Saturday, June 25, 2011

Like a Birthday...



You know, getting a package in the mail is a lot like a birthday....

I can go to Sew Mama Sew! anytime and find the most delicious fabrics...
These were hard to pick among the many I wanted and they are even harder to cut into patterns. I mean, I invision what I want them to become, but they are so pretty, I just want to stare at them, get lost in their vibrancy, dream about the mind that created them...
Hannah is Way 2 Cute!
great fabric becomes an Owl bag, fully lined with a long strap so it wears like an accessory!
Fabric birds...
I have a black bird that hangs around me, I got her from Black Barn Primitives 3 years ago and I wanted to make one like her for awhile. In a carefree moment, I made one. Then, of course, I couldn't stop...
Yes, I am insane! I made my own business cards...they are hand drawn and hand stamped. I guess that makes them one of a kind...!
Good Day, Sunshine!
Paper- I fell in Love with Paper like Trees and I like to bend it to my will.
Beautiful paper becomes beautiful Owls!
Glitter Paper Owls!
These will be framed and for sale at The City Flea on July 9th!
I love the color combinations, blues with oranges mixed with greens, throw in a touch of yellow...it's like painting.

Today is such a great day in our Fair Queen City! The river runs thru the hills like a majestic athlete, a steady pace, fast and strong, reminding me of my favorite bike riding beauty, Judi LoPresti! Visit her blog, Miles and Madness- she is captivating! And she won her race last night! I cheered her on from home due to the sleepover that occurred at our abode - I am so proud of her! Perseverance and strength course through every fiber of her toned body! My ambition to create is her desire to ride! Oh, how we love!

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

hello again!

My cards are hand made!
A brand new, a debut, just for you! Owl Bags- a whole gaggle of them! Some are shaped like Owls....
Some are smaller...to hold just the necessities!
I am taking requests for colors right now, so if you have
specifics in mind, let me know!


Messenger bags are being born this week!


Totes to hold all of your purchases at the City Flea...
Designer fabrics!
Mingled with repurposed fabrics!
All fabric needs a swell home...
I made this bag for the BONESFEST silent auction! All proceeds go to Bones family.
If you don't know what BONESFEST is, click the link and like the page, please! Then, come join us for festivities to celebrate the life of a good friend whose life was cut short by a terrible tragedy. For more info on Bones story, there is a link at the top of my blog for his website, David Paul Hebert.

Making this bag brought out the happiness and sadness in my heart for Bones.
I miss him, I expect to see him, his number is still in my phone. I see our mutual friends and there is a flicker that passes across our eyes. I'd like to think that Bones is watching us, humored at our remembrance of him and our fight for justice for him.


The Cars are my favorite! I could listen to them all day long! I love their synth riffs, the sounds in the background. Maybe you don't notice them, but I do.

Hebrews 11:1, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." (NIV)

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Space Age Love Song




I love this song! What can I say...I am a total sucker for a good synth riff and this one takes the cake for me. For years I thought the Flaming Lips version was original until I heard this version. Leave it to the Lips to cover such a great band...say what you want about his hair, mine was very similar back in 1985. Who's wasn't?
I like the blurriness of this photo...kinda represents where I work everyday.
I am making my own cards for ROBOT INSIDE...fun and well, I'm making them so they are just better that way. I swear, if I think I can make it, I will at the very least give it a great shot. That's what today's post is all about- me, making things.
there are a lot of great patterns out there made by wonderful people, but I can't understand most of them. So, when you ask me to make you something, I start from the basics. I make a pattern...I have some I refer to as templates, but I always make my own so that each project is made by me entirely...
The process of a doll pattern...hands, feet, body!
I always multiply them and cut out four at a time so when I make the first one and someone likes it, I have a second round started. Just the basics, though, because each doll is custom for the recipient....this one is for a friends daughter. It will have a matching dress for her little girl!
I am always trying something new!
This go around, it is all about the hair!
Brown and curly-cued!
These were a pair of pants I bought because I loved them, but I was way too short to ever wear them! I love the fabric, so I made a small Owl bag out of them!
MDH lying on our bed, much needed R&R after a hard days work! Don't you just love our fancy new wallpaper! I do! It even goes up the back of our steps. Now, if I would just clean up my messes, we would have the loveliest bedroom!
For my niece and her Tangled birthday party!
Hannah with a Boa Boa made by Ms. Erin Bean!
Boa Boa Snarf love!

I finished "Water for Elephants" last night while comforting our big coonhound, Mocha, during an hour long lightning storm. She shook and huddled in the bathtub while I devoured the last two chapters like a hungry word wolf. Falling deeply in love with a book is a mainstay in my life and this one has crushed me hard. I am so in love with Rosie, the giant pachyderm.

