listening to a ridiculous (ridiculously cool!) combination of the legendary invisible men* and dead can dance today kept me alert and on my toes. or dazed enough to stay on my arse in front of my computer for a zillion and a half hours straight while writing boring code after a mere three hours of sleep and a mild hang over. i wanted to art, but sometimes “the day job” must come first… and sometimes said day job means coding instead of arting or designing… and i don’t like that.
* paul buck is the king of the universe.
around precisely 12:08 this morning (or so my clock claimed it was), i received a delightful telephone call from my sweet debrina friend while on my way up to bed. you just have to ring her — she is the cutest ever and has the sweetest accent and is so fun to talk to. 🙂 i wanted to smooch and hug her right through the phone for soooo many reasons.
earlier in the day i had received this package from her. she had filled a miniature suitcase for me and i had filled a lunch box for her. of course due to my own stupidity that i’ll only partially admit, my package from her arrived probably four days before she’ll get hers from me. we chatted while i opened my fabulous box as was the plan (except, uh, she was supposed to be opening mine too BUT this just means i get to call her in a few day’s time and we can do it all over again in reverse).
this is what the package looked like after i went through each and every little individually wrapped present. look at how many beautiful bits and wondrous goodies there are! on the bottom left, is the wonderful wee book she made me!
of course i adored EVERYTHING in my suitcase, but just above are some of my favorites. i totally forgot to get the precious pin cushion she made me in the shot — it’s brilliant! the book is so sweet! i should have made a decorative book for her rather than a blank one. how rude of me! but all the more reason to start a new bundle for her (which of course i already have).
look how precious the wonderful little thing she sewed and put in the last page of the book! okay, that’s it! between miss debrina‘s brilliance and kc willis and her fabulous online workshops, i now need to start an “alicia needs a new sewing machine fund”. oh, i am serious, just you wait.
self interruption: at this point i appear to be a liar. but i assure you i am not. when i said “this morning” i really meant it. now, i must say “yesterday morning” because i was hit with several bouts of ADD and it’s now tomorrow.
moving right along… i didn’t really like my beeswax collage the other day when i looked at the really dumb close-up photo. it was fine from, say, twenty-three feet away but the i’m-so-close-i-can-see-your-pours view was a bit ‘not right’. i don’t know if this is entirely better, but somewhat, and that’s good enough for me. i think i give up on beeswax collage.
and some of the side-view-texture (ignore the shadows — i’m a crap photographer):
my friend jo archer has recently started her new blog, the crow road and i love it! almost every day (certainly more regularly than me) she posts fabulous art, videos, links, etc. yesterday (for real this time) she posted an amazing video i’d never before seen or heard of with a girl creating sand animation. holy crap — just go watch it. she’s one talented little thing indeed! you’ll want to link to jo’s blog, i already know. ❤ she also had a wonderful ken nordine video a few days back that i wish i could cram into the black and white zine. here, i’ll repost it here so you can see, but i got the idea from jo who rocks more than i could ever dream of rocking.
back to sewing machines for a second — what should i get? seriously. i am so sewing ignorant. i want to sew art and journal covers and skirts sometimes but i’m not terribly sure what i should get. my machine rocks for a vintage singer! but it’s older than me and only sews straight which is boring. anyway, if you have any ideas let me know. in the meantime, i’m starting that official “alicia needs a sewing machine fund” or whatever i called it. i think i’ll just auction things off cheaply or something but i’ll get back to you on that. 😉
8 comments
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23 August, 2009 at 3:52 am
lisa
Hi looks like you had a lovely exchange with your talented friend. As to the bees wax i havent played with much but Suze weinberg has been using pan pastels with her wax they definitely have a shine to them but they may be what you are looking for to finish your picture which I really like by the way.
23 August, 2009 at 5:31 am
Lisa Jurist
debrina is so talented.. what a fun package! is she your partner for the scavenge hunt? I like your beewax piece though I don’t think i have the patience for it.. I”m still fighting with that Ranger crackle paint…On sewing machines..my hubby just bought me one for my b-day last year..it’s a husquvarna..but KC recommends a sears kenmore…that’s what she uses..says she has 4 of them and they sew though anything.. i think her machine were in the $400 price range…my machine was a little higher but I love it.
23 August, 2009 at 9:42 am
Kim
I’m so there with the work stuff! I’ve just gone back to it too and the first week back has been tough! Loved the texture on your bees wax collage. I have also been experimenting in wax recently and it’s much more demanding than I gave it credit for. Have to save my pennies up now to get more wax stuff so I can play more. Practice, practice, practice!!! What a wonderful package from Deb, you lucky girl!
23 August, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Caitlin O'Connor
Sewing machines: More important than the actual brand is the DEALER, IMHO. Find someone you relate well to, because you want to be able to go back and ask questions!
Also – if you want to sew through a LOT of layers of weird things (who would do that? LOL!) I highly recommend getting a walking foot for your machine. (Or keep using your old SInger for that.) What a walking foot does is feed the top and bottom layers through evenly, so everything stays matched up. Pfaff and some New Home/Janome machines have a built in system for this (no separate foot needed).
Other than that – you get what you pay for. If you can manage a Bernina I reckon they are one of the most solid machines around.
24 August, 2009 at 3:06 am
rivergardenstudio
Your package is wonderful… so filled with treasures, and your collage is reallly intriguing, especially the close up of the textures… Roxanne
25 August, 2009 at 5:36 am
Seth
What a generous and spectacular gift from Debrina! So much to take in!
30 August, 2009 at 5:32 am
birdsong1
Oh lucky you! Debrina has put in some real lovelies here. I am sure she will be just thrilled with whatever you’ve sent her. It’s always exciting to get this sort of mail!
Happy camping!!
30 August, 2009 at 5:36 am
birdsong1
Doh! and Doh! Again. I thought that wonderful beeswax collage was on a different post. I just love what you did, the colours, the texture, the composition…love it all!
I should be signed in with blogger not wordpress http://lisasarsfield.blogspot.com