Robot Love

I could ramble endlessly about this movie.

But I won't.

I will, instead, encourage you to go see it.

The storytelling is both entertaining and moving.

The visuals are spectacular...even breathtaking at times.

This isn't just another kiddie flick.

This is art.

A Major Award

Wow. Two awards in one week. I feel very honored that my bloggy friends would think me worthy! Val(the lovely and talented), at Yarni Gras! and my dearest Pinky at Cheese in my Shoe were both kind enough to award me with the Arte y Pico. The "Arte y Pico" award which was created to be given to bloggers who inspire others with their creative energy and talents no matter whether it be in the form of writing, artwork, design, interesting material, or contributions to the blogger community. When a blogger receives this award it is considered a "special honor" and, once presented to you, it is to be passed on to at least 5 other bloggers who meet the criteria.

I am passing this award on to these folks...

Shea at A Day in the Strife. Who's creative energy and talent is so vast it is barely contained in his ultra cool red-brick bachelor pad. This guy is a smart, witty, lover of music and an insanely talented artist and photographer. He's been inspiring me since the day he was born! And I'd say all that even if he weren't my kid brother!

My darling Jackie at Embracing Accusation who inspires me every single day. She shares her thoughts, her faith and her life in Poland in her blog and posts some great photos and fun videos from time to time too. Yes, another photographer in the family. If you visit her blog, be sure and click on her flickr link for some amazing views of Poland and France.

Fiona of DragonFly Crafts. Fiona is one of my first and best blogging buddies. Fiona is so much fun...reading her blog is like talking to an old friend. And this gal is a quilting FIEND I tell you! She makes beautiful quilts and so many other projects. She's like the Energizer Bunny of sewing! You'll enjoy Fiona's blog!

Patty at Pipstitch. Patty brings the world of cross-stitch, embroidery, and other crafty endeavors together in one place so that the rest of us don't have to go searching the internet willy-nilly. She also does some lovely stitching herself...this for example. Patty shares my love of aprons and vintage things...and she's funny!

Angie of Many Little Blessings. Another blog that I find inspiring. Her life, the awesome "Works for me Wednesday" tips that she shares(one of my favorites is this one) her faith and her family...I find them all inspiring. And did I mention she also makes lovely jewelry? She does.

And a while back, I got this most excellent award from my bloggy friend Birdie. I apologize for not posting it earlier...I am scatterbrained as y'all well know. Go visit Birdie, I urge you. I love her funny and sweet stories about her life and family, and the crazy-gorgeous jewelry that she makes. If she hadn't already been given the Arte y Pico, I'd pass it on to her too!

Thanks again, y'all, for being so kind!

More of what I did on my Bloggy Break

In addition to shopping, movie watching, disc golf and making the top, I did some sewing whilst on my bloggy break last week. I whipped up this little craft apron. This was my first try at this type of apron, and I sort of made it up as I went along. I think it'd be nice to wear while crafting of course, but also perfect for vendors at craft shows for keeping up w/money and such with it's deep pockets. AND since it incorporates gingham(and if I don't get anything else made), I can use it for the next Tie One On project.

I also made this cherry apron as a special request. If it weren't a size small and weren't for someone else, I'd be sooo tempted to keep it! Luckily, I have one more yard of this cherry print fabric! I lined this one, too. Not nearly as tricky as I thought lining would be!

And THIS I have to share with you, my crafty friends. I discovered it at the last Block of the Month meeting. Incidentally, this is my Churn Dash block...and no I haven't warmed up to these fabrics yet.The shop owner always shows off her newest fabrics and products during BOTM. This month, she had these awesome kits for cell phone bags(also great for ipods, ID, etc.). The kit uses pre-printed fusible web. You simply iron it to your fabric, fold, sew, and flip...and there you have it! They are so easy to make it almost feels like you are cheating! I added the little clip on this one to use it with a purse that has rings on the strap. I love making them! I plan to make one with a loooong strap to use to carry my passport while in Europe.

