I composed a little poem to put inside our Christmas cards last year...
And all through the house
All the creatures were stirring,
including the mouse.
Seeds in the feeder,
The birds have been fed;
Traps have been set -
Six mice are now dead.
Snowflakes are made,
Stiffened and glittered, too;
Some on the tree
And one just for you.
Then Murphy's Law kicked in. Our printer went down. No warning. Just quit. Just like that.
I was devastated because I'd bought a whole case of ink specifically for that printer. The printer, like most everything else I own, was a dinosaur. I bought it in 2002. No one else would be able to use my ink. I had little hope of finding an identical printer in usable condition.
I came up with a different way to make my Christmas cards, which prompted some unplanned poetry...
Card stock and envelopes,
Three sets of printer ink
All have been purchased
For Christmas cards in a wink.
The computer is humming,
The green light on the printer
Gives no clue it is dying.
"Print away, print away!"
The photographer demands.
The printer sits silent,
The photographer rants.
Troubleshooting commences,
All systems are go,
But the poor ancient printer
Still says "Heck, no!"
The photographer and her true love
Long for a winter night's rest
But not without saying
How this year we're blessed.
The printer won't work
And more mouse holes to seal;
But we love our new digs -
The fixin' up just makes it more real!
Because we had no printer and no funds for copies, we opted to write our Christmas greeting by hand. Which means my poem got shortened to just the first dozen lines. 'Cuz our hands got tired of writing!
But hey, it works! What more could we ask!
The shop we bought the printer from must have been trying to clear out everything associated with that particular printer. They stuffed the box to the max with a ton more ink cartridges and printer specific paper (although this printer will use any paper and the proprietary paper likely will work in any printer). Not only do I have the one- or two-year ink supply I'd bought a year ago, I have almost that much more in reserve now! And I have printer papers I'd never even seen, much less heard of, to play with!
Woohoo!
One of the things I love to do is print my photographs on fabric, colorfast the fabric, and quilt the fabric into something magnificent and potentially perfect for the Denver National Quilt Festival. Without a printer for so many months, I didn't get any quilting done this year. I have no excuse now for next year!
I guess that means I also need to come up with a poem for this year's Christmas card. And make some new Christmas cards while I'm at it...
Geez, and I thought I was finally going to have a tiny bit of spare time again!
:):):)
ReplyDeleteHow about a blog post on how you do the fabric printing when you start on the next quilt? I've been wanting to do that but have never gotten around to researching the various methods.
ReplyDeleteDeborah, you are just TOO fantastic for words!
ReplyDeleteI loved the poems. and how lucky to find a printer to use all that ink! yea!
ReplyDeletein regards to your comment on my WW, about using a plastic bag to keep the lens dry... do I just put the baggie around the lens part or if my whole camera fits in the bag, do that? I wonder if the plastic would alter the image? thanks for the tips :) Faythe~
Hey Snowcatcher - here are some real snowflakes for you.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.laboiteverte.fr/de-la-neige-au-microscope/
hi what a gorgeous blog, i love the poetry and the snowflakes and good for you having achieved your 3000 miles!!
ReplyDeletekeep blogging!
regards
liz
*via Ravelry...!
Great poetry and the card is unique and very appropriate!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely adore the way you turn your crafts into beautifully graphic cards and quilt squares. How do you print on fabric? So glad you were able to get a brand new printer in your old model. We get so attached to our equipment, it's always hard to let them go and learn all the quirks of the new ones. Love, love, love your poems!!!
ReplyDelete