ice cream sandwich

this year i think strawberry ice cream is my favorite. last year's choice was vanilla; which is definitely what i still enjoy with a slice of pie or brownies. i've been using some of the recipes from my new cookbook veganomicon, and decided to make oatmeal cookies with coconut. they turned out okay, a little drier than i'm used to. so after they cooled for a bit i thought of making a strawberry ice cream sandwich, which i say improves the flavor tenfold.

from one book...

comes many stories. the story of alice and her fall into wonderland has taken many forms of entertainment in the visual arts. from so many creative minds a new story evolves, sometimes parallel to the original; phoebe in wonderland is a movie that is a little different for it uses the book as a metaphor. for this movie isn't about alice, nor of wonderland. this is about a child, unique in so many ways, and her path through her life; one that is at times as mad as that land through the looking glass, with it's strange ways and even stranger characters. but through the telling of alice we catch a glimpse of what is going wrong with phoebe and how those around her react, and ultimately learn to cope with her changing behavior.
i found this movie to be thoughtful in its telling, to be direct in its showing, and to be ultimately a realistic vehicle for a painful subject matter. but the movie is not without beauty, for you almost wish phoebes' world were real so that there were a place for her where it's okay again.

a little collection

i've managed to cut down on the amount of shoes i own over the years. but there are still those that i can't part with; either because they're too pretty or because, who knows, one day i may actually wear them. some of the flats i do get quite some action from; but not so much in the summer when it's just hot, or i know that i'll be walking on cobblestones a lot. here's a snapshot of my girly shoes which excludes my birkenstock "entirely too comfy, but somehow still dowdy" shoes. oh, and i've got big feet, like grandma big, so the fact that i have this many pairs that fit is something.

and my favorite pair, aethstetically speaking, are these grey velvet platforms. they make my size 40 foot look like an itty bitty size 5. i've dubbed them my "ode to david bowie" shoes; one day i'll make a shelf for them and display them on the wall.

comfy bench that was once a coffee table

i love getting new pieces for the dollhouse, and checking the item off of my list of things that would complete it. while looking at the large room that is the living room/dining room, i pictured a lovely long bench to go under a picture to the left side of the future dining table. it needed to be low enough to sit on and to add cushioning, but thin enough so that it did not crowd the room.

while browsing a dollhouse store we discovered while going the wrong way, i came across a quartz topped coffee table that would be perfect. i was actually amazed that real quartz was used, and not a plastic alternative. it has quite a lovely sparkle and weight to it. i had a few scraps of orange dupioni silk that i was saving for that area and decided to make two box cushions; there not being enough material to make one to cover the entire top. i rather like it, and it goes very well against the wall.

a skirt for mary

while visiting with my friend in michigan we decided to try out a fabric store that i had come across in the pages of thread magazine, the material girls. what a wonderful assortment of fabrics! the owner even had several rolls of nani iro cloth. i was very excited! i purchased a quarter yard of one of her linen prints, fredonner un chanson in rose, as i could use each different color area in my pincushions. another print that i purchased was a lovely medium blue print with gold dots by a textile designer hinemosu notari. it's more of an upholstery weight material.

i talked my friend into getting a yard of the double gauze nani iro coururiere in shades of olive and indigo and with it i would make her a skirt. on previous viewings online i wasn't really thrilled with this print, but upon viewing it in real life i am very enchanted with it. there is such lovely details of pattern and gold embellishing, and the olive hue really has a nice lustre to it. i had also assumed that it was green and black, which is a shade that i don't care for at all. i was happily corrected of my assumption. my friend plans on wearing the skirt to a wedding in the fall.

they chose me!

i received a lovely email the other week from a person on etsy who chose to feature one of my pincushions on their treasury. needless to say i was very excited! this is my first (that i know of) and i took a screen capture of it. there it is on the bottom left; it's the first pincushion i made, after the rains. i'm such a proud creator to be included with all of the other lovelies.

fresh art in the bathroom

i love the work of jennifer davis; the color combinations, the textural softness against the detailed line work, the whimsy each piece exudes. last year i purchased a painting of a jellyfish. what really caught my eye was the little detail of the jellyfish's cap having a bow.
i've had my eye on a piece called "almost" ever since she posted it on her etsy store. i was finally able to acquire it this past week and i've made room for it in my gallery bathroom. my bathroom is painted polar white and what better place to put art then in a space where you can sit and admire it.

southern portrayal

i love movies, that i don' t doubt. my favorites typically cover a full scope of genres; romance, fantasy, sci-fi, drama, comedy, and for the most part they are all of these wrapped up in a 2 hour bundle.
there is one group of movies that are what i call "southern". they're usually quirky, queer, have a touch of sadness and are full of strange ideas of justice; or maybe it's just how that judgement is carried out that is strange and oftentimes hysterical. there's something satisfying about watching these types of movies. below are a cut of my favorites ranking them from laughter to tears:

crazy in alabama
cookie's fortune
fried green tomatoes
to kill a mockingbird

i've been in the south for 8 years now, and i can't really say that i've had much personal experience that is at all similar to any of these movies. but maybe that south is out there and i just haven't discovered it yet.

