with the light on
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
light shade
who dosent hate those ugly glass shades for ceiling fixtures? this is my solution. it is a votive candle holder from pier one that I enlarged by adding two more rings, making paper mache Capri shells and chaining them together.
wool knit Socks
this was my first pair of socks. thin enough to wear in my boots. My quest now is thin thin wool yarn.
tiny basket on my laptop
i made this several years ago out of day lilly leaves and embroidery thread...it's tiny
Monday, December 8, 2008
recycled plastic cheesecake factory bags basket
i love the way this one turned out, I have run out of plastic grocery bags and am thinking of stealing them from the stores recycling bin...lol
Friday, December 5, 2008
Friday, November 7, 2008
woven paper box ornament
i made this simple but complicated looking woven box out of 8 magazine pages from the Hawaiian air magazine
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Saturday, November 1, 2008
baskets baskets baskets
I dont know when I first started to weave baskets. I do know as a kid playing in the hills we often would try to make stuff with the grasses and other plants that grew around here. I have always been fascinated with the Miwok indians who lived here and the baskets they made that were tight enough to hold water, some were even used to cook in! I have read bits and pieces about gathering materials and curing them to use in basket weaving. I have learned several basket weaving techniques. Some are like magic, like making the ends of the materials disappear into the weave. Most of the time I make tiny baskets that can be finished in one sitting, some of the larger ones I have never finished. They become trivets or coasters. I was lucky enough to be in a fiber arts class where I got to learn all kinds of different methods of creating with unusual materials. Now after years of trial and error, reading books, watching others I have acquired lots of techniques. Its just the gathering of materials that has held me back. Being scottish (cheep) and suffering from sticker shock at the prices of materials I just knew I could use recycled or free from my garden materials . I have tried several times over the years to collect my own materieals and weave with all kinds of odd things. I use what i can find. I have used paper coils, strips of fabric, coil baskets with large rope and twine, tiny baskets out of day lilly leaves and agapanthus, never taking the time to really prepare the materials and ending up with odd looking baskets. I just finished a nice sized basket I made using plastic grocery bags that I had been saving and some brightly colored plastic bags I had saved from the museum store at the legion of honor and the de young museum in san francisco. I should have counted but I am pretty sure I used about 50 plastic grocery bags for the inside coil of this basket and about 10 of the museum bags, cut into strips to coil around the core of the grocery bags.The end result is a very tightly woven brightly colored dense basket that is 9 inches wide and 3 inches deep. I just love it and hope to sell it. I have it listed on my etsy and although it took me several days to make I am only charging 35 dollars.
About a month ago I was removing morning glory vines from my garden and once again thought there has to be a way for me to make something with these. my daughter wove a basket using the green vines, I made a few simple ones too but as the vines were green as they dried the baskets became loose. they are ok as ornaments, filled with dried flowers. I gathered tons of these vines, stripped the leaves off, coiled them loosely and let them dry outdoors for several weeks. After soaking they become pliable and strong enough to weave the tightest of coil baskets. I really like the way they look.
About a month ago I was removing morning glory vines from my garden and once again thought there has to be a way for me to make something with these. my daughter wove a basket using the green vines, I made a few simple ones too but as the vines were green as they dried the baskets became loose. they are ok as ornaments, filled with dried flowers. I gathered tons of these vines, stripped the leaves off, coiled them loosely and let them dry outdoors for several weeks. After soaking they become pliable and strong enough to weave the tightest of coil baskets. I really like the way they look.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Saturday, October 18, 2008
creating stuff
I have over the years accumulated lots of "crafting" supplies. I am now trying to make stuff without having to buy more stuff. I think this forces me to be more creative. I have a friend who owns a nursery and she sells Christmas ornaments in her garden shop so I thought why not make garden theme ornaments that she can sell. I could also try and sell some on etsy. First thing I made was ornaments using these teeny tiny flowerpots that I picked up at a garage sale years ago.I got out my dried flowers, moss and my silk flowers. of course I am out of hot glue so I had to use elmers which I think is better anyway as it doesnt string. I laced ribbon through the hole in the bottom of the flower pots to create a loop to hang it with with a bow or knot under the flower pot stuffed moss inside them and then did arrangements with lavender, status and silk flowers glueing them in as I went along. I am thinking of redoing them all with hydrangeas instead because I just love the pale lime green and pink colors in a christmas tree. The second thing I made was baskets out of morning glory vines. I have been weaving baskets my whole life. I know several basket making techniques and these little guys are turning out wonderfully. they are small about 4 inches across and extremely light weight and the colors of the hydrangeas in them are just yummy.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
