Showing posts with label sewing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sewing. Show all posts

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Easter Sunday

We had a quiet Easter this year. We stayed home and shared a delicious meal of ginger-marmalade ham (done in the crock pot), home-made gluten-free French bread, Hasselbeck potatoes, and chocolate truffle brownies. We were all grateful to be able to spend a peaceful day at home, especially after the busy week we'd just had. 

antique Easter image

As usual, it snowed on Easter Sunday, preventing us from playing outside or hiding eggs. Clementine has yet to see a snow-free Easter in her five years. This year, we planned ahead and are going to recreate Easter festivities with Dan's family this coming weekend. The weather is supposed to be overcast, but will hopefully cooperate and be snow-free so that we can hide eggs and celebrate with Spring-like temperatures. Either way, we're looking forward to spending time with Dan's parents, his sister, her husband, and Clementine's cousins.

 antique image

I decided a few months ago to make the toys for Clementine's Easter basket this year, but it took me till late last week to decide what to make, and I then spent most of last Saturday sewing. I managed to finish a pony and some bunnies. Nothing like waiting till the last moment, you know?

antique image

Dan did the cooking on Sunday, allowing me to finish the embroidery on the pony's saddle and bridle. I am so thankful to be married to a thoughtful, sweet husband who always encourages me to be creative. Dan is an excellent cook and did  a fantastic job with everything. The only thing I did this year was grocery shop, plan the menu, and enjoy a delicious dinner.

Clementine's Easter pony
Part of the reason it took me so long to start is that I decided to make the pattern for the pony from scratch. I've made simple toy patterns before, but this was most complicated by far. Made from wool felt, the pony is hand sewn, has several gussets, lined ears, and though you can't see them in the photos, cute little hooves. The saddle and bridle are brown wool felt, embroidered with daisies and French knot flowers in several colors of floss.

 Easter pony with carrots
The pale orange carrots are long triangles with green felt fringe at the top - I don't use a pattern for small items like these and so each carrot is slightly different. I left the threads from the floss about an inch long at the end of each carrot to represent the rootlets at the ends of real carrots.

 bunnies bunnies bunnies!

The bunnies are from a pattern I've had for several years, not my own - I'm not sure where it originated, but it became separated from the directions at some point, and I have a feeling that I placed one of the gussets incorrectly. I think now that it should have gone in the head, not along the back. If I make them again, I'll definitely try placing the gusset in the head and seeing if that makes any difference. The green bunny is the only one made with acrylic felt. I used acrylic to test the pattern since I didn't have any directions and didn't want to waste wool if I got it wrong. Which I probably did anyway.

Clementine loves them though, which is all that really matters.

the bunnies and their carrots

I found several yards of wool felt at the thrift store a while back, and as soon as I saw it, I knew that I'd be making toys with it. Clementine always responds well to toys made from wool - it holds the warmth from little hands and feels so nice and soft.

flowers on the saddle

Since she received the pony and bunnies, Clementine has played with them non-stop. There is something special about home-made that resonates with children and I've been asked to make several more ponies for her stable. I guess I'd better get busy.

the pony, the bunnies, and their carrots

the pony and her carrots

I hope you had a blessed, joyful Easter.

Namaste.

Friday, November 05, 2010

The Friday Five from The Women's Colony...

...coming to you live, on Saturday morning. 

We had a pretty quiet week after a bustling, super-busy Halloween weekend. As soon as I'm feeling a bit better, I'll post photos of the costume I made for Clementine. It took much longer than normal to make, the better part of a week, mostly because I felt so icky. October 31st is Clementine's birthday as well as Halloween, and this was the first year we've let her go to more than just the two or three houses in our immediate neighborhood. For the first time, we allowed her (with Dan as her brave escort, of course) to trick or treat at a few dozen houses. For all those reasons, I really wanted to make her costume special.

Used with permission, by seiyastock, from Morguefile^

I've been sick for about a month, with coughing, a sinus infection, an earache; just feeling terrible. I've gone to bed early most nights, exhausted. I ended up going in to the doctor on Thursday morning after I just couldn't justify trying to say that "it'll get better" when it wasn't. Turns out, it's a sinus/bronchial infection. I'm now on antibiotics, and feel some better already. I need to remind myself that when I'm sick, the doctor is my friend.