You can buy the kits online at QuiltSmart. You know you want one!

And on a completely unrelated note...we're getting Dish TV today! WooHoo! It's been two years since I've have more than five channels and a clear signal. This is cause for celebration y'all!

Flashback Friday

Two clips for today's flashback. I read this blog post and was immediately reminded of a Friends episode. I watched that show from the very first episode and loved it till the end. It never got bad, it never got tired, they never jumped the shark.

Gum Would Be Perfection. I remember watching this episode the first time around and nearly falling off the couch from laughing so hard. It still makes me laugh, hard.


"Ah de Foof!" I imagine if my sister were trying to teach me to speak Polish before my trip(which is just 17 days away!)it would go a lot like this.




Besides The Office & Earl, I can't think of another television series that has made me laugh out loud every single episode the way Friends did. Remind me when I'm making out my Christmas lists that I need all seasons on DVD.

I miss you, Friends!

**edit**I've given the episodes my own titles. I'm sure they were probably called something like "The one where Joey Speaks French" or "The one where Chandler Gets Trapped..."

Blouse, shirt or top?

Back in January, I posted a list of some crafty goals for this year. One of those goals was to make a piece of clothing, a piece of clothing that I'd actually wear in public. I started off by making this skirt. It was fun, not tooooo terribly difficult, and I thought it turned out quite cute and I actually wore it in public.

That was back in January. It took me until June to give clothing another try. This time, a blouse... er shirt...er top. What IS the proper term? Whatever it is, I used Simplicity 3504.
I had some Amy Butler fabrics that I bought out of the bargain bin on my one and only trip to Hancock's of Paducah. Because they were purchased from the bargain bin, I was guessing at yardage when I decided there was enough to make this top(blouse, shirt, whatever). My all day garment sewing experience went a little something like this.

Previous Night. Go to my parent's house so my mother can help me because I know I will be on the phone w/her all day in addition to throwing things, huffing and puffing and most likely cursing my sewing machine if I don't.

9a.m. begin laying out the pattern pieces so they can be cut out.

9:10a.m. realize I don't have enough fabric even though I read the pattern package numerous times. sheesh.

9:11a.m. "MOM!!!!!"

9:30a.m. Mom figures out a way to shorten the shirt and re-do the sleeves so that I will have enough fabric. I wanted flippy butterfly sleeves and I got sausage-arm-puff-sleeves w/a straight hem at the bottom instead. But I can live with it.

9:30a.m.-12:00a.m. the following morning. Sew the shirt. OK, we did take TV, food and shopping breaks between sewing times. A fair amount of hours were spent cutting, sewing, seam ripping, bias tape applying/removing, Mom taking up the back seams after I had the whole thing together because despite my thinking I was a size 20 when it comes to sewing patterns, I'm not. Yeah, she tried to tell me, but I am hard headed, y'all.

The next day, once I was home, I decided to add elastic to the bottom of the sausage-arm-puff-sleeves which really enhanced the sausage-arm effect. I was totally going for sausage arms. Totally.

Although it took a while, I completed what I think is a nice first try at a blouse that was NOT one of those "easy/2hour/for dummies" patterns. Of course I learned some lessons along the way...

1. Mom knows best.
2. Listen to Clinton and Stacey about designs that go around your body. This I realized after seeing myself side view in the mirror in this shirt and then again on seeing the photo. Yikes! Still, I HAD to use this gorgeous fabric and therefore wasn't remotely thinking about how it would look on me at the time.
   
3. READ and RE-READ the fabric requirements and make sure you have enough fabric before you begin.
4. Take measurements and follow them instead of guessing at your size.
   
5. A shopping break makes everything better.

Here's my finished shirt/top/blouse. I've worn it in public. Twice!

Friday Flashback

Did anyone else LOVE this show as much as I did? I wanted to be Blair Warner.

A bloggy diet...and a European vacation...