what a life
How do you know when you get to that place you have always wanted to get to. I am pretty sure I am there. My life is full, brimming over with things I love. These last six months since I last updated : ) I have been busy enjoying life. Everything I like to do I have done. I have heard lots of live music. Live music is something that fills my soul. NIN, the police, elvis costello, the b 52's, cyndi lauper, alkaline trio, the fratillis,elvin bishop, america, war, los lobos,and many many others and most recently "David Byrne....full to the brim and overflowing I am. I have also been traveling,I have seen the most beautiful place on earth Kauai. this time we did a helicopter tour. just gob-smacked! I went to PAX in Seattle with my two kids and their friends in aug and got to be a part of the geek world. funny how well I fit in there...lol I won a copy of the maw which really was the only game that looked to me to be MY kind of game.I also won a statue of the maw. Hubby and I did a cruise to Mexico in sept/oct.I feel like we drank our way south and back...lol We did some snorkeling trips, which I loved. We won a bunch of art and other prizes from the art auction, plus of cours we bought some more art too...I know what was I thinking? I also have been to my share of Live theater these last few months, sigh it is another thing that fills me. Darren Bridgett, who performs locally OFTEN was amazing in much ado about nothing. What a joy. We saw amadaus, a winters tale, the drowsy chaperone, franky and Johnny and then the best of all Spring awakening finally. I knew I would love it. music, entertainment, family and friends to fill me up. We had a party for my husbands 50th birthday. So much fun with all our friends,lots of laughs. My netflix have been gathering dust.too busy to watch movies. My garden has been happy too. We have had some wonderful tomatoes this summer. Having a vegetable garden sure helps me be a good cook. Life is good. David Byrne is even better. We saw him in SanFrancisco. What a night. His music is the score for my generation. At first the audience sat politely in the very nice davies symphony hall but at the end of houses in motion most people were up on their feet. I absolutely loved his dancers, and the back up singers and rest of the band joining in the choreography was Brilliant. His encore was over the top with the extra action marching band (who I keep on calling the easy access marching band...lol)Yoshi took a video and put it up on youtube...we saw him again in Santa Rosa. We joked about how he seems to enjoy doing things on the road and we bet he was going to go hiking in Marin... I mean how can you NOT. I was happy to read in his blog that he did indeed go hiking in marin,along with bike riding and eating at my favorite spot the pelican inn. I have been continuing along with my photography,spending hours organizing and uploading to flickr. We have had many people visit us this summer.Lots of evenings sitting in the garden drinking good wine eating good homegrown food. Now if we can just get through this election, and past this market slump, things will continue to be good. I already voted. I HOPE this election brings CHANGE : )
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
vole
My garden has a vole, most likely more than one. How do I know? I had one run up my arm! My lill terrier Jack saw something in a brush pile. Wanting his life to be full of adventure, I grabbed hold of one of the larger branches at the base of this pile and gave it a little jiggle enticing Jack into frenzied excitement as he burrowed deep under this brush pile, barking and whining. I guess the joke was on me. I was squatting there, laughing at jack and encouraging him to "get it " when this little brown thing ran out of the pile, using the branch that I was holding onto as his lill super highway , he ran right up my arm. YIKES I stood up, spun around causing it to just run right off me, and I uttered some sound like ohhwahh. It was so fast I couldnt even really see it. It was dark brown and didnt have a tail like a mouse or rat. Late last night I googled "vole", just on a hunch and omg thats what this was. Now I have to figure a way to convince this guy and his most likely rapidly increasing family to move out of my garden or die. My folks are in town so we will go have lunch somewhere nice and just visit. No vole hunting today. In my google quest I learned about the kind of damage these guys can do, none of which I have seen yet. No burrows, no chewing of bark on trees but I have had a few dahlias disappear and they were right in line with the pond and this brush pile. My dogs have been acting like there is something around the fish pond which is in a direct line with this brush pile, which believe me will be turned into wood chips asap. I have naked ladies all around the greenhouse (amyrillis belladonna) and they lay over creating a perfect tunnel for these voles to get into my garden.the next bed has daylillies which also make perfect tunnels for these guys to run through. My plan is to clear away these leaves that hang, making their hidden tunnel visible so my dogs who are terriers and hunters can eradicate these critters for me.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
the Beatles
