Clicking around has got to be more productive than just hanging around, don't you think?

I've spent the last many days at my computer, mostly working. I made two videos, one of which is uploaded. It shows you how to find the center of, and number, an applique pattern that comes to you 'naked'. Our patterns are always numbered, but some are not and I have had students ask me how to deal with it. This video explains it all. You can find it here, at pieceocake.com with a link to how to sew a 'wheel' off-the-block that I mention in the video.

I did surf a little as I worked and I ran across this site. (You'll see a link to it in the right column, under It's All About Color, Color Palettes.) Click and a page opens. Move your mouse, colors change. Find a color you like, click. That color is fixed and a new one opens at right. Move your mouse, click, a new color opens. If you like the 'magic' color that appears, click your mouse – don't move it.

How can you use this? Well, it will make you smile and that might be enough. What if you are planning a quilt? You could work out a palette. Take a screenshot of it, preserving the mix of colors that you love. This is also a fun way to choose colors for just about anything. (If you have a mac, you can take a screenshot by hitting command-shift-4. Way cool.)

I also found this site. Beverly Ash Gilbert is not someone I've run across before. She's a beader and she has some great color wheels. I think I need to order them. I especially like the color wheels with the grayer colors because I don't see them that often. If you favor a grayer palette, these wheels could come in very handy. I've added this site to the Color list at right so we can all find her again.

I found more as I clicked around and I'll write about what I found soon. For now, it's nearly dinner time and I must sign off. I love dinner! It's one of the 3 best meals of the day :-).

I must be honest: I've had every iPad ever made. I try to resist but I cannot. My husband and son and grandkids have my older iPads. I am currently the happy owner of the iPad mini and when the new one comes out, I know I will have one. Why? It will be faster and clearer! 

I love being able to carry so much in a tiny package. I love electronic books. My oldest son, Chris (the literature PhD student) does not agree. He's right that there are times when paper trumps electric. This video is a good illustration of that. It's short and funny (not as funny as the goats or the test drive, but still funny) and worth a click.

Le papier ne sera jamais mort / Paper is not dead on influencia.net ! from INfluencia on Vimeo.

I will acknowledge that some things are better in paper (toilet paper for one). Children's books, art books, magazines I want to cut up… all better in paper. But my current read (Wool) is just fine as an ebook. I bought it from Apple iBooks and darned if I didn't just find out that there are more books! That's a good thing because I know I'm going to want to read more when I finish this one.

…what if social media as we know it had been around back in the day? Frank Haenen, a Dutch designer, has played around with that idea. Of course, Marilyn would have used an iPhone… and she probably would have tweeted both text and photos.

Queen Elizabeth could have an iPhone… If she does, I wonder how she uses it? Does a queen ever dial anyone up? Or snap photos of the grandkids?

I'm less sure about Karl Marx. Although he might has sent pointed, political/philosophical tweets.

I found the link to these images at Hubblog. You'll find Hubblog in my favorite blogs list at right. Hubblog is not written in English. Did you know that you can go to Google Translate to have a website translated? It's not a perfect translation, but it is decipherable. I don't use Google Translate often, but when I really want to know what the words say, it's handy.

Steve just finished his spring break. We didn't plan to do projects but it is actually spring in north Texas and projects sort of over-took us. I don't remember how the week started – I think I got some sewing done. And I hired Hector and his crew to clean weed and cut back the dead stuff in our yard. Money extremely well-spent. On Thursday the weather turned warm and bright and we decided that we should mulch the newly wonderful yard. 

I finally remembered to take a picture after two pickup loads when we moved to the new pile. Before…

After…

It took about 5 hours, 8 loads of mulch more or less. We lost count. But the yard looks great and I managed to take off one of the three pounds I gained when I was teaching recently.

Friday I went to the Dallas Museum of Art with Chris and Lorna and the kids. It was fun! We worked tag team with Jack (who is a bit rambunctious for a museum) and Bear, who just wants to sleep and eat. Bear spent a lot of time in the sling attached to either Chris or Lorna. And then I got to carry him because I am not wearing the sling. Been there, done that.

Jack did better outside. And there was ART outside which was nice.

Of course, sometimes ART looks like something in a playground. I took the next photo before my brain kicked in, and before the nice lady said 'get off of that!!!'

Honestly, I love this photo :-).

Jack was not the kid who ran into the cellophane streamers onto the field of pink chalk dust (otherwase known as ART) who caused that piece to be locked down. That artwork was asking to be walked into.

On Saturday Steve and I talked about the projects we have committed to for the summer (so many, and mostly not at our house). And then Steve pointed out that he is in charge of the move into the new science building and he's going to be busy all of June. Oh, my. I realized that the job of painting the soffits and eaves at Mom's was on me. I volunteered to do it. I can do it. This was my project and I needed to own it. And then I thought… why wait? It's cool now. Do it now. So I spent half of Saturday and all of Sunday scraping and painting.

I wish I could say that I did this job with a song in my heart and a smile on my face. No. I did not. I had a determined look and music plugged into my ears. I took ibuprofen and am going to have to take more. But the job is now done and now I can smile! I was too tired to take a photo. You just have to imagine it. Mom's house looks better and she's happy to have this job, that I thought would be done a year ago, is now done. There's a bit more to do at Mom's but Steve and I are on that one together. It's easier with two.

I laughed til I cried. And then I did it again while Steve laughed til he was red in the face. Here's the set-up: You will see Jeff Gordon (Nascar dirver) taking an unsuspecting salesman on a test drive of a used Camero:

Seriously funny.

I got home from Indianapolis Sunday and spent the day in a frenzy: unpacking, doing laundry, and dealing with the piles on my desk. Monday morning I got up early, walked with Laurie and then showed up for jury duty. After listening to how important we all were to keeping the wheels of justice moving (which I happen to believe is true) we were cut loose after only an hour. Oh happy day – I did my civic duty and also got my week back!

I plan to get some sewing done this week in between being chained to the computer. I admit that I have also been doing a bit of browsing/goofing off online. I need to quit finding interesting stuff, but since I've already found the following, I thought I'd share.

You may have seen this already. If not, I think you'll laugh, possibly out loud. 

Then there's this article on the new world of communication etiquette. My take-away is that my children are right – texting saves time. And they text better than I do. I tend to text in complete sentences and use way too many words. I'm also guilty of sending texts and leaving voice mails that probably would be viewed at the other end as time-wasters. I am going to try to be more thoughtful of the reciever's time from now on – more texting, less calling, fewer words. Except when I call my mom.

There's this op-ed piece about living with less stuff by Graham Hill. I know that I will never have that little stuff (this is a man who does not quilt) but he makes good points. I have been cleaning out our nooks and crannies and I like our space better. There is more stuff that needs to go away. Later, not today.

And in case you are considering taking up ice climbing, you should be aware of the down-side. The guy wearing the helmet-cam was not seriously injured. I was left wondering how he got the rest of the way down…

I hope you didn't spend too much of your time on these :-). Now I am going to sew!