Detours

Somehow I've managed to take a few detours along the road called Things with Deadlines. But then, I usually find it's futile to argue with the creative spirit.
Yesterday I decided I wanted to see what the food quilt was going to look like, so I started sewing strips together. I already had squares sewn into strips of 16. Just out of curiosity, since I'm not one to actually plan ahead, I looked up the dimensions for a double-bed-sized quilt and I'm in luck. By my calculations, it will need to be 14 x 16 squares. Maybe I'm an intuitive quilter.


While I was over at the fabric/yarn store yesterday buying replacement needles to finish the socks, I noticed Hilda the saleslady working on a quilt, so I asked for a little advice. I told her I wasn't sure when to sew the binding on.....before or after the quilting. She told me it was definitely after. Actually, that's just what I intuited....


Further along the detour, I thought it would be fun to make some little ladybugs out of Sculpey with the idea of gluing them on a few of the tissue paper flowers. I had plenty of Sculpey left over from a class I took a couple of years ago when I was thinking it might be fun to make cloth dolls with clay heads. My very nice head is sitting in a basement closet collecting dust, but someday he'll be a Santa.


Here are a few of the ladybugs, and a couple of dragonfly bodies, before painting: And here are the ladybugs after:

They still need touching up, and Tech Guy.....who has also been known to do a few crafty things when he's not teching things up......tells me they would look even better with a shine, so I'll be applying some varnish. I haven't decided on a color for the dragonflies yet, but they will probably be a dark blue or purple with fabric wings.

So the other day Mr. Gadget was moving some stuff around in the basement to make room for a new gadget, and he uncovered this:

It's a doll I made for Big City Girl when she was four. I know that because I thoughtfully wrote on the back of the doll "Mom 1988." I made the pink flannel nightgown too. From the looks of her, she didn't get much play action, but I did notice a patch on the side of her neck. She must have had a mishap of some kind. I'll put her in a safe place....away from the spiders in the basement....and save her for BCG. At some point (I do have faith) she will be pleased to have a few things that her mother lovingly made. And if not, well, there's always the Antiques Roadshow. It's funny about antiques, isn't it? Old dolls are more valuable if they're clean and haven't been played with. Furniture, on the other hand, increases in value after it's been around the block a few times and developed a nice patina. Kind of makes me feel a special kinship with those old dressers......

Soxes on boxes

Maybe I've misled you. There's really only one sock. There probably won't be a second sock until I make another trip to the yarn store. I usually knit socks with 4 needles...3 to hold the stitches and the 4th to do the knitting (some knitters use 5). If you look closely, you might notice one needle going in a couple of different directions. Yep, I banged it up against the sliding door as I was going outside for a nice sunny photo. Darn. Since I'm just about done with this sock, I guess I could finish the toe with a one-size-larger needle and no one would notice...especially not my toes. But then, there would still be the pending issue of the second sock.

Yesterday morning, as I was drinking my coffee and pacing around the family room trying to decide what fun projects to get into that would divert me from the annoying housework, I looked out the front window and noticed this:
A Canadian goose taking a little rest in our yard. Maybe he thought we needed a lawn decoration. These geese are very prevalent in our area. They annoy the golfers and the folks who clean the mall parking lot. The also wreak havoc over at the airport. It's very unusual to see just one, and I've never before spotted one on our street. I will say he seemed more friendly than the buzzards and the wild turkeys who occasionally pass through with their ever-vigilant eyes and their gobbling. He hung out for a little over an hour and then was gone. Maybe he just needed a little time out from the flock.

So the other day I was shopping for some fabric for the next ladybug doll, and I picked up a little bit of this.....well not for the ladybug exactly:
Many months ago I started gathering fabric and assembling strips for a food quilt.

I have no idea when I'll get to the actual quilting part.....I probably have to figure out how to actually quilt first....heh....heh.... I'm pretty sure, though, that this quilt will have more healthy foods than the junk variety and that's a good thing. Pretzels? Well, I guess they could go either way....

