Side Hustle Jobs and Mondays

     Falling behind or getting head.  Two places of which I am well versed, and should probably be a better title for this post since I'm already behind my rule of putting up a blog post on the 1st day of the month.
     Time for a blogging rule change....not written/typed in stone...subject to getting ahead and for sure falling behind.  It does have to do with Side Hustle Jobs and Mondays.
      I've retired more times than I can count.  Officially on all Senior Citizen forms and other declarations of work status the Retired box is checked.  There is no box for 'Side Hustle Job', and that is probably a good thing as I would have a hard time describing what I do as a Side Hustler.  I will defer to 'Google'.
      A couple of things Google says about 'Side Hustle Jobs' that might surprise you.  One, it is an expression first used in 1950 and became popular during and after the last recession when traditional jobs disappeared and enterprising people had to make ends meet.
      Two, how many jobs are considered  'Side Hustle Job's' today.  Here are a few:  Sell items on Ebay or Craigslist, recyle used smartphones, drive for Uber of Lyft, rent your spare room on Airbnb, manage a social media small business, etc. etc. etc..
      Can you just imagine this list in a 1950 setting!  My truck driver Dad would have said, "What's an Uber"?  If we would have had a spare room, my Mom already had it filled with a relative that needed more than an airy bed and breakfast.

So, back to 2020 and the Side Hustle list.  Well sorta!  Not a single mention of a former Chicken Farm turned into an Art Center/Community.  Leave it to me to fall back to the 1960 era to find my perfect Side Hustle job as a Fiber Arts Studio Artist and Office/Media Assistant at the Gallery and Art Center Complex.

 Now about Mondays!  It's my day off from hustling on the side, and the one day I have time to...hopefully...blog.  Oh, yeah, I'm off on Sunday, too.  Another day I could blog, but am instigating another new rule...spend more time with family, take day trips, shoot more photos with my NEW...not recycled...SMARTphone.   Like this one from yesterday...February 2nd...on a day trip to the Hill Country. 

Notice it does not have thing a to do with the Super Bowl!

     

Mid-May Media Manager

     It's the 'Middle of May'!  I've been an absent blogger since the 'End of April'.  There's a reason...actually, there are several reasons, however, listing them at this point would be pointless.  So, I'm going with the latest catch phrase popular with the pundits... 'Going Forward'.  We use to say...'Moving On'...either way, I'm doing it without too much 'Looking Back'.
     Okay, one 'Look Back' cause I can't remember if I've bragged about how much I LOVE my new studio at The Chicken Farm Art Center.  Shoot, after the April Challenge, I don't remember if I posted about moving from Studio 14 to Studio 10.  Surely, I did, but just in case the picture above pretty much sums up the 'Several Reasons' I've been an absent blogger until now...the 'Middle of May'.

     I must admit....I've been somewhat of a 'Basket Case'.  Not only upping my studio work with fiber and fabric, but adding three mornings a week shuffling paper on and off the computer.  We use to call that 'Office Flunky'...but these days it's 'Media Manager'.  At any rate, my second job is only a few steps away from Studio 10 to the Chicken Farm's Main Studio Office.

So, 'Going Forward' it seems my January-March postings of 52 Weeks Challenge and Sepia Saturday dedicated to ancestors and family history might have to take a 'CatchYaLater' ticket. 

We will see! 

After all, one can only do so much 'Media Management'.

A Climate Change

     We Texans are always bragging about our wide open spaces, everything bigger than Dallas, the weather, and a whole host of other stuff that makes Texas appealing to people from coast to coast.  You noticed I left out 'Sunsets', which is often at the top of the 'Bragging List', and just one of my favorite things about living in Texas and being a Texan.

     Now, I'm adding 'Sunrises' to the list.  Not that I don't see a sunrise pretty much every day as I am an early riser, but seeing a Texas Sunrise from the window seat of a jumbo jet was a first for me.  Lucky for me my window seat was far enough behind the wing to capture the sunrise and the glow it cast on the clouds as the plane climbed above the rising sun. 

     So what's this got to do with 'Climate Change'.

About 55 degrees!

It was 30 freezing degrees in San Antonio, Texas, when we boarded the plane at 7 am.

It was 85 balmy degrees when we landed in Cancun, Mexico, at 12 pm.

It didn't take us long to shed jeans, jackets, socks and boots for...