MDH worked at the circus house in Hartwell where there is an elephant buried in the front yard. The owners of a circus lived there in the 1800's, so the story goes. Intriguing me, the stories of old Circus elephants killing their trainers, the mystery around a travel by train circus...oh, I am enamored by it all. That time period, when we thought things were simple, but full of complications and survival. The Freaks of the sideshow are second closest to my heart, only behind the elephants.
We went to the Shrine Circus two years ago and my heart ached the entire time, for the animals, for the performers. I watched the Trapeze Family huddled together, in their sequins and carefully applied makeup, speaking in a different language from my own and it reminded me that my world is not the whole world and there are still these traveling circuses that families are raised into. After the big top goes down and the lions are nestled in their cages once more, there is a light in those circus cars I may never see. I dream of it, one day, running off with the circus to a place where sequins and pointed toes bring the applause of thousands, day by day, night by night. Where men wear tights and tame tigers, where horses dance in circles with the swoop of an arm, where dainty girls balance on broad shouldered men across the wire.
Doesn't it just sound like a dream!

My own balancing act performs daily...
sometimes, there are sequins!

and the closest thing to wild animals are my feral children and I'm not sure, but I think if I set up a tightrope in the backyard, we could all walk it with ease....

Sunday, June 5, 2011

The Best Saturday

Saturday at 9 a.m., I pulled into the parking lot, listening to "Frau Weihnachten" by Incline District. As I locked the car doors, a familiar melody carried between the buildings, soft and beautiful...
I felt the urge to run, knee brace and all, afraid I was going to miss even a single second of their live set when I realized it was sound check.
JW Mitchell
I am certain butter melts when he sings...
Ryan Gunn
Seems like he should be about 80, playing Harlem Jazz in 1920..

Frederik Kire
Hot Bass Licks keep it groovy...
Really, when I am listening to InclineDistrict with my eyes closed, all the things that come to mind swirl together. It's the same feeling I get when Hall & Oates plays, Tom Waits, a little Steely Dan, maybe some Moody Blues. A good Mazzy Star record (she hangs brightly). Drive-in movies, backyard swimming pool barbecues, a "my day can not possibly go badly" emotion, so it is no wonder I took their CD home, put it up real loud in the backyard boombox and went swimming. Lounging, floating, diving deep under water and coming up on the other side of 32 feet. That's what I want to hear across the wind when I'm walking between two buildings. Or maybe when I have just finished a 5K run...if I was a runner, that is. I am more of a slow walker. Some may even call it meandering. If the cops aren't behind me, I never feel inclined to sprint.

I had the BEST Saturday!

I met Diana from Foster Grants at the Price Hill Pacer! She is super awesome and we talked about music and crafts! My favorite things! Can't wait to play a show with these awesome folks!


After the best two hours, I said my goodbyes to Diana and the fellas and headed off to the Yard Sale of one Ms. Amy Jo Combs. I have to admit, I thought I knew exactly where I was going, but I got a little misguided when North Bend and Cheviot branch. These are my old stomping grounds from high school, so I what I thought would be old hat has changed so much, I got distracted. I got to Amy's though and am glad I made the trek to the West Side!

I bought some great clothes, a few good records and an old suitcase. Also, some fabulous fabric and some hat racks to use for displays in my craft show set up! A rather productive purchase!
I love finding books I have been thinking about reading at yard sales. For .50, I procured "Water for Elephants", a book highly recommended to me by Katie Shaw. I love books about the circus! ("geek love" has always been a favorite. )

I couldn't put that book down last night! I cried within the first 2 chapters when there wasn't anything to cry about! I believe it is the beauty of the words that prompted tears. One of my favorite character names is Grady and there it was in the first 2 sentences. Mostly, I read books and get emotional. I can't read "The Lovely Bones" because I have a breakdown just thinking about it. So, I read a lot of "factual" non-fiction books like biographies or histories. They aren't as raw and I don't end up in the fetal position.

I am an avid fan of the Twilight series. Not fanatical or anything and I like the movies, but I don't recommend them for non-fans. The books, though, are where it's at! When I read that series, four books in five days exactly, I was going through a very stressful time where I had daily crying fits. Those books helped me escape and I believe helped me keep my sobriety. I focused on nothing but Bella and Edward for five days and didn't have to think about my own life. Today, I work with other alcoholics to take my mind off myself. Back then, it was all about the Cullens.
The point being, this book has already got me. I woke up thinking about it. I will think about it all day and hopefully, I'll get to pick it up at some point later today.

By noon, I had already had such a great day, I expected there to be some kind of hitch, a not so great kind. Instead, Adam L. called to see if he could come to The City Flea with me! He is the best shopping partner, conversationalist extraordinaire and all around fantastic music lover! And, he's my bestie. So, I went to pick him up in illustrious Reading, Ohio, home of Talk of the Town and all the bars and wedding shops they could cram onto one little street.

The drive downtown was hot, but we had Sugar Free Red Bull and high spirits!

We found a great parking spot and what happens next deserves it's very own post....
stay tuned, kids!



























Matthew 6:34, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (NIV)

Friday, June 3, 2011


Today Is the Last Day of School!