I've decided to take a bloggy break for a week. School's been out for two weeks and I've accomplished squat. Frankly, I'm a bit ill w/myself. I feel as if I've spent more time online reading about other peoples lives than I have living my own.

SO a week to get myself back together and in a good routine. My routine as of late hasn't been much more than get out of bed, get online, eat, get back online, eat some more, etc.

Hopefully this little break will get me in the frame of mind to be more active and productive w/my time. Not that I don't enjoy reading your blogs and blogging myself...I soooo do...but as I said, I am spending waaaay too many hours per day sitting in front of a computer screen.

So....I'm on a bloggy diet(hopefully I'll stick to it better than I do a real diet).

I've got one post scheduled to go up tomorrow(for Father's Day) and a flashback scheduled for Friday but other than that, you probably won't be hearing from me. I will be checking my email, however, so don't let any fabulous giveaways pass me by, ok?

While I'm on my bloggy hiatus, feel free to check out some of the cities I will be visiting on my fabulous and exciting European trip! I leave in four weeks people! FOUR! Ack!

I will be visiting Wroclaw, Poland where my sister lives. I'm so excited that she'll get to share her home of two years with me! There's a Wroclaw guide here and there is another one here. While I'm there, we will also be visiting the beautiful cities of Prague. and Vienna. No definite plans right now other than that. My only requests(besides Prague and Vienna) were a flea market...a European flea market just sounds so...ummm, European! And a castle, I've always wanted to visit a castle. Anything else we do is just icing on the cake as far as I'm concerned! I will keep you posted on the countdown to Europe as I learn more about what are plans are.

Alright ya'll, I'm gonna go get busy!

Friday Flashback

The year, 1977. Me, a nine year old girl with a MAJOR crush on this guy.


OK, so after watching this I think I still might have a crush.

Oh the hours I spent scouring Teen Beat and Tiger Beat magazines for anything Shaun Cassidy related! And I'll tell you this, I would have done just about anything for a Shaun Cassidy satin jacket! I did have a fabulous blue satin jacket, but sadly, it was completely devoid of Shaun.

Many of Shaun Cassidy's songs have been posted on youtube and I listened to all of 'em while I was sewing on Wednesday. I must have heard them a thousand times when I was a kid because, amazingly, I still know the lyrics to nearly all of them and it's been 30 years since my Shaun Cassidy phase. On many of the songs, you can hear that distinct sound that only comes from a record playing. Aaaah! To be nine again...

Danger Will Johnson! and other stuff

I'm pretty proud of my robot apron, minus one screw up that I may or may not fix...depending on if I decide to put it up in my Etsy shop. I wanted it to have a bit of a 50's look, hence the pink/black combo of fabrics and all that ric-rac. I may have to try appliqué again. It was fun and not as hard as I imagined. I have enough of this silvery/gray fabric to make at least two more robots and I think another apron may be in order and perhaps an appliquéd bag.

Until I can think of a better name I'm calling it "Danger, Will Johnson!"

Thusly named in honor of Ann who is a longtime friend but new to my blog... "Danger Will Johnson! Danger Will Johnson!" Yeah, we know the kid from lost is space was Will Robinson...ya'll don't have to correct us. (wink) **next day edit** I removed the picture of myself doing the "Danger Will Johnson" arms...it was too dorky, even for me.

And look what I found...a song about robots from They Might Be Giants!

I made a second apron this week...I found this cute sleepy owl fabric at JoAnn's and couldn't resist it. I decided on a cafe apron since this style is simple, flattering and shows off the fabric nicely.
In other crafty news, I finished my MAY block of the month block today(I'm only a month behind). This block is called "ShooFly".

Work in Progress

Just got the appliqué portion of my Apronista June project done. Thought I'd give you a sneak peek.

I hate sports

Actually I don't hate them. I loathe them. I don't mind watching sport occasionally, although I never know what's going on, I just don't want to participate in them. Because frankly, I suck at sports.

