Scenes from Memorial Day 2010

A little of this and a little of that: some Etsy shopkeeping, some hand-made ice cream from Niederfrank's (Tallulah Mae got her own and then sat with that sad sad look on her face hoping for more), some flowers from the garden. A lovely and relaxing long weekend...how was yours?

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

Tallulah Mae hope you're ready to chillax over the long Memorial Day holiday. Here she's demonstrating just how to do it...

True Love

The Eyes Have It

These are all the same species of flowers...I cannot for the life of me remember what they are (!). I just threw some seeds into my woebegone cutting garden and these came up (not good as cut flowers, alas...they wilt almost immediately). I do love all of the variations...some of them look as if they were applied with watercolors, don't they?

Pink, Green

You can have THIS kind of pink-and-green "food"...
Or THIS kind of pink-and-green food...

(Top photo is some Trix cereal that came in the newspaper as a sample...and yes, I DID eat it! Though if I'm going to eat sugar-bomb cereal, nothing comes close to Cap'n Crunch! Bottom photo is some yummy juice made by Miss Robin as a post-walk refreshment--I think it was lemon, apple, celery, cucumber, a dash of broccoli and a dash of romaine, and Chioggia beets. Delish!)

Tears of a (Lost) Clown

OK, y'all...I have a confession to make: I am and have been a card-carrying Lost geek. There, I've said it. Obsessed? Um, perhaps. Sad today? Most definitely! I have red and puffy eyes from crying about the show's finale last night--I cried last night during the show and I just MIGHT have wept again today, perhaps more than once...

For the record, I loved the finale--it was actually quite lovely. And speaking of love, in the end, for me it was really all about love: family love, friendship, romantic love. It was about a lot of other things, too, but in the end our Losties came together bathed in a white light, reunited with those who'd meant the most to them in their lives. Nice, yes?

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

My trusty assistant, Tallulah Mae, would like to help me announce the winners of the oh-so-fun Sew Mama Sew giveaway! There were two prize packages (sewing goodies and knitting stuff) up for grabs. And because I just couldn't choose only one winner out of the very sweet comments everyone left, I picked three names out of the comments for each entry. The first name picked gets the stuff (and then some) pictured in the original posts; the other two folks will get padded envelopes filled with a few other sewing/knitting things. (All of the numbers were chosen by Random.org, NOT picked out of a hat by Miss Mae; everyone has been notified by email that they've won, but if I don't hear from the winners by Sunday morning, I will do a redraw.)

SO: Above we have the winners of the sewing prize: Serena is the lucky winner. Yay! Emma and AudreyPawdrey (oopsy on the writing of AudreyPawdrey below, sorry!) will also get some goodies.The knitting "grand prize" winner is the blogger at Painting4Him, and I'll also be sending knitting goodies to Tatgurl and Beetle.One blogger who participated in this giveaway summed up my feelings exactly when she wrote that this a rather bittersweet experience: while it was so fun to read comments and visit inspiring new blogs, it's actually a bummer to not be able to give something to everyone who stopped by--really, if postage were not as high as it is, I'd try to give everyone who commented a little sumthin' sumthin'. Alas, I cannot give you all a gift, but I do give you my thanks for playing along...I plan to try to respond to all comments and/or visit everyone's blog in the coming days. I really appreciate everyone chiming in on my Etsy merch, too...it's nice to get a better sense about what people liked in my shop.

And you can see that my assistant is long suffering and must put up with quite a lot for her kibble! The things I make her do! Like sitting. In the shade. For one minute. Poor thing.

Quinoa-ger

Yum yum YUM yum, yum yum YUM yum, yum yum YUM yum {sung while skipping}. This is a vegetarian burger, made from quinoa, from the Burger Lounge. It is delicious.
Accompanied by Belgian-style fries, mais oui (twice cooked/fried, y'all!). Hmm...I wonder WHY my bum is so big?

{Looking for the Sew Mama Sew Giveaways? They're here (sewing goodies) and here (knitting goodies). Welcome, new readers! AND you know I love all y'all who've been visiting me all along!} The giveaway closes on Thursday...

