Butterfly

DH has finally downloaded the camera. So I can share the butterfly costume with you....

The frame (made out of 6 wire coat hangers and duct tape):

The wings covered:

The harness (just 2 pieces of elastic):

I didn't like how the pictures of the antennae came out, and she refused to wear them anyway. She wore a black shirt and pants and *loved* the wings. They didn't take that long to make--maybe 8 hours? And they bounced and wiggled as she moved.

1-1

Squee! We just watched The Amazing Race last night. We watched the team introductions twice and made our picks. DH picked Ari and Staella, and I picked Nathan and Jennifer. Both teams were doing well until the challenge with the donkeys. Very stubborn donkeys. Our teams were the last 2 to arrive at the pitstop--Nathan and Jennifer came in 10th, and Ari and Staella 11th. DH didn't last past the first episode. Shortest contest ever! And I finally beat him! Barely, but it counts!

The Halloween butterfly pictures are still on the camera. I'll post them as soon as DH downloads them.

Happy Halloween!

DD is going to be a butterfly. She *loves* butterflies. DH kept an eye on her last night while I worked on the wings. I couldn't find our wire cutters until a few days ago, so I couldn't make the frame for the wings....which meant I couldn't draft the pattern and cut out the fabric to cover the frame.....or sew the fabric....arrgh. He got her ready for bed and brought her in to say goodnight as I was finishing hand sewing the fabric covering the wings....she took one look at the wings and shouted "Butterfly wings!" with a big smile on her face. Priceless. I still need to make/attach the elastic harness and make the antennae. Both of which I need her little body for. And she's still asleep. So I'm waiting.

I also had a good laugh at myself...trying to remember how to thread the sewing machine and wind a bobbin. I actually had to drag out the manual. I don't use the machine often, the last time was probably 5 or 6 years ago.

And yes, I will post pictures. (and I even remembered to get pics of the frame before I covered it, so you'll get to see that too!)

Not so evil....

I've seen this on many different blogs recently and decided to give it a shot. Anyone who knows me should not be surprised.......


How evil are you?

0-1

Dave was voted out. My pick didn't even make the jury. Sigh.

0-0

Time for a new round of Reality Show Competitions. I've picked Dave to win Survivor: China. DH picked Erik. Go Dave!!!!!!!!!

Interview

My good friend Carrie offered to interview her readers in a recent post. I took her up on it....mostly because I was curious what questions she'd come up with since we lived together for 3 years in college and she knows me pretty well.


1) What is your favorite college memory?

Hmm.....I have to pick one? Hanging out with our little group at the townhouse and watching lots of movies until the wee hours. I love being surrounded by friends.


2) If you could change one thing from your past, what would you change?

Tough one......I think I would've moved south and auditioned at a certain theme park for a puppetry job after graduation (and not let a certain someone talk me out of it).


3) What is your favorite thing about your house?

The amount of storage it has.


4) If you were a super-hero, who would you be and what would super-power?

I don't know who I'd be....but my power would be telekinesis. I would love to be able to move stuff without touching it. Just think of the puppet shows I could do! (Look Ma, no hands! No strings attached!)


5) If you could have any job in the world, what would you pick?

Puppeteer. Or any theatre related job really. But puppeteer is number 1.


There ya go! If anyone wants me to interview them, just leave me a comment (make sure I have a way to contact you)

Pictures!

My sidebar and Stitching Albums are updated! Thank you DH! And here's my first and only happy dance for 2007--Blackwork for the Bewildered by Linn Skinner.

I also took the opportunity to photograph some puppets I made many years ago. I'd helped build puppets before these, but always with instruction/guidance from other people. And I'd repaired many puppets that had normal wear and tear from performances/touring. But these were the first puppets I made completely by myself, from designing to building. They are Bunraku/rod puppets. The characters are from Rapunzel--the Prince, the Witch, and Rapunzel. If anyone would like details on how I made them or what they're made of, please let me know.

Accomplished

I finally took the stitching pictures! Now I just have to get DH to download them off the camera.....hopefully he'll do it this weekend. So stay tuned to my sidebar and/or Picturetrail albums...

