luxe

so, where have a i been for like…a week? well, i had the curse, okay? cramps, crazy stomach, migraines (several) one that caused me to think i had accidentally poisoned myself (not sure on what or why, but ya know) and i kept puking up bile or something and was so dizzy and screwed up that i woke up jake, again, thinking that i was poisoned and if i lapsed into a coma, i wanted him to know what was going on. um. i have spent just about all of the weekend sleeping or puking. we were supposed to go out with butter and lauren, and i really wanted to, but i felt all screwed up and sick and it was a good decision because the aforementioned migraine happened that evening, and being out would have been a bad thing and probably made the migraine/vomiting bad enough to get me in the hospital, which i hate so very very much. once you get dehydrated, you are kinda screwed, ya know? i have had that odd feeling all week, so when i got the migraine, it made sense. i also have had the mega super snoot, so at one point, i told jake that his breath was gross and after he left the room, i could still smell it, so i realized that it was in my head. or something. le sigh. so we did nothing this weekend. well, jake did stuff, i lay around and did nothing. i did work on some paintings and sketches in between being super sick, but i didn’t even go online because i haven’t been able to see, etc, etc, etc. i am feeling better now, though. damn ovaries. nothing but trouble. ya know?

3 of the house mixed media pieces had a cup of wash water fall on them. it was izzy’s fault, she tends to reach up onto high shelves and knock stuff over, but it was mostly my fault for leaving anything out, so. i fixed them, used the matte medium mixed with gouache so the paint will not smudge, and i like them much better with the changes i made, although the linework is still not up to par. i haven’t painted in ages, so i am getting my hand back. it takes time, i know. wanna see em?

i have a bunch of good links for ya. so here…
http://www.petermarigold.com/
http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/
watch this!
look at this…
and this
and this
watch this one

not much else to report, because well, i have been sleeping almost all of the time i have been incommunicado. i am hoping to feel good enough to get work done this week. i have been working on some polymer clay dolls, too. i will keep ya posted. i did some sketches, too.

oh, i watched the jacket with adrian brody and it was a fantastic movie. it was on hbo, and i thought it was the jackal because i didn’t have my glasses on (like usual) and my vision is getting much worse, but i get headaches from my glasses so i don’t wear them and can’t see. anyway,jake asked what the movie was and when i told him he said, the jacket, maybe? and i said…that makes way more sense. anyway, it reminded me of jacob’s ladder a bit, but it was really a cool movie. and surprisingly uplifting. in the end, it was just that no matter how bad life is, when it is over, you wish you were alive again. it is never too late to do things, it is always better to have another chance. so. also, we watched a few minutes of a movie called beerfest and i was amazed that movies like that are able to be made. of course, the guy that makes the girls gone wild videos is a gazillionaire, so, i shouldn’t be surprised that anything is done, really. ya know?

so, i am hoping that my period will be done to-morrow, i will feel good, my head will be clear, i won’t be dizzy, nauseous, tired, etc, and will be ready to get some stuff done. i haven’t done much spinning and i have been really eager to do so. so there we go. i have 2 custom yarns to do and i need to get stuff finished to send off for some shops, and i really need to get a current art portfolio together and try to get into some shows/galleries. we will see.

i missed you guys.
xo
n.

i had a few bad days, needless to say. you know, the days when you don’t sleep all night and then wake up at 12:30 p.m. and literally don’t have the energy to get up and get coffee or a shower, check email, do anything. and i dozed on and off, and then headaches at night. woot! i feel better now. in honesty, i didn’t feel sick, just exhausted. for anyone who wonders what chronic fatigue syndrome and lupus (et al) mostly do to me is that. you know how you would feel the day after you ran a marathon after partying all night? i think, that is what it would feel like. so. i did do a bit of knitting for gifts, and i have been sketching and working on some mixed media things…here is the proof…the house one needs to be mounted still, i think in a shadow box. i need to figure that out. i have another version in mind that will have the shingles and roof tiles from individual wee pieces of paper. i will go a bit bigger, i think even though i tend to have issues with big projects that take too long. i lose interest, usually after i have spent a ton of time on it. i need to get better at that. and also at pacing myself. i tend to dive into whatever it is i am super obsessed with at the moment and get sick of it before i actually perfect it. so. i really need to pace myself.

