Linda September 7th, 2010
The Oct/Nov issue of Quilters Home is out on the check-stands–my pins are on page 37 . I will post a copy of the page here later–Scott does all the pictures stuff for me–the boy’s computer won’t load pics for some funky reason–ARGH!!!!
Well..it has been quite a summer; lost 2 chickens (hens of course not the useless rooster!) to a bold raccoon, is appears that my favorite cat is now gone too (of course the ones that I DON”T like are still here!), went to my family reunion and my Dad did not talk to me (sigh), made various attempts at friendships and they seemed to have withered on the vine and last but not least spending the best part of summer indoors with a broken leg. The cast comes off in 2 days and I have plans to stay up late and get my studio and kitchen back in order. I have 2 projects that have to be done ASAP (1 for C & T publishing and1 for the gypsy show/challenge.) After that I have great plans to “bond” with my new sewing machine.
Linda August 31st, 2010
I am coming to the end of my forced confinement…my cast is supposed to come off on the 9th of Sept–just 9 days away. In the mean time I am still sitting around and making “stuff”. My latest endeavours are : 2 pairs of socks…the light pink are mine and the darker ones an X-mas present. They went fast, if I remember right it was 2 or 3 days (as compared with Scott’s socks which took me a couple of years LOL).
I have also finished the beaded doll part of the Gypsy Challenge. I will make her a stand but I am having trouble either getting up to the studio or moving around in it so that will have to wait. I have till the last week of Sept. so I still have some time yet.
I also have some things in the works for C & T publishing but I will tell more about that as time goes on. And last but not least, I will have all the beaded pins (53 +) listed on my ETSY site and ready to go. Already sold one even before the magazine article has come out. The “Bling” blurb will be in the Oct/Nov issue of Quilters Home and Scott will have a quilt in that same issue too. Have also watched vast amounts of DVD’s—do you know that you can only check out 10 at a time on your library card? It helps to have 3 kids and use their cards too!
Linda August 17th, 2010
Scooter girl here–at least that is what my husbands twitter friends refer to me as..thought, I would post a pic of me here and in all my scooter glory. I am not a happy camper and am having a hard time not being depressed. It is hot here and when it is hot my foot gets hot and swells in my cast making it tight in the afternoon. This is about the time I need to make dinner, argh. Then afterwards all I can do is sit with it raised and wait for the house to cool down. One of the kids is so nice as to stay in the living room with me and man the Dvd player. I hate sitting round and am hoping this is not going to make my butt even bigger ;0/ Try to some stretches and “some” exercises but it is not easy with one leg.
Below are pics of my new work station…I finished all the pins I had set to do. I will be listing all 53 of them on my etsy site here in a few days. You can see, 1 Dt head Io, 1 PukiPuki with her new picnic set, my beading stuff, pile-o-dvd’s, mini dvd player, books, journals and pens. My newest Cd, Poets of the Fall “Carnival of Rust” and cd player, to the left is yet more dvd’s.
where I sit ALL day mostly…..
Better shot of “some” of the beaded pins. They turned out pretty if I may say so myself. With those done I will start back on the beaded doll for the gypsy challenge.
The kids and Scott continue to be very willing and helpful. No one has complained…except me.
Linda August 4th, 2010
Well, saw the Dr. and the x-rays. Broke the smaller of the two leg bones above my ankle. I have bright pink cast that my daughter is itching to decorate LOL…I am to keep weight off of it or they will really push me to get a screw put in. I am rolling around the house on a scooter type thingie (who in their right mind would emboss your company name where a person puts their shin all day????). Kids are being great about helping me, Scott is good too but constantly telling me to go slower, don’t stretch so much yadda yadda yadda. After scooting up stairs on my butt a few times I decided to move some of my studio down stairs. I cannot do the face-ups on my new dolls but am doing alot of beading of buttons for upcoming Quilters Home article etc. And tryng to now to not become too depresses about this whole thing—I hate the cast, I hate using one leg only, I hate not being able to drive myself, I hate it hate it hate it. It does not hurt but now kinda itches and I have to not think about how my foot is enclosed in plaster for an indeterminate amount of time–it makes me feel claustrophobic and then I want to take a knife to it–so I try and distract myself. Scott bought me a beautiful Brother sewing machine that I cannot use because of the cast to I am going to use that as a goal/reward to myself. If you are a praying individual I would really appreciate your prayers this I would not need surgery and that it would heal super fast! Thank you.
Linda July 31st, 2010
For my and my daughters birthday we went to a vacation house in Pacific Beach Wa. Lovely quiet place to go–small small small (did I small?) town and you just walk everywhere..beach is just a few blocks away. We were playing at the play ground the first night we were there. I was feeling sprightly and decided to jump out of the swing I was swinging on…landed mostly on my right foot–heard/felt a “pop”…and you can see the result. Iced it, wrapped it and then proceeded as normal. Dh convinced me to go to the Dr. when we got home (4 days later). I am told that I broke my ankle (or some such thing). It really does not hurt all that much and now is starting to itch. The biggest annoyance is the walking boot I need to wear and have my 17 year old drive me ;0( This on top of, Scott gave me a fancy Brother sewing machine for my b-day and I can’t use it because of the stupid robo-foot I now have…ARGH!!!!!!!!!!
(the colors have actually gotten more intense and vibrant at this point–LOL). I told Scott that next time I jump out of a swing I will use “spotters”…the little girls at work feel sorry for my ankle but think I am very cool for breaking it that way LOL!!! Nice picture of one of my tatts huh?!
