This bird has flown...

In light of recent Blogger disasters, I've packed up my little

nest here and have moved it

here.

I've taken advantage of the move to give myself a make over

so it's a whole new world and I'm still finding my way 

around. Not yet fully unpacked but I really like it over there

and I'm reasonably sure it won't disappear!

I hope you'll stop by and say hello.

There's a new shop up there too.

Thanks and I'll see you out there.

I'm a Giant update

I think this is the end of it for me.

For now.

I've run out of room in my real house for my doll house

and toys but I'm happy I got to finish two rooms and I hope

to finish the others later on down the road.

I worked all afternoon yesterday throwing this one 

together. It's my Bohemian room of my own.

It's kind of like my old lair though the lair

was pretty spare compared to this...

That's a "chandelier" in front of that tangled beaded curtain...

It's so difficult to get a good shot!

I wanted my sofa to be a sectional with a chaise but

there would have been no room for it. I used checkers for the

feet and as a side table. I might have made a lamp had I more time.

I used the retro camera on my phone for this shot. I love those little

cameras!

That's an old doll head I made years ago and thimbles make
perfect vases in this world.

I got lucky with the textiles. Both the rug and the sofa fabric

were scraps found in my stash and wouldn't you love

a knitted pillow made from super soft giant yarn? 

Yes you would.

So that was fun. 

Now I have to clean up my mess, put away my toys and drag

the house up to the attic til next time.

There are four other rooms to work on and

I have some ideas that I'll just let 

percolate and compost for a while.

Beaver Moon

According to the Farmer's Almanac tonight's moon 

is the 

Full Beaver Moon

Full Beaver Moon – November This was the time to set beaver traps before the swamps froze, to ensure a supply of warm winter furs. Another interpretation suggests that the name Full Beaver Moon comes from the fact that the beavers are now actively preparing for winter. It is sometimes also referred to as the Frosty Moon.

Then there is this...

from the Housewives Tarot

Instinct * Intuition * Dreams

A nightly ritual of mud masks, curlers and hairnets can provide much more

than just peaches and cream skin and perfect curls. While your 

body gets its beauty rest, your unconscious mind is providing dreams with hints 

and tips for your waking hours. 

The Moon suggests that listening to your instincts and intuitions can

help you through times of change and uncertainty.

According to Hindu mythology...

every part of the cosmos is seen as an action of a god. Time is the 

endless repetition of the same long cycle where gods, demons and heroes

repeat their mythological actions. In Hindu mythology, Soma represents the god

of the Moon. He rides through the sky in a chariot drawn by white horses.

Soma was the name of the elixir of immortality that only the gods can drink.

The Moon was thought to be the storehouse of the elixir. When the gods drink 

soma, it is said that the Moon wanes because the gods are drinking away

some of it's properties.

Wishing you a warm and cozy night on this 

full moon night.

Monday...

Two new pouches in the 

shop.

These are made the same way, with my groovy faux oil cloth

technique. While I love the feel of the cotton left on it's own, I love the

fact that I can spill my coffee on these and no damage done, more.

This little honey is printed with an old collage of mine. 

And this one from an old collage of my husband's concocting.

We can clearly see who the Photo Shop genius in the family is.

He took this simple little photograph, taken at the NY Museum of

Natural History, and made it something magic.

And then I took it and made it into something practical. 

Put your make-up in it, your keys or your thread and

scissors or

make some magic and store it in there.

It's in the shop.

Modern Komebukuro Bags

I managed to finish two Komebukuro bags this week.

Traditionally Komebukuro were used to carry

rice offerings to temples in Japan. 

Or to carry gifts, sadly, I don't think they're made

anymore.

There are some exquisite examples at Sri Threads,

(see previous post).

The one below is made from an old dress that had these 

beautiful patches and buttons and 

I'd tried, unsuccessfully, to re-fashion the dress as a skirt. 

It's new reincarnation is far superior.

It's super roomy and perfect to hold my knitting.

The next one is made from an old unfinished quilt.

