Lula

May 28 2014

Gone to the Dogs

By melissasasichambers Lula, Ordinary Days

This week has gone to the dogs. Well, to my dogs anyway: Sirius, Snug, and Lula. You hear about Lula all the time because she is basically a miracle disguised as a hiccup. But before Lula, there were Sirius and Snug.

Sirius is pretty much a dog’s dog and other than having serious separation anxiety, which I will not embarrass him by discussing here, spends his time doing ordinary doggy things. He doesn’t have a lot of time for hanging around art projects and posing for pictures, though I do have this one of him with Snug — before Snug got his hair cut.

Snug, on the other hand, is a total ham and would gladly photo-bomb every shot I take of Lula if he could. He LOVES Lula and alternates between licking her sweetly, or stepping on her head and sitting on her chest. He weighs 15 lbs. which is close to 3 times as much as Lula, so she doesn’t put up with that for long!

Anyway, everyday this week has had a doggy demand — vaccinations, grooming, tryouts at Camp Bow Wow. It’s exhausting. I’ve barely had any time for art. So instead I’m sharing 2 of my 3 favorite reasons for putting the projects off until tomorrow….

By the way, that quilt they are playing on is the one I’m Kantha stitching for Lula to hula on. So see! I am trying to get work done. It just doesn’t look like I am.

May 16 2014

Who Knew?

By melissasasichambers Lula

This is as close as Lula will ever get to wearing a grass skirt.

This is probably as close as Lula will ever get to picnicing in Hawaii.

This is a detail of the quilt I block printed with the feather wood block from my “Confluence” print — which I have already spent 20 hours Kantha stitching, for future picnics with Lula, and only finished one fifth of so far.

So is this.

And why, you ask, go to all this trouble for one little pup with four left paws, who would not eat pineapple if you paid her?

Lula.

Must.

Hula.

May 10 2014

Perfectly Imperfect

By melissasasichambers Lula, Ordinary Days

Keeping busy takes real discipline. When I don’t have a deadline, I don’t have a focus for all my energy and I’m a little like Lula with my feet heading in one direction and my hands heading in another.

Assigning myself projects to fill the time between my “real” deadlines helps, and so this week I worked on a new Kantha stitched quilt I hope to share next week, and a new Pom pow blanket….

Before:

After:

I’m really working hard at being disciplined about staying busy, not falling into the gaping maw of inertia, and as a result I stepped for a moment into a different sort of rut. A rut I mentioned in my last post — the “pattern of perfect repetition” rut.

Fortunately, Lula knew just how to show me the error of my ways…

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(Click on the text above to see a video of Lula in action!)

Obviously Lula did not think this blanket had nearly enough POW in its Pom pow! So I changed that…

And then because it wasn’t too late, I even made a quick fix on last week’s pompowsity…

She may be a bit challenged in the perambulation department, but Lula knows how to keep me on my toes! Thank you Lula, for the reminder that around here we prefer the perfectly imperfect.

Much better!

Feb 06 2014

WORN…Lula

By melissasasichambers 2D & 3D, Lula

To be perfectly honest, this is the way Lula prefers to spend her days — au naturel — just the way DOG made her.

But, it’s too cold and snowy lately, and Lula tends to tip over a bit more than most pups, so “clothing” is generally a good idea this time of year.

Besides, Lula is a girly-girl, which means she likes to dress-up and she tends to follow the same blogs I do. That’s how she knows that bloggers like to post about what they are wearing. One of the blogs we read regularly calls that segment “Worn.”

I’m going to tell you right now, other than painting my boots, I don’t plan to share my wardrobe with you. Lula, however, is her own dog. And this is Lula’s wardrobe:

And this is Lula’s wardrobe after I “painted” it with a few different filters:

Up to now I’ve only painted a portrait of Lula in an imaginary spotted coat, but I look forward to creating some artsy wearables for her soon.

2D or 3D, I know she will wear it well!

Jan 31 2014

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

By melissasasichambers Holidaze

Gung Hay Fat Choy! That means “Congratulations on your prosperity!”

May it be so for you and yours all year long in more ways than simply financial — though more pennies in the piggy are always welcome too!

This morning I thought I might get clever with all the wonderful joss papers I’ve collected up in my studio.

I didn’t know quite what I’d do. Maybe make a door wreath, or fancy-dancey mobile or string up a colorful banner. Something.

Today was Friday though, which meant Art Friday, which meant Lula and I headed over to mom’s….where we didn’t get to watch a lovely Chinese artist cut a horse out of red paper.