one of my only high school friends sent me the link for the yappy yinzers talking dolls. they are actually rather hilarious. make sure that you clicky on the dolls to hear what they say. if you haven’t ever heard a pittsburgh accent before, these dolls are right on. i don’t sound like that. i didn’t grow up here. so. i hope i don’t, anyway.

i applied for two plush shows, one i got the bulk email for, and i know tons of people applied, but still. sniff. the other, for plush you, i haven’t heard anything, which i assume is also a no. i did get a reqeust for some of my mixed media collages to be in a new online and maybe print magazine

jake just rolled over and told me that he just had a dream that he had enormous hair. i attempted to ask him what it looked like, was it an afro? he said it was styled but enormous. hm. he has curly hair, so if he grew it out, it would grow…well, out. up. it would be funny. he did have a bit of a tom waits tousled look for a little while, which i thought was super cute, but as a boy that has spent his life fighting his hair, he has a hard time just letting it be its curly self. wanna see what pavel has been doing to cuddle up with jakie lately? okay….it is dark, but can you see? hogging the pillow?

here is an awesome site i have never heard of before. have you heard of circus hour.com? it is funny. this artist…artist isn’t even a strong enough word…allison sommers work is tiny and otherwordly and so so amazing. it literally takes my breath away. it is so sublime (yeah, i just said that.) i can’t even relate to it. so. look at the detail in the work and then look at the size that they are. insane. there are not many artists who have this effect on me. not just wow…but wooooaaaah.

i have a beast of a headache pumping and i need to finish checking emails and try to go to sleep so i can be productive to-morrow, i mean, today. and it is friday already. woah. i am craving soup and salad from the olive garden where we never ever go because the food is faux italian and is mega salty, but i crave their minestrone and breadsticks for some reason. hm.

mwah. wish me luck that my migraine is not just starting, my ears are aching, my neck is hurting, i feel all funky. off i go. le sigh.

xoxo
n.

here is one of the circle collages finished and shellacked. i will be listing it. they take me soooo long to make, so i am not sure how to price it. so.

i got some of the bigger peaks stuffed and sewn shut. they aren’t done yet, but i am still working on em. wanna see?

and then the striped child, which is about life-sized.

and to finish it off…

mwah.
n.

first…cuteable.com seen it? cute stuff. lots and lots of cute stuff.

amigurumi you ask? well. the pirate, i made him some clothes, although he still needs a belt and a sash on his head and the hook. that too. i don’t like his vest much, i did a bad freeform embroidered skull and crossbones and…it looks terrible. i will pull it out and do something else. dunno.

and i am workon on a lion with male pattern baldness…he is only partially done, but here he is. what do you think about a moustache to go with his sideburns and long balding hair?