And did I mention, I've been organizing and uploading the China pictures to one of those sharing websites? This morning I waited for a batch of 50 pictures to upload when the system had a malfunction on #29. Darn. Well, maybe not just darn. Good thing I don't have any ice cream in the house. Maybe I'll go peel me a carrot......

Emergency surgery

Don't worry. It wasn't me needing the surgery. It was Tech Guy's jeans. I did a little suturing in four different places, all the while noting other potential trouble spots. I fear it won't be long before these jeans will be making a return visit to the ER. It wasn't very long ago I did this same surgical procedure on BCBF's jeans. I'm becoming quite proficient in this particular field of medicine....

It's quite an ugly day here in our little part of the northeast. It's rainy and cold and I was forced to put on long pants and SOCKS. This is definitely not sock season. Sock season starts sometime in late spring when my feet become all-of-a-sudden too hot. Yes, it happens just that fast. And then sometime in late fall, the reverse happens. My tootsies feel a sudden chill. Things are just all out of sync around here.

The Friday trip to Knitters' Heaven was the perfect birthday wrap-up. I purchased a few things, but didn't go hog wild. I did get myself a blocking board for my knitting projects, now that I've become a better knitter and things are fitting....what with the gauge-checking and all. I also picked up some sock yarn on sale, and a pattern and some dark green worsted-weight yarn for a simple raglan pullover with rolled neck and cuffs. Pictures will have to wait for better weather.

Today, while looking through one of my boxes of stuff here in the treehouse I gathered up this collection of critters.

It's not the brightest picture, what with all the gloominess, but I think these guys will make nice accents to the tissue paper flowers. In fact, I may get my Sculpey out and see if I can make a few more ladybugs. And speaking of ladybugs, I've had a request for another ladybug doll. Lorraine, the ladybug who accompanied me on my last trip out west, was noticed by someone who thought they might like to have one of their own. I tell you, once they start flitting around they're the best kind of advertisement.....

So over the weekend I tried out the video function on my digital camera, and I got some actual footage of Mr. Gadget trimming the hedges. I got up my courage to attempt this only because I noticed when looking at the China pictures that I had accidently taken some video of a street vendor in Shanghai. So I figured if I could do it so easily without any real intent, certainly I could figure out how to do it on purpose. As soon as I can arrange a YouTube tutorial with Tech Guy, there'll be no end of interesting stuff on this blog....heh...heh....

Birthday payback

No sooner had I mentioned that I thought the birthday gods owed me a few hours of missed birthday time, than I got a call from the other Marcia inviting me to join her on a road trip to Knitters' Heaven. We'll be leaving in the morning for the almost two-hour trek up to Massachusetts to fondle yarn and see what's new since our last visit. I'll make extra sure I have my credit card since this is sure to be a belated birthday shopping op.

In the meantime, I give you a few more China pictures.

Randomness....with extra cheese!

I have no particular train of thought today, so here's a little serving of randomness with extra cheese, and maybe a little pepperoni.

In my last post I mentioned the neat collaged album that BCG gave me for my birthday. This is the front. And here's the back:

I think it's great, and I always appreciate receiving a gift that's creative and thoughtful. Do you notice the chocolate chip and the cookies? And how about the avocado and the Just Beachy? So California. So mom-like. I told her I was very fond of this album and that I might put our China pictures in it. Then, not long after she left, I remembered this:

It's my collection of Chinese paraphenalia. Maybe I'll attempt some collaging of my own. Seems like one of those win-win situations to me. I'll get rid of the clutter while at the same time create an album covered with something that hints at its contents. I'll need some collage mentoring though. I wonder if that's do-able by text message?

Today I sent my personal shopper (aka Mr. Gadget) out to buy me another new vacuum cleaner. You may remember the big divorce involving Dixie the Dyson a few months ago. Well Mr. G. was going over to the mall anyway. I told him what I wanted (just a basic cannister-style vacuum....that if it dies in a few years we won't mind chucking it) and I gave him my color preference....red...since I figure I might as well make cleaning as festive as possible.