I don't remember why I never finished it, the fabrics are

beautiful and I was almost done with the hand quilting.

I've got enough to make another smaller version

that I will be putting in the shop next week

if my hand holds out.

I've done something to my hand and hand sewing is not comfortable

at the moment but I expect to make a full recovery tout de suite!

Three Things This Tuesday

that I would like to share...

Ann Wood

makes these most amazing owls among other things out of

vintage clothes.

She's brilliant. Go see for yourself.

Andrea Benson

Encaustic mixed media paintings.

This one is titled

The Manifestation of Cupcakes.

She's got a beautiful and extensive website.
Grab a coffee and
Go ponder.

And then there is

Sri Threads

A gallery in NY that specializes in Japanese folk textiles is mounting

an exhibit in Portland Oregon this month here.

If I didn't have so much going on this month, I'd take the Sweet Lime on

a road trip.

Instead I'm making my own Komebukuro bags this week out of

some old half finished quilts.  

A new love. 

Pictures to follow later this week.

Thank you Internets. For so much beauty and inspiration.

Pulp Fiction

I've started my engines!

My sewing machine is humming along. 

More Pulp Fiction pouches will 

appear in the shop shortly.

This smokin' hot pink darling is still available as is
Man Trap.

Don't miss them!



Have a super delicious weekend.
Here's what I'm making for tonight's dessert...

Mom's Pear Skillet Cake

Bracelets

Work on the dollhouse is slow as I tend to my real life size house.

I have my next room plotted out and only need work out the

textile details. Not easy on such a tiny scale!

I've also been looking at gemstones and dreaming up some

new jewelry designs. With that in mind I've been re-visiting

some old designs. 

Such as the free form Peyote Stitch madness that struck me a few years back...

I love winging it and this was my first go. Not knowing any better, I started out

with beads a bit larger than are normally used for this type of weaving. 

Beginner's luck! It's a beauty, one I wear often.

Then came this one, a bit more...subdued in it's design but also well loved.

a narrower version but still "on the fly'' weaving.

and then this happened. 

Not pleased with the colors or shapes and sadly never got around

to finishing or fixing it but haven't given up entirely.  It's in
that I'll get around to it some time, Pile.
If not held in check, this kind of Pile can become a monster!
Lucky for me, beads don't take up much room.

This is one I made at a workshop I attended for learning this particular weaving stitch.

While I enjoyed the class and love the bracelet, I realized, for the enth time, that I am

not a follow the numbers kind of gal.

So be it.

While I appreciate the beauty in symmetry, it's the unexpected 

surprise, the asymmetry and randomness that draws me in and

keeps things interesting for me.

I have a friend who can't stand it, has to have things straight and 

even and I understand the impulse. I like the towels in my bathroom 

straight and my bed made and I wear the same color socks on 

both feet.

Mostly

I see fake people....or did I?

Earlier this month when I got home from Florida,

I started seeing these guys hanging around town...

I'm a NY transplant, I grew up riding the subways so I know about not

making eye contact...

or turning my head to stare...

but their numbers grew over the following days...

they are now on every street...

dressed in all kinds of get ups...

some of them are seriously creepy....

Donnie Darko creepy....

give you nightmares creepy...

some are kind of interesting, like the Green Man here.

and this lady with crow. You can't see it in the picture but she

has this kind of cool wire headpiece.

There are alot of these wtf ones....

like the disco dancer with the fro?

I'm digging his pants and shoes though....

There are so many of them now in every nook and cranny in town and 

people everywhere taking pictures of them. It's become a little surreal.

I see them out of the corner of my eye as I drive by and suddenly one of them

will start moving...I'm starting to not be able to distinguish the people from

the scarecrows.  

Please make it stop.

I'm a Giant Update

While I should be helping my sweet other half paint our real life bedroom I am instead making
my way through the list of bloggers participating in the I'm a Giant challenge.

OMG.

There are some seriously talented people out there.

Take this for example.

and this...

and 

this.

For the complete list go 

here

My own progress is slow and somewhat disappointing.