Sunbonnets, Sunshades, Swimsuits and Sister Time!

Key To Packing Bags In Baggage

      Many of January's days were filled with Fiber Arts.  That would be weaving on table loom Dorothy, restoring floor loom Sparrow, twinning on rug loom LibbyLula and rag rug crocheting on 'BigQ', and with all that 'Looming'...I managed to keep my one News Year Resolution of posting here on CollectInTexas Gal. 

    

My primary goal was the once a week 52 Ancestor Challenge...and I did it...5 of those post in January...only 57 weeks to go.  The other once a week Family History meme I participated in was photo prompt Sepia Saturday.  Again, I did it with 4 Sepia Saturday photo prompt posts.

     All together 2019 January's 20 posts are somewhat of a record after the record low posting in 2018. I'm sort of breaking my arm patting myself on the back. 

     Well, not really breaking...I need both arms and hands to 'Pack My Bags' in my Vintage Monarch Baggage. 

     Is this a cool piece of baggage or what?  About this suitcase, I can say, "They don't make them like this any more." 
     Although the company is still producing luggage today,  you don't see this made for train travel suitcase or it's companion piece the 'Train Case' makeup bag. 
     Saw a set on eBay for $65.  Don't know what the original cost was for a set, but I paid $4 for this one piece at Junktique Shop.
     Now if you are familiar with vintage/used luggage there is almost always one thing missing!

The Key.

Fiber Arts Collage Maker...There's an APP for That

     The typical definition of 'Collage' reads like this, "From the French word coller, "to glue", is a technique of an art production, primarily used in the visual arts where the artwork is made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole".  
     In todays visual arts, technology has impacted Collage Makers in such a way that "to glue" requires "no glue".  As an 'Old School Elmer's Glue-Meister", it's intriguing to envision collaging without some form of glue....even for a Fiber Collage Maker.  Yes, I use glue...it's called Fabric Glue and comes in a Spray Can and a Squeeze Bottle.

     Typical collaging can be a mixed media of paper, paint, scraps of this and that, and whatever.  So, how did Technology take those hands on 'GlueIt Together' materials to a 'ClickIt Together' visual art form.  They created an APP for that!  Next question...what's an APP?  I love this answer because it so fits a 'Fiber' collage makers thinking.  *"Simply put, an APP is a type of software...yeeeesss....that allows you to perform specific tasks."  

Perfect...I work with software...I'm all over this!

     Then the App'ers go on to say, "Applications for desktop or laptop computers are sometimes called desktop applications...yada yada mobile devices yada yada.  When you open an application, it runs inside the operating system until you close it." 

Yippee, more I got this!!! 

 *My operating system sewing machine is computerized, has a desk type top and it's mobile.

     There's more!  The APP Collage'ers  go on to give very specific 'APP's' for creating a collage.  Again, I couldn't be happier to be ahead of the Technology Collage Game.  First, there's the Picasa APP...really, I studied all about Piccaso in college Art History, and can even name most of his famous collage looking paintings...back then it was called Cubism.

     This one caught my attention...PicMonkey!  Now, how in the world does that relate to my method of picking from the stacks of fabric or picking from drawers, boxes, and bags for trim, buttons, dodads and so on.  I'm no monkey...or am I?  I studied 'Evolution' in collage college, too. 

Now, here's an APP I can totally related to, and use as a Computer Collage Technologist. 

 Photo Collage!!! 

As soon as I finish up here with posting these Photo Collages of my new line of

Fiber Art 'Collage Bags'...

...I need to get back to that 'Simply put APP'*

Goodbye 2018...It Seems Like Yesterday

While making room for the NEW...I found a cache of beads, buttons, bows and more junk jewelry. All of it in my New Year 'Use It or Lose It' clean out....I'm Losing It.  After all, if I haven't used it in more than 20 years, I think it's time to pay it forward.  Actually, I have used some of it here and there in jewelry making, but I'm not seeing that style of jewelry in my future. 

I'm paying it forward to a friends granddaughters who have been schooled in the Art of Creativity.  When ever I do a purge of fabric, yarn, patterns and stuff like what is in the box above,  I'm send it their way knowing how much fun they will have going through it and planning all the things they will make.  I always, I mean always receive a handwritten Thank You note.  They are also schooled in the 'Old School Arts of Manners & Acknowledgement'.