Flowery Hypnosis

{Looking for the Sew Mama Sew Giveaways? They're here (sewing goodies) and here (knitting goodies). Welcome, new readers! AND you know I love all y'all who've been visiting me all along!} The giveaway closes on Thursday...

"You are getting sleeeeepy . . ."

Really, if this flower could talk, I think it could totally convince me to get up on stage and squawk like a chicken in front of the entire audience...luckily, it cannot do so. (Pretty, yes? I believe it to be a California poppy.)

File Under: "At Least It Tastes Good"

{Looking for the Sew Mama Sew Giveaways? They're here (sewing goodies) and here (knitting goodies. Welcome, new readers! AND you know I love all y'all who've been visiting me all along!}

This bread/cake tastes lovely--it's a Lemon Yogurt Blueberry loaf--but, um, well, aesthetically not so pretty! Two thoughts: 1) the recipe said to remove it from the pan after 10 minutes, which was not nearly long enough for it to cool (and I knew better but did it anyway!); 2) I used lowfat yogurt instead of the full-fat yogurt called for...I mean, who has full-fat ANYTHING in their refrigerator anymore (not me!). It does taste good, so ultimately I don't care that it looks a bit like a dog's dinner! Yum.

A Doggy Line-up

{Looking for the Sew Mama Sew Giveaways? They're here (sewing goodies) and here (knitting goodies. Welcome, new readers! AND you know I love all y'all who've been visiting me all along!}

Check out the sweet doggy line-up I encountered on Saturday at a coffee shop. At the far end we have Bongo. In the middle? Fiona. Closest to me (and so large I couldn't fit him into the photos with the others)? Sir Reginald Fiddle-Faddle. (All names are aliases...I have no idea what these dogs' names really are!). So sweet...Tallulah Mae would have dragged the tables and chairs out into the street several times over had she been tied up like this--she's, um, how shall I put it? Exuberant! Full of joie de vivre! Um, slightly insane (but totally lovable, always!).

Knitting Prize Package: It's Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!

A box o'knitting fun: several books, including Felted Knits by Beverly Galeska and Vickie Howell's Knitty Gritty Knits, as well as some vintage Workbaskets and some yarn (it's "novelty" yarn, but still lots of fun, yes?)

A great big "Howdy" to everyone who's visiting for Sew Mama Sew's great big honkin' barrel o' fun Giveaway Day! I have two giveaways on offer: this one, for knitters, and one for sewing fiends as well.

Welcome to my little corner of the blogosphere. I intended my blog to be a place to document all of my crafting--I love to embroider, hand sew, knit, make cards and tags--but it's turned into a wonderful outlet for me to document small snippets of my very fun life!

Ah, yes: the giveaway! I'm offering two giveaways...this one is for knitting aficionados. You are guaranteed to receive all of the stuff above. I will also most likely add more surprise stuff (more yarn and probably a vintage knitting/crocheting pamphlet or two) that I've squirreled away in my storage space {cough, cough, garage}.

To enter: I'd love it if you visit my Etsy shop, Betty and Dot (see the link on the side there?) and come back and tell me what your favorite thing is that you see there...you'll be my focus group! If you don't want to do that, if you just leave me a comment, you're entered. The giveaway is open until midnight on Thursday, May 20; I'll post the winner's name on Friday, May 21. If there is a way to contact you (via blog, google account, etc.), I will; if not, come back on Friday to see if you've won. If I haven't heard from the winner by Saturday evening, I'll pick another person. This is open to both U.S. and international readers.

Comments on this post ONLY are eligible. If you're interested in the sewing giveaway, please leave another comment on that post to be eligible to win that package.

Whew! Wordy, I know...sorry! I've won a few marvelous blog giveaways and it's so very very fun, so I've decided to share the joy! And...I'm off to enter some Sew Mama Sew giveaways myself. Fingers crossed!

Sewing Prize Package: It's Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day, Yay!

A great big "Howdy" to everyone who's visiting for Sew Mama Sew's great big honkin' barrel o' fun Giveaway Day! I have two giveaways on offer: this one, for sewing fiends, and another one for knitters.

