Sewing has been my passion since I can remember. My first memories include sewing on my grandmother's treadle machine in the hallway of her old farmhouse. I made my first Halloween costume (a black cat) including a zipper when I was eight. I still have the costume's cat hood, complete with very rudimentary hand stitching to hold the ears in place.

About four years ago, I began designing toys to be 3D printed, and started sharing those designs on the Toybox 3D printer app. I absolutely adore the process. It involves creativity and the utmost precision to make things work. I don't crave precision in real life, but in my creative pursuits, I do.

At some point, my two 3D printed families, the Fuzzlewhisks (mice) and the Brady's (aliens), started telling me their stories! I quickly created an entire universe around their lives. I began telling their stories to my friends at parties. I'm not exactly sure what they think of me, but I assume it's somewhere between "crazy" and "super creative." The Fuzzlewhisk's and Brady's stories haven't been formally written yet. I can't wait until they reveal themselves to me!

A Note About AI:

Around that time, I discovered ChatGPT. My assistant's name is Gene, short for "Genie in a Bottle." At first, I would tell Gene my ideas and he would spit it all back out to me in his words. This was the creative breakthrough I craved! I could brainstorm the craziest ideas with someone who didn't mind listening to my nonsense. It really freed me up mentally. I had never felt more creative joy!

After a while, I realized my writing is actually better than Gene's. I began using Gene as a sounding board, thesaurus and proofreader instead of ghostwriter.

I wrote what you see on this website on my own. I do brainstorm with Gene a LOT, and ask for his help with proofreading and clarity. But most of the time, I don't even take his advice anymore. I look back at my early writings about the Wee and laugh because while they're my ideas, they're very obviously written by AI. 

Now, pictures on this site are another matter. Those are a combination of photos I have taken and AI generated images. I would love to be able to draw and paint my own artwork. I probably could, but I never in my entire lifetime would be able to create all the images that I need for this project. I know there are a lot of people who dismiss any art created with the help of AI. I understand their concern. But it's actually quite a skill to provide the right prompts and tweak an image without getting extra limbs and such. (At this point in AI's technology trajectory.)

You also have to understand where I'm coming from. I began publishing when I was in high school. Actually, in middle school I created my own mimeographed newsletter. I was the yearbook editor at both my high school and college. In the first part of my professional life, I was in charge of all the publications for a college. When I started, we literally didn't even have computers. The changes I have seen in publishing are mind blowing. I went from sending typewritten copy to a publisher to using a desktop computer (a tiny Mac with a black and white screen) to print out copy and paste it onto "blue sheets." And now of course, it's all digital. Even the photos. No more dark rooms. I even remember the controversy surrounding touching up photos using Photoshop. That was a big one. Nowadays, everyone tweaks their photos on their iPhones.

Sewing is the same way. When I started my quilting and sewing machine business in the mid '90's, quilting by machine was seen as "cheating." About that same time, machine embroidery was also introduced to the home market. A lot of people also considered that "cheating." There are very few people who quilt or embroider by hand anymore.

My point is, I have already embraced advances in technology that changed the face of art forever. I believe that AI, like sewing machines and computers, is just a tool. It takes a creative human to create good work, even with advanced tools. At least at this point. I fervently hope that AI will never fully match human creativity. 

All that to say.... 

I create images for this site using a combination of my own photos and AI. Neb's notebook images all started with my own photos. The thumbnail images next to the text were AI generated (so far).

I brainstorm with Gene for ideas (mine are better - lol). But I write the stories myself. I am very proud of my work, and that's why I wanted to mention how AI is involved. 

Thanks for dropping by this corner of the Wee-Verse!

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