my noggin is feeling better. because of the series of migraines, my brains feel a bit scrambled and it has left me feeling…well…a bit high. i don’t know why it is that way. and i have trouble coming up with words. dumb words. i have always hated that. searching for the words. anyway, i did some spinning:
at the left hand top the “HOTTT”superwash merino fiber that didn’t sell. how? i would’ve snapped it up. anyway, i still have some of the fiber left if anyone is interested. this one is 100 percent coils, so not a ton of yardage, i may do a single from the other 4 oz to accomany it. or just sell this little pinky skein. it was a whole bobbin of singles and probably 25 yards of supercoils. fun, though. the lower left is one of the batts i did spun up. there is still a couple of the red based ones left, not yet listed. if you want on, ask, they won’t last. they have mainly veggie silk fibers and sparkle and the rest is red, pink, or orange superwash fiber, or targhee. soft soft soft. a TON of sparkle in em. and twice carded. lovely! on flickr they are labeled by number. i will be listing different batts all week. and i think doing some more. i need to do some dyeing, but i think i might just take some of the dyed fiber i do and card em up. the market is so flooded right now, not that most of it is nice or anything, but everyone is selling fiber or purses or toys or what have you. crazy! oh, so the right top is fiber i got from the spunky eclectic club, they weren’t my colors, so i did all supercoils and added novelty yarns in the same colors to intensify them. it isn’t super soft, so it would be better suited for a something that isn’t next to the skin. and then at the bottom right is the ANA superwash sock yarn…lovely, no? i want one. i am fighting myself on it. big time.

i added some paper to the bottom of the box and added darker clouds that go the whole way out of the box, and more small trees and things…i think it is almost done…what do you guys think? do you think it lacks a focal point?

and my desk whilst working on the box and then a kinetic mobile i started yesterday. i will show you in a couple of days…

in other news, pavel has been acting totally crazy. seriously, i am concerned that there might be something mentally wrong with him. he was pretty laid back as a kitten. he liked to play/fight and bite, but he always seemed to be playing. now, he growls if the other cats come within 5 feet of him and he starts to act aggressive until a fight usually does break out because he has the posturing to bring it on. and then if he is just doing it to one sister, the other will come running and then it is a battle. the thing is, he is now doing it all the time. the other cats will not have aggressive posture, they are just walking by or going about their business, and he will lay his ears back and start growling until it escalates into a fight. any ideas what is going on?

i am getting sleepy. i will try to blog when i get up instead of late so i can think a bit more clearly.

mwah!
n.

hellllooooo…nothing much to report from here. i have been keeping really busy, making loads of stuff. wanna see? really really wanna see? well…okay…you are twisting my arm…firstly, the yarns, which will be listed a bit later today on www.luxe.etsy.com around 5ish methinks…

willy and nilly are similar crazy yarns, one plied, one a crazy overtwisted single. let me tell you it is HEAVY. crazy heavy. aloha lite is super soft merino, soy silk (the green shiny parts) lots of sparkle in bright green, hot pink and fuschia, a bit of fuzzy bright green novelty yarn and white, pale pink, brighter pink and pinky/white silk flowers plied in. loverly. and shine on is super soft merino, sparkle city in green and some hot pink with squares of silky fabric strung on the plying thread and plied in. i adore this one. i plan to do some more today. i need to dig through my scraps. i must say, now i know what i saved those scraps for. you know the wardrobe remix thingy? i am trying to do something similar with crafty, artsy and spinny stuff. i wanna attempt to use what i have and get rid of some of the stuff i am not fond of. i did that with the willy and nilly and other scrap yarns i have. if any of you seamstresses out there have sewing scraps you have saved for reasons unknown, send em to me if you fancy. one of my clients sent me her scraps that included really skinny strips and bits of yarn only a couple of inches long. i can use em. i use em fast though, i really pile em on.

okay…what else have i made? well, i got the plush-o-rama plushie making book and used a pattern from there to make this…i did it a bit different. mainly, i learned that you can make softies with scarcely any pattern and it will come out fine, and my lack of precision crafting abilities…okay, i am too slapshot really, still works out fine. so i can take an idea and do what i want. so, here he is…blinky palermo…and if you know who blinky was, leave a comment, i will be impressed for shizzle. i hand sewed him from the handpainted wool/rayon felt i did a while ago. i handsewed because we had butter and his lady over and i always need to keep my hands busy or i get fidgety. the back of him is reversed color scheme. cute?

i had some unfinished mixed media things i was working on that i keep messing with. this is the next version of them….oh, and a pic of my desk mess, too.