This probably doesn't mean much to you if you aren't 10. Or the mom of a 10 year old.
To me, it means my kids get to have some fun, which is way better than not having fun!

I am musically driven, so when my kid gets a D in band,
I am dumbfounded....







Will with me and my mom...

at his band concert!
A pile to become an Owl Bag!
I made this yesterday with my lovely new machine!
I am so tempted to keep this one for myself! After all, this is my favorite fabric in the whole, wide world. Right now, anyway.
Do you want an Owl Bag?
Tell me what you are dreaming about, I'll see what I can do!




My favorite Royal Trux song...you can hear Wild Talents rip off the RT..
at MOTR Pub on June 9th...with Team Void!!

Thursday, June 2, 2011

heaven sent

At midnight, the whir and hum of machinery lulled his majesty to sleep. The girl who swims with mermaids pressed on through the night, dreaming wide awake in her own heaven. The machine danced under her fingertips as she guided fabric into creations concocted on long winter days. Inspiration had lit a fire deep inside her....there was no putting it out. Time had no constraints, only she and the machine moving as one existed.....

Because I can, and because you asked, I made a delicious Owl Bag with my new machine...
Whitey came in the box with the plastic sheeting still around her majestic whirligigs and doohickeys! She is a beauty! See that fabulous applique stitch? SHE did that! I mean, I kinda helped her, but she did most of the work! She takes in thread and spits it out into magic!
Look at all those helpers I have!
Queenie (I named her already) sewing cabinet and belt driven beautiful history , right there!
Queenie!
Just look at her, would ja?! Can you believe I get to have her in my sewing home?
There is a aura about old sewing machines in wood cabinets that I have a hard time expressing in words. Time capsules, bravery, steel and structure unmatched by this day and age. New machines are plastic and plain. Queenie is a masterpiece!

The story behind these gifts is a prayer sent out into the heavens by yours truly. The day my first machine died, I cried. I love that beastly beauty.
My mother bought her for me when I was right out of high school.
My great grandmother taught me needlecraft when I was young and I had a love for it that gathered dust for a few years.
My mom knew I would come back to life one day and hoped the love for sewing would help me thrive.

We had no idea then what we do now- that sewing runs through my veins. I have to sew like I have to play music or paint or write. There is a deep drive. So, when I lost my first machine, it was devastating. Especially in the middle of some projects with a deadline. My sister brought me her machine, which I love and thank her for. My industrial strength machine was going to cost a small fortune to fix and I only have limited funds. My family pulled together and the hunt was on for a new machine. I met a lady at a yard sale who collects old machines and I bought one from her, but it was missing some key elements, a presser foot bar, for one. I continued on with Beir's machine and prayed for a solution.

God told me to be patient and I would love to say I was by choice, but really, I had to be. I had no other choice.

A friend asked me to make some cardinal pillows for a Mother's Day gift. I did and he loved them. After 3 months of praying and waiting, my friend called and he asked if I would like 2 machines, a newer one and an old one in a cabinet. I didn't know what to expect when MDH brought them home. I wondered if I would like them, if they would be industrial enough for what I do. I sew everyday, so the machine must be able to keep up with me!

When I pulled the first one out of the box, it still had the vinyl peel around the knobs! It is perfect! I immediately set it up and sewed my first projects with it! It is a match made in Heaven, by Heaven!

Queenie has yet to be "tested", but her beauty alone astounds me. I was going back to buy one just like her from the yard sale lady. Tomorrow, in fact. Now, I have one of my very own.
Because...Prayer Changes Things.

Psalm 51:12, "Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me." (NIV)

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

it's a good day for....

My new books came in the mail...
true physical, mental and spiritual therapy right there!
A 1940's glider that belonged to my Grandmother, my mother and, now, me! I covered the 40 year old cushions and now it just needs a coat o' Krylon!
Monsters have invaded!
The sweetest carousel is a button and thread one...
Hand tied hair is almost as good as the kind we grow ourselves...

Americana Owls, so folksy! I think I hear a banjo and a fiddle...
I make a mess...and I have a mess of machines to help me! Getting my work space organized is never as big of a priority as it should be. I start organizing, then find a fabric I love and I have to make it into something. There is a possibility I need professional help with this whole organization thingy....who would I call for that?!

I hope your day is exceptional!
Real quick like, I wanna tell you about my Saturday plans cos I am so dern excited about it!

1. 9 a.m. Incline District plays at some walk for a cause doohickey, not sure what that is all about, I am just stoked to see them play on a stage outside!

2. Amy Jo Combs is having a yard sale! On the West Side! I can't wait to go thru her stuff! Oh, Love! As you may know, Amy is the singer for Soapland and an exceptionally fashionable gal! She will have the business at her yard sale!

3. The debut of the very first City Flea here in Cincinnati! It is gonna be so wicked cool! I'm gonna go check out all the booths and visit my new friends at Abbydid and Lilyinflux! You should, too!!!!