Sunday, August 26, 2007

cats who have pouches

No, this is not a rude comment about Patches' weight. Nor is it about the discovery of the amazing marsupial feline (that would be great).

It's about the newest gear in flip cat product line.

It's a zippy pouch made of "meow" cat fabric.



Which also can be used as a boat.




I found my directions for making lined zippy pouches. But it's still very time consuming. Plus, I don't have a zipper foot for the sewing machine. And if I did I don't know how to use one anyway. I keep planning to make a lot of zippy pouches of various sorts, but I can't seem to find the time. I need to operate in assembly line mode if I want to get more than one done in one sitting.

The background fabric is a bedspread I got at Urban Outfitters. I really love that fabric. It has turtles, snails, birds, leopards, deer and other stuff on it. Animal fabric is great, but I'd probably feel silly if I try to wear something made out of it.

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Sunday, August 19, 2007

tea inside a lemon slice, lemon slice inside a bird

bird_lemon


There's something I really really like about this combination of items.
One is a lemon slice tea strainer (often seen in "tea ball" form).
The other is a bird shaped lemon slice squeezer. A little confusing, but it's true.

Call it silly, but I somehow find it comforting that these things can exist in the same universe.

This is the type of parallel relationship between items which I seem to seek out.

I can't wait to make tea with lemon and use both of these fine utensils in one go.

In other news, thanks to some rave reviews, I joined facebook and am already losing my mind with the possibilities. Maybe now the kazillion fragments of my online tinkerings will be united in one mass of coagulated nonsense and show and tell.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Butchering the Bevels

Of all the things I'm not so good at, I'm very much not so good at cutting mats. My ability to follow directions and measurements and recipes is rudimentary at best. Most of what I do is non-measured and non-patterned, because that's apparently the only way I can get anything done.

I was going to post a photo showing Patches cutting the most beautiful beveled mat with seamless ease. (I'm so jealous). I think she's planning on framing an illustration of herself flanked by her most recent suitors (they've been waiting on the steps for a glimpse of her). Oh yeah, but my camera battery ran out. So I couldn't get the once in a lifetime shot.

Anyway, she won't share her secrets. And I spent hours (again) trying to cut decent mats. Basically my problem is that I can't get the corners right, and then if I try to recut it gets increasingly tricky. Then I forget which side and which way to cut. I've determined that the best way to go is cut on the reverse side, with the "middle" of the mat outside the edge of the mat cutter. Maybe that's totally wrong. Considering I've taught myself how to do this before and now have totally forgotten.... I need to write a set of instructions. Or I need a beveling mentor.

Recently I've started keeping a couple small note books where I keep notes on certain processes I'm prone to forget (how to assemble my books out of 8 ½ by 11 paper, which way to put in the printer paper to print on both sides, how many grams equal how many ounces and how that relates to the crazy new postal regulations and so on). My brain can only hold so much information and I'm convinced it had reached its capacity some years ago. Now I have to forget things like state capitals and the multiplication table in order to proceed in life. That means I'll have to keep more and more little notebooks.

Friday, August 3, 2007

melon in the corner

So, there's been many a time I could say this or that. But I haven't been so much in the talkative or social mood. My unnatural attempts for the past year at being chipper and friendly and finding new things to do have mostly fizzled out. I don't think it was really working. That is, I can't seem to "work it". I need someone else to do the work. Maybe I'll hire an extremely gregarious person to take me under their wing. The summer seems to turn me into a zombie. I've gotten some things done. But I can't believe it's already August. Seriously, I cannot believe it's August, or 2007 or the planet earth, etc. I could go on.

But here are some garden photos instead:


Not sure why this melon is all cramped in the corner like it's hiding from something.


In my youth I was a practicioner of the art of the corn husk doll. I don't think I'll be making any corn husk dolls. But the nice thing about red corn silk is you can make a redheaded family of corn dolls.


A fine opportunity to explore the various stages of ripe-i-tude.


Ice flowers. I like their chubby "succulent" leaves


White hibiscus

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