So now I have Kelsie the Kenmore.....with several options I didn't request, but which Mr. G. thought I'd appreciate. Mr. G. likes to option things up when he shops. I worry about any appliance with the word "electronic" anywhere on its person. I tend to think it hastens its demise. But I will admit, I do like those seat warmers in my car (also acquired by my personal shopper), so maybe I'll keep a positive attitude about Kelsie. Maybe she and I were meant to be.

And on my way to the grocery store this morning, I stopped at FedEx to mail an envelope to BCG. It's a long story so I won't bore you with it. But as I was filling out the paperwork, I overheard a man say to the clerk (who he apparently knew from being a regular customer):

"Things have just gotten to the point of the ridiculous when you need your laptop and your blackberry just to send an envelope."

I have no idea what he was talking about, but it did somehow reinforce my belief that steering clear of more gadgets is probably a good thing. I still can't operate my MP-3 player, and I have no idea how to take a picture with my cell phone.....not that I'd ever need to since I have a digital camera....for which I just recently mastered the delete all function.

And one final tidbit (meatballs too!).....today I realized that I missed 3 hours of my birthday when I flew from west to east. I do believe I still have some birthday left to celebrate. I think I'll skip the cake and go right for the credit card.....

Scenes from a birthday

Thanks for the birthday wishes! Here are a few scenes from the day:

Somewhere north of Omaha.

Airplane knitting.

The sun setting over the Whitestone Bridge - NYC

And a few photos from the day after.....

Tech Guy at the belated birthday lunch

Big City Girl, also at the belated lunch. See, I told you they were crafty!

BCG gave me a wonderful collaged picture album that she made herself. I'll have to put it in my next post, since I'm too lazy (can I blame it on jet lag?) to go downstairs and get it. Oh, and you see that tattoo? As Mr. G. was about to faint dead away, she reassured him it was just one of those temporary ones. Too bad about the two real ones. I think I'm much more fond of the temps.......

Friday the Thirteenth

.....and wouldn't you know, those painter guys have put a ladder very close to our back door. I was very careful to steer clear of it when I went out to the printer's this morning to pick up the memorial invitations, but it didn't do me any good. I had some back luck anyway.

The invitations looked fine when I checked them over, but after I got home and pulled them out to show Mr. Gadget, I was very disappointed to find that only a few had been printed correctly, and the others had the text printed on the back of the front, AND upside down. Well. Back I went to talk to Kim, the very nice saleswoman who had, just a few minutes before, gushed about how great they were and how much she liked them. I'm pretty sure she tells all her customers that.

Anyway, she printed them over for me while I waited, using a different printer--one she said she was most comfortable with, and they came out better than the originals! I'm very pleased. Here's a peek.

Seems the first batch was in error because of a shift change. Hard to believe someone would be so anxious to leave work on time they couldn't finish 25 copies but it's true.

So tomorrow is my birthday. I'll be something-two. I plan to spend most of it sitting in seat 17A on Jet Blue, as Mr. G and I return to Connecticut. I've been threatening to wear one of those funny birthday hats all day, but Mr. G. says if I do he may have to find an alternate to 17B. I'll probably spend the flight doing some knitting (I finally got the cotton tank top frogged and restarted) and writing up a grocery list. I'm pretty sure Tech Guy has done some vacuuming, since he asked me a week ago if I had a vacuum, but I doubt he's stocked the fridge.

Mostly I hope he's evicted his little chipmunk buddy, and anything else wild that may have taken up residence in the house.

And a bit of good news to pass along. I now have 4 of the required 5 pirate tokens from boxes of Mr. G's favorite cereal. It won't be long now till I'm the proud owner of one of these....

Got shoes!

It might look like Mr. Gadget is trying his darndest to irritate me today...wearing his dress shoes with his casual socks and Bermuda shorts. But this is not the case. These are his new west coast dress shoes and he's breaking them in. And he's promised not to wear them any further than just out the back door for this quick photo op.

