Poinsettia

I usually stall until my poinsettia flowers are well spent before I draw them.  This year, I decided to be a little more proactive and draw the flowers while they were still nice and fresh.  I received a small (5 ½ x 8 ½) hardcover Strathmore mixed media journal for Christmas and this was my first entry.

Meet Wilhelm

Here’s a quick shot of my latest Santa, Wilhelm.  He insisted on wearing a vintage rhinestone brooch on his jacket, even though I auditioned fancy buttons and even a Saint Christopher medal.  They really do tell you what they want to wear.  Anyway, I’m hoping to list him on Etsy sometime next week.

From My Workbench...

I’m making another Santa doll in the Magnolia Pearl style, very shabby with coffee-stained vintage textiles and trims.  Here is his hooded jacket in progress.  I had a great time hand sewing lots of mismatched vintage mother-of-pearl buttons all around the edges, while listening to Christmas songs.

Nightmare on eBay...

Well, I had an experience on eBay, this morning, which can only be described as Kafkaesque.  I had to cancel a sale because global shipping rejected my customer’s address.  Fine, I thought.  When I tried to proceed, eBay gave me a message that I needed to cancel from the French site, since that is where the transaction originated.  So, I went there and dang!  It’s all in French!  I can’t read French!  Oh, it gets better.  I called eBay in the US and spoke to the nicest lady (with a foreign accent) and she told me I had to go to the German site.  I protested and said I was pretty sure I was supposed to go to the French site.  She insisted we visit the German site (ebay.de) together.  And so we did.  I logged in (either my computer or their site was really S L O W) and finally navigated to mein eBay.  Then, all of a sudden, the nice lady told me she was wrong – and we were supposed to be on the French site, after all.  So to ebay.fr and mon eBay we went. She instructed me to choose the first option for cancelling a sale which was non-payment by the customer.  That was not the reason for the cancellation, I said.  My customer made several attempts to pay, but global shipping insisted that she didn’t have a physical address.  My customer does, indeed, have a physical address.  She’s had many transactions and has 100% positive feedback (but I digress).  I said we needed to choose an option that didn’t make my customer look bad.  The nice lady with the foreign accent (who spoke neither German nor French) and I mutually agreed to use the second to last option to cancel.  That, at least, had the word internationale in it, so we guessed (and we were just guessing at this point) it might be closer to the truth of what happened.  Anyway, my sale was cancelled, finally, but the whole ordeal was like a nightmare!  To her credit, the eBay customer service rep (the nice lady) was a sweetheart and very patient.  And we did actually do a lot of giggling!  She was using foreign language dictionaries to translate words.  But I wonder why eBay doesn’t have instant translation between the sites…  That would have saved a lot of time and trouble, today.

Recent Etsy Sales

I sold four Santa dolls from my Etsy store the other day (YAY!).  It really took me by surprise as it has been so quiet in my little shoppe.  Fortunately, I had lots of packing material on hand.  I save and recycle the bubble wrap that protects my Life’s Abundance cat food shipment every month.

TAST 2014: Lock Stitch Variations

Two rows of single lock stitches are laced for the first sample, followed by a row of double lock stitches and a row of beaded double lock stitches.

Nature Journal: Pokeweed

Nature Journal: Virginia Creeper

For years, DH and I thought that this was poison ivy.  I have no idea why.  It doesn’t bear any resemblance - but we avoided it like the plague!  To compare, click here for a drawing of poison ivy.

TAST 2014: Up and Down Buttonhole Stitch Variations

I added three more rows to my sampler consisting of: alternating up and down buttonhole stitches, beaded alternating up and down buttonhole stitches and interlaced up and down buttonhole stitches.

I also used up and down buttonhole stitches to embellish the edges of the doll vest, below, just because they add more oomph than regular buttonhole stitches.

A Song for My Cat...

Still Lost in Austen

I just finished reading Sense and Sensibility this afternoon and am looking forward to reading Emma, next.  A couple of years ago, when I first resolved to read all of Jane Austen’s novels, I started on my eReader with free downloads and read three on that device.  Then I happened upon the complete collection (six volumes) in hardback (in unread, nearly pristine condition) on eBay for $25.00!  What a find!  I had to add them to my library.  Although the digital reading devices have their own charm and advantages, I think I may actually prefer holding a real book in my hands, feeling the paper as I turn the pages (downright heretical these days, I quess).  It just takes me back to the joy of reading as a child.  I was wondering what everyone else thinks.

 

Tast 2014: Beaded Herringbone Stitch

I used heavy-duty craft/button thread instead of embroidery cotton in order to fit it through the narrow eye of the needle I used for beading.  I have a difficult time keeping herringbone stitches even - and found it almost impossible with the added challenge of beading.  DH suggested that I should have used my magnifier, but I'm not sure it would have made much of a difference...

TAST (Continued)

Trying to get back in the swing of things a little bit, I thought it was about time to revisit TAST and resume work on my stitch sampler.  I wanted to add a little bling so I did a variation of the chained bar, zigzagging over metallic gold rickrack.  Below that is a row of closed herringbone stitches.  Then comes a row of backstitched herringbone stitches. Next is a twisted lattice band.  Lastly, there is a row of double herringbone stitches.



 

Another Song

I’ve been AWOL from this blog for quite some time and hope to resume posting on a regular basis, soon.  In the meantime, here is another little original song I just uploaded to SoundCloud.  I wanted to make a test using TX16Wx Celtic high whistles.

The photo is of me from “back in the day.”  I’ve been thinking about the past quite a lot, lately…choices made, times when I simply chose not to choose (out of fear or confusion), roads not taken… and I marvel at how I arrived at this place of blessing and peace.  My mom would have laughed and said it was “more luck than management!”  I am married to a man who is altogether lovely from the inside out. He’s “the warmest chord I ever heard” to quote Joni Mitchell.  Long ago, a friend described him as an angel that God had sent to land at my feet.  And just in the nick of time, too…
 

A New Dress for Ellowyne

I made this easy sundress for Ellowyne from a free pattern available at MHD Designs called “Robe Soleil.”  Magalie Dawson’s instructions are very thorough and the pattern was a joy to sew.

 

Nature Journal: Rhododendron Leaves

I drew these leaves last night before the big snowstorm.  We got eight inches of snow overnight.  I knew the leaves would curl and droop, today, in the bitter cold as the temperature only reached 22 degrees.