from the past

Last night I watched Portrait of Jennie.

Next time I'm unable to work on projects, have writer's block, or something of that nature, I hope that a strange person from the past will come be my muse and inspiration.

It's odd that I saw that movie, because just previously I had watched part of Somewhere in Time which for some reason I can't stop watching even though I've seen it a million times and we joke about the agonizingly slow scenes of Christopher Reeves staring into space. As far as time travel goes, I think the self hypnosis sort of technique used in Somewhere in Time is intriguing because you'd actually be able to do it without having a lot of scientific gadgets, flux capacitors or mail order catalogs. Well, if it worked, that is.

Mossy, flossy

I do really love moss. Even though I tried to grow a moss garden and it failed... instead I can make a moss garden out of things.

Above is a project I'm working on. The "canvas" is a violin. Smurfs are not involved, even if I did make smurfy-type mushrooms.

Oh and I took this picture with my new camera even though I don't have a lens cap and also maybe should have turned off the flash.

To be continued...

Shopping Online: A Love/Hate Relationship

So, today I was out all day, then at work all night, then I got home and my NEW second try version of ordering a digital camera online had been delivered.

It's a long annoying story: basically the first one was not as advertised and then I had to mail it back and then had even worse trouble shopping locally, then finally found what I wanted in refurbished (read: discounted) on ebay, and then kept losing the auctions, and then finally one ended on one of my night's off. So then FINALLY it was on its way. So... great, I thought.

But they left out the lens cap. So, once again, something to worry about. I already emailed them asking to send it, and I just hope they do. I'm getting tired of the whole thing. But I've gone too far to give up now. Plus, if I had had a decent camera, I could have taken a good picture of the little chirpy baby bird I found on the ground today (I didn't touch it and it was gone by the time I got home from work).

In another online/shopping event, I checked on my on-the-verge-of-expiration etsy treasury (see previous post), and a bunch of people commented that it had been on the front page. And that's exciting, but hey! I didn't get to see it. That's what I get for staying offline so long.

And the reason I was offline so long was because I was trying to be constructive. I spent the past couple hours organizing my fabric supplies (too much) so pretty much all of it (but one box) is in one location, and in proximity to the sewing machine. I organized the fabric sort of by themes such as "shiny," "fluffy," "theme/patterned" and so on. Some of the fabric I know I'll never use (maybe due to sheer lack of time before I die), so I hope someday to get some people to make a giant pile of fabric for a mountainous swap.

you might find it here

I decided to take a screenshot since the treasury will expire before everyone gets to see it.

clickety-click

curating by theory

Now it's time for: a new treasury on etsy.

It's here: clickety-click. This one is very pretty, in my humble opinion. Some of the stuff I had found a while back. But then I try to fill in the space by searching by words. I think the people who use extensive vocabulary in their listings often have good stuff. I might take that theory farther next time but it's a lot of work to "curate" based on theories.

In other etsyian news, I tested out another 24-hour showcase slot. It was nice to see my listing up, though not sure it's worth the money. In preparation, I recently revamped my listings of toothy items, which are kept in this little corner of the shop.

Turnips!

I just ate the most delicious turnip ever.  I'm not sure that I even remember eating a turnip ever before.  I bought these white Japanese turnips at the farmer's market courtesy of Amy's Garden.

As for my own garden, the hollyhocks have finally bloomed after a full year.  I'll have to take a photo soon.  I've also re-discovered how wonderful fennel is.  The pea vines are wilting/drying up, and maybe that's normal, but I don't really know.  As with everything else, there is way too much research and learning to be done.  And as with everything else, I just take mental notes, mostly consisting of don't do that again, I can't seem to remember the details other than what not to do.

Some non-organic projects are coming along.  But I really need to get cracking on a few things.  Finally sold another item on etsy but I am totally thrown off by the new postal practices (after I finally figured it out and even had a scale) so I have to go to the P.O. and see if I can make heads or tails of it.  Hmmm.

thrift store addiction

I've gotten to the point that I pretty much want to go to a thrift store weekly, if not daily. This is not good for a few reasons. Must of those involve clutter and my fear of earthly possessions accumulating beyond mental capacity.

But it's very good for other reasons.
Like today, when I bought a whole bunch of baggies full of embroidery thread for $1.50. I mean seriously, it's probably about 50 skeins or so. And this is the second time I bought a whole bunch of baggies full of embroidery thread in a couple months' time.

One thing is I need to USE the things I buy. I have come to the conclusion that usable things really are the best things.

Some usable things I need to use are:
countless empty frames
skeins of floss of near infinite number
tons of fabric, including a GIGANTIC bag I bought at the thrift store for $8.00
pipe cleaners
paper scraps and old magazines
paint
boxes

Things I am happy to say I recently put to use:
some of the aforementioned fabric that I sewed into a shirt (well, sort of a shirt)
some other fabric I half made something with
two other thrift store shirts I "altered" to fit
some of the floss
some paper
some paint

Well, that's a start.

In other news, I'm still trying to get a new digital camera.