Artichoke Man

Another art project from college:

I don't know what prompted me to make an artichoke into a character.  Maybe it was because it was a vegetable both my kids would eat (dipped in garlic butter of course) way back when.  I thought I'd hang it in my kitchen but it always got packed away which is what happened again.  Someday I say to myself...I'll have all my stuff out and it will be like Christmas morning!

I don't remember what the assignment was but I liked how it turned out.  I know it had something to do with color because I would never have chosen red and pink checks as a background.  When it finally gets unpacked and has a place to be hung up I think I'll paint over the checks maybe black and white...hmmm...dunno?  I had a nice weekend and a lovely visit with Tracy.  It just goes by way too fast.  Hope you all have a terrific week!

Saturday's Outing

Hi, gonna go and meet up with my childhood friend Tracy at Victoria Gardens the outdoor mall today after work.  Tomorrow is work on the kitchen day.  Here is my (finally) finished cotton scarf.  Yeah!!  I just won some yarn, a pretty lavender-blue on ebay.  Geez, what should I make with it?

Here are the glads that are blooming right now.  I had forgotton the color of  'em and they're pink!

Well, I'm off for some much needed girlfriend time.  Been a crazy week.  Thanks for stoppin' by!

Hot Monday

Hey, it's become a normal summer now.  Should be in the low 100's tomorrow here in the valley.  That's when I wouldn't mind living at the beach.  My fav saying lately, THIS TOO, SHALL PASS.  I worked on the kitchen yesterday along with watering the plants and some laundry.  Because of the heat, I drank allot of fluids and woke this morning to face and eye puffiness.  A fender bender accident woke me up early but I laid there not wanting to get up.  Today flew by which is good.

My trip to the Sewing Machine store last Sat. was in vain.  Nice people but NO, they didn't participate in the sweepstakes they said they usually do but didn't this time, Go Figure???  When I got home I looked on the internet and the next closest one was in Long Beach that was open on Sunday but I just couldn't justify spending such a chunk of time on a "maybe I'll win" when I have all these fix it projects to do.  What the heck, not very many sewing machine stores in the LA area; it seems we don't sew here or something?? 

The sweeps ends today, darn it.  The grand prize is a new BMW car or 30,000.00 in cash.  I'll take the cash, thanks.  So I got this bright idea that maybe there was a store near my sis.  Sure enough, there's one in San Juan Capistrano and this time I called to see if they were participating and he said yes and I told him I'm sending my mom and sis over there to enter!!!  Called my sis and she said she'd go over and do it for me.  What a sweetie!!!  So I'm crossing my fingers on this one. 

Here's before pix of the kitchen eating area that I'm about to embark on with my trusty new wood refinisher stuff.  I'll do it in 2 parts, eating area first and then the main kitchen next.

I didn't choose the floor, it does hide dirt well though

I'm off to clean the cupboards and all the wood or I should say as much as I can get done tonight!  Thanks for stopping by...

Garden Update

Quick before the sun and heat burns them all, I took some pictures.  The front is filling in and has some blooms.  Some of the plants had enough shock so they lost their leaves but have come back and are blooming now.  A couple years ago I had thrown some Nasturtium seeds into that area and I have one plant that is prolific that is blooming it's heart out from a seed from that long ago!  We had turned over the soil so much that I didn't think that there would be any seeds from before near the surface.  Goes to show ya Mother Nature fools us!

Nasturtium flowers

I'm headed out to the sewing machine store in Montrose after I close or should I do grocery shopping first here or do it closer to home, decisions, decisions.  They are having a sweepstakes promotion and I want to win.  Mayhall's Sewing Center has been in business since before I was born, it's true.  So I must not be that old.  This got me thinking, ya know what is cool about Europe?  It's when companies have been around since the 1700's or earlier (for real) you feel they really know what they're doing!  Like buying Twining's Tea for instance.  A few years ago my sis-in-law came back from her hometown, outside of London and gave me this cute thatched cottage designed teapot with Twinings tea to go in it.  They've been in business seems like forever (over 300 years!!).  I digress...where was I?  Oh yeah my garden.  Here are some pix I took yesterday before work.

I have some gladiolus that I planted and they are getting close to blooming.  I'll be surprised because I don't remember what color they are.  Does this have to do with age, this remembering?  Ahem, not going there right now. 

Even the weeds on the cement are doing well

My Dahlia finally opened up this week

Gerbera Daisy

Potted miniature rose bush

Big leaved Begonia

I'm getting real close to finishing the scarf that started out as a summer top.  I'll post it soon.  No, I haven't started the summer hat I was planning on making.

I am going to be working on the kitchen tomorrow so stay tuned for some before and afters of that!

Plumeria

Just one more pix... then I gotta get outta here.  See ya...

Some Random Thoughts

Hey!  Women got the right to vote 90 years ago today.  YEAH!  So celebrate today and vote in the next election!