It's an 'Alice In Wonderland' down the rabbit hole box.

Would you like an adventure...or shall we have our tea first.

I can't go back to yesterday because I was a different person then.

How long is Forever?  Sometimes just one Second!

~Lewis Carroll~

Alice In Wonderland

Goodbye 2018...it seems like yesterday!

~CollectInTexas Gal~

New Year Photo Shoot...Today-Yesterday-Tomorrow

TODAY

Every time you tear a leaf off a calendar,

you present a new place for new ideas and progress.

-Charles Kettering-

 

YESTERDAY

I've had some lovely extraordinary experiences on New Years Eve.

-Debbie Harry-

 

TOMORROW

Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on,

with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.

-Hal Borland-

 

Art Quote of the Day

I make pictures and someone comes in and calls it art.  Willem de Kooning

Born On January 1st

J.D Salinger - Novelist - 1919

Alfred Stieglitz - Photographer - 1864

Betsy Ross - Patriot - 1752

 

Happy New Year

CollectInTexas Gal

Antique Shop and Shop Girl Shots

In March 2012 I wandered into an antique shop with camera in hand in search of blogging inspiration.  Mind you, it wasn't until I scrolled across this photo that the date was remembered....thanks to the camera's date recorder and digital developing on the computer.  Although the camera is clunky and weighty in my bag, I still prefer it over my cell phone camera.  There is just no comparison when it comes to focus, zoom, lighting or lack there of, and composition. 

Among the photos taken then were several used in 2013 April AtoZ Challenge with my theme 'Fiction From Forgotten Fotos'.  Here are a few of my favorites and the stories they inspired.

Alfred and April's Brush With Disaster

 

Flora's Fight For Texas State Flower

 

Kinfolk From King Williams County

 

After viewing these photos and re-reading the stories they inspired, I realize how much I miss going on photo shoots, writing stories and blogging more often than I have in the last couple of years.  Even though I am super busy since becoming a 'Shop Girl' this past February, I am hoping that after the Christmas Holidays my bag will once again feel the weight of my camera and I'll be dusting off my PC keyboard.  I think it will be my #1 New Years Resolution. 

 

March 2017...Shop Girl Shots!

Just wanted you to know that I'm not totally out of practice with my clunky, weighty camera. 



Last Day To Make 'Even Eight'

Ending the month on an even number of posts is a result of a bit of Number OCD.  It's been almost  an 'Even Eight' years...in August...of blogging with an average of  an 'Even One hundred Fifty-Eight' post per year.  So, you can see how the Number OCD has strongly figured into this 'Even Eight' post. 

Meaning and Fun Facts of Even Number Eight.

Symbol of harmony and balance.

Symbolizes the ability to make decisions.

A double eight, as in 88, is said to bring double joy.

 

Number 8 is a very lucky number in China

  The opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in China

began on 8/8/08 at 8 seconds and 8 minutes past 8 pm.

 

Most umbrellas have eight sides.

The STOP sign has eight sides.

In the world of computers, a byte is eight bits.

The number 8 is the atomic number for oxygen.

Spiders have eight legs and the octopus has eight arms.

There are 8 ounces in a cup and 8 pints in a gallon.

 

Shoot, my Even Eight OCD is nothing compared to 'The Beatles'.

Better Knitter...Better Blogger...Really!

Truth be told, I've about given up becoming a 'Better Knitter', and by the looks of my Blog Stats the same could be said for my Blogging.   Oh sure, I have a list of excuses about as long as the last cast on I did for a lace shawl...several years ago.   I guess I'll have to call it finished since it's about as likely I'll knit or purl back across those kabillion cast on stitches as my going to Estonia.  I should have known from previous projects that called for really, really thin lace weight yarn and really, really, really, tiny needles on a really, really long circular thingy.  And, I really, really thought I wanted to be a Lace Knitter!  

So much for Vogue Knitting's 25 TIPS FOR FASTER KNITTING.

SALE...$9 per hank

 And so much for Knit Pics gorgeous lace weight yarn intended for a shawl from

Knitted Lace of Estonia!

 

Hmmmm...I betcha #1 is Post More Often...Really!