I was born at the end of 1959. My sisters, five and six years older than me loved the beatles and listened to their music. It was a part of my life. I remember the stacks of albums,and looking at the art and photography, soaking in every detail trying to figure out who the people on the cover of sergeant peppers lonely hearts club band were, I knew Shirley temple and marylin monroe, . I played lots of hooky from school often Mom would need to run errands and I would get to be alone at home and my alone time would turn into music time, We could stack several albums onto the turntable and lay under the piano where the stereo was perfect. A beatles album or two would always get played along with anything else that caught my eye. My parents didnt listen to rock and roll. Mom is a classically trained pianist so their music collection was quite straight. Dad Loved vicki Car, they did like dixie land jazz, herb albert, and of course broadway musicals .. The beatles to me were so cool, why dont we do it in the road had to be the nastiest thing I had ever heard and I remember one my sisters yeling along as she listened to it. It was liberating. The beatles broke up when I was 10. Later on I bought my own albums,starting with Elton Johns goodbye yellow brick road, and moving on to my all time favorite, Pink Floyd. The beatles were gone. John Lennin was killed the year I got married. I dont think I understood him at all then. I really didnt know anything more than what my young mind imagined from looking at the album art as a kid. There has been something in the air these last few years. another beatle mania of sorts. Last fall we were in Las Vegas. I love to see shows, and after doing a bit of research I decided the best show in vegas was LOVE the Cirque du Soleil show.. Well it was amazing. It was that acid flashback I had been waiting for all my adult life. Of course over the years I have sung along to all the beatles music, the words were always easy to hear but i dont know if I really thought about all the meanings or how beautifully the music was written. Walking out of that theater, they play all you need is love and everyone sings along. It hit me pretty hard, this music is part of humanity. Here we are among hundreds of people from all over the world and they are all singing along. A few weeks later we saw across the universe, a beautiful movie by Julia Taymor. The movie was perfection, Beatles music, beautifully sung and glowingly illustrated to tell a story in this fantastic movie. So beautiful. It made me want more. I just finished watching the beatles anthology. It was fascinating. made me ache, made me smile. made me miss George Harrison, and John Lennin. Made me want to listen to more music. Such a privilege to see these old interviews, to see a time line of the beatles and to see them being creative. but most of all I was struck by how much good music they made and so happy that I can still listen to it.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Food
Recently a friend started a food blog. She talks about nutrition and actually takes photos of what she eats and posts them every day. She has gone on to lose 12 lbs in the last few months. When I first heard of this blog I thought wow how brave to photo everything she eats and post it, imagining 20 pictures of a binge eating weekend full of images of small groups of gummy bears adding up to a five lb bag. But my friend hasnt had any slips. She ate a chocolate truffle at a garden show and I think that is the only treat she has allowed. I struggle with my weight... actually physically I struggle. tying shoes can be a bitch. I am not a couch potato. I am active. I hike and I garden. I eat healthy foods,I love vegies and grow them year round. use 2 % milk in my coffee,(blecch) I regularly start my day with fat free plain yogurt and fresh berries. I dont eat fried foods or refined carbs, I dont eat candy (unless you count the box of sees I hid in the linen closet last week) My biggest problem is I dont like to be hungry and I dont want to deprive myself of food that tastes good. I want to be able to eat like a skinny person, believe me I have watched how those bitchs eat. " I dont have to worry about getting fat, I can eat whatever I want" meanwhile I am eating my fresh veggies fruits and whole grains, lean meats/fish and non or low fat dairy.....When we were in hawaii a few weeks ago,I was going to act like it was a SPA vacation.... I gained 4 pounds... I ate non fat plain yogurt with berries and banana for breakfast every day, had a salad for lunch every day and had grilled or raw fish for dinner with veggies every night. I avoided the macadamia nuts, coconut anything, bread in any form including the banana bread and i didnt have any desert. I guess I should have avoided the mai tais too. I believe I am healthy. My dr says I am not. I feel stronger and physically more capable now than I did in my 20s when I weighed what my dr would say is a healthy weight for someone of my height. I can climb hills without needing to stop to catch my breath like I used to when I was skinny. I have never let my weight stop me from living my life. I am not ashamed to wear a bathing suit in public. I know I feel better about myself than most skinny women who see endless flaws in themselves. but damn it,,,, i want a smaller number to show up on that scale.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Music
I am about half way through the beatles anthology. I am enjoying going back through time, listening to music of my youth, bemoaning the fact that I dont own all the music I once did. I have abby road and the white album on my itunes. and thats it! I have lots of lennon and the mcCarthy stuff that was released to itunes... contemplating going out and buying cds (ugh)to complete my library or even downloading them illegally reasoning that I have already bought the record albums, 8 tracks, cassettes, over the years....and what do I find? this morning I found this article http://gizmodo.com/365630/paul-mccartney-signs-400-million-itunes-deal-for-the-beatles woot...now I just have to waIT A LITTLE LONGER AND RUBBER SOUL WILL BE MINE,...AGAIN Been a wonderful few months, did a week in mexico, and another in Maui...we were flooded once again, and survived. I am working in the garden starting veggie seeds and pulling weeds. Saw George Carlin last week and sometime last month we saw MIKA who was so much fun here is a lill bit of hawaii http://youtube.com/watch?v=IbBInitjfzk
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