Universal Harmony

Here is what I see as a glass half full, along with some craftiness for Mother's Day. Hubby, on the other hand, would see a glass half empty. This is an example of the yin and yang of our relationship. I prefer to view it as us doing our part to promote harmony in the universe.

So it's probably best if I expand on my last post, wherein I discussed assessing someone's character by observing their behavior in the grocery store. It is entirely possible that when someone ahead of you puts that plastic divider thingie up there on the belt, they are trying to make sure the checker doesn't charge them for any of your items. It would probably be wise to look at their face to see if there's a smile or a scowl before you entrust them with doing any housesitting.

So Big City Girl did indeed come for her visit yesterday, and in the excitement of having my medical/dental issues behind me, I took her to the mall and let her have her way with my credit card. She was thoughtful though and just bought essentials. We had a lovely time. It was so much different than previous excursions to the mall where she would walk three paces ahead of me and not speak. Or talk on her cell phone while doing same. Or better yet....beg and plead with me to let her go without me, but in the company of my credit card.

The days of green hair highlights and torn t-shirts are gone. There's rarely an uncovered tummy, and clear nail polish has replaced the blue. She does crossword puzzles for fun, and she really liked the dust mop, I mean the Mandarin-collared sweater I'm knitting for her.

I tried hard to have faith during those turbulent teenage years. Having had my children later in life, I had many friends who had already navigated the rapids and they assured me that calmer waters were up ahead. They were right. BCG seems to be turning back into a kind and thoughtful person--just like all of her teachers used to write on her report cards.

So I figure this is all the Mother's Day gift I need this year. Well......maybe she could think about cleaning her room. Or, at least clearing a little path so we can at least open the storm window....

For the Birds

Our backyard birdhouse has been vacant all winter, but it's about to get new occupants. That's because the wrens are back. Since moving to the east coast, I've really learned to appreciate just how smart birds are. The robins seem to appear on our lawn on the first day of Spring, and the wrens arrive right around the first of May. I mentioned to hubby not long ago that the wrens always let me know when they arrive by perching on the deck rail just outside the kitchen window. I could see his eyes glaze over. So yesterday we were having breakfast, and don't you know a little wren--the first of the season--appeared on the rail. Just checking in I guess.

And speaking of creatures with homing devices, Big City Girl will be arriving today for a short visit. I'll have to show her my progress on the dust mop sweater, but of course I would never call it that in her presence. I'm happy to say that "the other Marcia" was very helpful in getting me on track with the pattern. It struck me that the color of this yarn is similar to that of the first sweater I knit when I was in 8th grade. I wore that sweater so proudly, mistakes and all. Fortunately, I've since learned about the frog pond.

My little adventure with the endodonist went fine yesterday. No pain is a good thing. But what is it about dental folks? All the while they had their hands in my mouth, the endo and his assistant were discussing the recent episode of American Idol. The last time I saw my regular dentist for a filling (a couple of months ago), he and his assistant were discussing the same show. I don't watch it. Maybe I should. Maybe my gastro doc was discussing the same thing last week during my hospital visit? I can only wonder. Perhaps it's just a dental thing.

So this morning while I was checking out at the grocery store, I got to thinking about people and how sometimes just a little thing can tell you a whole lot about someone's character. How about those folks ahead of you who finish putting their groceries on the belt and then they put that plastic divider thingie up there for you. I bet they call their moms on Sunday and treat their cats nice too! I wonder if they watch American Idol.......