My athletic background:

• playing horse in the driveway with my brothers
• taking about 3 karate classes and quiting when I was a kid
  
• bowling(badly)
• marching in the high school band

That, my friends, is as athletic as I get.

In jr. high & high school I tried my best to hide out during PE...take my sweet time changing(Lord, I hated dressing out as bad as the physical activities), stay at the back of the line, stand as far in the outfield(that is the far away part of the field, right?) as possible and a time or two I went so far as pretending to be sick to get out of PE. And as I've gotten older, I've avoided participating in sports type activities altogether. One reason, I'm insanely clumsy. A few examples...

• I've fallen backwards out of the back end of a pickup truck bed.
  
• I've fallen, headfirst, down the stairs in my garage.
  
• I fell flat on my face in the lunchroom at school(while wearing my flouncy hummingbird skirt and point toe flats)
  
• I've fallen out of my chair at work. Three times, once in front of students.
• I am constantly tripping or running into things or bumping my head.
  

The other reason I don't do sports is that I'm always self conscious and never confident in my abilities. I know I'm not good, so I won't try. HEAVEN FORBID someone watch me try anything remotely athletic! I get all hivey thinking about it.

Despite all of that, I have discovered a sport that I enjoy. Disc Golf. OK, so it doesn't involve running, jumping, chasing a ball or moving my body in completely impossible ways, but it is a real sport. There's even a professional association.

Even though it's been around since the 70's, I've only in the last few weeks learned about disc golf. A friend at work told me about it, later another of our co-workers who plays brought some of his discs to school and let us toss them around. While I was a little embarrassed even tossing what are essentially fancy frisbees in front of my friends(who both happen to be the athletic type) I enjoyed it and immediately knew Mark, who is into sports, would be all over this game. Of course when I told him about it, he was. So, since it was kinda fun, since I desperately need to get into better shape before heading to Europe, and since Mark and I don't have a lot of common hobbies, I decided to give disc golf a try.

We spent three hours at the city park on Sunday playing our first 18 holes...I'm not sure they are called holes...I haven't learned all the particulars just yet. We played again this afternoon. My throws are a lot like the ones the reporter in this video makes.

During our second game this afternoon, I improved my score a tiny bit over Sunday's score. Woo Hoo! I tend to throw the disc to the right or the left instead of straight ahead and sometimes it even miraculously ends up behind me and my throws have no power in them at all...BUT...it's so. much. fun! Mark absolutely loves it! Don't tell him I said so but he's not a whole heckuvalot better at it than I am right now, which actually gives me a little confidence boost! After just two games, we're hooked. Yep, I'm actually smiling while playing a sport(and not remotely concerned that my hair looks like complete crap).

Carolyn's Kitchen Apron Giveaway

I know you are gonna wanna get your hands on one of these cuties! Head over to The Apronista for the details on how you can have chance at winning one of these stunning aprons from Carolyn's Kitchen. And remember even if you don't wear aprons...I DO and I will be more than happy to take it off your hands if you win. *she winks*

That was random.

I've seen this on several blogs as of late. Most recently on Kitten's Lost Her Mittens. A fun way to waste a half hour that I should have spent straightening the house... 1. Kellie Castle, 2. balancing act, 3. Boo! Boo! Boo!, 4. Aqua...who can resist?, 5. Actor, Dominic Monaghan, Josh Holloway, 6. return for refund., 7. Waikiki, 8. Applebee's Maple Butter Blondie, 9. The fashion designer ad, 10. dVan, 11. 365/265 Dorky Roulette, 12. Jackie's Quilt

Wanna play? Here are the instructions...don't be surprised when it turns up something totally random! Here's what you do:

• Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
• Using only the first page, pick an image.
• Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Big Huge Lab's Mosaic Maker.

The questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

I'm not telling you what I typed in for my answers...but I'll bet you can figure most of them out;) I will say this: for number 10, I answered "family" and NO I don't want to be a pig when I grow up. See? Random. ...and Ya'll thought I'd say Harry for number 5 didn't you?

