luxe

well, as you may have guessed, i had another bad week, although i did get a couple of okay days to enjoy the weather. i had migraine after migraine and realized way too late that these delicious garlic pretzels had msg in them, which is a huge no-no for me. i am actually lucky that i wasn’t sicker than i was, although i have had non-stop headaches. i couldn’t stop eating them and then asked jake if he knew, he had put them in a zipper bag, so i couldn’t see the ingredients. we always look at everything because msg and blue cheez can put me in the ER, but you don’t think pretzels have it, ya know? anyway, i didn’t sleep last night and felt sick and actually was lying here feeling like crap and decided to do a quicky blog post. i have a bunch of batts to show you, in addition to the other ones that STILL aren’t listed. i just have barely been online because my vision is funny and i feel so nauseated and crummy. i am a bit addicted to the electric carder. i get so pooped out so easily, it is so fun to just feed in the fiber. it does get hung up pretty easily, so i do have to manually kickstart the drum, and my hands are wrecked. jake was impressed. they look manly. mini-manly. here are some of em. if anyone wants something, let me know, i am hoping to get them listed on wednesday, or maybe to-morrow if i get all of my invoicing done and packages packed.

i also have dyed top that isn’t even photographed, plus more dyeing i need to do with some solidish colors for batts. we all know that it kills me to pay for dyed top that isn’t super nice…which means i would have to pay a lot to get decent stuff, even though i haven’t really seen such a thing. i hate colonial top. i like the superwash from brown sheep, but that only comes in a few colors.

here are a couple of creatures still in the works. i need to futz around with some arms and legs,etc and see where they want to go. i generally see what the piece wants to do, kinda like yarns. i may have a basic idea, but that will fly out the window if the piece doesn’t seem to want to be that way. ya know?

maryland sheep and wool…i don’t think we are going. i am broke, mainly because i have been too out of it/lazy to get stuff listed, and i have so so much of it. mixed media pieces, paintings, softies, crocheted jewelry, knits, yarn, fiber, batts, vintage stuff, plus stuff that i need to send out to a couple of stores. i frustrate myself. anyway, between being poor and the weather being horrible, i think it might be better not to go. i had talked to a friend about working sheep and wool but kind of blew it off, and now when i see people i know working it, or at least working with a yarn shop that is working it, i get mad at myself. it wasn’t expensive to work, it would have just been the time and energy. in the end, i get so scared to commit to things in advance because of the stupid health issues i have, that i end up not doing things that i want to do. in fact, i convince myself that i don’t want to do it anyway. i have been asked to work with some awesome people in their booths at whatever craft show, and if it is in the summer and is outdoors, i know that i can’t be in the sun for any length of time, even under a tent, i will get overheated and then if it is a multiple day show, i know that i just can’t do it. and i don’t want to let someone down. so i don’t do it, and i get pissed off at myself. sniff.

my head is pounding, so i think i will go and take a shower.
xo
n.

yesterday i had high hopes of getting lots done. i had to run out and do some errands so i ended up going with jake when he got home. by that time, i had taken photos of the new batts i made and crocheted wire and beaded jewelry from a while ago that i still haven’t listed. by that time, i had a fairly bad migraine, too. when jake got back from doing his stuff, i was out of it, not feeling so good, had cramps plus the migraine. i don’t remember falling asleep, but i did and then woke up right before he went to sleep. i didn’t sleep very well and woke up early again, although i didn’t shower until about 10:30a and i made myself eat. i haven’t been so into eating lately.

today i had high hopes of getting lots done, but i feel like poo. jakie is practicing for a couple of shows he and a friend will be doing (i will keep those of you who are local posted on when they are) so i planned to tinker with the new carder and adjust it and maybe go to the nursery to get some plants and to the craft store, but i feel like poo. my head hurts, but more importantly, i feel really out of it and discombobulated, so i always worry about driving. it annoys me most once the weather is nice. it makes me feel like an 8 year old with a broken leg or chicken pox during summer vacation, you know? there are some things that you can’t push through. i decided to blog just to vent at least, even if it makes my head hurt. at least i will have done SOMETHING. although, i did actually put makeup on and do my hair. so i did do something.