As it turns out, this is a good day for breaking in shoes. We're stranded in the house anyway.
A very nice painter-type guy rang the doorbell this morning and told me he needed to paint our front door.

"You'll have to leave it open for 4 or 5 hours to dry," he said.

Mr. G was at the gym, so I sat down at the computer to read stuff while Mr. Painter worked. There was no singing though; he worked quietly......while I read about Albert Pujols being ticked off at having to sit on the bench for the entire All Star game last night. Well, I think he has a point. After all, the fans vote for their favorite players, so it seems like they should actually see those players play. But the manager said he was saving him in case the game went into extra innings and he needed a big gun. Poor Albert. Too bad he didn't have one of those Little League parents there to fight for him.

So, further to my memorial planning, today I walked up to the local bakery to check on cake prices and sizes, and decorating options. Mr. G, who was home babysitting the door, has been suggesting a Costco cake, but I've always found them to be a little heavy on the frosting.....and that's really saying something coming from a sugar freak. Well, it seems that a person can order just about anything in the way of a cake, as long as there's no copyright infringement. A cake must abide by the letter of the law. I'm thinking maybe I'll skirt that whole issue entirely by having BCG and TG decorate it. They're both crafty and creative. And now that they're all grown up, I shouldn't have to face this peskiness:

BCG: Mom, he's on my side of the cake! Make him stay on his side!

TG: Her side is bigger than mine! Mom! She just put a big glob of red frosting on my side!

BCG: He's putting frosting in my hair! Mom!!! Make him stop!

Grandpa (looking down from above, grinning): I wish they'd forget the cake. Why can't they just chill a few bottles of Chardonnay.......

Cave dweller

Don't worry. It's not an x-ray of my innards. It's the normally sunny window just above my computer table now completely covered by an ugly dropcloth. The painters have chosen this week to paint the outside of our condo building. Since the weather is warm we have the windows open, so there is endless Spanish chatter and sometimes even some singing. At least they enjoy their work. I just have to remember to close the blinds when I use the bathroom, and to check periodically for bats.

So I'm getting a kick out of todays' news about Rachel Ray and her husband being on the brink of divorce. The story seems to be following the usual sequence: unfortunate news gets out, the subjects of the story deny like all get out, the story ends up being true, the subjects come up with some lame justification for their denial. Now I will say I think it would be challenging to actually live with Rachel, since I haven't ever been able to endure a whole half hour of her TV show, so I do give her hubby credit. In fact, I find most of the TV chefs difficult to stomach....heh...heh. Mania seems to be the primary requirement for the job. Too bad someone like George Page couldn't do a cooking show. Whenever Mr. G watches Nature he falls asleep. On second thought, maybe you wouldn't want someone like that getting too close to the stove.

And what about that guy who robbed a bank dressed as a tree. Don't ya think you'd notice somebody like that standing near you in line? Well, maybe it wasn't like at my bank. Maybe it was a short line and no one had time to call the authorities. I can only wonder if it was one of those banks with branches.....

So I'm all in a dither about the memorial invitations. The lady at the card place told me they could print whatever picture I wanted on them. Well, no they can't. Seems their computer will pick up the background from the picture (whether or not there is a background) and that will likely clash with the card I pick out. I really want a cute little picture of an old Volkswagen. So, by golly, I'm going to do it myself. If I'm not using Waterford crystal, I don't need no fancy ingraved invitations, right?

I'm all out of pictures, and coincidentally, all out of things to blog about. There might be some knitting happening soon.....hopefully before the mania sets in.....

Everything's ducky

There really hasn't been much to blog about lately. Yesterday, Mr. G and I took a little road trip to Balboa so I could hark back to the vacations of my youth. Each summer, my mom and dad would rent a little beach cottage for a couple of weeks. It wasn't far from home--only 50 miles or so, but it was fun and we looked forward to it. My sister and I always shared a bedroom and I remember fondly how we'd get the giggles.. The later it got, the angrier our folks would get, and the more we'd giggle.