I went ahead and did my text wallpaper idea on one wall and my sheer curtains
need some work.

I wanted them to spill onto the floor in a more....

romantic way. 

I went cheap and dirty with the floor and used a brown paper bag and glue because
I'd done that to the floor in my studio once and it looked awesome.
I still have to shellac or finish it in some

way to make it shiny and that chair cushion needs some help.

It's my Sunday stay in bed dream room...

So hard to photograph! This was taken with my phone.





and this with my regular camera...

yesterday and today

Yesterday
it was Autumn.

There was a chill and the sky was gray all day. 
Time for something warm, spicy and soothing.

Black Bean and Butternut Squash Chili

can I get an Amen!

olive oil

a small onion

3 or more garlic cloves

1 chipotle chili 

1 14.5 oz can of tomatoes, drained and chopped

2 cups of water or veggie stock

1/4 cup tomato paste

1 to 2 Tbls chili powder

1 teasp salt

1 medium butternut squash 

peeled, seeded chopped into small dice

3 cups cooked or 2 cans black beans

drained and rinsed.

Saute the onion, garlic and chipotle in a small amount of olive oil for about

5 minutes or so.  Add the tomatoes, water/stock, tomato paste, chili powder, salt

and squash stir gently, bring to a boil then lower to a simmer, cover and cook

15 minutes or so until the squash is tender but not mushy.  Add the beans and

adjust seasonings, simmer a little longer to blend the flavors.

Top with chopped avocado, scallions and sour cream if you like.

I like it with just the avo and some sliced bread. 

I've also made this and substituted sweet potato for the squash

and love that variation just as much. 

Today
it's warm and sunny. Summer.

It feels like a salad day.

Like maybe this Hot and Sour Fish salad.

It was SUPER tasty and even
better the next day wrapped in a corn tortilla.

My right hand is useless today.  It must be all the painting
I did this week and last.  So today I am
trying to use my left hand instead.

A good practice for breaking habits and patterns.

Each day a new day, a different season.

Untitled

somebody's got a case of the Monday's

government offices have a way of giving one lethal doses of said Monday's.

I started my dollhouse remodel by tearing out the stairs because I don't know any dolls that can use them and they take up much needed space. I'm considering tearing down walls as well but I'm going to wait on taking such drastic measures. maybe finish one room before deciding.

On my drive into town today it was warm and I had the windows rolled down and the ocean was a glittering silky blanket and there was a truck with at least three giant boxers with big giant smiles on their faces on their way to dog beach and you could just tell their little stumpy tails were going wild with anticipation. my heart felt like it was filled with helium. Helium!

now it's time for toast on the sofa.

PS. That's a digital collage made on my ipad.

Back Home

Florida was Grand, hot and stormy. It was wonderful to see my family 

and I wish it could have been a longer trip but at least they will be coming here in 

just a few weeks so I'm not complaining.

I jumped right into projects that I didn't have planned but needed doing. The entire

house was turned upside down and then put back together, we did some major

purging of books, clothes and other unnecessary items and the house feels lighter

and cleaner and happier. I can feel it. 

One project I did have planned was this.

Last year, I brought my daughter's doll house down from the attic with the idea of 

some photo play and maybe some re-decorating. I got maybe two photos and that was that.

The Giant Challenge has been "percolating"....
"composting" and today, in between priming the walls of what will soon be my Mom's bedroom and doing laundry and walking my very BAD bulldog, she did something so 'not toward' I can't even 

speak about it,  my idea for the house, coalesced.

Stay tuned.

Back in a few

If all goes as planned, I'm off to the Sunshine state in a couple days time to visit

with family and sweat profusely.

I'm all packed and now trying to figure out what project will suit best 

to take along. 

I'm meeting my friend the Monk there and he'll bring his beading no doubt so 

I'll need something for my own hands to do while we sit and watch novellas 

in the evening with my Mom.

 

Preview

Back in a few weeks.

The Scholars Scroll Necklace

I've had a new necklace design in mind for a couple weeks and I made two

but they weren't quite what I was envisioning.

