Linda June 20th, 2010
Well, I have been madly beading pins and finishing up stuff for the kids’ school. Summer is here but the warm weather is not—argh!!!
Donny Darko:two words–don’t bother. Enough said.
Dr. Horrible’s singalong blog: Good but at the end it lands flat. It is done by Joss Whedon–they guy who did Firefly and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (never seen it). The video is only 43 minutes and has the guy from Dugie Houser M.d. (did I spell that right?) in it as Dr. Horrible. I watched it because it is kinda of a cult classic but if you don’t feel the need to see this because of that you will not have missed much. Clever idea, why Joss did it, I am not sure.
Neverwhere: a book by Neil Gaiman that I totally adore (a very twisted Alice in Wonderland via Neil G.) I had read that this movie was awful but watched it anyway. It really was not as bad as all that. It was a BBC production so the effects were not Hollywood splashy but it followed the story perfectly( I had read that the book was written AFTER the movie was made?!). Out of 5 stars I give it a 3.
Blades of Glory: think Zoolander meets ice skating. Will Ferrel seems to act all the same parts–a doofy guy who thinks he is a sex symbol and as a result is crude and gross. The other guy in this is the guy who was Napoleon Dynamite and for the life of me can’t remember his name and will probably go down in history known as “the guy who played Napoleon Dynamite”….sad. Anyway, this movie did have some funny funny parts–”iron lotus”. It is a good thing that I was not in a theatre when I saw this because I laughed so hard and long (and still kinda find a chuckle in it) that I would of been kicked out. Yes, I am a sick person ;0) I would of given this movie a 3 out of 5 stars.
I did buy a bunch of “B” rated VHS’s (ha, remember those!!!!???) at a garage sale: Attack of the 50 foot woman, Revenge of the Creature, The Invisible Man, The Raven and the Black Cat. I also scored one of my most favorite movies of ALL time–Slaughter House Five (from a book by the most brilliant Kurt Vonnegut). I am saving that one for a special night ;0). My kids were shocked by the title but really it is not as it sounds. K. Vonnegut survived the bombing of Dresden. The hero, Billy Pilgrim, is in a bomb shelter called “slaughter haus 5″ when that happens. I love this movie–it is thought provoking, sad, funny and sci-fi all rolled into one as only Vonnegut could do.
Linda June 15th, 2010
Melissa Maher called me today. She is the editor in charge of the “bling” section of the magazine Quilters Home. My pins will be in the Oct/Nov issue and on newsstands in late Sept. One of Scott’s quilts will also be featured in the same issue. Hmmmm, where oh where do you think the path will lead?
Linda June 14th, 2010
I know that some of you are not entirely interested in my “other” dolls so I will not bore you here–but if interested there is new picture added of Tifa and Adsel.
On another note: we have signed up for Netflix and I must confess, I REALLY like it. We decided to drop our basic cable because my daughter was cruising the channels and watching some in appropriate stuff (a lot of it was commercials!!!). It really only saves us out $3 a month but it is fun! So far I have watched:
1)District 9 (all I have to say about this is, I think the main character was stupid and what do you THINK happens when you play around with alien technology?! Be warned–plenty of “gibs” in this movie.)
2)The Informant (Yawn, neither Scott nor I could make heads or tails out of this movie and only watched about half of it.)
3)Tideland (not for the faint of heart–I am still trying to make up my mind about this movie…it was directed by one of my favorite directors, Terry Gilliam, so you must realize that it will be “odd”. I can see how it can be disturbing–as most of his can be–he has a dark sense of humour. So don’t say I didn’t warn you..it does stick with a person though–kinda like onion or garlic ;0)
4)The Mysterium of Dr. Parnissuss (Yes, another Terry Gilliam movie–this one will probably be known for being Heath Ledgers last movie–he died during production and Jude Law, Colin Ferral and Johnny Depp to over his part. I LOVED this movie and during the first 5 minutes of the movie knew I had to own it. Sometimes Terry Gilliam’s narration seems a little wobbly–like he has ADHD but this one seemed to be more linear but also had more complexity to it. I adore this movie! Visually it is a yummy sticky treat.)
5)On direct download I have been watching “Neverwhere” by Neil Gaimen (it is done by BBC so the “special” effect are not very high tech. but just okay–esp.if you are like me, a child of the 60′s when we could see the outline of space ships and stuff. I don’t think this production is as bad as I had read other places and it follows the book or visa versa almost word for word. It is just okay and I am glad I didn’t buy it but am happy that I can see it too. )
6)Mimi has The Chipmunks the Squeakwell in the queue–bleech–won’t be watching that anytime soon but she is happy!