 Used with permission, by ppdigital, from Morguefile^

Tonight, after dinner, Dan and I watched a movie on Netflix streaming. In the last few months, we've developed a habit of watching bad sci-fi/monster movies on Friday night. Tonight's feature film was Snake Island^, starring William Katt ( the actor from the awesome 1981 series, Greatest American Hero). People stranded on island full of snakes, snakes pick people off one by one. In the end, only the few people who seemed to be decent folk are left. It was pretty much ok as those things go, unless you're ophidiophobic (hate snakes). 'Cause this movie had snakes. Lots and lots of snakes. And lots and lots of bad acting. Sssssss.

Used with permission, by penywise from Morguefile^

Luckily, neither of us fear snakes. I fear clowns (coulrophobia), so I avoid circuses, and try to live a life that doesn't include day-to-day contact with brightly painted creepy people :)

 Used with permission, by mconnors from Morguefile^

Giant from the Unknown^ was our second movie of the evening. Filmed in 1958, in black and white,, it was about an archaeologist father and his daughter who were looking for the bodies of a evil giant who had been part of a Spanish conquistador expedition into California in the 1600's. They're joined by another man, I think he was a scientist of some sort. They eventually dig up the skeleton of the giant, who is then promptly reanimated by a lightening bolt. The giant rants and raves, kills a couple of people, and generally terrorizes the tiny mountain town until they kill it. It was about what you'd expect, i.e., I loved it. 

 Used with permission, by ladyheart from Morguefile^

Mostly, I love it because it gives us a chance to sit together, chat, and just "be" with each other. It's nice to have a weekly date to spend special time with my love. I can't wait until next week.


Without further adieu, the Friday Five from the Women's Colony^:

Used with permission, by alvimann, from Morguefile^

1. Are you a morning or a night person?

Night person. But I bet you guessed that, since I'm writing this at 3:49 AM. Actually, this is late even for me. I wouldn't be up now normally, but I feel better sitting up than laying down.


Used with permission, by wax115, from Morguefile^

2. You’re having dinner with friends. They all start gossiping about another friend of yours. What do you do?

Ask them to stop, possibly correcting anything said that I know to be wrong.



Used with permission, by clarita, from Morguefile^

3. What is the worst job you've ever had?

I don't know. I don't think I've ever really hated a job insofar as my bosses have been nice enough and most co-workers have been fine. I guess I'd have to say "waitressing" because people in general don't really treat waitresses very well. If you feel the need to cure yourself of your love for Humanity, wait tables for six months or so. It'll fix you right up. 

Used with permission, by duboix, from Morguefile^

4. What magazines do you subscribe to? 

Only one, Living Crafts^, a crafting magazine featuring natural handcrafts. I used to subscribe to Reason^, a magazine for libertarians; &; Skeptical Inquirer^, a science magazine for skeptics. I stopped a few years ago when the subscriptions ran out, but I'd like to resubscribe to both someday when I have more time to read them. 

 Used with permission, by Alvimann, from Morguefile^
5. What is your favorite restaurant in your area?

Eating out when you don't eat gluten is really hard, and I'm always concerned that I'm going to get "wheated". A couple of restaurants stand out as places that are easier than most. Thankfully, they're delicious, too. Arharn Thai^ has a really well-labeled menu, is very careful about gluten, and hands-down, has the best Thai in town.
 used with permission, by dantada, from Morguefile^
My other favorite place is Bird Dog BBQ^; they have some of the best BBQ I've ever had (and I lived in the South), and are very mindful of gluten.

Either place, any time.

Until later.

Namaste

Friday, December 12, 2008

The Buddhist Cow Says Mu

How can you possibly go wrong with a quiz that contains an awesome question like Do you like waffles? From the Thursday Thunks meme, on Friday morning (of course).



1. Do you like waffles?

I love waffles! There are really great gluten-free waffles on the market, made by Van's(^). Sometimes we make it using GF baking mix. I haven't made them from scratch yet. When I was still eating wheat I have to admit that the best waffles I ever made were made with Jiffy Mix(^) and the worst I ever made were made totally from scratch using the recipe in The Joy Of Cooking. They were way too greasy. Yuck.

The ones from Vans are great because they're, well, great - they taste like waffles, not too sweet or funky due to the lack of flour. And because they are in the grocery store, vs going to the health food store. And because they aren't expensive. A lot of gluten-free food is pretty expensive. There are several factors involved - testing, cleaning equipment, smaller batches, costly ingredients.

It's spiffy to find things that aren't expensive, taste good and are easy to find.

We like Waffles so much that we have a cat named Waffles. Our Waffles was actually named after Fern's cat Waffles, though. Fern doesn't have an accessible blog at the moment, but when he does, I'll link to it. He's one of the most important people in my life; the brother I now have, a best friend, and a confidant. As wonderful as Fern is, and while his cat is no doubt awesome, scientifically speaking, our Waffles has been determined to be the best cat on the planet.

