How to really avoid working

Introducing Angie Lullie

I met with my friend and fellow quilt artist Anne Lullie for coffee at Panera Saturday morning and we discussed having her artisticly inclined daughter, Angie, work for me this summer.

This meant rousing Angie at 10 am!! Oh yes, she is a fifteen year old and you who have been fifteen remember that sleeping in was a way of life. It is beastly hot this week and the Lullie air conditioner hadn’t yet been engaged (Joe!!) so mornings are especially lovely for sleeping. Those lazy Summer days are over for Angie, now that I have my hands on her little (big as me) self.
She is now my (slave) paid apprentice and has learned how to prep a dye day, tearing the fabric into half yard pieces, presoaking it, spinning it out and

pleating the fabric, mixing the dyes

and direct application, ala The Lazy Dyer.

I am paying her by the day and I look forward to 12 days of work from her before she returns to her sophomore year in high school in the fall. She will dye all the kits I need for my workshops and I will dye the Special Editions, thus cutting my dye workload in half. What a good idea this is, no?

In addition to that, I plan to offer art instruction and evaluations, with a few treats thrown in, which will help to reduce the overabundance of my art supplies that remain untouched over these many years of collecting. She has an incredible ability already to reproduce imagery from photographs but as we all know that it is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to becoming an artist, in the original creative sense. NOT to diminish her capabilities, however.
Get a load of this!



These are renderings from magazine photos done in graphite and colored pencil. She handles the medium expertly, don't you agree? Did I mention she is only 15???
I gave her a pad of good drawing paper and an assignment to create a drawing from a still life she must set up, and make all the objects white (no matter their actual color) and then make all the contours and shadows multicolor. I am going to post this homework for your enjoyment when it is available.

O what a wonderful day Saturday was! Getting a student/apprentice with so much enthusiasm and ability, plus being a very quick learner and hard worker. It renews my faith in the younger generation.

Add to that this wonderful happening...Thursday I had many errands to run, the last one being a bit of grocery shopping. I wear a dinky purse on a string, the kind you get for free at quilt shows, to hold your class registration nametag, a few bucks, credit cards, and some pencils. It is all I really want to lug around with me, being anti-purse. For some dumb reason I removed this pocket purse from my neck and left it in my shopping cart. I didn't notice it was gone until Friday, and after looking all around the house (in the garbage and the bottom of the laundry bin) I realized that I must have left it at the store, so I called and well, NO GOT. Damn.

I cancelled my credit cards and gloomily looked forward to replacing all the other important stuff that one brings along. Luckily my check book and driver's license were not in the purselette. But my library card was in there, and O the Library Gestapo in my little town library were not going to be amused.
But wait! There was a message on my answering machine on Saturday afternoon from the grocery store, saying they had something that belonged to me.

Could it be??

Yes! I retrieved my pursepocket and apologized for being a moron, again, (they all know me) and discovered every single thing was still intact. Including $73.41, my punch cards from the copy place, credit cards, and my precious library card! One of the cart kids found it and turned it in. How very lovely! Sigh.

But wait there's more! This is more of a long story than we have attention span so I will get right to the point.
My DH Dave has made the difficult decision to apply for disability and came home Thursday with the doctor's paperwork, which we took to the store manager at his home store and picked up a ream of forms for him to fillout (I'll do it really) and that will start the long and involved process of (finishing this sentence?) going on permanent disability.

While he has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease for thirteen years, it has been a very slow progression until recently. Now every movement is a struggle, which he describes as feeling as though he were bound up with bungee cords. He was a meatcutter for a large grocery chain for 31 of his 50 years and that's enough. He knew this day would eventually come, but it would always seem to have been too soon. The stress of not being able to keep up with the other men, and knowing he was able to be a speed demon just a few years ago, made working so difficult. Plus the system has changed and there are fewer workers so everyone must travel to different stores to fill in on days off, for vacations, and sick days. He never knew which store he would be at the next week, and each change meant explaining his difficulties and just plain feeling bad.

So now that is over. There will be an adjustment, but truthfully, I am so relieved and happy that this day has come. I want him to enjoy these good days stress free, really living to the hilt, out of the constant cold (45 degrees, every day can really get to you) without the danger of driving in rush hour traffic with his vastly decreased reaction time, and in an environment of support and love.

Dave, looking forward to Happily Ever Aftersville