Happy Birthday To Me!!!

So today is the official day: I am 39. Yikes. It doesn't really bother me at all, except for that small thing of not having children yet and that biological clock ticking. Think Tom Hanks in Castaway: "tick tock tick tock tick tock!" To quote another great movie, "I need me a toddler" (Raising Arizona). Other than that, I love birthdays. It's a great excuse to have a party with friends, which is exactly what I'm going to do, this Saturday. J. is taking the day off Friday so we don't have to rush to get ready, and we'll be going out to breakfast tomorrow, which we NEVER do, so I'm looking forward to that. Plus I'm celebrating with a friend who has the exact same birthday and year as me! Superfun! And right now my head doesn't hurt. Can it get any better? Woohoo!

Almost My Birthday

Today has been a wonderfully fun day. A package arrived for me and it turned out to be my copies of the brand new book that I have a published essay in!!!! Woohoo!! I cheered. The book is called Knitting Yarns and Spinning Tales. My essay is about how I got started knitting after I had a miscarraige, and why it was so comforting to work with my hands. I've had plenty of things published before, just never in a BOOK. It feels so permanent, like I have really made a stamp on the world! Huzzah! Now all of you reading this should run right out and buy that book. Hee hee. Today is also the day before my birthday, so what nice timing! Some birthday present.

Doll Quilt

This is my second quilt. I made up the pattern as I went, and I think it turned out pretty cute. It's a doll quilt (about placemat size) for my neice, for her Groovy Girl doll.

Altered Tray

This started out as a plain wooden tray I bought at a craft store. I painted it with gesso, then red and blue acrylic paint, collaged the top and sides with postage stamps, using Modge Podge, rubber stamped the blue edges with letters and numbers in gold, and sprayed with acrylic sealer. This was a birthday present for my mum, and she loves it!!

Some quilted fabric ATCs I made for a swap with a vintage sewing theme. Aren't they cute? 

Altered Furniture!

It's finished! My summer altered art masterpiece! Transformed from an ugly beige nightstand into a funky post office where I keep my stamps, packing tape, postal scale, etc., this is my first piece of altered furniture. The final touch was the knob: I had a magnet with a favorite F. Scott Fitzgerald stamp on it, so I had to find a knob I could glue that on. Finally got a rounded knob that I sanded flat and painted and it worked great.

Post Office closeup

closeup of one side of my post office, you can see the stamps a little better, and the quiltblock design of my paint job.

new altered book: GAMES

I love games!! And game pieces. This is the cover of a new altered book I started for a round robin.

GAMES sign-in page

I have an Old Maid card game from childhood that I treasure, so instead of using the actual cards for sign-in tags, I scanned them and printed out copies.

Pickles Rule

Wave, kids! It's the Gedney Pickle! I love these pickles. State Fair pickles are a big deal here. There's a whole food booth devoted to them. And I just tried to order some Gedney Dill Pickle Planks tonight on my Simon Delivers cart and they were out! Wah! So I got Baby-Baby Dills instead.

Minnesota State Fair Art: Kitty

Crop Art is one of my favorite things at the State Fair. It's art made from seeds and beans and, you know, stuff from crops. Isn't Mr. Kitty goofy?

MN State Fair Art: Fauxnuts

This piece is from the Fine Arts show, it's donuts made of bronze and other metal. You can look but don't eat!

More Crop Art: A Bunny Drawn Carraige

This reminds me of that book I saw a while back--Kitty Bunny Pony something...it's so weird and so cute at the same time. Notice how the chicks driving the bunnies have little caps on?

Emotionally Rococo

I saw this phrase--"emotionally rococo"-- in a theatre review this morning, describing an actor. I think it's a bit overwritten, and yet effective. Reminds me of Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, which I just watched for the first time a couple days ago. Yikes, she's so spidery! The way she wraps her hands around William Holden is so predatory, ew. Get off! I want to shout. So now I'm wondering if I know any emotionally rococo people... Well, I don't know him personally (thank God), but I think Geraldo Rivera might qualify, after what I read in the paper about him covering Catrina victims. Ew. I haven't watched much TV coverage of the event, and I think that's probably a good thing. I get most of my news from NPR, where calmer heads usually prevail. I heard an interesting question/comment yesterday, about whether it's appropriate to be calling victims of this disaster "refugees." If something like this happened in Malibu, California, would we be calling the victims "refugees"? It's a good question, I think, because it asks us to look at how we're characterizing these people. What's a less judgemental, less distancing term? Displaced people? I don't know.

Garage Sale Find: Vintage Quilt

Here's a quilt I bought at a garage sale for $5. I love how colorful it is. J. says he thinks it looks like a quilt oughta look, not all artsy-fartsy, I guess is what he means. I love the variety of different fabrics. Cocoa likes it too!

Close-up of Quilt

check out the Art Deco-ish mermaid fabric in the middle of this shot, dark blue background.

Sign of the Times

This sign is posted in an outdoor garden near my house. I think it should apply everywhere (not just in gardens), because listening to people talk on their cell phones is almost always an unpleasant experience. I have to say almost because I have a friend whose phone rings with Tango music and she starts dancing when it rings and answers it with a flourish. It's quite entertaining. Everyone should have to do this if they're going to use phones in public. I like to make up rules for other people to follow. :)

Summer Reading ATC

Paper weaving, brads, button, leaf, feather, and cancelled stamp. I love using postage stamps, because they're already little works of art on their own. Finally got to use a feather from the collection I've been building the last few months on my walks.

ATC of baby boy

ATC using an ultrasound pic from my friend who's 5 months along. I know there's a flash washing it out, but you can still see the outline of the baby's profile. I loved using these tiny buttons.