Waffles:
  • is incredibly empathetic and always comes and lays with us if we're not feeling well or could use some cheering up.
  • sleeps with us, and is never too warm.
  • lets the other kitties eat first.
  • roars when he purrs.
  • is huge, really long and muscular.
  • defends other kitties against the scourge that is the dog.
  • loves his mommy.
  • has his own following on MySpace.


Waffles on the bed


More Waffles. Doesn't he have the sweetest face?

2. Name 3 things that is within your reach right now, excluding anything to do with your computer/laptop.

A water bottle, a lamp shaped like the Eiffel Tower, and my camera.

3. Do you hang laundry out on a line outside?

Rarely. I often hang it in the laundry room to dry. In Colorado, the air is so dry that even inside, clothes dry in a just few hours.

4. Loss of vision, ability to speak or hearing - which do you choose? (you have to choose one....)

I've already lost some hearing in my right ear due to a childhood injury, and I'd be ok with losing the rest. Well, not ok, but it would bother me less than the other two. I watch closed captioned TV and can read lips, so it wouldn't be much of a shock to lose my hearing, whereas I can't fathom losing my vision or the ability to speak.

5. On a scale from 1 - 10, how are your computer skills?

Well, compared to my husband, pretty poor. His skills go to eleven, as Nigel Tufnel(^) would say. But compared to your average user, probably about an 8 with PCs; a 6 with Macs; and maybe a 4 with Linux.

Tux, the Linux Mascot

This is the place where I tell you I intend to become more adept at Linux, like I always do. The truth is, it isn't Linux's fault - it's mine. Linux is not hard to learn at the user level, I'm just really busy with the SuperCat. I am at a point where I could use Linix 24/7 at the user level, but I would like to know a lot more and not have to rely on Dan for technical support.

On the plus side, I did dump Windows off my desktop machine, and my laptop now dual boots, so I am making measurable progress. Yay, progress.

6. Do you volunteer or donate to anything around the holidays?

I used to volunteer a lot, but haven't for a while, and am ok with that for the time being. My time is best utilized at home and probably will be for the foreseeable future. I will return to volunteering, eventually though, as I do miss it. We do donate to the ARC(^), which does a lot of good work.

7. If a person receives a DUI while in government office, should he lose his/her position?

I don't have enough information to make a decision.
Was the person elected, appointed or hired?
Does their job involve passing legislation involving drunk driving? Are they otherwise in a decision-making position?
Without more information, I can't answer.

Which totally brings us to MU!!!!! My friend Ben shared the concept of Mu a couple of weeks ago, and I was delighted to read about it.

Mu, where have you been all my life?

Mu (in Japan and Korea) or Wu (in Chinese) means "none", "without", and "no meaning". Mu is the answer to give when there is no correct answer possible or when there isn't enough information to give any answer at all. When "yes" and "no" are both wrong, "Mu" may be the answer.

Mu has a place in Buddhist philosophy as a kōan. A kōan is an often paradoxical question, story, riddle or statement that makes you think about things intuitively that may not be thinkable any other way.

These are kōans:
  • what is the sound of one hand clapping?
  • when you can do nothing, what can you do?
  • what is the color of wind?
  • If you have ice cream, I will give you some.
    If you don't have
    ice cream, I will take it away.
    That, of course, is the famous ice cream kōan by Jack Kerouac
Kōans may not have a obvious or single correct answer, which is where Mu comes in.

This is Mu:

marvel at the awesomeness of Mu

8. Do you take vitamins?

I administer vitamins in the form of Flintstones Chewables (now with Betty), and I take one occasionally, but generally no.

9. Do you wear fingernail polish?

My hands are too often in and around craft materials and water to have polished nails. I keep my nails clean but not polished since they'd chips too frequently to look neat for very long. My toenails are polished, though. Bright pink at the moment.

10. If every flower in the world only grew into one color, which color would you want?

The color of blue hydrangeas in the shade on a late summer afternoon. How's that for specific? I love hydrangeas and everything they represent - the bounty and beauty of summer flowers, and the languid warmth of late afternoons as the shadows grow. Hydrangeas made up the bulk of my bridal bouquet and I can't wait to grow them again.


Beautiful blue hydrangeas
Stock Photo from the morgueFile, image information found here(^)

I have a busy day of sewing ahead of me, and will try to post some pictures f my work later this evening.
Until then,

Namaste.
Current mood: (busy)