I was hoping to take a walk down the boardwalk and visit some of the old places I remembered--the fun zone, the corn dog and cotton candy stands, and the ferris wheel. But it wasn't to be; there was no place to park. So we headed back north, stopped for lunch, and watched this cute little duck family.
The little babies stayed close to their mom, then ventured out on their own, with the most rebellious one (no visible tattoos or piercings) leading the pack. They tested the waters on the other side of a bridge, then swam back to mom. Kind of like their human counterparts only with more fuzz.

So today I took a little tour of the local dollar stores in search of some vases for the paper flowers. No need for Waterford crystal; ordinary glass will do just fine. I found these:

Just a buck and a half each, and made in China--of course! I'll put a little rice in the bottom of each (or maybe even sand) to weight them a bit, and I'll tie some raffia around the necks.

I have to admit, I made a small impulse purchase at one of the other stores on my tour. Well, isn't that what they count on? I found some cute folders for keeping paperwork in. Lord knows I have lots of that! I might share them with BCG and TG. I figured I could pass them off as Chinese souvenirs, but wouldn't you know....they're made in the USA.

So Mr. G is at the mall doing some shoe shopping. He came up with an idea that if he has an east coast wardrobe and a west coast one, he won't have to pack a suitcase for our trips back and forth. I like that idea too, but I have issues. You've heard that phrase, "your mileage may vary?" Well, my size may vary, so that idea is very impractical for me. But I figure if he really loves me, he'll carry my suitcase.......

Happy Fourth!

Cold turkey

I'm quitting cold turkey, but it was a fun addiction while it lasted. Here, for your viewing pleasure, is one final big tissue paper flower display.

My "playing with paper" phase is over for now. I was thinking of moving on to the embroidered penguin project, but I'm afraid I left my embroidery hoop in Connecticut. I guess I could go buy another one so I'll have an eastern hoop and a western one, or.....I could select a yarn project instead. Let's see. Do I want to frog the front of the cotton tank top and begin again, or do I want to start some nifty new striped socks. Hmmmmm.........

A little culcha

Mr. Gadget and I decided to take a little break this weekend for some culture. Honestly, I think he was concerned with what he perceived to be my growing obsession with paper flowers. It seemed clear to him that my brain needed a good airing, so he suggested an outing. We set off about 10:30 yesterday morning for west L.A. and the J. Paul Getty Museum. The traffic gods were with us; the freeway was in fine shape.

Entrance to the museum is free but parking is $8. After a short trip up the hill from the parking structure in a cute little tram, it's obvious just what a bargain this is.

The buildings are stunning, and the grounds are spacious and uncrowded. The blue skies didn't hurt either.

I had previously been to the Getty with my friend Barbara....you know, my former fabric-shopping buddy who ran off to Arizona for a man. Mr. G. had never been. He was impressed. I knew he would be, and that's why I've been suggesting this trek each time we come to SoCal. He couldn't get over the architecture. I love the gardens.

We walked through several of the galleries to see the work of Van Gogh, Cezanne, Manet, Goya and Degas--just to name a few. I should really take an art appreciation class now that I'm older and don't have to be concerned with grade point averages. I couldn't help but wonder if our era will produce as many talented portrait painters as in past eras since we have the advantage of digital photography.

So now fast-forward to today. I had a very delightful lunch with Molly, another of my high school friends. She just became a grandma for the second time, so I'm sure you know what her lunch topic was.... Molly also happens to have wonderful party-planning skills, so she offered me some great suggestions for the memorial. Not only does she know where to get the very best stuff, she knows what stuff to get. I took thorough notes. I can now shop for tablecloths and paper plates with renewed confidence.

And if and when I become a grandma, I'm sure Molly will happily offer to be my mentor. It should be a fairly easy job. It sounds like you're just supposed to spoil them rotten.....