The100DayProject 2024 Complete!

I actually finished this a little ahead of the end date but haven't gotten around to sharing it yet.  It was a little difficult to get a good picture of the entirety, and taking one row at a time also didn't show much, so I did each corner of 25 so you could see them closer.  

The black posterboard was definitely better than white with the stickers, but it's not a flat black which gives it more of a dark gray appearance.  I can't say definitively that there are no duplicates, but I'm pretty sure there aren't.  

So what are my take aways from this project?  I'm glad that I chose to do something easy that I could either work ahead on or catch up easily.  Black posterboard is not as back as I would have liked.  And there were variations that I thought of along the way that could be in the future, such as using a die to roll each day to decide on the number of pieces used each day, and using another one to assign colors.  Using more random patterns rather than adhering to strictly vertical and horizontal.  For start.

The stickers came in a roll of 500 so you'll probably see them again in the not-so-distant future.

100DayProject 2024 and 100 Days of Tangles Updates

I'm so glad that I took the time before my surgery to grid out the placement of all the stickers on the black poster board that HWNSNBP was so thoughtful to pick up for me because bending at the waist is not allowed during my recovery and it would have been a real chore to try to do it without the bending.  As it is, there will be a lot of erasing to do after all the stickers are placed, but I'm pretty sure that it won't be that noticeable.  Also, photographing such a wide piece of paper is a bit challenging while trying to stand up straight and not move so I apologize for the wobbliness of this video I did of the first 30 days worth of stickers.

I found myself running low on the tails so I grabbed some more strips and made some more wishing stars and had to get a bigger jar to put them in.  

These little projects are fitting in pretty good right now because between the muscle relaxant drug and the inabilitiy to sleep through the night because of lingering nerve pain I'm very tired during the day and can't focus on bigger things right now.  That and the fact that I shouldn't be sitting still for long lengths of time which is what I tend to do when I start working on bigger projects.  I can do little by little and still get my laps in.

I was a little overconfident in thinking that I could use some of the time in the hospital to work on some zentangles and actually packed a little bag with some tiles and tools.  What made it even more of a challenge was that when I woke from the 4 hour surgical procedure, my left hand hurt and was totally numb.  I could grasp and squeeze with it, but there was no feeling. They gave me something for the pain and said that the numbness was probably due to the position that I was in during the surgery and that it could take several days (or longer) for the feeling to return.  This kind of set off a firestorm with the attending staff and they felt that they had to do a CT scan to rule out a possible stroke.   I was not happy about that and there's more to that story but I won't go to length here.  I had mentioned several times that I was glad that it was my left hand and not my right as I was an artist - something that I don't think I've ever made claim to be out loud.  One of the nurses asked what I did and I mentioned painting and tangling and was able to show her the ring of 100 days of tangles that I had brought as reference in case I was to work on any tiles.  (I did attempt one, but the drugs weren't helping my eyes focus well enough so I tucked it away.)    But I have been working to keep up with the 100 Days of Tangles and here they are........all of February.........

....and most of March so far.

I haven't done much of the shading on most of these and will have to go back to that when I get near the end.  It will be nice to try to do some tiles with strings in the future too so I can see some of these patterns put together.

Still sleeping downstairs for now, but I did manage to get up the stairs and did a little bit of work in the stamp cave to prepare for Easter that I'll share in a bit. But for now, I'm fading fast and have to say good night and to apologize to my blogging buddies for not visiting as regularly and commenting - I will catch up with you soon I hope.

The100DayProject 2024

These flat folded pentagons, when inflated by pinching, become....

Origami wish stars of which I've been keeping my hands busy with whilst watching the last few Portrait Artist of the Year Series' on Prime.  

So what's that got to do with The100DayProject 2024?  Well, there's always a little bit of a paper tail that is left before you get that little pentagon and I've been saving them in the cap of the jar that I've collected the stars in thinking that I would find a use for them someday......maybe.  I wanted to keep this challenge as simple as possible for me while I go through the recovery of my upcoming surgery so I looked through my stash and found these 1.5" kraft colored round labels and decided that I will use the little leftovers to make a little geometric collage of sorts on a label each day.  My plan is to also make a 10 x 10 grid on black posterboard so I can stick the labels to it as a finished product.

These are all the tools I'll need, although I think that I will need to replenish the scraps periodically as they get low.  Luckily I have plenty of unused origami star paper to help me out with that, and this shouldn't take too much time or energy to complete.  It will also be easy enough to catch up on from those days when I'm totally unable to engage in artist endeavors.