Feeling Witchy

Yes, I am feeling a little witchy today. I think it has a lot to do with this being my week for "probing." You may remember my little jaunt to the hospital last Thursday for what was to be my first probing....but I just didn't know it then. Tomorrow I'll be off to the endodontist for a root canal. More fun resulting from the horrible soft bread I bit into a couple of weeks ago. But it will all be over soon and then I can get on with the real fun--making a ladybug! So now I'm having trouble getting this to separate paragraphs.....so there will just be one today. (Pretend there's a break here.) I took a little road trip today to a fabric store I had never been to before. A couple of days ago I realized I was about out of the fishnet print that I use for the red hat lady stockings. And calls (to save $gas$) to the two stores where I've gotten it in the past were disappointing. So now I'm stocked up on stocking makins' and don't you know they had a wonderful red for the ladybug....did I mention I was thinking of making one of those? (Another break. Just pretend.) This is a little witch I made last fall, and sold on ebay. It was fun knitting a boa in a color other than red! The pumpkin was fun and very easy. I just cut a circle of fabric, gathered it around leaving enough space for the twig (from my yard), then stuffed it nice and firmly. I tied a strip of homespun fabric around the twig. I may have coffee-stained it too--don't remember. The boots, which don't show in this picture, are green polka dots-- same green as boa. (break, break, break) So another reason I'm feeling witchy is because of the dust mop sweater. I've started it several times, and have had to frog it (Knitting term for ripping out.....while tearing hair out at the same time). So before I was completely bald, I emailed my friend and knitting guru (aka "the other Marcia") who just happened to have the pattern at her fingertips, and she will help me figure it out when I go down to her house tomorrow for a spinning lesson. Maybe I'll take my camera. Maybe I'll even get it out of my purse. Do check out Marcia's blog though because, as I mentioned before, there are pictures of our adventures at Knitters' Heaven....and she even got a decent picture of me! Thanks, Marcia! Well now.......I think I need a break.......

The loot

The trip yesterday to Knitters' Heaven was a success! I found the yarn for Big City Girl's sweater, and a very nice saleslady helped me find a substitute for the expensive stuff. Actually, I was all set to buy the expensive stuff, but there wasn't enough of any one dye lot to do the whole thing. The yarn I ended up with is similar and was a little more reasonably priced. You may remember that I'm worried about the sweater becoming a dust mop, based on BCG's history of using her floor as a closet. Maybe she will feel so honored to have such a magnificent handknit sweater that she'll use the nice hanger I plan to give her along with it. I can only hope.

I have no multiple picture issues, since I didn't even take my camera out of my purse. I do that a lot. I think I need to hang it around my neck so I have it handy. "The other Marcia" (as we affectionately call each other) took lots of pictures, so when she gets her pictures posted to her blog, I'll just send you over there.

The highlight of the day (other than a very nice lunch at the Dockside Restaurant in South Hadley, Mass. and oogling all that yarn) was the talk given by the Yarn Harlot (aka Stephanie Pearl McPhee) who, in addition to having a very successful blog, has written three humorous books on knitting. I bought her latest one, "Knitting Rules" and waited in line to have her sign it. She wrote, "For Marcia....Obsession is Normal." She thinks I'm one of those folks who obsesses about knitting...heh...heh...

What I've been obsessing about is the ladybug doll. After making the butterfly, I got the silly idea to make a ladybug. Whenever that happens, my mind doesn't rest until I have it planned out. Today I sketched it. Now, it's just a matter of time until I dive into the fabric stash. I mentioned it to hubby (a regular reader of Scientific American) and he just can't understand how I can do the wings, since he says they have outer ones and under ones. "Not to worry," I tell him. "I'm going to make whimsical ones."

So tomorrow I'll be doing a little sewing on the second graduate doll (the one with red shoes) and designing whimsical ladybug wings........right after I get home from a long dental appointment to fix the tooth that I broke on soft bread.......

Graduate ready to graduate

Here's the graduate, all ready for her big day. Actually, I guess her big day has already passed, since she has her diploma in hand! This was a fun doll to make and I'm ready to make another one....this time with a more traditional outfit, but with red shoes. I always like a touch of whimsy! I learned a couple of things while making this one. Most important--stuff the head and neck more firmly so there's no bobble-head effect that requires tweaking later.

My intention is to put her up on eBay, since the graduation season is almost here. I think she would be a cute addition to a cake table, don't you think? It might appeal to someone who has a graduate with a bit of a rebellious streak. Maybe like me.....with one who likes rubber band jewelry.

This past week I sold two dolls on eBay....Dottie and Beatrice, who you've met before. Although I like the auction format, and the fun of watching it through the week, I wasn't thrilled to sell them both at the starting bid, which I probably set too low. Now I'm thinking of starting them a little higher, or maybe even offering a "Buy It Now" option. I'm going to ponder it over the weekend.

I'm happy to report that my little trek to the hospital yesterday went well. It was just "us girls." There was the lady gastro doc and the lady anesthesia doc and the nurse and me. They were having quite a gabfest while I lay on the table under a toasty blanket feeling sleepy and carefree. And wasn't I glad I'd packed a PB & J sandwich for the ride home!

