Blue and white nighttime beauty
Walking in a winter wonderland!
Hasn’t snowed yet but we’ve got some blue and white right here in Olympia.
Hasn’t snowed yet but we’ve got some blue and white right here in Olympia.
Posts
This Morning's Cozy Fire
Welcome to my home!
We have a lovely fire going today. It’s only raining and dreary out there, not exactly bitterly cold, but we couldn’t wait another minute for the first fire of the season.
Build it, and they will come. Next thing you know, everyone is cozied up near it with a book.
We have a lovely fire going today. It’s only raining and dreary out there, not exactly bitterly cold, but we couldn’t wait another minute for the first fire of the season.
Build it, and they will come. Next thing you know, everyone is cozied up near it with a book.
New Creations for 28" Barbie Best Fashion Friend
A gathered long sundress, and a cute peasant crop top and denim pencil skirt.
I'm really pleased with how these came out!
I'm really pleased with how these came out!
Glamping, Anti-Rodent Style
For those of us who are not giant fans of having small fuzzy critters scrambling over our bodies while we sleep.
There's a GRAND new invention called the Privacy Pop! Here it is--
It's come down to $129, which is closer, but still out of reach of the rest of us.
The rest of us can handle plopping $18 for a "pop-up changing privacy shower tent" on ebay, especially when the need is urgent, as a sojourn in a rat-, black widow spider-, scorpion- and ant- infested place looms in our immediate future.
Like this-- (not the exact one I got)
This kind has a built-in ceiling and an open floor.
Perfect!
I stitched a piece of salvaged screen into a square frame of fabric, and stitched that to the bottom.
This is not the best looking job, I know it! But you should have seen me trying to wrestle this giant spring-steel framed thing around under the sewing machine! One of the steel springs has to go UNDER the presser foot and then a child has to hold up the rest of the contraption while I stitch.
"If it's stupid but works, it isn't stupid."
And it worked GREAT. Because I went by car and there was extra room, I hauled along my featherbed-- yes, someone gave me an old-fashioned featherbed, that's feathers in a bag that you sleep ON, or rather among; and if you've never experienced this bliss, I can only recommend you listen to a song by John Denver-- so each night, I popped up my tent, shook out my featherbed very, very well to evict any rattlesnakes that might have gotten in there, crammed it inside the tent, climbed in and zipped up that zipper and zipped the world OUT.
View from the inside.
While I was sleeping peacefully, the contents of my backpack weren't so lucky. The mice got in there and had lunch.
Didn't discover this until I got back home.
EWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!
There's a GRAND new invention called the Privacy Pop! Here it is--
It's come down to $129, which is closer, but still out of reach of the rest of us.
The rest of us can handle plopping $18 for a "pop-up changing privacy shower tent" on ebay, especially when the need is urgent, as a sojourn in a rat-, black widow spider-, scorpion- and ant- infested place looms in our immediate future.
Like this-- (not the exact one I got)
This kind has a built-in ceiling and an open floor.
Perfect!
I stitched a piece of salvaged screen into a square frame of fabric, and stitched that to the bottom.
This is not the best looking job, I know it! But you should have seen me trying to wrestle this giant spring-steel framed thing around under the sewing machine! One of the steel springs has to go UNDER the presser foot and then a child has to hold up the rest of the contraption while I stitch.
"If it's stupid but works, it isn't stupid."
And it worked GREAT. Because I went by car and there was extra room, I hauled along my featherbed-- yes, someone gave me an old-fashioned featherbed, that's feathers in a bag that you sleep ON, or rather among; and if you've never experienced this bliss, I can only recommend you listen to a song by John Denver-- so each night, I popped up my tent, shook out my featherbed very, very well to evict any rattlesnakes that might have gotten in there, crammed it inside the tent, climbed in and zipped up that zipper and zipped the world OUT.
View from the inside.
While I was sleeping peacefully, the contents of my backpack weren't so lucky. The mice got in there and had lunch.
Didn't discover this until I got back home.
EWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!
Art for My Bare Walls
I had wanted one of these Vibrant series of jigsaw puzzles when I saw them in the store. So many lovely designs, but Mt Shasta was my favorite. No money for that sort of thing. Then I was walking by a garage sale and picked this one up for 50c!