We have a Winner...

Thanks to everyone who played along in my Lemon Lime Shake Shake apron giveaway. The winner was Shell. Who said...

"Great blog you have! What a cool summer you have. If you need a peasant to tag along, let me know! HAHA"

The drawing process went like this...I wrote down the names of all who left a comment & plopped them in a Ziploc bag . Mork from Ork Mark reached in...And pulled out Shell's name. If you guessed robots were going to be my appliqué project theme, you were right! Yes, I am currently a bit obsessed w/robots. I've got my robot pieces cut out and ready to go. I'm just trying to work up the nerve to actually do it! Oooh, and speaking of robots, I got this in the mail! Couldn't resist it. SO. stinkin'. cute. I promise that I'll do my best to put some new items(at least two) in my Etsy shop by week's end! I have to work one more half day this week and then it's quality time for me and the Kenmore.

** Thanks to Patty for pointing out that I was asleep when I originally posted this. Pictures and further explanations are now up.**

Mr. Jaws & The Fonz

A couple of my bloggy friends do "Flashback Friday" posts. My love all things nostalgic and my lack of sewing projects to share as of late have convinced me to do the same. So, with a nod to Fiona and one to Domestic Chicky, I submit my first Friday Flashback.

My dad brought this record home to my two brothers and me back in the late 70's. We thought it was the most hysterical thing ever known to man and we played it non-stop.


The other one we listened to non-stop...Fonzie Favorites, an album of mostly 50's songs. But the album also had a song called "The Fonzie Slide" that for some strange and unknown reason also had "Sweathogs" from Welcome Back Kotter singing along.

Pssst! I'm giving away an apron!

I'm celebrating something I've been looking forward to for quite some time...and that is...Summer!! I have about eight weeks off work, give or take a day. Finally, I can clean my house for real, read some books, put in some movie time, and work on the many projects rolling around in my head.

I can do those things, that is, until I leave in mid July for a two week stay w/my sis and bro-in-law in Poland...we shall visit Vienna and Prague as well. Am I repeating myself for the millionth time about this? Sorry, I'm just so stinkin' excited that I can't help it! This is gonna be a great Summer!

So being that I am in a celebratory mood and all, I thought I'd share the joy and give away this summer-y ruffle apron that I made for an Apronista challenge...I was going to call it Lemon-Lime but I think Lemon-Lime Shake Shake sounds more fun. There's another photo of it here.SO if you'd like to shake shake in this apron, simply leave a comment in this post. I'll announce a winner on Sunday.

And now that I know it has arrived safely in the hands of its new owner, I can post a picture of the apron I made for my Apronista Swap. Now, this is not the normal style of fabric I go for, but I actually like it very much and I wouldn't mind having a cottagey apron of my own.
And my apron loving friends, you should really check out the Havana Nights apron challenge gallery on Flickr. Good Stuff.

I've got a couple aprons ready to send out to these fine ladies who are currently lifting spirits and helping others with aprons. The details can be found here and here.

And finally...just to see if you're still with me... over on The Apronistas the June project is applique. If you can correctly guess what my applique subject will be, I'll put your name in the drawing for the Lemon Lime Shakety Shake apron twice. :)

It has robots!

As promised, I made myself a purse from the fab-ooo-less Japanese robot print fabric that arrived this weekend. I only bought a half yard...kicking myself now. After searching through my patterns and books and not really finding anything to my liking that didn't call for more than a half yard I set off through every purse tutorial ever published online.

Even though I did find some really cute tutorials, I never really settled on anything. So instead, I made a basic tote style bag w/extra long handles. Because I added the denim around the bottom, I should have enough to make a smaller tote style bag for my shop. Someday, that is, when I'm in the mood to make things for my shop again.

Now normally, I'd tell you every little thing that I did wrong. But I'm learning to learn from my mistakes instead of dwelling on them.

So, instead, I'll tell you what's right about my new purse...

It has robots!