I woke up at about 4:30 this morning with the sounds of someone crying hysterically.  It was my new neighbor.  I have a feeling that her mom passed away she has/had been ill.  A sweet elderly lady.  How sad.  It was kinda eerie and I had a hard time falling back to sleep.  I wanted to do something about it to make her feel better.  I hate that hopeless feeling of not being able to help.  I don't know them well but loss is so transcendent to all living creatures.

We're finally having summer here.  Yesterday was hot, in the 90's and today there is some high clouds acting like it could possibly rain because it's HUMID today.  Thankfully I'm in air conditioning.

It's the kind of day for tea and relaxing!

On my way to work this morning there was a guy that was maneuvering his moving van perfectly.  He had to back up his big truck and try to go into a narrow driveway off of the incredibly busy street. All eyeballs were on him with the intentions of "hurry up and get outta our way".  Even with all that pressure on him he was doing a beautiful job!  Let's celebrate all those people who do their jobs so professionally!

I'll drink to that!

Decorative Art Nitestand

Several years ago I was into decorative painting.  I still love to paint but finding the time to do it is what's hard!  I used to try painting while being here at the shop in between customers but the paint would dry in my brush by the time I got back to it and found that crocheting was much more portable.

My fav piece that I did was this nitestand.  It's my own design.  I like how it turned out.  I'll get back to painting one of these days.  I always thought it would be fun to paint themes/scenes in children's rooms.  

The more correct color of the nitestand is the first photo.

I've been busy here at the shop and then I've been staying late to list some stuff on ebay since they have free auction listings thru Sept. 7th.  So I haven't been working on fixing up the house very much. 

The new garden has been doing very well.  We've had such a mild summer so far.  Really it's the coolest one I can remember!  That fact alone has kept my new plantings from burning up for lack of a root system.  I can tell it's gonna be warmer today, though.  No cloud cover this morning and as sunny as can be...but I don't care because I'm going down to the beach to hang with my sis and her family and to see my mom, too.  Mom, sis and I are planning to see the movie, Eat, Pray, Love and share a bit of "girlfriend" time.  I also need to return a really cute blouse at a boutique my sis got for me for my b-day because it's too small, ugg!  Damn menopause!!

Have a lovely weekend and stay cool!!

Look What I Won!

I entered the Threads Magazine (website) book giveaway last month and I was one of two winners!  Now I can't say I never win anything.

Stitch-Opedia looks like it will be a great reference tool.  They also have some projects you can do.

 I was hoping to get some ideas and also (new to me) techniques to apply to the jacket I'm embellishing.  I've only done a little bit of embroidery before so this should help me allot!  I only have one other embroidery book and it's been packed away.  Right now I'm almost done with the blanket stitches around the edges and collar.  I wanted to embellish the pockets, too with some type of flower design.

Here's the content page:

They include some history of the different techniques included in the book.  Throughout the ages they sure did some beautiful work!

I always liked stumpwork (padded applique) but I didn't know that that is what it's called until I got this book.  I did a wall hanging in high school where I batik dyed the fabric and did some embroidery and stumpwork on it.  Wish I still had it; I probably sold it at a garage sale!

This pic isn't in focus, sorry.  Wow, such tedious tiny stitches.

Amazing what artisans do with fabric, a needle and some thread!

That's all for now...

My DHL Birthday Day

Gosh, I've been busy!  It was my b-day last week and it was nice turning 29 again.  Actually the age I liked was about 35 or so really.  No aches or pains, energy at the end of the day, still had more than half my life to  live!  No more diapers, the kids old enough to talk in full sentences, able to get some food on their own and I just had to tell 'em to, "grab a sweatshirt, use the bathroom and grab a snack if you want" before going someplace.  No more carrying around everything except the kitchen sink!  Remember cutting up your kids meat?  Keeping their food separate and not touching each other?  Those days are over but there is always challenges in young adulthood and you never really "outgrow" your need to connect with your parents at any age.  When they are no longer "earthbound" we connect with them through our memories of 'em. 

I didn't do anything special as far as b-days go, a regular workday except we did go to a DHL (international shipping company) open house at the Los Angeles airport DHL terminal in the morning.  It was like continuing education really.  US Customs spoke about the fake trademarked merchandise that they stop from illegally coming into our country.  They look for obvious things like the name spelled wrong for instance.  They showed us a fake Louis Vuitton purse that had this thin layer of brown plastic with little designs similar to the trademark but not close enough to keep from coming in but when they did a closer inspection, the layer could easily be removed to show the counterfeit real looking LV purse underneath.  Those clever bad guys!

We got to go into one of their cargo planes a Boeing 767 and see the sort facility, all their offices; boy, it sure takes allot of people to move goods around our spinning ball we live on.

A knowledgable DHL staff member told us that this is the historic building they used as the set for the airport (in Cuba) for the movie Casablanca.

They even fed us lunch and gave us a goody bag!


















Just what I needed, a new truck and airplane!

I use DHL exclusively for international shipments.  They're good, fast and have been doing it longer than either UPS or FEDEX.  They also have a larger fleet and are better known in other countries, kinda like we think of UPS and FEDEX here in the US.

Thanks for stoppin' by!