girl colors and boy colors

i actually love pinks and blues. i didn't always, though. during my teenage years i absolutely hated pink; be it magenta, baby pink, rose, or any other name. i just kept thinking it was so stereotypical and very insulting to the female species; all i could see was the limitations that this one color imposed.
then one day i bought a pair of light pink kitten heeled pointed shoes, i was 22. they were soft like butta. they quickly became my favorite shoes, and i've had them for 5 years. i'll still wear them on occasion, but the poor dears are beginning to show their age even though they've been resoled once.

those one pair of shoes opened my eyes to a whole array of hues, to see them not as a wall but as a way to embrace and enjoy the creativity that the spectrum gives us. never see color as a limit, regardless of what society deems it. how you represent the color is what is important, be strong and hold up your love, dare to embrace it!

current books of interest

i tend to keep books that i look at frequently on my nightstand. they're within easy reach, and help me collect my thoughts when i'm exploring something new. i find that these books are also inspiring when one is in a slump. to list:

the cocktail: 200 fabulous drinks
(i love the illustrations by kat macleod)

urawaza: secret everyday tips and tricks from japan
(incredibly useful)

craft, inc.: turn your creative hobby into a business
(excellent resource)

the encyclopedia of embroidery techniques
(i've been using this for years, very good explanations)

mushrooms for dyes, paper, pigments & myco-stix
(mushroom dyes create extraordinary lightfast colors!)

printing by hand
(very clear instructions, great scandinavian designs)

the art of manipulating fabric
(just received the other day, the vast array of techniques is overwhelming and exciting!)

kay nielson
(the illustrations make me drool, such gorgeous details and patterns)

tricia guild pattern
(the colors! the variety of prints! a flocked velvet cover!)

a commercial huh?

i LOVE this commercial! it's just so heart-warming and has me all fuzzy inside. the creativity behind it is just so wonderful.

a small milestone

wow! i've made it past 100 posts. interesting; i wasn't sure that when i started this blog that i would stick with it, or even have all that much to say. i've surprised myself. well, happy me! i think this is deserving of a samoas cookie from my last box i've been saving.

i was initially going to post about my butterfly sonata pincushion, before i saw the post #. it's softer in hue from what i have been making. we have a butterfly bush outside my window and it is humongous! it's all covered in flowers now, and attracting quite a crowd of butterflies, bees, and other pollinators. the color scheme is inspired by that as well as the embroidery on the backside.

the brown spots fabric i have been saving for several years now. i kept thinking it would make really nice towels for the dollhouse bathroom, but unfortunately it's just too heavy to lay nicely. i may still use it as a bathmat if it looks okay. we'll see.
i know there hasn't been any updates about the dollhouse for a while now, there just really hasn't been any changes. i have a table in mind for the living room, but it's in charleston and i usually head up that way once or twice a year.
it's funny, now that all of the wallpapering is done, there just doesn't seem to be too much left unfinished. mostly small details and that gaping hole of emptiness in the living room where there'll be a dinette set. i'm still searching for the goods to finish that area.

that's entertainment!

wherever would we be without movies? i'm pretty sure the majority of my generation grew up on them and though i'm not certain how much they were of influence to my everyday life, they sure did make my imagination sweeter.
i've been thinking over some of the films i want to see again. maybe they weren't as special as i remember, or maybe there are things i would get now that i'm older; but it sure would be good to revisit them. here's a short list (they're arranged from when i saw them, not when they were made) of some of my favorites that i would love to see again or have added to my library because i've seen them again and again:

1980's
_____
labrynth
the three lives of thomasina
bedknobs and broomsticks
return to oz
dot and keeto
seven brides for seven brothers
a christmas story

1990's
_____
shirley valentine
the adventures of baron munchausen
paint your wagon
stalag 17
spaceballs
benny and joon
the 5th element
meet joe black
toys

2000's
_____
v for vendetta
kung fu hustle
the thin man
love actually
howl's moving castle
danny deckchair
spirited away
that touch of mink
marie antoinette

what are some of your remembered movies that you would love to see again?

exercise? who, me?

it seems like everyone and their granny are exercising. we seem to be spending our whole lives talking of it, doing it, watching it; on tv, in the magazines, on the web. so many types of exercise are available to us, be it pilates, yoga, running, spinning, swimming, kickboxing, the list goes on and grows by the day as a new form is discovered or rediscovered.
is it any wonder that those of us that don't exercise are overwhelmed and exhausted by merely thinking of entering this realm? the mere thought of exercising sends my brain an image of a gerbil on a wheel; it's just incredibly boring. my mind is never into what my body is doing whenever i undertake the task of getting off my derriere and starting a program of physicality.
i know all of the literature as to why we should exercises; believe me, every magazine i opened since i started to read mentions it at least once. but all of the time and effort it takes to schedule, maintain, and set new goals feels like i'm tying a lead weight to my life and placing constraints on what i do. when i travel will they have the right facilities and space so that i can continue my workout plan? is it too much to carry my weights on the plane, along with all of my other workout paraphernalia? what if i fall behind? what if i just stop? will i be left with none of the muscles and strength that i worked so hard to acquire? it's like an addiction, the more you do it the more your body becomes accustomed to it and the higher, faster, and heavier you have to set your goals to even maintain what you have already done.
do i even want to go down that road? well, no. contrary to what half of america thinks, i will not join the exercise circus and i'll feel all the more better because i choose not to. will i not live as long or as well as those of my countrymen who do exercise? who knows. it's all in the genes baby.