Oh, and the official start of the project was Sunday, February 18th - so you see the first 2 days here.

Weeks 12 & 13 of The 100 Day Project

I didn't give up, I just got side-tracked a little with family events going on the last couple of weeks.  I had Week 12 done but not photographed before we went to Delaware and forgot about that when I got back until today when I went to photograph Week 13.  I have been writing down the words of the day in a little spiral notebook along with the layout for the word so I had some recollection of the particular word that I chose for the day.  If I didn't write down the word, I relied on checking my phone camera for a picture that I might have taken on that day because surely that would have sparked some joy.  So on with it.....  Week 12

And Week 13

I'll be adding the last nine in a couple of days when it is finally finished along with some wrap-up thoughts.

Week 11 of The 100 Day Project (With Bluebird Baby Update)

Here are the baby bluebirds - there were originally 6 eggs and it looks like only 4 of them have gotten this far.  They should be ready to fledge at any moment so the box won't be opened again for a while.  We do have a set of mirrors on a stick so we can spy on them without too much intrusion.  The only problem with that is that HWNSNBP sometimes doesn't remember to put it back where it belongs and it becomes the wrong kind of scavenger hunt.  (Much like when he misplaces his cell phone.  That may be one of the only reasons why we still have a landline telephone ...... so he can use it to call his cell phone without asking me to do it and getting a lecture.)

We made another trip to the nursery again for more plants.  We had to search for the vinca in the colors we wanted but finally found a few flats left to choose from.  One of the plants that we had previously bought is doing well amongst the forget-me-nots - a bleeding heart.  It's not the first one that we've had here but those previously planted years ago have disappeared for whatever reason.  So I'm hoping that putting this one in this somewhat protected area will keep it around for a long time.  I remember that my grandfather had one planted in our yard growing up and I always loved it.  

And finally, the sunset from Friday night.

 

Week 10 of the 100 Day Project (and More)

Okay, 70% complete for this project which, by the way, will flow right into ICAD for 61 days.  Time to look for my index card stash.  

Monday, May 1st was Melanoma Awareness Day and just to remind you, as this has hit close to home for us, please get your skin checked.  

I posted about our GS2's birthday on the 3rd previously.  We did have a quick facetime call with him just to wish him a Happy Birthday on that date.

Earlier that day we made our first trip of the season to the Great Swamp Nursery and were surprised, yet not surprised at how busy it was there for the middle of the week.  We wanted to get there and pick some things up before the weekend when we know it will be crowded, particularly the weekend before Mother's Day.  We got some of our regular stuff but we did splurge on something that will be experimental to see if we can both enjoy it and protect it from the deer.  There is a plan - we just hope it's a working plan.  

I was going to take a picture of this girl we saw there but decided against it.  She was a young girl, not skinny, wearing an oversized sweatshirt that just barely covered her butt and both HWNSNBP and I thought she had patterned leggings on, but as she passed us we realized that those were tattoos on her legs - just here and there not all over - no pants to be seen.  I hoped she wasn't going to bend over to pick up any plants.  Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against tattoos, it was the length of the top and absence of the pants that made me shake my head.

The 4th was Bird Day and we are pleased to report that we have 6 baby blues in the box nearest the house that have hatched within the last week.  This box does not have the camera in it for us to monitor.  HWNSNBP had taken down the old bird house in the garden because it was falling apart - that was/is the one with the camera - and the bluebirds don't seem to like the newness of the dwelling that was put in its place.  At least not for now.  Perhaps they'll move into it later in the season, but for now, here are the babies.

We've had some wet and raw weather here and I was sad to see that someone that lives not too far from us lost their clutch of 6 babies that were further along than ours presumably to the weather.  I thought it might be from an inexperienced mama blue not tending them or gone missing.  Unfortunately it's one of those things that you never will find out how it happened or why.  Still it is a heartbreak.

HWNSNBP stopped at Costco and got us Churros for Cinco de Mayo and we were lucky to spend the evening with most of our Table 7 Group celebrating a birthday.  

I dug out my crown and though I did not get up early, managed to watch some of the replay of the King's Coronation today.  (No, I really didn't wear it, just had it nearby.)

The weather is warming up slightly and there is yardwork to get done along with getting our daughter's wedding celebration invites put together so she can have them to mail out soon.  (They did get married in July of 2020 but because of the pandemic, couldn't have anyone except immediate family at the time and circumstances with venues and vendors kept postponing the "re-enactment" which has been scheduled for August.)  So let me be off hoping everyone enjoys the weekend.