for band.  I can't believe that I get to see such beauty just by walking out my back door.

No retouching done, honest!  This is what we saw.

"The heavens are telling of the glory of God;

and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.

  Psalm 19:1