I am a creative person

I've been thinking a lot lately about creativity. From about age 4 or 5 until about 3 years ago, (around age 30) I was involved somehow with being onstage. Dancing, singing, piano recitals, silk line in a marching band, acting, puppetry, box jumping (magician's assistant). Or backstage--choreographer, stage manager, dresser, light board op, director, producer....the list goes on. A good friend recently told me that he believes people are only truly happy when they can create. We need to express ourselves and share that with other people....and if we don't, we die a little.

And I think he's right. My only creative outlet recently has been my stitching. And I don't get to do that very often. So, in a sense, I've been dying, little by little, over the last 3 years. The last time I was onstage was for a magic show. I drifted away from the community theatre I belonged to, partly because I didn't like the atmosphere there anymore and partly because DH was discouraging me ("rehearsal again?") Then I got pregnant, had DD, and we moved. That theatre is no longer a viable option, since it's now too far away. There is a theatre about 5 minutes away from our new house, but I'd still have to put up with DH's comments. Plus, I gotta worry if he'll be home in time from work to watch DD while I go to rehearsals/performances......sigh. I want so badly to get back into it.....I really want to do something puppetry related, but there's nothing around here that doesn't involve a bit of traveling. Which DH would definately frown upon. Even if I could stitch more, I don't think that it would be an entirely acceptible substitution for performing. With performing, there's instant gratification--the audience's reaction. I don't get that with stitching--if I do show off my progress to DH I get a ho-hum "That's nice."

I want to get my creative self back. I feel like some vital part of me has been missing, and it hurts. I am not myself anymore......

Not a good season for me....

So I'm 0-4. That's right, Jaimie got booted off last night. DH wins again. If Lacey wins the whole thing he'll be unbearable.....

Still here

Sorry I've been gone so long....I just haven't had anything to say. I haven't stitched, and I haven't been reading much. I can't seem to focus on anything for more than a few minutes. I still need to take those stitching pictures.

I am really proud of DD....when we were at my parents' house, my best friend (that I've known since kindergarten) came over and brought a toy. DD loved the toy, and when best friend was leaving, she took the toy to her and said "Thank you" without any prompting from anyone. Not bad for a 2 year old!

So You Think You Can Win? (aka Round 4)

The top 20 performed on So You Think You Can Dance last night....and DH and I picked who we think will win. Hopefully, my record of 0-3 for this season's reality shows will change to 1-3 and not 0-4. I've picked Jaimie, DH has picked Lacey (who just happens to be the sister of last years winner Benji). I really liked Sara and Jesus's pop jazz performance.....that was way fun to watch! And Lacey and Kameron's contemporary piece....choreographed by Mia Michaels....fabulous! I love Mia's choreography...always very creative and very difficult. If a dancer can handle a Mia creation, then they've got talent......so I think DH has a good pick with Lacey.

Looking to the past

I came across a photo album from college a few weeks ago. Pictures of friends, roommates, shows I did, puppetry tours I went on. All of the pictures make me smile, some more than others. Some brought back memories of people I haven't thought of in years. Some are of people that I still think of from time to time and I'm still in contact with, even though we're spread out across the country. I graduated in 1996, and most of these people I haven't seen since then. I've seen recent pictures of some of them, and it's funny how much has changed, and how much hasn't. Some of us are married, some have kids, some are divorced, some have never married. Our lives intersected for a few brief years and then spun off in different directions. Some of the friendship bonds are still tight, and some have broken.

One of my favorite pictures was taken Christmas Eve 1993. I was on a puppet tour at a resort hotel, and we were enjoying some down time in a sitting area. KC, M, J, and I are sitting on a sofa, with tiny D laying across our laps. We visited this resort every Easter and Christmas, doing puppet shows and holding puppet building workshops for the guests' children. And for poor college kids.....a room at a 5-star resort and breakfast and dinner for a few days were more than enough payment for a few shows and workshops. While I was growing up, Christmas Eve was when my family gathered for the big dinner. So this picture, taken on Christmas Eve, after we'd had a lovely dinner and performed our show for the evening, represents another kind of family in a way.....

