LuYi...

I discovered people coming into here, via a blog I hadn't heard of before..turned out, I had been put in her blogroll!! On poking around a little more, I am SO flattered she likes my site enough to tell others about it!! Thank you, LuYi!

(A slight disclaimer...this blog is not child friendly. Don't open it when your kids are on your lap. Or in the room.)

Credits:
All via Some Required:
1. Lillian Bassman
2. Peter Lindbergh
3. Elisabeth Moch
4. David Lane
5. Olaf Martens
6. Abless'
7. Unknown
8. Joy Division (Side trivia..I had this shirt when I was younger, and LOVED it...it vanished somewhere, as things do in life..)

Colors..

Colors from my camera...

It's just as well...

I have a hereditary disposition for addiction, thanks to my dad....



It's just as well that a sip of even non-alcoholic wine tastes foul to me, and gives me a sore stomach. I just can't handle any of it. Bleh.

(Don't worry, I have plenty of other addictions...I have just been fortunate that stuff like drugs and alcohol react terribly with my body. :p )

Time for a change...

I am really itching to make a new necklace...



But I am still loving my old one.

You *like* me, you really *like* me!!!

I've got two more awards!!! :happydancehappydancehappydance:


Patty, over at Pipstitch, gave me one, (and also tagged me at the same time), so THANK YOU, Patty!!

So the rules are..

1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of those you’ve nominated.


Hmm...seven blogs I love...how do I narrow THAT down!!?? Okay, I nominate:

Cidell ..I just lurk over there, and drool at her sewing skills.

Hoppo Bumpo ..She likes to give her family funny names..I think she spends too much time surrounded by males.

Gigi ..I don't even scrapbook...what am I doing lurking there all the time???

Leah ..I dunno...I like reading her. :p

Kathleen ..She makes the most adorable kid clothes, and then GIVES THEM AWAY!!

Curlypops ..She makes stuff. Cute stuff. Nuff said.

And Tonya ..I'm getting her back. :p


The next one came from Barbara, a little while ago, but I completely missed the mention of my name, til she said something the other day!! Thank you so much, Barbara!!


Now...I need to track down someone who can speak...whichever language that is (Portuguese? Brazilian??), and tell me what the rules are, exactly! lol

THANK YOU SO MUCH, both of you!!! It means so much to me!! :D

My first tag..

Patty, over at Pipstitch, gave me my very first tag..so if you care to learn some totally random, useless information, read on!! :D


Rules first:

1. Link back to the person who tagged you
2. Mention the rules on your blog
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.


Six unspectacular quirks (dh would wonder how on earth I will manage to keep it at only 6):

1. I don't like milk. This includes vanilla icecream, because it tastes like milk. But I eat it in my cereal, and add it to my drinks, and eat all other dairy. Just not plain milk. And I can drink it hot. But not cold, and GOD NO not lukewarm. Barf.

2. I wipe my kitchen counters in specific patterns. And rinse the cloth between specific numbers of wipes. I am working hard to change that, though, cause it's a lot easier to wipe down a mess if you don't have to do a whole set routine everytime you go to clean a spill.

3. I hang up my laundry with matching pairs of clothespins. Always. I will re-peg clothes, and hunt out the dropped ones, and swap other pins, to make sure I am always hanging with a matched set. And close enough doesn't cut it. If the blues aren't exact, I need to keep searching til I find the right one. It's really not all that much more work, and the results are worth it. :p

4. Last time I did a count, I had 73 windows open on my laptop. Drives dh completely bonkers. I tell him leave me alone...HE doesn't have to deal with them, so let me be! It also bugs the living crap outta him that my desktop is covered in icons, since I drop everything miscellaneous onto it, if it doesn't have a designated place yet.

5. I like weeds. I told my FIL recently, if it's green and happy, it stays. :p (I draw the line at stickers, though. I will ruthlessly root out anything like that, very successfully, usually, too.)

6. I hold my breath when I walk past someone on the street, til that gust of air that hits you after they pass has hit. I don't like unexpectedly inhaling someone else's smell.

There. Six little facts about me. Not scared, are ya?? Don't worry..I don't know where most of you live, anyway. :p


I tag:

Becka

Liz

Mary-Laure

Melanie

Pherenike

Kristena

Janmastami celebrations..

Two days of music, dancing, great food, great friends, sleepovers, laughing, talking, singing, playing....the only time I remembered to pull out the camera was sunrise, over the valley, before the day started.

I sooo am not a 1930's housewife..

