And sometimes, someone has left behind little rock pile sculptures that make you a lot happier than you were before you got there.
Determined to give even the tiniest rocks a rumble, each grey wave's retreat proved louder than it's initial crashing.
And sometimes, someone has left behind little rock pile sculptures that make you a lot happier than you were before you got there.
Determined to give even the tiniest rocks a rumble, each grey wave's retreat proved louder than it's initial crashing.
Some might not think it's worth the few extra dollars to buy fancy patterned page markers over the cheap post-it kind. Some might find page markers in general a frivolous expense... but I use them liberally, so the fact that I now have pretty printed ones instead of florescent yellow (thanks mom!) makes me really happy. It's so small and simple, but it really does brighten my day. Look...
The page markers completely match the book cover! It's so cute, I just want to leave it laying around so everyone can see how 'together' I am! (ha)
So then later on in the week I was putting away some yarn that I had lost interest in using. It had been sitting around in the drawer/basket/pile for so long I just wasn't inspired by it anymore. Since it was taking up prime real estate in my room, I decided to put it in a storage bin, but then an awesome thing happened. These five skeins lined up next to each other, in this exact order, I kid you not. A perfect color scheme for a baby blanket I had just decided to 'think about' making. And so it was...
And the stitch pattern swatch I have going...
Remarkably close to the page markers and book, wouldn't you say??
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Yarn: Malabrigo
Needles: Us #7
Gauge: 4.5 sts per inch
Pattern: My own
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A finished quilt top in need of a little love... Oh bliss! I love quilts that are mostly white with all these cute little pattern pieces. Now I can get right to my favorite part which is hand quilting the layers together.
First I'm going to iron the top piece so that all the petals are flat and take out the old ties. Then I'll get some cotton batting to make the 'sandwich' with the backing fabric. I haven't quite decided about the backing fabric yet. Should I go simple and get a nice quality, whole cloth back that's just white? Should I get a cute little patterned fabric, like flowers or polka dots? Or should I piece together a back using the old fabrics I have downstairs at my moms house? Part of me thinks that piecing the back together would be the most resourceful, 'quilterly' and congruent with the style already set forth. There aren't too many non-cotton fabrics, so I don't think the maker was cutting up old shirts and dresses or anything! I'm not sure if these are feed-sack fabrics, but they certainly point that way. Perhaps she got a bag of scraps from the fabric store?
I think I'll investigate the fabrics downstairs first, to see if any would match, then go from there. I also want to add borders on all sides of the quilt top, since the motifs are currently quite close to the edges. I don't want anything too distracting though, no patterns. I would go with white, but trying to match the current color would be impossible and would probably look terrible. So I'm thinking a subtle, muted solid color like a light green, gold or coral. Something unusual to satisfy the artist in me. This is so exciting!
I plan to quilt around the outside of each motif and at the same time, tack down any loose tips. This is probably not the 'right' way of doing it, but I thought it would conserve time and thread. If I'm going to be going around anyway... why spend hours tacking down loose tips before hand? Not to mention tying all those knots?
Any suggestions for what I should do in the center of the flowers?
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My apartment in a truckA few days ago I loaded all my possessions into a rental truck and made the seven hour drive back to Maine... with my cat. Thankfully my pal Sarah came a long for the ride and kept Louis (the cat) from jumping in my face. He chilled on the dashboard mostly while I admired the leaves and made small talk, unable to comprehend all I was leaving behind.
The time to move from Brooklyn hit me like a ton of bricks. Really? Leave the coolest place? (it is right?) Why? I have everything I'll ever need here. It's hip, happening and there's so much to do! Right. There's so much to do. At any given moment you could be doing something else much cooler, with much cooler people, wearing much cooler clothes or shoes. My friends are pretty rad, so I tended to focus on the shoes part and since I was almost always broke, buying such things was usually out of the question. Oh NY, how you inflated my insecurities!
My Marks family send off. They all came to wave goodbye, heart wrenching, but much appreciated!But I don't want to dwell on the darkness, because the city is a fabulous place, I'm sure in time I'll even be able to lift my "I heart NY" mug high, but it just wasn't working out.
Of course I have HUGE plans of doing everything I ever wanted in life in this new magical land of opportunity, but for now...I'm content to collect my thoughts, breathe fresh air, talk to people I haven't seen in years, invest in some new projects and find my smile.
Things I will miss:
The Marks brought me a parting gift and as I opened it 2 year old Clarissa said "Happy Bithday Gimmie!" which just killed me!Things I won't miss
One year my friends and I were zom-bees, in our cute little bee outfits all deadfaced. Were were also a group of "Thriller" loving regular zombies once who strutted our stuff in the huge Halloween parade in the West Village. We practiced a lot and did our best Thriller dance, which was pretty great, but I did have to alter it a bit to suit the parade format. We did this several years ago and I'm pretty sure it was before the now famous dancing prisioners video. The night was unforgettable! Everyone goes nuts on Halloween in New York, but turn on Thriller and look out. Bust out in coordinated dance moves and thousands of people will cheer you on...Seriously. I don't think I'll ever experience an audience response like that again in my life!!
Other favorites I've seen around town: The kids from "Goonies," and a large posse of "Eliots" from ET with red hoodies on bikes.
I'm holding out to one day be Olive Oyl with my Popeye! Or maybe the Morton's Salt girl with the Gortons Fisherman... right??
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Domino was the "Lucky" for the home. It was the perfect blend of inspiration & products both fancy and affordable. I could find great lamp ideas, sheets, wallpapers... I mean it was my dream magazine, next to Blueprint which also folded. I just LOVE looking at other peoples homes, don't you? So many home magazines are either too designy, modern or country for my taste. Domino just seemed like my people, you know? We had a great relationship and I miss it.
I thought I could ride out this whole LUCKY business, after all, I'm strong and I like clothes...maybe I might find something or learn something... right??
But then I turned the page one day and saw this... please excuse my high school-esque notes!
I mean, what more do I have to say?? Animal prints, black nylons, tight rolled pants (which I think could be cute on tighter, darker pants maybe) moccasins, fringe?????
The top two outfits, while not horrible, are certainly not what I'd call fashion forward or inspirational. if I want to see normal outfits I'd like, got outside or something!
And I don't care if it's "IN".... If my "Interior Designer" (top right) showed up wearing two plaids, I don't think I could trust her!
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