And tomorrow Marcia and I will head up to WEBS for the yarn orgy. I understand the Yarn Harlot's appearance there has generated so much interest, they've had to move the program to a local hotel. It has been suggested that we bring our knitting, so I'll be casting on some socks later. They will be small enough to fit in my handbag, along with the camera. I can just see it now. Another blog post with multiple-picture challenge....

Gourmet delight

If you're under 55, you probably aren't familiar with these. I'll be having one for dinner (kind of an early-bird special) mixed with a small glass of ginger ale. Then, tomorrow morning, I'll be having another one for breakfast. Honestly, I'd rather be going to the House of Pancakes. This is all in preparation for having the gastro doc look at my colon in the early afternoon. It's not so bad, really. I've been there, done that once before. The stuff they put in the IV takes away all your cares and makes time go fast. The worst part is when they start looking for a vein in which to put the IV. Mine like to hide. Someone said that drinking lots of water will help and Lord knows I have to do that anyway. I expect to be spending quite a bit of time in the bathroom today....reading the Da Vinci Code which, lucky for me, just came out in paperback.

I made this chef doll some time ago. When I first started making them, I was using white fabric. After all, isn't that the color of choice for chefs? But some of my customers mentioned that the dolls were getting a little discolored from hanging out in the kitchen. So I started making them in food prints. One time I was doing a craft fair, and I had a cute chef wearing an outfit made from fabric with a red background and chocolate candies all over it. A lady two tables down from me was selling chocolates and she had a red tablecloth on her display table. As soon as I got set up, she rushed down--doing a little dance of glee--and snatched up the doll, saying it was just perfect for her display....and it was! It was like I made it special.

I think the chef dolls would be cute sitting on a baker's rack among the cookbooks. In fact, I wouldn't mind having a real live chef of my own.....kind of like Oprah. And I'd like a good-looking one too. He would probably have no problem serving up my tasty dinner fare this evening in a long-stemmed crystal glass with a sprig or two of mint and one of those cute little umbrellas.......

Pomp & Circumstance

Here's my whimsical graduate doll.....almost done. Well, I thought she was almost done, but then I decided to take her head off (poor thing) and put a little more stuffing in her neck. I really do try my darndest to keep the dolls from being bobble-head characters. I'll be embroidering a "2006" on her scarf, and painting her nails. Something to match the shoes maybe.

The mortar-board hat went together pretty easily. I planned ahead this time and remembered to put the tassel on before stitching the hat to her head. I crocheted the cord out of gold embroidery floss, leaving a long enough end so that I could thread it through a needle, poke it through the top of the hat, and tie it underneath where it doesn't show.

She hasn't told me her name yet. Maybe she's waiting til I get her head sewn back on....heh...heh...The hair was a challenge. Her first "do" was ok, but then I realized it was mostly gray. And most gals don't do what I did....wait til they're 51 to graduate.....so I found some dark brown wool in my stash and made her more youthful. I like that it looks a little wild though. What were those folks thinking who designed mortar-board hats anyway? And......have you ever noticed those crazy hats the professors wear at graduations? Just too much pomp for me....but plenty of whimsy, and always good for a laugh!

In a little while, I'll be going over to see my hairdresser for a much-needed hair cut. She'll be telling me that I'm overdue for some color too, which I know all too well. I think someone has been sneaking in during the night and sewing some of that gray wool doll hair to my head . And while I'm out, I'll drop by the post office and ship Dottie the Red Hat Lady off to her new home. She's headed down south, where those Red Hat Ladies can be pretty wild, or so I've heard.....

Egg hunt

So about an hour before the kiddies were to arrive for Easter dinner yesterday, I decided maybe I'd put together a little egg hunt in the back yard. I remembered how much they used to enjoy hunting for eggs when they were little, and I was hopeful they'd still have some of that youthful enthusiasm. I was right! You can see how excited Big City Girl was to find the first egg. In fact, she had found several eggs before Tech Guy had found any. You can see that he wasn't quite as enthused. I must say that in my enthusiasm to hide the eggs, I had forgotten about the old tantrums and the crying about the unfairness of it all. Lucky for me, though. They both had matured somewhat and took it all in stride.

