Tallulah-Palooza Friday

Tallulah Mae really wanted to participate in the week of handmade goodness, but she hasn't quite found her crafting mojo yet--it's that lack of opposable thumbs that's holding her back again. . . She does enjoy rolling in the rick-rack, however--and who doesn't? (Lordy I've gotten a lot of mileage out of our rick-rack photo shoot, haven't I?!)

And I Made This (Sorta)

It's an embroidered pillow front, made from a kit from here. I say that I sorta made it because a) it's from a kit (nothing wrong with that, it's just that I didn't design it), and b) this is only the front. It came with a lovely dark brown linen backing fabric, and the front and the back need to be--you guessed it--sewn together. With the sewing machine. Which is in the closet. Sigh. Also, I ordered a pillow form with which to stuff it, and when the thing arrived, in its ginormous box, it was the size of a VW. Um . . .

OK, This I DID Make

It's a felt sewing needle/straight pin case--simple, fun to do while you're watching Joan Crawford movies on Turner Classic Movies or "Making the Team: The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders." Oh yeah!

I just noticed that the late summer Southern California afternoon sunshine makes it appear that I shone a klieg light on it--but no. I was inspired to make this by something I saw, some time, somewhere on the Internet (blog, craft site, etc.), but I can't remember where. So, thank you, someone, for inspiring me.

Nope, I Didn't Make These Either

Look at these cute things I won in a blog giveaway from Nicole at Craftapalooza (is that a fabulous blog name or what?), and they traveled all the way from Australia! Woo-hoo! Lovin' the skwerls on the tissue holder, and the little tape measure is perfect to carry around in my bag--and I know it's mine, 'cause it has an "S" on it! How fun IS it to win stuff? I so rarely do that it's a huge thrill for me. Thanks, Nicole!

Prepare to Be Amazed

Do you SEE that fantastic quilty goodness up there? Oh, how I would LOVE to say that I made that, but no--that is the amazing craftsmanship of one Miss Erin C. And she's only 15, people! Fifteen! Erin, we salute you! Let's all her give a big round of applause--come on, you can do it, clap yo hands!--for her mad sewing skills. And she's a busy girl, too--she doesn't just sit and sew all day. She also plays the violin, does exceedingly well in school, runs track, and is probably involved in a million other interesting teenager things that I'm too hopelessly old to know about. AND she is a very nice girl (very nice, like her entire family, I might add). So: I only hope I can live up to Erin's sewing ability one day. First, I have to get the machine out of the closet . . .

(Thank you, Erin and Susan, for allowing me to share this pic with BlogLand. I mean, I am just SO impressed!)

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

And just for you, Miss you-know-who-you-are:

Shadows, Part IV

Shadows, Part III

Shadows, Part II

Shadows, Part I

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

"If only I had opposable thumbs . . . I could open this darn refrigerator!"

When the Moon Hits Your Eye . . .

Check it: homemade pizza topped with heirloom tomatoes from our very own garden. It doesn't get much yummier, actually, and it's so incredibly easy. The pizza dough recipe comes from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison, a book that gets quite a workout in this household. Out all the recipes we've tried from this tome, I would say that only three or four have been less than scrumptious--not a bad record!



So: pizza pizza!! (And its natural corollary, beer beer!)

Did Someone Say UFO?

Nope, I said "FO," for "Finished Object." A WIP (work-in-progess) becomes an FO. Thus endeth the craft blog jargon lesson . . .

This little guy--shall we call him Scooter?--is intended for Ginger's new baby (well, he's now two months old, but that counts as "new"!). Hope he likes it . . .

The pattern came from Jenny Harris, who has a wonderful blog called Allsorts. She even has a Flickr group for Scotty dogs created with her pattern. Cuteness!

Advice from a Caterpillar

"Then it got down off the mushroom and crawled away into the grass, remarking as it went, 'One side will make you grow taller, and the other side will make you shorter.'

'One side of what? The other side of what?' thought Alice to herself.

'Of the mushroom,' said the Caterpillar, just as if she had asked it aloud; and in another moment, it was gone."
(from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.)

Yesterday, Le Caterpillar, today his mushroom . . . what will we have tomorrow? The Mad Hatter? The Dormouse? Tweedledum and Tweedledee?

Paging Alice, Paging Alice

Umm . . . apparently this tomato hornworm moved into the neighborhood while I wasn't looking. Look at him, it's like he's showing off his conformation in the Westminster Caterpillar Show. That's about four inches of worminess posing for the camera. They're strangely beautiful, and quite soft to the touch. It had already decimated the plant it had taken up residence on, so I just put it back . . . we have enough tomatoes to share, at this point.

It really does remind me so much of the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland: check it out.

(And hi, Alice S.!)

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

Mr. DeMille, Tallulah Mae is ready for her close-up . . .

Back from the B of a BB and so relaxed I'm practically floating . . . it won't last long, so I'm savoring every moment!

B of a B B

Bit of a blog break--we're unplugging and taking a few days off, so . . . don't labor on Labor Day (eat ice cream instead!), and check back at the end of the week.

Also: I had a request for recommendations of "novels set in Victorian England," apropros my listed obsession over on the sidebar (and yes, I'm still obsessed with them), so I've added a new section listing book titles. Some of these novels have, shall we say, some "adult content," so I suggest you, dear readers, surf on over to Amazon.com via the links and check out the reviews to be sure they're to your liking in terms of subject matter. Don't be alarmed: they all fall under the category of "literary fiction"; I have to think that Charles Dickens would be writing about some of the same things if he were publishing today . . .