Old School Blogger Power and Star Power of Rag Rugs and Baskets

Yesterday's post...January BlogEnding and 2017 BlogTrending...confirmed my thoughts of not being alone in 'Old School Blogland'.  I must admit being a bit apprehensive to bring up the '2017 Trending and Predictions' concerning the Techno/Social changing aspects of being a blogger...or the alternative term...Business Owner. 

Probably the biggest thing happening with Business Owners is the trend of dropping the Comment Box.  I'm very pleased to say 'It Ain't Happenin' on the 'Old School Blogger's' watch!  What a great response to my 'PS...Comments Welcome'...Thanks Ya'll.  I so enjoyed your comments and replying to each of you!  Blogger Power is alive and thriving in Old School Blogland.

The Star Power for this coming weekends First Saturday's Chicken Farm Show will feature my new Rag Baskets.  Which along with two months of Rag Rug making will pretty much fill my Booth.  I'm really looking forward to seeing how these new items will be received.  It's been a lot of fun work making the Rugs, Bags and Baskets.  Each a 'One of a Kind'! 

If nothing else, they will make a Powerful and Colorful Display...Ole'

January Blog Ending and 2017 BlogTrending

As January 2017 ends, another milestone begins for me personally and for this blog...CollectInTexasGal.  Yes, it was a milestone birthday for me this month, and as HiHoney pointed out, "You are now out of your 60's". 

Wow!  I've always been a 60's Gal.  In high school in 1961-1965.  A 60's Oldies but Goodies music listener and BeBopper.

 Such great memories...why I even dedicated 2015's AtoZ April Challenge to those memories.

Growing Up in the 1950's & 1960's

In my heart, I'll always be a 60's Gal.

 My first January blogging here on CollectInTexas Gal was in 2010, and although it has changed in appearance many times, CollectInTexas Gal has been what is now known as an 'Old School Blog'. 

~photos from post...The Planner for 2010~

Yep, blogging has changed and according to 2017 Blogging Trends and Predictions, blogging as I know and write it...has gone from Journaling and Joining to Business and Buzzfeeders.  Did you know we should no longer call ourselves bloggers?  The replacement terms is 'Business Owner'.

 

 It seems many major blogs are turning off  their comments and instead of conversation via comments...it's all about social platforms like Facebook and Twitter.  Then there is the traffic jam on phones and tablets where on the 'Go'ers' can blog in a hurry and zip through their Blog List of non- commenting and packed Ads. 

For Me...I guess I'll just have to hang with 'Old School Blogger'!

Now, don't get me wrong....I like change, and can easily be called the 'Queen of Design Change'!

That is how I'll be Trending in 2017.

PS...Comments Welcome!

Comfort Zone Color Combo Notes and Theories

Note taking has changed over the years.  I am/was an Old School Big Chief Tablet note taker.  Well, maybe not that old school, but old enough to know that paper and pencil notes are invaluable when your head is filled with details you may need later.  These days, I'm feeling pretty Hi-Techie with my note taking Tablets.  It's the best of both worlds...the old and the new.  

 

I still rely on a spiral notebook to record the details...especially if it's a new project.  Often I will include fabric swatches, who it was made for, costs of materials and time it took to make.

Now, as for the other tablet, it's the 'Bomb' or my 'Jam'...as they now say rather than my old standbys...neat and cool.  It truly is an invaluable tool with it's quick access to any and everything imaginable...including Pinterest....my go to Notebook!

For this post, I am referring to my Color Combo Board on Pinterest and how I use it for color selections....in and out of my 'Comfort Zone.

My 'Comfort Zone' is a balanced and coordinated composition.  I approach most projects whether they be quilts, jewelry, clothing, or in this case rag rugs, in this traditional mode.

For me it is innate...or a built in way of putting together colors.  Here's how I roll with it.  First I choose a 'Focus' fabric with multiple colors.  To that I combine as many coordinating colors as I need for the project...in this rug  it was 4 plus the popper...black.  Then, in the making, the transition of color changes and number of rows are balanced and as seamless as possible.

Out of my 'Comfort Zone', is the 'Scrappy/Random' method of putting together colors.  I have to say that in many instances the finished project turns out to be my favorite. 

Although it looks quite random, there are some color rules I can't help but follow.  Mostly choosing lights and darks appropriately and making transitions for a blended look. 

Over the many years of working with color theories and understanding how and why I pick and choose the way I do, I can truly say....I'm pretty much always...

 In My Color Comfort Zone!