Linda June 10th, 2010
Scott has been home from quilt market for about 2 weeks and the dust (or rather fabric) has had time to settle. He made lots of good contacts (Amy Butler for one) and the new Editor of Quilter’s Home for another. I had sent him with a couple of my beaded pins to give away. Amy loved hers and so did the Editor (oops-forgot her name here, senior moment! Is it Jake?). Anyway, it was so well received that this Editor wants to highlight them in her “bling” section of the magazine sometime in the Fall. I am told there will be a “small” phone interview with me (just the idea makes me all squirmy!). So with that said I have been making new pins to put on my Etsy shop like a mad women…this along with the state messing with the funding for my kids’ alternative school, Noel taking the Sat, signing kids up for Fall classes, one dental crown for me, wisdom teeth removal for Noel, gypsy doll to finish, AND a requested custom made 2 headed cat.
This is what my desk looks like at the moment. You can see the fabric color card from Quilt Market (very cool stuff, it is a 50/50 silk cotton blend–look for it, very fun stuff!). The 2 headed teddy that started the request, beads to the left and a great pile of button in front (this is only PART of my button stash–oh I do love finding jars of buttons at garage sales nothing is better except the smell of old fabric!) The body parts for the 2 headed cat are in purple-the middle–my desk do not normally look this way (LOL but Scott’s does !!!!). I will post pics of the cat when I am done.
Oh and if you have time–check out a place on line called GraphJam.com!!!!
Linda June 9th, 2010
Here is the progress on my “gypsy” doll so far. 
The bead strands below will be part of her “hair”. I have had to put this project on hold for awhile….the reason is in my next post. Stay tuned..”same bat channel, same bat station” (yes, I AM dating myself LOL!).
Linda May 16th, 2010
Would you believe that I have been making dolly corsets??? Yup, I have. My models are Souldoll Hazy and Dollstown Yeondu. I bought the pattern from a nice lady in Aussie land, Just Shining. The patterns were great and better yet, down loadable PDF’s…YEAH, no postage! I asked permission to make some to sell and these are them. I will be putting them up for sale on my Etsy site here in a few days. The two tan corsets are made with vintage materials and trims.
My 12 year old daughter sent me this email on mothers day:
I want to say thank you for all you do. for cooking and cleaning and making us bentos boxes
. I know you don’t get to here it enough but, “thank you” ^^ I just woke up 
(tired) so I don’t really have enough time to right something long but, I’ll try my best to make a poem for you:
in the night when the thunder roars, i am scared
but, you are there.
in the day where my friends cause trouble,
you are there to tell me how to get threw this.
i want to say thank you, but that seems to small.
(dad’s here and want to check his email, so i don’t have long at all)
there’s not much else to say, your my one and only mom and I’m very happy to have you
THANK YOU!
(I love the part about Dad wanting the computer to check his email). I hope everyone else had a lovely Mothers Day, I know I sure did.
Linda April 29th, 2010
Max (14) is the kinda of kid who seems to be born with a pencil in his hand. His view of the world is just “alittle” different…he is my middle child. He has been working on a “series” call “t.v. dinner” for months. His friends got involved in producing it and his first installment is on youtube—
He would greatly appreciate it if after you watched it you would comment on it.
Linda April 22nd, 2010
I got my Spring/Summer issue of Art Doll Quarterly. My Alice is on pages 54-56. The first page is a full page shot of her. If you get a chance to make it to a Barnes and Noble or Borders, check it out. Now what do I spend that check on????
Linda April 18th, 2010
I have decided to try it again–Scott has just been smirking at me about this. I am going to again participate in the Gypsy Doll Challenge. Now if you may recall, the first doll got to be to big, too costly to send and then arrived and set up for the show all wonky. The next doll arrived fine but was given the wrong title–(from Frog Prince to Spring?!),sigh. Do I sound like a person who does not learn her lessons? Perhaps.
Below is a sketch of the doll I am planning on doing for the show..the challenge title is the “Magic Gypsy Carnival.” I draw up all my proposed dolls–it helps me to work out/foresee most problems. And the funny thing is-they usually turn out pretty close to what I have envisioned. This doll will be all beaded–so the colors that you see are actually beads in that color way. I will sculpt her face out of super sculpy and the hair will be long stands of beads. The skirt will be out of the fabrics and trims that you are required to use in the doll. I want to suspend her in a “hoop” and put a fishing lure “thingie” on her head so she can spin 360 degrees. My only problem is how to affix this to a base so it can stand on a table.
I now have to shop for beads (poor me right?!).
Linda April 16th, 2010
Just alittle bit of Easter cute-ness. This is my pukipuki (she is about 4 inches tall with out bunny ears), her name is Trillian. When we were filling eggs I found this tiny jellybean and it was just her size. Just could not resist ;0)