in cuteness news, yesterday jake was totally crashed out, i think it is an allergy issue. he gets the “allergic shiners” as they call em and is on allegra for it, but it doesn’t seem to make a difference and got up and then fell asleep for a while whilst i was spinning. his little son pavel was asleep next to him using the tivo controller as a pillow. ha. too cute.

in humiliation news, i went for groceries and i tend to use my paypal debit card because i can’t bounce anything accidentally. well, i didn’t have a lot in there, but i should have had enough for groceries and a bit. i forgot that i had bought some stuff at the bookstore with it. i took all of the credit cards out of my wallet (except for our prescription on, my bank card and my macy’s card) and when i checked out i didn’t have enough money. um. i gave her all my cash ($7) and it still wouldn’t go. i gave her my checkcard which had next to nothing in it and told her to take a bit out of there, plus the 7 bucks, plus my checkcard. it went. sigh. so so humiliating. this is why you should leave a credit card in the wallet. in case you need it, fool. sheesh. the worst part is that jake told me to take his card and i didn’t want to. i haven’t listed new stuff in ages, i have been totally out of the loop due to my mom being in town, being on vacation, being sick, so i am way more poor than usual. so humiliating. sigh. gah. good thing i didn’t go to joann’s or target first, eh? i would have been totally frakked.

lastly, my younger brother is still having lots of issues with his eyes and migraines. they actually don’t sound like migraines to me. i think the eyes and the migraines are totally connected, if you can imagine wearing a really crazy prescription eyeglass that isn’t yours all the time..bad things would happen. really really bad things. i hope that nothing bad is going on inside of his head and i hope he will go to a different doctor that will do more to figure out what is going on. so. it always surprises me how it drives me insane to see other people in pain. i never understand why people worry about me, yet when other people are miserable, it drives me crazy. i want to do something. give them something. tell them something. hm.

i am off to do some work. do pop by luxe at etsy.com and see what i have. it is mostly all art yarn and some lovely limited edition sock yarns. i will most likely dye some stuff this week to list soon.

mwah!
n.

i ran out of my sleeping pill and couldn’t sleep last night. in addition to the lack of pillage, jake was tossing and turning, cats were all over the bed, kahlo wanted to sleep on me, so i was flat on my back and she was purring so loudly and happily like a big pigeon that i couldn’t kick her off. i read my book, knitted, got sleepy, couldn’t fall asleep…and then, i woke up at about 5a and the sun wasn’t up yet. once it was up, pavel did his usual thing where he sees the shadow of birds on the wire outside on the roman blind and launches himself onto the blind right up at the top, and i have to remove him because he is hanging there not sure what to do. and then, he will do it again. grrr. verrrry annoying. so when i woke up i had a baaad headache, although it did go away with proper caffeination and medication. mmmmm. i spun some really cool odds and ends yarn, which i will photo and list to-morrow, plus a bunny yarn for one of my regulars that asked for it. we got groceries and that was about it. oh, we watched the prestige which was really good. it is based on a book which i will probably pick up. although now i know the ending. damn. also, i realized that the dresden files is based on a series of books as well.

oh! i almost forgot! the riches! with minnie driver and eddie izzard was on this weekend and it was fan-freakin-tastic. i was even more excited by it than i thought i would be. i don’t know what the rules of cable shows are, if they get cut if people don’t watch or what. i hope not. it is so amazing, the acting was fantastic although the accents were a bit odd, as brits and aussies trying to do american accents tend to be. i describe them as trying to do a john wayne/midwestern/marbles in your mouth accent. regardless, it was really good. on FX for anyone wondering. good. good. good. i am foaming at the mouth for next week’s episode.

here are some of the collage pieces i promised that wouldn’t load…

i have more, but they aren’t finished, so i will just post pics when they are done. and yarn photos too, no worries. okay, i am feeling sleepy, so off i go…
xo
n.

