Pillows For Grandma

These are definitely not for me, although I have to admit that they are cute and I love them and I love that I made them for my grandmother. While we were down in Portland last I went fabric shopping at Mill End (it is huge! it is fabulous! go, go, go!) and thought I would ignore the craft/quilting/cotton print section of the store entirely. I bought a little bit of apparel fabric, and spent most of my money in the bargain section in the back. Then, as I was trundling up to the front with my buggy and my beautimous haul a sign caught my eye: "Reproduction 1930's prints". So I had to peak, and as soon as I did I saw Dolly Dingle laughing at me for thinking I could walk out of the store without buying *enough*.

When I was growing up, Dolly Dingle was the name of my grandmother's cat. (Stop with the dirty thinking and look at the cute little girls on the fabric you pervs!) Dolly Dingle and her friends had all kinds of adventures and wore adorable clothing and I had several (yes, several!) paper doll books filled with little outfits and things for Dolly and her friends. So. Anyway, cute presents for my grandma for Valentines Day. There's even a little chocolate pocket made on the smallest pillow featuring, you guessed, Dolly Dingle herself.

Knitting

Finished this pretty pretty scarf for me! I needed something that won't clash with my bright red coat, and I believe this fits the ticket just fine. I have 2 & 1/2 more skeins, so I'm scheming to make some 'fetching' mitts and a maybe a hat.

Poppy Skirt

I likes this! Haven't had a chance to wear it yet--need to either get some new white tights or wait until summery weather finally gets here...it's snowing again... :-(

Recently Finished Book Archive

Invisible Lives--Anjali Banerjee (Meh. This was too 'modern chic lit' for me--simplistic grammar and vocab populated by shallow characters walking around in an even shallower plot. I was hoping for a bit more from this book--it had potential, and I figured (when I picked it up) that a book centered around the beauty of saris and fabric would at least be worth reading. Oh well, at least it wasn't awful or scary. 2/5)

Little Brother--Cory Doctorow (This book was a fabulous quick read. Some of Doctorow's stuff requires a bit too much leap for me to really believe--my fictional futures aren't always so wonderful--but the paranoid near future of Little Brother seemed spot on. Definitely in the same vein/story lines as V for Vendetta this book is definitely a recommended read. Makes me wish I was little more interested in being a computer nerd. 2/4)

Anne's House of Dreams--Lucy Maud Montgomery (Finished the series of this, I think? Sentimental, but satisfying. 2/3)

Cheese: from start to finish--Claire Kreger (We haven't actually made cheese yet [it's a lot more difficult than I thought it would be to get larger quantities of non-ultra high pasteurized milk]...but when I'm hungry and I don't know what I want to eat, I often open this book and drool a little on myself.)

Gifts from the Kitchen--Jane E. Gentry (This book is going on my "titles to look up when I'm buying used books from half.com list". It's chock-full of Extra-Fatty American Treats and pictures of said goodies all wrapped up as gifts. Nothing to spectacularly original, and I'm sure I could find all the recipes in other cookbooks, but sometimes it's nice to have a book that you know will give you a good recipe for the party you forgot you rsvp'd yes for. 1/29)

Victory of Eagles--Naomi Novik (This is the latest in Naomi Novik's Temeraire series, and I think I might like it the best after the first? Hard to say. I never get super into the battle-y bits--I'm just not too interested in war--but I like her shtuff. Good quick reads, nothing to make you think too hard, characters that walk and talk and feel real. 1/28)

Ma Coeur a Coraline

I love love love this movie! The story (not true to the book, but so quick and cute it didn't matter!)! The craftiness! The art-scapes! The music! O! O! O! :-) Happy Happy Things! This movie is an inspiration--it made me want to run home as fast and create, paint my walls red and orange and fuchsia, grow a garden, twist my furniture, dye my cats! And 3-d! Even more exciting! Go see it! Go see it right now! I've run out of my yearly allotment of exclamation points!

Treats for My Feets!

My tax-return treat arrived! Technically the purple polka-dot tennis are for meeting a new year's resolution goal, so they will have to be tucked back in the box until the goal is met.

I absolutely adore the mary janes and they will definitely be on my feet tomorrow. They are also made by Keen, and the uppers are constructed from woven plastic rice bags (like the big 30 pounders you get at Costco or Asian groceries). I am one happy lady. Both tennies are completely vegan, which is also awesome.

Recently Finished Book Archive

The Twilight Series--Stephanie Meyer (So I mentioned that I'm a sucker for sequels, right? I bought the first book at Target after some friends were talking about the series ["It's awful, the vampires spaaaarkle"] and I wanted to find out if it was as horribly wonderful as they said. I read it pretty much in one sitting on Friday, and it's all true. The writing is lackluster, the characters are one dimensional, and still....I had to keep reading. Luckily for me, Retardo was able to scavenge pdf's of the next three novels...and um....I read books two and three yesterday and finished the fourth this morning. Thankfully, they're bad enough that I can't foresee ever wanting to read them again, so I'll at least be able to save my valuable book money for something I won't be ashamed to leave out on the coffee table. But my weekend is incontrovertibly gone...I guess the combination of sparkly vamps and snowy cozy home proved way too alluring. 1/25)

Anne of the Island--Lucy Maud Montgomery (These are all starting to run together, especially since I only read them at night cuz I know how they turn out and they aren't especially interesting...1/22)

Chronicles of Avonlea--Lucy Maud Montgomery (1/19?)

Seams to Me--Anna Maria Horner (I've only made one project out of this book--the basic bias skirt--and I got a little carried away on the cutesy side...so I still haven't worn my bright red knee length skirt with the patchwork pockets...cuz I didn't feel like looking like a plus-sized Raggedy Ann doll. Maybe in the summer I won't feel so self concious about it. I do, however, love this book. Anna Maria's fabrics are so bright and bold and her creations are simple and elegant. I've got my heart set on making her taxi cab purse and mabye the little fabric boxes and..)