The eggs were the plastic ones that are suitable for hiding things in, and I figured that money would be the best surprise. Some were filled with dollar bills, others had quarters, two had silver dollars, one had rubber bands and one had ten pennies. At the end of the day, things turned out pretty much as I predicted. They left me with the rubber bands, the pennies and the hard boiled eggs, and they made off with the chocolate and the "Food of Love" dessert.

You may remember an earlier post where I talked about making bean bags out of fabric scraps. In my stash, I had 3 bean bags made from a crossword puzzle print. I had gotten them out to give to BCG because she has become quite a fan of crossword puzzles. As soon as she saw them, she smiled.....and began to juggle! It seems that, in addition to reading college textbooks and writing term papers, she also learned a few circus tricks.

So in just a few weeks, I will be the proud mother of two juggling college graduates. And I guess if corporate America lets them down, they can always run away and join the circus......

Food of Love

.....to borrow a phrase from Emeril. This is what I'm serving for Easter dessert, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. It's easy and everyone loves it. Works for me. I got the recipe a while back from someone's blog. I wish I remembered who so I could give them credit. You bake up a box of brownies, and as soon as they come out of the oven, you sprinkle them with chocolate chips (I used the chocolate/vanilla swirl this time), and crushed up Snickers bars. The great thing is that there are just enough to serve 5 or 6 people, and anything left is easily wrapped and sent home with guests. These must have a gazillion WW points, and I don't need them calling to me from the fridge, which they most certainly would do.

Oh, and if you're wondering about the placemat with the heart on it.......I made it. Well, actually I did the applique. Years ago, after I got my new sewing machine, I was putting machine appliques on everything that wasn't nailed down. It was fun for a while, but I eventually got bored with it. I did several banners, including one for my daughter's Daisy troop--which they carried in our hometown Memorial Day parade. The thing about doing big applique projects like that is I was always going to the store for more thread. I had no idea.

My friend Marcia has invited me to join her next Saturday for a trip up to knitters' heaven (aka WEBS) in Northampton, Mass. It seems that the Yarn Harlot (Stephanie Pearl-McPhee) is going to be making an appearance there to speak and sign books. We'll also do some serious yarn shopping. After all, it is a two hour drive. We have to come home with something truly worthwhile to show for it. I have in mind knitting a sweater for Big City Girl. It's the Mandarin Collar Jacket pictured in the recent issue of Knit It magazine, and she admired it when she was home last. But I will be looking for a substitute yarn for the $10 a skein llama/wool blend the pattern calls for. For years, BCG has considered the floor as her closet, and I'm not feeling generous enough to knit her an expensive dust mop.

So once the trip plans were made, we got to the really serious business of where to go for lunch. I do remember that WEBS has a rather large parking lot, and I think a big yarn event such as this might just call for a tailgate party.....

Funny Bunnies

With Easter approaching, I thought it would be fun to see how many of my hand-crafted bunnies I could find around the house. These aren't all of them. Some of them were hiding. Probably with the dust bunnies. The mommy is one I made for my daughter when she was little. It has been well loved....or slightly abused, I'm not sure which and I hate to think.....

I made the bunny in the middle for my son. He definitely needs to be propped up, as his neck is very floppy and he usually looks like he's just nodded off. I've since learned that when I think I have enough stuffing in the neck and head, I don't. Bunny on the left is a more recent one that I made for sale at craft fairs. She is wearing one of my hand-crocheted collars.

I did visit a fabric store this morning, but was unsuccessful in finding ladybug fabric.....which would be red with black polka dots....not white ones....I was wrong. Now it occurs to me that I could just use red fabric and stamp some black spots on with fabric paint and a sponge. That might even look way more cool!

So tomorrow I'll be having some Easter fun--coloring eggs. And I got the stuff that doesn't need vinegar.....don't you hate it when you don't have enough and you have to go out to the store again! I usually fix up an Easter basket for Tech Guy and Big City Girl, and then I hide them just like when they were little. They giggle and laugh and worry that some day I'll stop because they'll be getting too old for this. I'll put a few colored eggs in their baskets along with some Snickers and Cadbury eggs.....and Peeps, of course! Then later, they'll go on home with their candy safely zipped into a plastic bag, and they'll leave all the hard-boiled eggs for me.

I guess that's fine. It's really what I expect anyway. Only 2 points on Weight Watchers.....