here are some of the batts i made this week on the pat green carder. my louet makes a much thicker batt, and lumpy if i want, too, these are twice as wide and much finer. purdy.

xo
n.

so, let me start by saying that i put up one new batt on luxe.etsy.com and there will be more tomorrow. as the title suggests…i went nuts with the carder yesterday. i sat on the front porch with a bunch of loose fiber and sparkle, etc, and even though i sat on a pillow, my voluptuous ass manages to get bruised where the bones pole through. how is that fair? how? it should be one or the other! chubby ass, no cushion needed, skinny asses must have a pillow. right? not fair. okay, so the batts. i numbered them all on flickr, so if you see something you like, don’t waste time, let me know. they tend to sell pretty quickly. wanna see? this is not even half of em. i took tons of photos to attempt to get the inside and outside because these have lots of layers of different stuff. really fun ones. a few of them are maybe a bit too tempting…

here is a peek at what the porch looked like but you really had to see the complete coverage, stuff everywhere, batts and fiber and fuzz. i figured i would do it outside so that i wasn’t breathing it in quite so much and there wasn’t quite the amount that is thrown into the air of my studio, you know? it is an utter fiber cluster frakk anyway, but this worked. although, it was insanely hot and humid and i had fiber and dirt and dust stuck all over me. and a dirty bum even though i sat on a pillow. i was wrecked.

so let me tell you a story…at my favorite junk/antique shop i got a dressmarker’s form a while ago. it came with it’s original box that had been shipped to the owner one “dr.effie ireland”, it is postmarked 1956 i think. i was reading the pennysaver and came across a listing for an estate sale today for a “dr. effie dunlap” from the same area as my effie was from. i thought it had to be the same person so i tried to google her and research her. i don’t know if they were the same person, but the person whose estate sale i went to (more about that crap sale) graduated from medical school in 1911! not much earlier had it even been possible for women to go to medical school. i couldn’t find out much more other than where she had gone to school. there were newsletters from her school for those years saying that she had graduated and that she worked in ligonier, but i don’t know what kind of doctor she was or anything else about her. i would kill to see a photo of her. anyway, we went to the estate sale, i was super excited although i did think it might not be good because she died in 1982, so it was unlikely that her stuff was still in the house, although they used her name. jakie woke me up early and we went out and the house was the most disgusting thing you have ever seen. there was virtually nothing of value, clearly, when they had the auction 25 years ago, all of her stuff was removed and in the meantime, other people had lived in the house and wrecked it and filled it with cheap crap mostly from the 70’s i think. it was filthy and smelly and gross. and seriously nothing good. and everythign was insanely expensive. there was a really gorgeous giant colorized photograph from the turn of the century that could have been her…but it was in poor condition and they wanted more than 200 bucks for it. it was so gross you didn’t want to touch anything and literally it was the sort of thing that at a glance you can tell that it is just full of the garbage that no one wanted. anyway, there was stuff out back, so we went to look and there were tons of books, i had been searching for a photo album or yearbooks, to no avail, plus all of the books were rotten and mostly from the 70’s and more recent. there was a bike for two in okay condition at best that they wanted $225 bucks for. c’mon. i didn’t see a single person walk out of that place with anything. for anyone not from this area reading this, around here, we are cheap and can get lots of stuff for not that much usually. and seriously, an old bike in crap condition for that much? sheesh. there was a 1922 packard in poor condition that was really amazing, and then a strange guy looking for old comic books told me that some lady blew out her brains upstairs in the 70’s. so.

we stopped at the farmer’s market after that and then headed home. i did a bunch of new phtos (go see if you like) and got groceries and i think that is it. loaded photos.

oh, also, i have two softies that are not finished. the dark one is a…pirate zombie something…not sure. i spun a really dark not soft yarn up from some fiber (not my work)and put a ton of sparkle in it, not planning to make it a pirate, although they do have bling. i am not sure what to dress him in. i talked to barbe about it already. i imagine a loose blousy shirt and maybe striped pants and a bandana. andd i need to make a hook hand. i think. and the bird is crocheted from laine zinzin yarn i got in the french swap. it needs wings still. oh, and on the line of softies, i sold 3! collette (with the cute little hat), the owl and the amelia, one of the triplets that has no arms or legs. and snarky peeps said they were gross! so there! wanna see the new toys?