Linda July 28th, 2010
Another 2 headed bunny. A collector requested this for a very good friend of hers. This is the result. I really like working with this fur. It is very forgiving–does not stretch, covers up the stitching and have a vintage look to it. I bought the last of a bolt the last time I found it at a fabric shop. I just wish it was done in other colors.
More movies….
Strings: this is an amazing movie. It is done all with marionettes. And they are beautiful—carved out of wood and given a natural finish. And unlike other marionette movies this one incorporates the strings (hence the name) into the story. Just watching the scenery and how life like the puppets move just made me want to watch it over again, even before I finished watching it the first time. Now, the story was VERY predictable…king has bad brother, bad brother covers up kings suicide and most importantly “his will”. Son was supposed to take over throne but bad brother does this instead–Kings daughter is given as a reward to bad brothers henchmen….etc. Blah, blah, blah….but if you are in to “visual arts”…watch this!!!
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: YUCK! I had started to read this book because of all the hype–you hear about it about once a day on NPR. Could not get into it, so I thought watching the movie would be easy to follow. To me it was just another murder mystery that held no surprises. It was graphic–violence towards women, violence to a man–sex and more sex–pictures of mutilated bodies repeatedly shown etc. I can take a certain amount, but this was just dark and yucky, and not a very good mystery. I am not sure what all the hype is all about–perhaps it is because the author died shortly after writing the series and did not live to see its success. Or because his family is fighting over his estate?! It has stuck with me and not in a good way.
Linda July 12th, 2010
Here is a sweet little doll that I made a corset for—it was requested that I make one a size smaller (from Sd sized to Msd sized). Here she is. Her owner was happy with the results–whew, always makes me nervous when selling to people as a request. Her owner is having a dolly coffin made for her so the skull theme on the corset fit rights in. I am right now finishing up another request (a 2 headed bunny) that I will be posting pics here soon. Then I am onto giving Scott’s Hujoos a face-up (yup, you read that right). He bought a Berry Girl and a Hujoo Girl Tan. His plan is to use them for his “photo shoots” and for featuring his “fabric lines.” Hey, gives me an excuse to play with some more dolls.
I also is working on making small blank journals that could be used as props or as just small travel journals, beading yet more pins (sadly the gallery that I have others in is closing, lack of sales in this recession), necklace ideas and a beaded gypsy doll..whew ;0)
Linda July 1st, 2010
In between making dolly corsets and a 2 headed rabbit, I have been reading:
I heard this author on NPR (National Public Radio) one day while in the the car and found it intriguing. Lo and behold the library had it. It took me about 2 days to read it cover to cover. Now the first thing I must say about this book is that I did not agree with her final conclusion but found the information that she presented very compelling and touching. Barbara Bradly Hagardly is a religion correspondent for NPR. As she accounts in her book, she was raised christian science (my grandmothers sister was too which has caused not end of disapproval in my family). But has found that that “brand” faith was not working for her so she is now a “born-again” christian. As a reporter she wanted to delve into the question of spirituality and science–to see what science has to say about this very important part of our life and if science could approve or dis-prove our beliefs. What sticks with me the most is that when a person is “touched” by a divine incident that there is an actual change in the brain (she calls it God’s fingerprint). It is a documented fact–while people have been meditating or praying while in a MRI there is a noticeable/recordable change. This book piggyback on to another book that was mentioned in this one and again I head a brief interview on NPR.
John Geiger recounts stories of people in awful circumstances that while in the midst of these (mainly mountain climbers–all of the men as you will note and sailors–again men?! Whats with that I ask???) who feel or see a presence that aids and comforts them. The most famous being Sir Ernest Shackleton…while tracking across frozen ice and over mountains mentions the presence of a 4th man when there were only three of them. As Geiger points out, explorers are not surprised by hearing stories such as that because it is a know occurrence among them. These presences have steered ships, talked people down off of mountains, given hope and comfort, and alerted people to danger. He documents story after story of people experiencing this..and one of the things that they all have in common is that the “other” is very there, very real, and it is a very moving experience (almost to the point that most don’t talk about it, because to talk about it would “cheapen” the incident). Never do they experience fear but only overwhelming care and companionship. I read this book in a day.
Linda June 23rd, 2010
I have been working on a few commissions lately. Below is a 2 headed cat that I made for a lady in New Orleans. I like how the button collars worked out. I have a bracelet that a wonderful friend (Hi Jeanette!) made for me. I get tons of compliments on it and one day I was wearing it as I was working on this cat…..hmmmmm.
In the bottom two photos the “girl” head had one set of button eyes and the customer did not like those so they got changed out–both her and I were happy with the outcome. The head bow is elastic and removable. The pattern if mine–I just adjust the ears or nose to make a different type of animal..I think if I can find some nubby grey fabric, an elephant would be very cute!
I was also commissioned by a customer from Etsy to make a Bjd corset for a smalled size (1/4 msd) doll. It will have the skulls on it–the customer is having another artist on Etsy make a coffin for her doll–so the corset would be in theme with it.
Still working on beaded pins for the up coming magazine “ad”….I must admit, I am getting alittle bored with them.
Movies:
10,000 B.c.: this is a movie that Scott added in to the queue. It was just o.k. When he ordered it I thought immediately of the 1 million B.c. You know, the one with Raquel Welch in the fur bikini?! We went back and added that one ;0)