Welcome to my little corner of the blogosphere. I intended my blog to be a place to document all of my crafting--I love to embroider, hand sew, knit, make cards and tags--but it's turned into a wonderful outlet for me to document small snippets of my very fun life!

Ah, yes: the giveaway! I'm offering two giveaways...this one is for sewing aficionados. You are guaranteed to receive all of the stuff above, most of which is vintage and has been gathered on estate sale forays. I will also add more surprise stuff that I've squirreled away in my storage space {cough, cough, garage}. Up for grabs up there are three pieces of fabric, some buttons, trim, two transfer patterns, and other miscellanea.

To enter: I'd love it if you visit my Etsy shop, Betty and Dot (see the link on the side there?) and come back and tell me what your favorite thing is that you see there...you'll be my focus group! If you don't want to do that, if you just leave me a comment, you're entered. The giveaway is open until midnight on Thursday, May 20; I'll post the winner's name on Friday, May 21. If there is a way to contact you (via blog, google account, etc.), I will; if not, come back on Friday to see if you've won. If I haven't heard from the winner by Saturday evening, I'll pick another person. This is open to both U.S. and international readers.

Comments on this post ONLY are eligible. If you're interested in the knitting giveaway, please leave another comment on that post to be eligible to win that package.

Whew! Wordy, I know...sorry! I've won a few marvelous blog giveaways and it's so very very fun, so I've decided to share the joy! And...I'm off to enter some Sew Mama Sew giveaways myself. Fingers crossed!

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

Tallulah Mae is demonstrating her ballet moves: First position.
Second position.
Third position.
Sleepy position.

Perfection

Japanese udon? Check. Sumo wrestling match on TV in restaurant? Check. Heaven? Check!

Why Aren't Graphics What They Used To Be, Part Two

I mean, really...check these out! All of this vintage gorgeousness for a packet of hairnets that cost a quarter! How cool would these all look framed? (I just sold them on Etsy, so I hope the person who bought them--she lives in Finland, how cool is THAT?--turns them into art!)

Signs, I Like

I'm such a fan of good graphic design (usually, in my case, that means vintage/retro graphic design!). The swirl on the "A" in "Apt." on the top sign adds a certain something, and check out the fence company sign...they didn't have to add the well-manicured hand, but I'm glad they did...it pleases me, somehow.

Oh, Bee Hive!

Tallulah and I walk one of four routes around our neighborhood--we mix it up to avoid boredom and so she can check her pee-mail. And we've walked underneath this beehive probably 9,567 times without knowing it was there!

How cool is it?! Busy busy bees...can you believe they can construct something so beautiful. Oh how I love you, Apis mellifera!

Happy Mother's Day

To the sweetest Mommy, Grandma, and now, Great-Grandma ever--we love you so, Vivi Sue!

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

I am left speechless here. That face!!!!!!!

Acrobatic

Great upper-body strength!

Generosity

Stare deeply into your screen...can you see me on the other side? I'm doing the happy dance because of what's in this cardboard box I received in the mail the other day.
It's a box o'vintage-y goodness from Mitzi over at Mitzi's Collectibles blog. Can you believe it? How ever did I get so lucky?! Included in this lovely wooden drawer were:
Pretty buttons (and lordy I LURVE me some buttons!).
Gorgeous vintage seed packets...
This darling fellow/gal...so cute!Yo-yos! And check out Mitzi's darling tag up there...A handmade pendant made of sweet wallpaper scrap...
Here it all is as it came out of the drawer...each thing sweetly packaged.

And as wonderful as it was to win a blog giveaway, even MORE wonderful is meeting new bloggy friends. Mitzi has such a cute blog--go on, I'll wait while you check it out!--and she wrote such sweet things about me and my blog (and Tallulah Mae). It's corny but true--the blogosphere is such a warm community! I've made some other blog friends just from winning Mitzi's giveaway, too (hi Kathryn and Kathryn's daughter; hi Andy; hi Suzie Q). So much generosity of spirit...thank you Mitzi, and thank ALL of you who pop in here occasionally--your comments make my day.