Loryn: My glamour cat, Munchkin, was willing to pose for me the other day. She was abandoned at three weeks old, and when I got her a few days later, she was still so small that she could run over my bathroom scale without moving the needle. She was supposed to have a fancier name, but Munch is what stuck. She’s now 13.
Like many divas, she is temperamental and high strung. She was separated from her mother much too young, so she doesn’t really know she’s a cat. I am the only person allowed to touch her (and not always even then). My family calls her “The Cat Trap,” because she was roll on her back invitingly, and sink all claws and teeth into the brave soul who tries to rub her belly.
The first time my husband met her, he picked her up. I waited breathlessly, but she didn’t even hiss at him. He’s the only other person besides me who can pet her. I guess she was sending me a signal that he was the right guy!
There is this marvelous Japanese art form called Temari. These are decorative balls made of thread (although I have seen them made with metal, wire, and many other materials) that vary from incredibly simplistic to extremely ornate. I never really got past the intermediate phase, but some of the examples I have seen make me wish I still had time to make these lovely creations.
The above temari is one I made for an exchange with another member of the TemariKai group. This website is chock full of all sorts of information about temari; how to make them, people who make them, books, examples, and so much more. It is well worth looking at just to view the photos.
From what I learned, the origin of the craft was a ball traditionally made by mothers for their children from old kimono thread. From there, the craft burgeoned to the art it is now. I made them for several years and most of mine started with a thread ball made of stuffing material that you then wrapped miles and miles of thread around until you had a round ball (this takes a lot of practice to get the ball to come out round and tight). Next you mark your center and your guideline threads. Then you begin your pattern. I used DMC thread for the most part to make my patterns and most of mine are in flower formations. My guidelines were usually metallic threads. I made some with tassels, but most without. I also made some with a styrofoam core that I hollowed out and inserted bells.
This was a mobile of tiny temari (at most 1 1/2″ in diameter) that I made for Lynne (my mom). I have always loved making mobiles and this art form seemed to just scream at me “Make me into a mobile!” The photo below is a smaller mobile I made for Loryn (my sister).
These are just some examples of temari I made. I made them for most of the family and I still laugh to see them. I made so many that I have forgotten what they look like and who I gave them to. It makes it loads of fun to see the products of my creativity from what feels like new eyes and gives me a whole new perspective on what I consider good, successful work.
Loryn here. Something rare happened this Saturday—with Kristin in town for the weekend, all four of the Crafty Sisters went garage sale-ing together. We always have a blast when we do, even if we don’t find lots of stuff. We did pretty good on this Saturday!
The big basket on the right is mine, and you’ll see it here on the blog soon. I also got a set of solid brass bathroom accessories (towel rings and toilet paper holder) for my done-in-a-couple-years bathroom remodel. Most of the stuff I bought was useful, but I did pick up a couple beautiful antique linens that were a quarter each, and a very inexpensive print.
We found two really good estate sale/antique sales yesterday. The second one had this giant bag full of wine corks. This is right up Cheri’s alley, and it went something like this:
Loryn: “Hey Cheri! There’s a huge bag of corks over here!”
Cheri (from across the yard): “Oh no! Don’t let me near it! Stop me from buying them!”
Loryn: Turns back.
Cheri: Three seconds later is filling her arms with corks!
She has a really cool idea for them, which you may see on the blog later.
At the first sale, mom (Lynne) spotted the weird find of the day:
We think this is a 1970s running belt. It’s white vinyl, with turn signals and front and back lights, plus a switch. Can’t you picture this with short shorts and knee-high tube socks? Stylin’!
Kristin here: I love going to garage sales when I am in Logansport. The sales in Bloomington are no fun at all. The population there is so transient, that if you are looking to stock a new apartment, you will have excellent luck, but for anyone looking for those unique and fabulous “Just Gotta Have It” finds, you will find that you just used a lot of gas for nothing.