Dud Spuds

Sometime back in January, I posted a picture of some fabric veggies I made, some of which were potatoes. It took me a few tries to get a decent one, so some of them were destined for the compost pile. But luckily they didn't make it that far because they ended up making great pieces for practicing needle-sculpted faces.

Before I took this picture, I got my wool scraps out and my colored pencils to see just how life-like I could make them. And once they took on a little bit of personality, I had to name them--of course! Left to right, there's "Ray with the bad toupee," "Marian the librarian," and "Lou who sells shoes." I definitely need more practice, but it's fun. I wish I had lots more spud duds.

I just put Beatrice up on eBay ("Primitive Folk-Art Butterfly Doll"). I sat down last night and decided I had to figure out the wing-attachment issue. It turned out not to be as challenging as I feared. A long doll needle and some thread worked fine.

I'm not sure what my next project will be. Maybe I'll try to work on the sneaker-wearing graduate. She's sitting here on the shelf with one shoe on and a bald head. The mortar board hat is going to be the challenge. I used to glue them onto the head, but as I mentioned in yesterday's post, I prefer to sew everything on because then I don't have to worry about the dolls coming undone. Beatrice has me thinking Spring, though, so I might just have to do a garden angel with some embroidery on her wings. And then there's the ladybug doll idea. Maybe I'll have to visit a few fabric stores tomorrow looking for just the right polka dot print. Darn. I was really looking forward to mopping the floors .......

Coupla Cuties

Meet Dottie and Beatrice. They're sitting pretty for their photo. And I think they're ever-so-much cuter than the buzzard couple I can see from my window, roosting on the neighbor's chimney. As I've said before, I grew up in a city-like place....so I'm always surprised and amazed at the vast array of wildlife I see right here in my own neighborhood. I'd get a photo, but my zoom just won't do them justice.

But back to the beauty queens. Dottie is all finished and has made her way onto eBay. Beatrice is almost done. I still haven't figured out how to attach her wings. In the past, I used glue for things like this. But I've found that the dolls hold together much better and have a longer life if I stitch as much as I can. This would not be a problem, except that Beatrice is painted and I also applied a clear sealing coat. It gave her a nice satin sheen, but getting a needle through it is next to impossible. For now, she's sitting while I ponder this predicament. I would like to get her up on eBay too, since she's a nice little thing for Spring.

So I just got back from the dentist, where I went in sort of a rush because yesterday I broke a tooth. Little did I know that chewing soft bread could be a dangerous thing. But my dentist says that many people break teeth on bread--it's very common. I guess for the tooth, it's like the last straw. I should be as good as new in a month or so--after two appointments, and possibly three---in the event he finds I need a root canal before he can do a crown. And I can forget that crui$e I might have been thinking about.

While making Beatrice, I had the thought that maybe I could make a ladybug. That would involve some red fabric with big white polka dots, and a painted black head--a little more rounded than a butterfly's. A ladybug would need to have a very happy face, and some eye makeup, and some red lipstick. I'll just need to make sure I sew the wings on before I do the painting. Now, what in the heck do ladybug wings look like.......

Grandma's crochet

I had a request from Kathy for more crochet pictures, so here are a couple that show my grandma's bedspread, along with a couple of Easter goodies I made a year or two ago. And you really should go over to Kathy's blog to see her embroidered lab coat. She paid me the finest compliment ever--she said I inspired her to do a little fancy stitching of her own! I think she did a great job. I told her she might want to consider her coat a work-in-progress, and that she could continue to add to her garden. But then I suppose the time would come when it might become inappropriate office attire rather than just an interesting uniform treatment....

I made the bunny out of white flannel and stuffed him. His arms are long enough so that one could be wrapped around the basket handle and glued. The two little chicks are made from yellow fabric and lightly stuffed. Their beaks are painted toothpicks, and I put little yellow

feathers on their heads. Last fall, I got some tiny baskets and put one chick in each and sold them as Christmas tree ornaments.

For anyone thinking of doing a craft fair, Christmas ornaments are usually good sellers. With so many things being mass-produced now, lots of people are happy to find something handmade for their trees. One year, while on vacation in northern California, I collected small pieces of driftwood along the ocean. I really wasn't sure what I would use them for, but I put them away in a bottom drawer. A few years later I noticed someone selling Santas that had been painted on oyster shells. Bingo! I dug out the driftwood and got busy. They were good sellers, and the ones that didn't sell became decorations for our family tree.