welp, here i am! i have been extra exhausted and migraineful when not so, and needed to get work done so i took my “pep” pill that my doctor gave me for such times. it is odd because when it wears off, it is so drastic, like a battery going dead…dead. so yesterday, i took a half, and about 4 hours later, it wore off. i was falling asleep around 5p and jake said i should take the other half so i wouldn’t fall asleep and wake up when he was sleeping, so i did and then was hyper like a maniac when he was trying to fall asleep and clearly annoying the crap out of him. i rarely can tell i am annoying him. when i take them, i am able to get so much done, i feel sort of winded, like i have been running (not that i really know what running would feel like) but i feel hyper at the same time. if i didn’t have the lupus and chronic fatigue, etc, etc, i wonder what i would be like? it is silly to really bother thinking about it, but i think i am fairly productive, all things considered, and i wonder if i would be manic and uber productive. who knows? not i. anyway, i got several mixed media pieces done which i really like a lot…wanna see?
this one is “come see”

this one is “jump”

and “what now?”

and “march 5, 1974″

the little journal page is from a gardening journal i got at an auction that only has a few pages per year, at the beginning of spring until the end of summer saying the temperature, what is coming up and when and little clippings from the newspaper, mostly about gardening and gardening clubs. it is a bit odd. i have 3 more collages in the works. i overdid it a bit today, worked about 9 hours straight through which is a lot for me. i have had either a headache or bad nausea all day but don’t want to take my nausea meds because it makes me sleeeeeepy. i may just take it soon. gah! barf!

i printed out my shipping stuff which took FOREVER, it was a lot of packages, but i had other things that i had to handwrite that i need to mail off to-morrow. i had someone send me all of her weaving threads and stuff she didn’t need anymore that i was supposed to send some stuff, except that i can’t find her address (i saved the box for the label, but i can’t find it. anywhere.) i then searched through 2 of my email accounts and couldn’t find anything there and went onto knitter’s review forum where i met her, i think, and the conversation was gone, so i don’t have any idea how to even email her. i don’t remember what her username was. grrrr. i left a couple of posts and hopefully someone if not her will read it and contact her or me. i feel like a jerk. i actually almost sent the package to the wrong person. it is loaded full of good stuff that i know she will want, but…sigh. disorganization does have a price. i write everything down, but can’t remember where i wrote it. i couldn’t find any of my pencil sharpeners and after tearing the place up, i found it in my desk drawer. smart, eh? i do that a lot, put things in the place they should go, and then am not sure where i put it. sigh. i annoy myself sometimes. imagine how poor jake feels.

the studio is an utter pigsty and i need to clean it up after i get the last batch of orders out. it is so messy that i can barely move in there. i need to clean out my closet because i can store all of my fiber and things that are for sale on the shelves, so i have room for supplies i use on the studio shelves.

what else? one of my best clients sent me all of her yarn and fabric scraps plus a zillion of the little jewelry packs that had the bunny beads in them. i am soooo excited. once i get my errands done to-morrow and the cleaning up done, i hope to do some bunny yarns. she is the beeeeest! you know who you are lady!

i had a crazy nightmare the other night where a got caught in the middle of two gangs and they put everyone on their knees and told us to close our eyes and were cutting everyone in half vertically with a big piece of sheet metal. i couldn’t decide whether to keep my eyes closed or not. i didn’t want to make it easy for them…right as they were about to wack me, jake woke me up. there was actually a lot more to the nightmare, but a lot of it didn’t make any sense once i woke up. it did involve a sleezy hotel room that barbe booked for jake and i for our anniversary or something as a gag and we stayed there because we felt like we should, but it was super creepy and dirty and the only thing you could watch on tv was dirty movies. old ones. it has always bugged me that i only have creepy nightmares, never dreams. it seems like a reflection of my soul and self, that even in my own mind, i don’t get to be dazzling and successful. sigh.

a thunderstorm is starting, so i best get off of the computer. i love the rain!
mwah!
n.