Fiber and Pulp

Happy Halloween!

The weather has been gloriously fall - like this past week ... and today is perfect Halloween weather (not raining, not too cold, smells crisp and there are 'cornflake' leaves on the ground to swish through:).

I dressed up today for the first time in years -- as Autumn. I wore my dried flower garland and a brown dress. I told the customers who smiled that I had overslept and that's why the flowers were a bit dusty (still brushing myself off:). LOL

I managed to tie a small quilt sample (45"x60") today -- tomorrow I will bind it. I finished the Quest quilt top on Thursday and sent it off that evening with the machine quilter ... I feel an inch taller today! :)

First comes time changing ... then the election ... then four days of Quest (quilt shop hop) next week. Gonna be a busy time!!

:) Linda

Mea Culpa!

Well, I screwed up royally today. (sigh)

I actually went to bed to sleep last night at a few minutes past midnight. This is important as it contributes somehow to my terrible day. I did NOT wake up this morning -- in fact, I remember shivering and then boiling and tossing and turning, but NOT waking up -- I did not wake up until 4:39 PM. :P Mega :P (sigh)

I can only assume that I am/was sick ... as my alarm did go off (well, I assume it did) at 9 a.m. but did not wake me up. I was _supposed_ to be working on the sales floor at my store today. (sigh)

I assumed I'm going to catch hell from the two people who got stuck working without me (we usually have three people on duty on Saturdays). I'm going to have to stand still and let them hit me, repeatedly. :P

This sleep apnea/insomnia thing has gone on long enough! Gotta go see my Dr. again and see what help he can give me -- I don't care if sleeping pills _are_ habit forming. Getting up in the morning is IMPORTANT! (sigh)

Yum!

I forgot to say in yesterday's post that Eva and Alan had an incredibly delicious cake -- there was white cake with raspberry filling and lemon cake with chocolate filling and icing. I don't know if you can see it properly in the photo -- it was iced with very good chocolate (not too sweet, like most decorated cakes) and covered with pumpkins and leaves in icing. (slurping good!) :)

I'm 'off' tomorrow but I have to drive down to Gaithersburg (about 1.5 hours away) to get the completion prize bags for Quilter's Quest (the folks who finish the entire circuit get a very nice tote bag to commemorate the event as well as being entered into the prize drawings). My friend Pat S is going with me -- I"m hoping we can find a bead shop down there (or somewhere in between) so I can get some beads to put onto the leaves I'm embroidering.

Maybe, if I have enough energy, I"ll manage to sweep up my bedroom floor, too. (fingers crossed)

Tidbits

My daughter posted an informal photo of her and Alan cutting their wedding cake that I thought I'd share here:

Eva's dress was made entirely by her (with a bit of help from her friend, Danielle), including making the pattern itself. :) It is a copy of an 1893 French couture gown in two pieces (skirt and bodice). Eventually there will be photos from the formal side of the house and you'll probably get to see more details. :)

Lazing About

Today is my day off this week. I got home from the store quite late last night (after ten p.m.) and had a sore throat by the time I went to bed. :P I woke up before my alarm went off this morning, but I felt so cozy and warm wrapped in my quilts that I turned the radio on to listen to the news and stayed in bed all morning. :) That's a rare treat for me. :)

I feel ok today but I think I'm fighting off an incipient cold. I don't need to do _that_ again any time soon -- I need to call my Dr. and get a flu shot soon, I think. :P The weather outside is very pretty through my window -- sunny, cool breeze, fall weather. Very pretty. :)

I just spent an hour or two watching a movie on my computer called 'My Neighbor, Totoro' by Miyasaki. This is one _beautiful_ movie -- if you haven't seen it, rent it SOON. :) It is a Japanese anime-style film that tells the story of two young girls and their father who move to an old house in the country to be near the hospital where the girls' mother is interred for treatment of TB. There is quite a lot of allusion to the old rural style of life in Japan and to the glories of being young in the summertime in the country. :) Here are a couple of photos I captured:

The fluffy gray creature is a kind of wood spirit or 'troll' named Totoro that the two girls meet in their explorations of the new home. I have to say that this film captures the essence of little girls very, very well. :) I was especially drawn to Mei, the youngest, who is a four year old. Every aspect of the drawing and animation shows how well Miyasaki understands people -- the little girl walks, runs, climbs and talks just like a younger sister would do. :) Utterly charming!

I need to show some photos of other things and tell you about my trip ... but I'm not up to the task today. :P

Color Postcards

Well, we are home again! Our trip was glorious and I will talk about it more in a later post. Right now I want to share the six felted Aqua postcards I finished on the trip so I can mail them off!! :)

When I made these cards, I was experimenting with needle felting (which I did enjoy and will do more of:), with painting on fusible webbing (did not much like the results of that; might try again with paper backing to see how that works out -- I don't like the fact that the webbing stays sticky even after it is ironed on the substrate) .... and did hand embroidery to embellish and finish my cards. Always enjoy that. ;)

I have to stop at Michaels on the way home to see if they have any clear envelopes I can mail these cards in that are larger than the ones I have. If not, I'll have to risk that snail nibbling on the soft fuzzy parts. :(

As I think you can tell from the photos, I had some trouble just sticking to Aqua as my color! The embroidery thread I used was a hand dyed variegated that ran from aqua to yellow to pink to deep rose ... I did not have any aqua wool so had to resort to blue and black as my base fabric .... maybe my next try will be more mono-chromatic? :)

Another Summary

As usual, I've lost track of my conversational thread here. :P

I've been crazy busy the past several days with details related to my daughter's wedding, sort of. Like, our touring car got a flat tire last Thursday (when my husband was driving it, luckily -- at least _he_ changes tires; I'd've had to wait for AAA) .... so I spent four hours Friday afternoon getting two new front tires. Better than while on the interstate, is about all. :) Had to buy stuff at the WalMart (slip on shoes that I can wear socks with 'cause it is getting cool outside; black socks for my non-shoe-wearing son who has to wear shoes with his tuxedo to usher:) ... had to take the animals to the vet (postponed til Monday due to not being able to _find_ said animals who saw us coming with the travel boxes) ... had to go to the near and last fitting for my dress (more about that later) ... had to go buy shoes for son ... had to visit (twice) with hired pet sitters (originally scheduled sitter having had a heart attack in the interim) .. etc., etc. ... plus assorted business stuff to do before leaving my staff alone for a week. :P

My dress is everything I hoped for and then some -- I hired Rae Cumbie, the world's best Custom Clothier in my humble opinion Rae's website -- to make me a dress. I have less than zero patience for clothes shopping. :P We had some problems getting fabric, but then it all worked out so well! I'll share photos when I get home next week sometime. She knows her stuff!!

have packed my hand work for the trip (my embroidered leaves and some knitting), some reading (newest issue of Quilters Home, some Japanese magazines, etc.)...have to spend tomorrow shopping for shoes, washing clothes, cleaning some parts of house (we have to confine Bright Eyes so the sitter can find her for her shots twice a day), packing, etc. :P