There's pics of SC, my roomie and friend, with whom I had so many adventures...getting lost in Pittsburgh, getting lost in Baltimore, getting lost in Maryland....actually Virginia--we went the wrong way around the DC beltway! Pictures of SP and C, more roomies and friends. Pictures of J, the first person I met at college and still a very good friend. Pictures of KS, J's roomie and another friend. I have fond memories of the 6 of us watching lots of movies on the weekends....Each of these people challenged me in different ways, forced me to grow....put me on the path to become who I am today. And I hope I did the same for them.

So I look at these photographs, these snapshots of the past, and realize that what once was, is no longer.....things change, people change, but it's nice to revisit the past, see where we were, who we were. And remember the good times we had. And maybe someday we'll all be in the same place again and have new memories to add to the collection.

I Can't Think of a Title....

Jordin won American Idol, so DH is very happy that he picked her to win.

I finished the treasure braid on Celtic Spring this afternoon while DH was watching the Indy 500. So now I only have the 5 colors of beads to do. I started on the beads but DD woke up from her nap so I didn't get very far--maybe 14 beads. I really need to update my pictures! Maybe I can take some on Tuesday.....

Randomness

8 Random Things - The Rules

1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves
2. People who are tagged write a blog post about their own 8 random things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog you need to tag 8 people and post their names
4. Don't forget to leave them a comment and tell them they're tagged, and to read your blog.


1. I studied (and received a degree in) puppetry in college.
2. At one time, 4 generations of my family lived in 3 different houses on the same street.
3. I like giraffes.
4. I collect shot glasses from different places I've been.
5. I played soccer for a season as a child.
6. I used to take piano lessons.
7. I twice competed on a national level in dance while in high school. (placed 2nd in tap duet and 1st in open/lyrical small group)
8. My favorite candy bar is a Toblerone.

I'm not tagging anyone--most of everyone I know has already done this one....if you'd like to play along, please feel free to do so!

0-3

Melinda's off of American Idol, and Jordin's still there. DH won again. Sigh. Oh well, maybe I'll do better with So You Think You Can Dance.....

Earl won Survivor, so DFiL gets kudos for picking him....

Otherwise not much is going on....

Checking In...

DD is now officially 2 years old, and she got a thumbs up report at the doctor's office for her checkup. She woke up crying at 6am this morning.....not a pleasant way to wake up on Saturday for Mommy and Daddy. Oh well.

Haven't gotten much stitching done. I still need to take more pictures and post them.

Another one down.....

Edgardo's out of Survivor. That makes me 0-2 for the shows so far. DH can't believe he picked better than me this go round for both shows. Please, please Melinda outlast Jordin on American Idol...

Both new projects are coming along, and I've even worked some on Celtic Spring. No pictures still. I promise to post one of the finished blackwork eventually! I'm starting to want to work on Convent's Herbal Garden again....but I'm not looking forward to those Jessica stitches. (upper left yellow flowers) I think I'll do a Jessica, then work somewhere else, then back to a Jessica, etc. It's not that I don't like the Jessicas--they're just not fun in pale yellow on white. I think the ones I've done look great, it's just I'm not crazy about doing more! But I love this design, and I love other Chatelaines, and I plan on doing more--at a rate of one big one at a time. I gotta finish this one first....

Secrets and Silk

Fabric is cut and 2 projects started! The "secret project" and Chatelaine's Springtime Roses. No pictures yet, and I will reveal the "secret" later, after the need to keep it secret has passed. I did forget that I needed to rinse the silk flosses for these, so into the water the "s. p." ones went yesterday. And boy, did they bleed! I think I need to soak them again today. Two of the DMC flosses for Springtime Roses were used in Celtic Spring, and I keep forgetting to grab them. (I only have some Treasure Braid and all of the beads left on Celtic Spring.) I use bobbins and string them on rattail cord, so grabbing them means untieing a knot and unstringing most of the bobbins--of course, the 2 I need are in the middle somewhere--and then either restringing or filing them back in the storage boxes. Between that and still needing the 2 silks rinsed, it's been fun picking around the "missing" flosses to choose what to stitch on Springtime Roses. ("I'll do that symbol next--oops, no I won't!")