So Beatrice and Dottie are just about done, and should be ready for a photo op tomorrow. They seem to be getting along fine together on my craft table, so maybe they'll be happy to sit for a pose.

A Butterfly.....almost

It's not very spring-like here in the northeast today, but I know it will be eventually. That's why I'm working on this little critter. I think she'd be cute sitting on an end table watching over a little pot of African violets. Or whatever. I'm not much of a gardener. The only flowers I grow are the needle and thread variety.

This is one of three dolls I have underway in my workroom at the moment, and she has been the most demanding of my attention. I say "she" because she told me her name is Beatrice. I have more work to do on her. She's just pinned together at the moment, and I put a purple flower on her just for show. I usually use those on the red hats. I like Beatrice's expression. She's thinking, "Please don't make me go out and fly around in the garden......I like it here just fine!"

Also underway in my workroom is another red hat doll. Since Pearl left, things have been pretty dull in there. Now I'm working on Dottie. It's funny how they let me know what they want to be called. A while back, I was wondering if I should name my dolls at all, but now that I've started doing it, they let me know right away. It's a telepathy thing I guess....

And I'm still working on the graduate in pink sneakers. Fortunately, she's been patient. I guess as it gets closer to graduation time, she'll start to nag. You know....... maybe I've been spending too much time in the workroom with these characters. Maybe it would do me good to get out and about with some real people......

A few more pillows

Here are some pillows I made way back in the 70's. My parents liked them and displayed them on the couch, not far from the little ceramic ashtray I made in grade school. When you become a parent, your appreciation for art expands into a whole 'nother dimension.

The pillows on the left and right are embroidered with yarn, and the one in the middle is crocheted. I do crochet from time to time, but I haven't done any lately. Once in a while I crochet a collar for a doll. My grandmother would be proud. She was the queen of crochet, and she was my teacher. She was ever-patient and encouraged me to keep at it, and assured me that with enough practice it would become easy. She also had chocolate chip cookies in her big sailor boy cookie jar for when frustration struck and I needed a little break. I think it was the cookies that kept me going.

My grandma made wonderful crocheted things. She made a bedspread for each of her four children, and I now have the one she made for my folks. It makes a nice spring spread for when we no longer need the down comforter. But what I remember the most is the little cups and saucers. I thought it was magic. She would crochet a little saucer and then the cup, and then the handle--all in one piece. Then she would starch it.

After my grandpa died, grandma learned to drive their 1950 Plymouth with the stick shift. I think that's why my dad got gray hair.....he taught her. Once she got her driver's license, she drove all of her friends to the senior center for activities. And she started doing a lot of babysitting. She was in demand and had many regular customers. And she always had her crocheting in her purse to keep her busy during the long evenings. That, and Lawrence Welk on TV with those Lennon sisters.

I have to thank my grandma for my love of crochet and other handwork. I've never minded waiting for things because I usually have something fun to do while I sit. And sometimes I meet interesting people in the process. It's too bad lots of kids today haven't had the opportunity to learn patience. I think it's because of computers and video games and instant messaging and cell phones. They just don't seem to be able to wait around for instant gratification.....

Twenty-Five!

Note: I thought Blogger had eaten this post sometime yesterday after I wrote it. But it seems like they were playing hide-and-seek instead.

Hubby and I have been married twenty-five years today! We're just having an ordinary sort of day though because a couple of weekends ago we celebrated at this wonderful place on Martha's Vineyard. I guess if we were truly romantics, we would be there now. But the prices on MV, always a bit pricey, double after April 1. We're practical folk.

When people ask how we met, I'm a little reluctant to tell them that we met in a bar. It's not the sort of place where one should go (or so the relationship experts say) to find a lasting partnership. As it happened, I almost didn't go that evening. But I had made plans to meet friends there, and about the time I was thinking of changing my mind, I knew they had already left home. And there were no cell phones way back then......how did we ever manage? Lucky for me though. One phone call and I would have ended up taking the other fork in the road......

We hadn't been in the place very long before I noticed this tall, dark and handsome guy standing at the bar, and I told my friends I was going to go ask him to dance. Well, as they say, the rest is history.

