Cool Swap Package From Kwoozy!

Check out all the cute handmade stuff I just got!

Kwoozy sent me this black and white half-apron with hand embroidered skulls, a little green fabric origami box that I put my earrings in (it matches everything on my jewelry table since I'm pretty fond of green), and a pincushion with an anchor and carrots. I'm taking carrots out to sea with me so I don't get scurvy! As you can see, it is all super cute.

Thanks for swapping with me Kwoozy, and making me cool stuff that I can use! It was lot's of fun picking out stuff for you and emailing and whatnot.

I had never given too much thought to origami boxes before this swap, and I must say they are very exciting. Kwoozy recommends the books by Tomoko Fuse.

Marigold Garland

This is my beautiful friend Ciarra modeling the marigold garland I made yesterday. They are really easy to make, and feel so good to wear. First, grow a bunch of marigolds. Then get a big needle and string them up. I really need to get more into perishable accessories. It's nice to make something sometimes that is NOT going to last. It's nice to make something sometimes that is all about NOW.

However, I do plan on putting the garlands in a box when they dry up, and planting them in the ground next year, so I guess they do carry on....

The Swap Strikes Again!

The lovely Meshell sent me a bunch of candy, cuz she felt like I sent her way too much stuff in our swap. She really didn't have to be so sweet. I'm just a chick with tons of stuff, and I couldn't help but to continue throwing more stuff into the box I was sending her as I came across it. Plus, she sent me awesome stuff, and the best sewing supplies bag EVER......Anyhow, as you can see, despite it being unecessary for her to send me another package, I enjoyed the candy quite alot. I tried to take a pic before eating it all, but my camera battery was dead and needed charging. (There were more Tim Tams, but I didn't save all the wrappers.) Thanks Meshell!

Some People Have Weird Fetishes

That toilet paper is her boyfriend!

WIP: Knitted Blanket

Here are some of the squares I have been making since May, under my beloved autographed photo of Felix Silla (Cousin Itt).

They are very simple, because I'm new to knitting, and it's my second "learn to knit" project. I'm almost done making my 20 squares. It's been nice having a simple and portable project that helps me relax and relieve nervous tension just about anywhere: on a bus, in a car, watching a crappy movie,in a paper gown waiting for the doctor,waiting for photos to upload to flickr, put on musical hold for the second time when calling the bank............ I will probably keep making more squares for a while due to their therapeutic value.

I know I wrote out most of these SAME great reasons to knit in a previous post a couple months ago, but I'm still just so thrilled about it, and I can't believe I lived without it. I am much better equipped to deal with life now that I can knit.

I Can't Believe It's Not Textiles

Peacock feathers still look unreal to me after years of seeing them all the time. It seems like they must be made of metallic threads. And a new discovery: My boyfriend got me these beautiful flowers that look like velvet brains, or brain coral. The lady at the farmer's market told him what they were called, but he forgot by the time he got home. I've never seen them before.

WIP: Ami-Hippy Freakazoid Chick

Message from Mom, A Flashback, And A Book

I completed a victorian house quilt for my mom in 2001. I had already spent 2 years working on it very sporadically, and I was about to go to Guatemala, and then to New York City to do a fashion internship, so I'd be seeing my mom in Connecticut on the second leg of my journey and I wanted to bring her that quilt come hell or high water. I didn't actually have time to make my deadline alone, so my mom's quilt was completed with the help of many friends.

Though it was simply a tied together quilt, I knew it just wouldn't be right without hand embroidery trimming every single house, and every single tree and star in the border. That's where my friends came in.(Poor Rita. She was so diligent....) The addition of all these other girls sitting down and decorating my house squares brought alot of new energy, creativity, and ambition into the quilt at a time when I was very low on all of that. I'm still convinced that it all resulted in a spectacular piece.

I just got a message from my mom the other day:

"Hi E. Kim was reading a story to her class today that was about quilts, so she asked if I would bring your quilt in to show the class. They absolutely LOVED it. When I asked them what they specifically liked about it, they all mentioned either a little applique or an embroidery. I thought you should know that you had an entire class of second graders drooling over your quilt. Love, Mom"

The book was called The Quiltmaker's Gift, which makes it even more of an honor to have been the maker behind the quilt that was brought to class.

I'm not just writing this to break my own arm in the act of patting myself on the back for something I did years ago (with lots of help), but because it dawned on me that the things we really pour our hearts into can have a fabulous life of their own, being brought into contact with the community to share the love, educate, and inspire. It makes me feel ---not futile!

I'm so happy that my quilt got to go hang out with little kids, and that they all had lots of fun looking at it and talking about it. Thanks Mom and Kim!

I Hunt With A Cucumber Boomerang

......cuz I'm tuff like that.

Cucumber Of Triumph

I probably should have picked this cucumber a bit sooner, but I kept waiting for it to turn dark green. I looked up cucumber varieties online today and found a site with pictures of cucumber varieties. This is an armenian cucumber, and it's supposed to look like this. Anyway, it's the first cucumber I have picked from my garden, it's Armenian, and it's HUGE.

Hello People of Armenia!!!! Are we perhaps dining on the same variety of cucumber?