I don’t usually find the specific items I had in mind while out hunting, but there are always things that I need (or that I really wanted, but didn’t know it). My purchases were not many, but I really needed them. The stack of straw mats in the photo are mine, as is the pressure washer. Crammed in the corner where you cannot see them are some nifty little scissors, a cherry pitter, a handle cover for my Calphalon skillet, a pair of tongs, and a cheese slicer.
The straw mats are for our parties. We have a lot of parties and get-togethers and have a tendency to use paper plates, which are great for clean-up, but sometimes hard on the users if they have a lot of food on their plates, hence the straw mats. The pressure washer is a Briggs & Stratton to replace our old one that broke two years ago. It was a beautiful purchase and involved some good bargaining skills. The little items were just for fun for the most part, although I have been looking for a handle cover for the skillet for quite some time. All-in-all, a very successful trip for me.
Cheri: After a less than satisfactory garage sale day, I was faced with an unusual dilemma, what was the most bizarre item I found? I puzzled over this for a few days, and eventually talked it over with Lynne. She felt that it should be the genie slippers. I was surprised that she felt they were bizarre, because I thought my purchase of them was perfectly logical. You see, I am a child of the 60s and 70s. I grew up on television, and besides Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie was one of my favorite shows. I remember deciding that I wanted to be a genie when I grew up. What an awesome profession it was. If I wanted something all I had to do was cross my arms and nod my head and “poof” there it was. I remember not being so fond of Major Nelson, he seemed really stupid for an astronaut, and really wasn’t very nice to Jeannie.
Anyway, I remember thinking, all I needed was the attire. My aunt had the genie slippers and, as far as I knew she was a genie too, I never asked. But I did know that they were too big for me. I am not sure what I was going to do about the rest of the outfit because I didn’t have harem pants or the midriff shirt, but in my mind, it was the shoes that were necessary. So many years later, I came across the genie shoes and I bought them. They ended up being too big, but that was okay, because they didn’t work. I guess the genie had been worn out of them. At least I know now. And I can cross “Genie” off my list of what I want to be when I grow up.
I took this picture while flying to Daytona one afternoon, so you’re seeing the clouds from above. It’s not quite a sunset, but so pretty that I wanted everyone to see it.
The shriner parade in Logansport was today and I thought I would spread the spirit out to the webiverse. Here are a couple of photos of my baby dogs, KC and Petey.
Just look at that fur!
KC is now 5 and is part sheltie and part border collie, that is our best guess anyway. We got him before we bought our house, while we lived out in Ellettsville. One day when we got home from work, we kept hearing this noise behind the house. There, up against the back wall of the house, was this tiny puppy, just shivering and miserable. Turns out that someone had dumped him, his mom and the rest of the litter in the neighborhood, then there was a big storm and they all got separated. One of the other puppy finders brought us all together once (five puppies total) and man, was that a really cute ball of fur reunion.
Our other pup, Petey, we, or rather I, picked up at the Bloomington Shelter.
Just look at that happy face!
He is 3 and is part border collie and part australian shepherd, again this is our best guess. I saw his picture online on the Bloomington Shelter website and sent it to Rob, my DH. He couldn’t believe how cute he was. Anyway, I left work a little early and snuck over to the shelter and was playing with him in one of their meet and greet rooms. While in there, I called Rob and told him where I was. In the background I heard him talking to his coworker, explaining what I was doing and his coworker replied “Congratulations on the new dog.” Anyway, Rob came over to meet the little booger and as soon as he walked into the room, Petey was ours. Anyone who knows my DH, knows that he curses a lot and his response was rather pithy because he KNEW that Petey was coming home with us. Not that this bothered him in the slightest, we had wanted two dogs, just that Petey was so frigging cute as a puppy.
So, those are our two noses. The pics were taken on our deck on one of the few tolerable days this summer while I was out there reading. I am in Logansport this weekend and miss them already.
i really like this combo dinosaur-bird squiggle. It took me a while to figure out how to get the wings to recede from the tail. Once that was done the feet were easy.