I often think it would be fun to write a book about how couples met. I think of my friend in Arizona who fell in love with the guy she bought her house from. Or my parents who met on a blind date back in the early 40's. I'm sure there are all kinds of wonderful, quirky stories. And it might be good reading for young women who are in a hurry to meet Mr. Right and get married. Maybe it would help encourage them to get out there in the world and do something wonderful with their lives, and just leave this whole business to serendipity.

I remember a couple of times when Big City Girl called from college to tell me that some boy had done her wrong. What I really wanted to do was find him and give him a good whack upside the head. But I thought better of it, and just gave her some good, sound mom advice. "Men are like busses," I told her. "There'll be another along in a few minutes."

Slam Dunk

Here's what I've been working on for the last couple of days. One is finished and one is still under construction. Actually, it's under re-construction because I botched the first attempt. I usually get in a hurry to see how something is going to come out, and I smear paint somewhere. Today hubby helped me come up with a drying rack for these kinds of things. I now have a dowel clamped to the edge of my work table over which I can slip big binder clips. It should work well to keep things with wet paint out of my reach.

While I was working on the shoes, I had an idea for another doll. There seems to be no end in sight for my character development. And, of course, I had to get started on it to see how it would take shape. It's a butterfly. It will be the same bean bag style, but with a butterfly head and wire antenna. I'll paint the body parts (head, arms and legs) and leave a little unpainted area for the face. I'm going to put some fabric leaves around the neck and maybe a flower of some kind. I'll use a print fabric for the wings, but will do some quilting embellishment.

Pearl, the Red Hat Lady doll, sold today on eBay. She'll be heading off to Philly. I have fun shipping off the red hat dolls. I found some red and purple tissue paper at the local dollar store to pack them with. And I usually put a red and purple shipping label on the box. Girls just like to have fun, you know!

On another subject, but somewhat related, my father was quite the traveler. In his condo he had two large maps displayed on the walls. One was of the U.S. and the other was the world. He put colored pins in all of the places he'd been.....red if by land, blue if by sea, white if by air. They were quite the conversation pieces. When I started selling dolls on eBay, I thought it would be fun to do a similar thing to show where my dolls had traveled to. At about the same time, I ran into a quilting friend who was making fabric maps, so I bought a very nice one of the US. Now I sew a gold star on it each time a doll leaves home. I hope Pearl likes Philly. Maybe she'll email and let me know.....

Go Hug a Tree!

Well.......maybe not this one! Here's another picture I took at the South Coast Botanical Gardens in California. For some reason, this tree makes me think of tree huggers. I don't think they'd want to get too cozy with this one! This is called a thorn tree, and I had never heard of one before. But I'm currently reading The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith, and there is mention made of thorn trees in the book. This is not the first time I've come across something in real life, and then soon afterwards read about it in whatever book I happen to pick up.

Today, in addition to working on the pink sneakers (aka tennis shoes), I've been filling bird feeders and getting them rearranged in the yard. Several years ago, we purchased a gazebo for our backyard, and hubby got the home center to throw in a gazebo bird feeder with the deal. It's mounted on a 4" x 4" post, and we installed a squirrel baffle that works very well. We've only seen a couple of squirrels up there over the years, and we've wracked our brains trying to figure out how they managed it. Even though we're pretty good at Jeopardy and crossword puzzles, we have yet to figure out those squirrels.

I've always enjoyed feeding the birds. It may be genetic. My grandmother was a great bird feeder. She used to wire small tin cans to the fence behind her house and fill them with bread crumbs mostly. Back in those days, you couldn't go to the corner market and pick up a 10-lb. bag of wild bird seed. I remember my mother feeding birds in our yard. She used to buy peanuts in the shell and leave them along the brick wall in front of our house. This would attract the bluejays. We didn't have squirrels to worry about. They would have made quick work of those! The bluejays loved them, though, and each morning they would come earlier and earlier, looking for the peanuts. They would yell and squawk and make a horrible racket. Then they would start pecking on the side of our house, making even more noise. After that, the peanuts became my after-school snack.

So, as I mentioned, I'm working on the pink sneakers for the whimsical graduate doll. I drew a couple of patterns and made a prototype out of some orange fabric. I think they're going to make quite the fashion statement. Now......I wonder if Sheldon the Sheep would like some? Or, what about Santa? Now there's someone who could really use some nice foot comfort, not to mention....something with a little extra traction for walking around on the roof.....