Monday, February 25, 2008

Strange Week

Sorry I haven't been blogging. I've had a horrible cold or something, maybe allergies? And, I've been laying low for the last week.
However, to brighten my day!!! I got a lovely book package from Kajsa today! Thank you so much, dear friend! It looks great, and I hope to start it when I feel better. Kajsa knows (as you all do!) how much I love Marie Antoinette. She tells me this wasn't the easiest book to read, but it was worthwhile and a good one to have in my book collection about the times of Marie before the Revolution and Mme Guillotine.

Haven't felt much like stitching, though I did pick up my Neighborhood RR last night, and am just finishing up one of them. I also have Marie's in hand and can't settle on a Halloween house to add to it. If any of you has a suggested house, please email me!! This is not my best genre.... sorry to say. Though I think it's darling, and Marie's beginning is so phenomenal! Here's a picture of her start:

Isn't it wonderful!!?? So, you can see I have to find a special house!

I have been hit by UNINVITED people in my comments area. So I want to warn you if you see anyone who has put a note saying "see here" or something similar by their name or entry DO Not Open or go there, please.

If any of you has had this problem before, please email me about it. I'm not sure what I need to do to get them off my blog case now. I don't want to compromise any of your sites.

Until later, I thank you for being there for me....Hugs, Deb

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

OMGoodness - IT's A BOY !!!

DD had been given the news LAST week that she was carrying a girl, by the doctor and nurse doing her ultrasound test. Well, THIS week, they found a new little something!! IT'S A BOY!! Here is his profile...isn't he beautiful? His name is Kellan.

Jessica nearly jumped off the table, she says, and yelled, "What!!"

Her DH started laughing and said, "Sorry, Son. We've been calling you Mackenzie for a week!" LOL

Oh, Boy! Just goes to show even in this age of miracles, you can never count your eggs too quickly, I guess.... :)

Friday, February 8, 2008

A Paper Dress of Queen Marie Antoinette

A sideways shot from Jessica's camera of my first "Queens and Harpies..." paper dress! You weren't hoping for Worth of Paris, were you? Sorry to disappoint! :]
Hugs, Deb

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

You All Make My Day!

I was so stunned to get this award from Su! Along with some dear thoughts from her. So the rules are that I must select 10 blogs that make my day when I read them, give me inspiration and bring me happiness when I read them.


That is so difficult! There are so many of you who do that for me!! Just look at my side column for blogs I visit! LOL But, since this is a sort of PIF thingie in a sense, I'm going to name 10 people who make me especially happy and whose blogs I seek out when I'm down:



1) Nicole of Carolina Dreams- for her gentle ways, her love of threads, her genuine nature, and her choice of the prettiest charts! For the close friendship we've been able to develop as we've seen eachother in our Steamy Sunday Stitching group this past year....I'm going to really miss you when you leave, Nicole. You can't go!!!


2) Su, right back at you! Inspirational, creative, fabulous finishes, clever and witty! Your sharing is dear to me. Thanks for being my friend. I'm so jealous!! :P


3) Barbara, for your enduring good nature, your strength of character, your willingness to share and to care. I love your funky choices of things to stitch, too! LOL I delight in your devotion to your little family. Your friendship is precious to me.


4) Harmien, for your humor, your generosity of spirit, your joy in writing, and your stitching! You are in many ways the heart of our stitching blog world, Harmien....:) I'm happy to call you my friend.


5) Jessica, my DD. You make me laugh, you inspire me everyday. Your coming into our bloggish stitching circle makes it complete for me. I love you to pieces! To my KoKat from your MoKo forever....+KoKenz soon


6) Juls, my home-away-from-home in Las Vegas. I love your ways, Juls, your down-to-earth, solid, honest, stitching one thing at a time ways! I can always count on finding you right there....You make me smile, dear friend.


7) Lesley...Tintock Tap...I have laughed so many times at your little sock Monkeyman this couple of months! You always keep me inspired by your writing and your stitching. I love to visit your blog, Lesley. Your strength comes through, as does your love of beautiful stitchery and your creativity. I would love to have you nearby as a friend.


8) Heather ....jeweled as you are! What a happy spirit rings from your blog! You're so creative and so joyful, Heather! It's been such fun planning our "Queens & Harpies: Altered Paper Dresses w/Panache" with you. I think you are just fabulous!


9) An...when you write, I have to leave the Diet Cokes far, far away from me for fear I'll snorkle and spew the coke all over my computer desk! You are such a crazy, devil-may-care, hilarious writer. I know some of that comes from your looking at your life upside-down...."better to laugh than cry" my darling mother-in-law used to say. But, you are so dear to me. I just adore you, An. Please keep blogging. I miss you so much when you're silent.


10) A group hug for: Helen, Queenie/Patti, Sally, Katrina, Vonna, Anne, Isabelle, Simone, Cheryl, Von, Deb/Cats, Deb/Artistic, Jenn, Michelle, Carrisa, Glenna, Carol, Dawn, Lizzie, Kajsa, Monique, Wendy, Kim-

So many others I visit....you all make me smile and inspire me! What would I do without you? My life would be so sad....

The Fun of It All!

What fun I've been having this past week and today! This morning Jessica came by and we (belatedly) decided to finish our "Queens & Harpies" paper dresses. We've been collecting, researching, talking, emailing, planning and thinking about this for a few weeks. It was "D-day!" design day!!!