Third time lucky!

The three "pendant" pieces are from a necklace I made years ago when I was enamored

with wire. The face is a carved nut bead found in Taiwan. The brush was a chinese calligraphy brush and the paper beads are made from an antique Chinese almanac book.

The necklace is strung on waxed linen with a mixture of wood, metal and glass beads. 

I love it and I loved working with the waxed linen.

 This waxed linen is awesome to work with.

I feel more necklaces coming.

Texture Tuesday

Today's Texture Theme was Do, to which I added oodle.

The image is of a doodle my daughter did on my phone and 

a photo of an elephant that lives on our fridge. In keeping with 

the DOodle theme I've also added some photoshop brushes. The 

swirl around the random dot in the center and the birds in flight in 

the upper right hand corner.

I love textures AND brushes. 

For more Texture Tuesdays click on the Cup.

New in the Shop!

Seven Happiness Pouch

New in the (Fabric Beauties) Shop.

Here

I'm in the process of tidying up the sewing room but am easily distracted.

All those pretty colors and textures wouldn't they make a

lovely pouch....

The goal is to get everything off my chair so I can sit in it!

Wish me luck.

Texture Tuesday and Camping in the Sweet Lime

We went camping up in the Napa Valley last weekend and I took 

tons of pictures with a new camera app called Vignette.

It's a fun little app that I couldn't put away and I took tons and tons of pictures with but when I got them on the computer they were all too small. They're fun and look great on the phone but

not great on the screen. Still I like some of them, like this one of the orange chair we came upon in

the Martha Walker Garden.

I used the Kim's Cracker Jack texture twice on darkened and multiply mode. 

I really like that texture...

We had the best time this weekend. We visited the di Rosa Art Preserve and camped in wonderful little park that had this native garden that was just a joy to wander. 

There's more  here at the Sweet Lime.

As always, there is more fun with this texture here at Kim's Place too.

Off on the Sweet Lime for a Sweet Lime Time!

See you Monday.

Texture Tuesday

I really liked this week's theme.

Orange.

It's the new black.

I made this coat last year out of some bark cloth like

fabric I found at the Goodwill. There was alot of it.

I've also made curtains and shades and still have enough left over 

for I don't know what. Maybe a coat for my dog.

Wouldn't we be quite the pair strolling down Main Street.

Oh!

I used two textures. One was an orange squash color overlay and the

other was Kim's Cracker Jack.

Thanks Kim.

Go see all the Orange 

here.

Garden Tour

It's been a hit or miss, fly by night sort of summer in our garden this year.

Buying and renovating the Sweet Lime trailer has left little motivation available for gardening

and the gopher situation never helps, though now that every cat in the neighborhood

calls our yard home, there are fewer to no gophers in residence. 

There are now raccoons who visit nightly and have wild and crazy parties it seems.

They tear down the hammock and play in the pond, steal my gardening gloves

and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if some morning I went out and

found empty beer cans laying around.

Still, the "bones" of the garden are in and I've given in to the idea

of a low maintenance garden. Planting only natives that require nothing more than

cutting back once or twice a year, though they must be beautiful. So I've filled

in our "bare spots", spots I used to plant veggies and flowers in, with Lavender

and Rosemary and Erigeron. Plants that grow like weeds here and are useful, fragrant 

and drought tolerant and I can harvest and use them in my concoctions.

And there are the volunteers like the Nasturtiums...

they are creeping up the hillside but are easy enough to clear so they don't

eat up the succulents I've planted up there.

I've been tucking succulents in and around the garden for years.
I planted these shoes at least 5 years ago.

and this old kitchen spoon around the same time.

I've been tucking Buddha statues around for years too.

 

 This chair picture is a before shot, when the weeds were taking hold and

the plums on the tree were small and hard and looked like cherries.

I cleared the weeds and I imagine I've made a lovely spot for the raccoons to 

dance around under the moonlight, before they retreat to lounge in my yoga lair

and hammock.