(an excerpt from: Singer Sewing Guild: A Complete Reference Guild to Sewing first published in 1949)

When you sew, make yourself as attractive as possible. Go through a beauty ritual of orderliness. Have on a clean dress. Be sure your hands are clean, fingernails smooth --a nail file and pumice will help. Always avoid hangnails. Keep a little bag full of French chalk near your sewing machine where you can pick it up and dust your fingers at intervals. This not only absorbs the moisture on your fingers, but helps to keep your work clean. Have your hair in order, powder and lipstick put on with care. Looking attractive is a very important part of sewing, because if you are making something for yourself, you will try it on at intervals in front of your mirror, and you can hope for better results when you look your best.
Again, sewing must be approached with the idea that you are going to enjoy it, and if you are constantly fearful that a visitor will drop in or your husband come home and you will not look neatly put together, you will not enjoy your sewing as you should. Therefore, “spruce up” at the beginning so that you are free to enjoy every part of any sewing you do.

____________________________________________________________________

Oh, yeah, this is soooo me. Hair brushed? Check. Lipstick on? Check. Clean dress on? Check. Little weird bag of powder next to my sewing machine for dusting my fingers, nevermind that I am a freak about dust between my fingers and toes, and am known for going to great lengths to avoid it, and why the hell would anyone be sticking dust all over their fingers at intervals anyway? Check. A lady must always be prepared, after all.

(Okay, hands up, who actually managed to get through either of the above segments with a straight face?? Who would actually have time to sew after all that sprucing up were done, anyway??)


Credit:
My Byrd House.. if you found it remotely funny, head on over to her blog, and giggle there...she's having a giveaway, to be specified, for all gigglers!

Magnolias...

Credit:
Amy Sahba, found via Your Destiny is Stone Golden.

It's a girl...

Yet another baby girl born into the extended family...



(Excuse the terrible pic..the sun decided to vanish just in time for pic taking time...and then the dog decided to run away, so I couldn't just wait for some more..dumb dog!)

Same pattern as I used here, Ottobre 2/2005 #2. I think I forgot one tier...I have these strips of fabric left sitting next to my machine, with no obvious other use. Ooops. :p The pants are Ottobre 2/2005 #3, but extended, and then two tiers of ruffles added. Cause you just can't have too many ruffles if you are a girly little girl, right?? :D

Patience..

Alright...who here thinks I would have the patience and persistence to duplicate these pants??


Owned by Melanie's dh...I'm hard at work trying to convince her to "lose' them in my direction. :p

PeiBei

Somebody likes me (more about her..him??..later...), who led me to these..






Credits:
1. Some Required
2, 3, 4. PeiBei for Elle ...I'm not sure which one.

Hippie gone glam??

I am not hugely fond of, well, anything I have seen of Jay McCarroll's while googling (heresy...I haven't seen him on the show!!!!!), but I do love this pic out of my saved pics..


If I were going to wear patchwork in any shape or form, this would be it.

Credit: Unknown....if you know, etc etc!

Tree sculpting..

I have this amazing picture saved in my inspiration folder...


While trying to see if I could find the source, I came across a whole little world out there of arbor sculpture..






Nature herself makes some pretty amazing creations, too...



Credits:

1. Unknown...old saved pic. If you know the origin, let me know!
2. Red_Conjurer
3. Makezine
4, 5, 6: Eclectica.org
7. Ten Thousand Trees

Spring is springing...

We just had snow a couple weeks ago...now the freesias are here. My house smells BEAUTIFUL!

Time is money....

Sometimes, the thought flashes through my head, some people REALLY have too much time on their hands...


Credits: All pics from CommonGate.

Infectious..

You don't have to be a glass lover like me to appreciate how COOL this stuff is!!!













The Virus collections by Pieke Bergmans. How amazingly cool. Totally renews my dream of messing with hot glass someday. Wow.

And she doesn't only do glass..




Credits: All pics off Piekebergmans.com.
Found via Famille Summerbelle.

Back to the pincushions....

So, I finally got it all done with the pincushions. I tried. And tried. Lots of different things and ideas. I just could.not.get.inspired. I would have all these ideas, but the execution just wouldn't deliver. I finally just had to stop, and send, cause the deadline had been reached. So. Here they are.


The first is silk...the base is a shot silk, alternating with a purple tone. Over that, I had this really luxurious silk scrap, so I decided I really wanted to make a lotus flower. Laying out those petals took FOR-EV-ER (said in my best Sandlot Kids voice). And I kept having to rip them back out cause they weren't working, or I forgot how the heck I was laying them out, or something. Ugh. And then, when I finally finished, with little French knots for the middle, it looked like a dahlia. Sheesh. So much for my lotus.

The next one I tried didn't come out like the picture in my head, either. :eyeroll: I used a tiny Japanese bamboo steamer basket, with two levels, and a lid; and then I used the same beautiful red silk, and hand drew and cut out a stencil, using a royalty free image I found online, of a Koi fish, and applied it with fabric silk screening inks and freezer paper. I made it so it can be lifted out of the basket and taken with when you go out; and I lined the bottom tier with cardboard covered in the silk, as a place to store small scissors, or thimble, or needle packs, seamrippers, whatever.



All that for something that looks like the most uncomfortable looking carp ever, crammed into a tiny basket. Whee. My poor partner. :p