Jessica is a creative soul...and so artistic, too, though she is reluctant to claim it. She always excelled at art and, yet, she values much more the rational and logical side of herself, I think. The creative things come easily to her. Before I could even get started, Jessica had her dress sketched and was cutting the pieces out! She's going to post the picture of her "Madame Pompadour" on her blog either tonight or tomorrow. http://everythingexpectant.com/

I chose to do "Marie Antoinette," as you have heard a million times. First, I drew out a "dressform" for us to use on all our paper dresses. (IF any of you would like a copy of it...please email me for one interiorsbydeb2@aol.com and I will be happy to send you one). Jess and I decided it would be best to make a sort of mannikin form...which I did. My little "Marie" was born from that. I want to encourage you all to try this paper dressmaking. It really is alot of fun to do! I'll be happy to send you a form to practice on!

My blasted camera really blew out on me today, so I have no pictures of all my stitching progress this week! Rats!! But, Harmien, I am nearly finished with your McGoblin Girl, so she will be on her way to you by next month. And, I've been making some progress on my Cirque, and HAED RR, and Neighborhood RR. Also, I finished stitching my first ornie for the Bride's ornaments SAL. And, I've stitched some little pincushions for the practice of finishing things.

Jessica found out she's having a baby girl! Her name will be Mackenzie Pearl Magill! So, we are all delighted, and now I'm finding little things I can knit for her. Jessica thought I was nuts today when I bent down to her tummy and kinda spoke loudly, "Mackenzie, hello! This is your grammie, and I love you!!" She said, "Mom! What are you doing? Kevin did that, too, last night!" I told her we weren't talking to her...we were now talking to Mackenzie! (Giggle!! :p)

I also finally received my new Kindle from Amazon.com on Tuesday! OMG, I have to say this was nothing short of the joys of receiving a diamond ring to me!!! It is the most amazing reading device, and I keep touching and holding and reading with it like it's gold from the Taj Mahal! If you've not read about it or haven't seen one, please go to Amazon.com and see all about it. I'm just in heaven....I've already downloaded 3 books....trying to be conservative. "Sister Carrie" by Theodore Drieser was only $2.29, because it's a classic! New hardbacks are $9.99. It's so light in my hands, just a perfect weight for reading in bed because I don't have to worry about propping it up! And, turning the pages is a click away. I could go on ad nauseum. I'm reading my first Tasha Alexander book via Kindle.

*New to me movies I loved this week while stitching:

"Crossed Over" - (Starring Diane Keaton) About the children's book author, Beverly Lowry's relationship with death row convict Karla Faye Tucker, an axe murderess who was executed in Texas by consent of Gov. George Bush just before he became President. Lowry had lost her only son, and somehow connected emotionally with Tucker. An amazing, gripping story.

"Cries and Whispers" - (Starring Liv Ullman) About two sisters who are taking care of their dying sister in her gorgeous 1900's mansion in Sweden. The whole film centers around the death and the sisters' relationships with eachother, as well as the dying sister's relationship with her housemaid. It's a somber movie, but very powerful and gorgeous!

I continue to read "War and Peace," and to enjoy it, although, yes...it's a big book. Barbara, what possessed you to read it more than once??? I've been having a long and academic discussion with my Russian Reading Group about Tolstoy's chauvanism. Fun...

I'm hopeful and happy. My heart is keeping pace with things so far this year. I love each of you, my friends, and think of you everyday. I love my local friends, and make sure to reach out to them, too. I adore my daughter, and spend as much time as I can with her. And, my sons and grandchildren are the delights of my heart and keep me going! What more could I want?

Here's to your happy and hopeful weekend ahead! Hugs, Deb

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Just Bloggin'

"Art is in the doing. It isn't important how it turns out. The process is where the pleasure, the learning and the experience take place. A day without some sort of creative endeavor is a wasted day." Myrna Wacknov, "Splendid Over 60" , article from the latest issue of The Artist's Magazine.

This quote is so true and such an inspiration in its own way. Creativity and "art" is the act of being brave enough to find your self-expression, your style, your "voice," through deliberate acts of artistic experimentation. It's the courage to make mistakes in that creative journey of discovering yourself. Art really isn't easy, as many people think, but it's a worthy endeavour that brings a special delight to one's heart for having taken up the challenge. Often you discover more about yourself than you expected.

Making art or being creative is something everyone can do in one way or another. It really isn't just for the few who are "gifted," though ultimately, some do have a certain gift of a special vision because they cultivate it...or it may be an inate ability like math to someone else. It may be a particular brain function, a gift from God, or just plain hard work~! And, somebody is always going to br better at it than me or you because that's life, isn't it!? So, there's no use comparing...there's only learning!

It takes heart and bravery to face a few failures and awful looking results of our creative efforts to get to the good stuff! As a fine arts student, I often found...as did all of my fellow students...that we had to run through lots of pre-sketches and several painting attempts that got trashed before we could produce something of any beauty or worth! Many times it was boring and frustrating. Then, it was amazing and wonderful when just the perfect piece came out, finally! And came with such ease and flow!! It's part of the creative process!! We learned that it was just a part of it...a way to get to our best work.
I promise you that the best and most brilliant artists of all time painted and repainted their genius pieces many times over and threw out countless canvases and sketches before they produced the best of the best!!

So, please, don't give up on yourself if you're trying to create something new. Don't think you aren't creative or artistic just because your first effort or 2 or 3 looks dismal. Try it again. I always figure my first attempt is for the trash barrel.

It's like making pancakes....my first one or two always get tossed out..they look awful!! I like the next ones much better!!! :))
I have a beautiful hand illustrated/illuminated framed piece in my house that reads:
Love
The artist's earliest effort
wrought with care
The bard's first ballad
written...in his tears...
set by his later toil...seems
poor and tame...and into
nothing dwindles at the test
So..with the passions of the
maturer years...let those who
will--demand the first fond flame...
Give me the heart's last love (art)
for that is best...
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Here's to making art! And, here's to you brave souls who are willing to try this year of my Hopeful journey!!
Love and hugs,
Deb
PS: I received a sweet email from Myra whom I quoted at the beginning, tonight. She was happy to see the quote!