i am tired and a bit nauseous. ew. oh, i made a lightbox out of a big plastic container, a white sheet and a piece of posterboard and the photos where great. whenever i can, i will use this method again.

okay. super tired. let me know what you think about the new stuff.
mwah!
n.

and this one matches!

wow. where have i been? well. here. we are getting our new bed to-morrow between 9 and 1 and so i had to clean up the disgusting mess i have made of our bedroom. really gross. jake’s side is fine, but mine…it sort of has taken over the whole room, really. i need to make sure that i don’t let it accumulate again. i seriously was embarrassed and disgusted with myself and jake had to help me because i got overwhelmed and felt upset and sick. i am such a pig. so, i packed up a few more orders today and went to the post office to pick up my new rings from the most fantastic etsy seller, ashley and whilst i didn’t take photos of me awesome gorgeous amazing beautariffical rings, i did make a little thingy with one of her rings and a necklace, i must get a necklace! and then two toys i am considering for my almost 4 year old niece’s birthday (although i would love to have them myself!) which are super duper cute. the links for both of these artists are at the bottom there. pretty cool? the ring i got has an opal on it (my birthstone) and she made the ring custom for me because my fingies are smaaaall. too bad my butt isn’t small. ah well. feet and hands are better than a tiny head i guess. anyway, this is the cool thing…it is on a pebble and both the pebble and the opal spin! not like a whirling dervish or anything, but they move. so cool. and then i asked for a love knot ring because i had one as a kid and she just threw it together and sent it to me. it is so cute! i will wear them forever!

after the bed comes, i am excited to be able to do some actual…WORK! woot woot! keep your fingers (or rather, fingies) crossed that i feel up to it. i rearranged the bedroom a bit. i had this shitty ikea bookcase thingy as my nightstand because it is too narrow to fit one and it fell off of the wall a while ago while we were out of town (and fell on the sleeping housesitter spilling all of the crap that was on it all over her.) so it has been leaning precariously against the wall. on garbage day, people will tend to take stuff that is the least bit useable, or not, so hopefully someone will want it. i moved a regular bookcase over and got rid of most of the shite that was in the bedroom and moved the cat perches around (2 big ones, one that is attached to the window sills, 2 cubes and 2 cardboard scratchers. that is a lot, eh? we have 4 windows in here, so the cats enjoy checking out what is going on in the neighborhood. pavel loves to chat with the birdies on the wire outside, chirping at them. it is very cute. he also ducks down when they fly by.

tonite on BBC america eddie izzard’s newest special “definite article” is on and he has a bit about how if pavlov was trying to do his bell and food experiments with cats he would not have been famous. and it was really funny. we love eddie. he is so cute. such a big head that man has. i think i mentioned before that there is a new show on fx called “the riches” starring eddie and minnie driver! it looks amazing. fx has some really good shows. i have mentioned “dirt” before with courtney cox, which is fantastic, if a bit rough in some bits. also, i saw the next episode of the black donnelly’s last night which was really good. that probably means it won’t last long. that seems to be the way it goes, no? oh, also! on bbc america there is a robin hood series! how cewl is that? i will keep you posted whether you like it or not.

i finished a “fluff-a-licious” embroidery last night and meant to take photos of it and didn’t. sigh. i will. i will. i swear. and new batts, too. i swear it. and some new yarns. i am desperately looking for plastic bunny beads like i used for the bunny yarn to no avail. i found some on ebay for a fairly high price…for plastic fricking beads, but what can ya do? i found foam beads, which i have used before and work pretty well. i may pick those up. also, at michael’s i found little easter egg beads that will be cool, so that is probably the next yarn on the slate. i have a lot of locks from frenecreek that need to be dyed and i will probably list those by the ounce.

i was on one of my coffee blogs (seriously. no really) and found this crazy new alarm clock that cooks bacon so you wake up to the smell of bacon. seriously. aptly named
wake’nbacon.

and then on jess hutch’s bloggy:

my noggin aches and i feel grumpy so off i go to try to chill out.
smooochies.
n.