Sympathy Saturday....Paperback Novel 'Widow of the South'

I write this post as the great granddaughter of a Confederate soldier and historian of a family whose lives were lived before, during and after the Civil War.  I write this as one who is interested in the history of, not only the Civil War period, but of our country's history from the Colonials to present day.

I've included this post in GeneaBloggers Sympathy Saturday as an opportunity to share a recently acquired paperback, The Widow of the South. (link to book and author...HERE).  Brief synopsis from back cover...Carnton Plantation, 1894:  Carrie McGavock is an old woman who tends the graves of almost 1,500 soldiers buried.  As she walks among the dead, an elderly man appears...the same soldier she met that fateful day long ago.  Today, he asks if the cemetery has room for one more.

The cover of this book caught my eye as I scanned through dozens of shelves in a used book shop.  After reading the back cover and learning it was based on a true story, I knew it had to be added to the stack of TBR (to be read) paperbacks.  Paperbacks...the other reason for writing this post.

Yes, I have a collection of paperbacks...not for collection sake or value, but for research and for the joy of reading...as time allows...reason for TBR Stack!  In this day and age most of my reading time is done right here on the computer.  And as amazing as it is to have information at the click of a button and have it flow through my fingertips to this virtual paper, I still love holding a book and turning pages.

Paperbacks are also known as softback or softcover books.   In the early 19th century improvements in the printing, publishing and book marketing made paperbacks available and affordable.

 In early 20th Century America, the term pocket book became synonymous with paperback, and the mass-market of paperbacks took off.  The first mass-marketed paperback printed in the US was an edition of The Good Earth by Pearl Buck and today it is highly collectible.

I don't know about you, but I browse paperbacks not by their title or author, but by their cover.  As it turns out, once publishers realized the importance of cover art as the main selling feature of paperbacks, a whole new area for graphic artist, genre writers and collectors was born.  Some collectors bought paperbacks solely based on their cover. 

I have only just begun reading Widow of the South. And although my intention was to read it for the pleasure of holding and turning pages,  it has already added information to my Georgia ancestors research.  One of my Confederate cousins died at the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee. 

A true contradiction of the adage...'You can't judge a book by it's cover.'

So Much For Keeping It Simple

The hardest thing about an 'Ending' is knowing where to 'Start'.  That's where I am now that I don't have a work schedule to follow.  It's where I am when I walk into my studio where I have organized and re-stocked my stashes of fabric, yarn, notions, lace, trims, buttons and all of the frenzied liquidation shopping stuff.

So much for my 'Stash Busting' proclamations of Use It or Lose, Sue...and just when I was making headway in that regard.  So much for the '4R's Bucket List'...you know the one where last year I swore on my stack of Bible Fabrics to 'Re-Use, Re-cycle, Re-New and Re-Sell'.  You'll notice that not one of those Re's had a thing to do with Re-Stocking!


Anyway, it's over, and I have a plan for the winding down process...yes, I do. 

I plan to keep it simple. 

That's why I chose the 'Simple Crochet Shawl' pattern.....

.....and the Bridal Shawl pattern...times 2....

....and the Re-reads of Game of Thrones while watching Season 6. 

Afterall, the Tower of Joy theories have to be boned up on if I am to intelligently discuss medieval castles, crypts, creeps, shape changers, dragons, and a bunch of messed up Family Trees.  Then there is learning a bit of Dothraki. 

So much for keeping it simple, huh?

March Blog Time All About April

The month of March has much to offer as far as topics on which to blog...even if one's daily March goings on are less than blog worthy.  For instance...famous quotes about March being a lucky month..."I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more luck I have."  Thomas Jefferson.  Then there is this one that describes the days of this year's March for me...which by the way has been quite different from previous blogging March months.

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold:

when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.

~Charles Dickens~

Do you think Dickens had an insight to the 21st Century hot topic of Climate Change?  Regardless, this March of blogging has run the gamut between hot and cold and light and shade for this blogger.  There are reasons...or excuses...which also run the gamut of the afore mentioned Dickens March days.  In other words...I've been burning the candle from both ends with just enough time to start writing and scheduling ahead for the AtoZ April Challenge.

I am signed up!  My 'Theme' is set!  Header is ready!  Letter's ABCD are done! 

Like Jefferson, I am a great believer in LUCK!

So, it's back to writing work I go!

Hi Ho!