Starts off easy enough, but later bogs down in a purple slough of confusion.
I had this puzzle to this state once before, then gave up because "I don't have time to do jigsaw puzzles" and scooped it back into the box and donated it to the church garage sale.
Then I volunteered at the church garage sale and brought Mt Shasta home again.
With a dedicated place in the living room for a puzzle to be spread out, you'd be surprised how much puzzling gets done while listening to kids or talking on the phone.
Here it is glued to poster board and up on my wall, about as close to fine art as I'm gonna get.
Then a magnificent idea struck for how to get some more!
In fact, the famous A READING FROM HOMER.
I snagged the huge "original" size jpg from Wikimedia here,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sir_Lawrence_Alma-Tadema,_English_(born_Netherlands)_-_A_Reading_from_Homer_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg
A little judicious trimming plus a white border in Photoshop make it a suitable rectangle, and I printed it out 12 x 18" at Costco on matte paper for a cost of four bucks.
I just picked that up tonight and I'm delighted with the results. It's close enough to ART to hang above my cozy little bed.
Starts off easy enough, but later bogs down in a purple slough of confusion.
I had this puzzle to this state once before, then gave up because "I don't have time to do jigsaw puzzles" and scooped it back into the box and donated it to the church garage sale.
Then I volunteered at the church garage sale and brought Mt Shasta home again.
With a dedicated place in the living room for a puzzle to be spread out, you'd be surprised how much puzzling gets done while listening to kids or talking on the phone.
Here it is glued to poster board and up on my wall, about as close to fine art as I'm gonna get.
Then a magnificent idea struck for how to get some more!
In fact, the famous A READING FROM HOMER.
I snagged the huge "original" size jpg from Wikimedia here,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sir_Lawrence_Alma-Tadema,_English_(born_Netherlands)_-_A_Reading_from_Homer_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg
_-_A_Reading_from_Homer_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg){kind=link}
A little judicious trimming plus a white border in Photoshop make it a suitable rectangle, and I printed it out 12 x 18" at Costco on matte paper for a cost of four bucks.
I just picked that up tonight and I'm delighted with the results. It's close enough to ART to hang above my cozy little bed.
Curvy Barbie Progress!
That Curvy Barbie pattern that I'm "famous" for-- well, only a year and a half late, here it is!
There, isn't that cute??
http://www.janelwashere.com/crafts/BarbieCurvy.html
Check out Miss Blue's hairstyle! I had to do something, couldn't fit dresses on her with all that hair down her back.
I tried to hold her between my knees and wrestle with her hair, tried a dozen and some times, could not get the hair and the bit of lace to cooperate, started to get frustrated... finally I ran upstairs to get somebody to help me, then held the doll between my knees and wrapped the hair around to demonstrate what I wanted to happen, and it went just right!
The hair ended up where it was supposed to go and I stuck the pins in it, and it was elegant and secure, while my would-be helper stood there watching.
Well-- "Thank you!!"
There, isn't that cute??
http://www.janelwashere.com/crafts/BarbieCurvy.html
Check out Miss Blue's hairstyle! I had to do something, couldn't fit dresses on her with all that hair down her back.
I tried to hold her between my knees and wrestle with her hair, tried a dozen and some times, could not get the hair and the bit of lace to cooperate, started to get frustrated... finally I ran upstairs to get somebody to help me, then held the doll between my knees and wrapped the hair around to demonstrate what I wanted to happen, and it went just right!
The hair ended up where it was supposed to go and I stuck the pins in it, and it was elegant and secure, while my would-be helper stood there watching.
Well-- "Thank you!!"
28" Barbie Best Fashion Friend
Meanwhile I fell in love with something new. I spotted this big lady
at Walmart and, at a moment of weakness, paid real money for her...
well, twenty some bucks :-)
She's 28" tall! Not quite a My Size Barbie but close.
I recouped the price of her by selling clothes, and I'm gonna make more, and I'll get the pattern up SOON.
Here's what I made for her!
She's 28" tall! Not quite a My Size Barbie but close.
I recouped the price of her by selling clothes, and I'm gonna make more, and I'll get the pattern up SOON.
Here's what I made for her!
