Attention Silk Junkies!

All you silk junkies out there need to hustle on over to my buddy Jane Steinberg's shop and check out her Shibori Bits and her Cloth Candy. I need a new fiber addiction like I need hives but I know some of you just can't resist that Silk!

Cool Find!

I just love it when you find lots of something cool for real cheap! This shaving brush was languishing in a basket (with about 100+ others) at the Salvation Army. 75 cents apiece! I think they were a promotional item for a company called "Bump Patrol". Maybe some barber shop went out of business but they are new, never been used, made in China. I think the brush is goat hair - it's pretty soft. I bought a dozen of them for dye painting and discharging. That Cascade just tears up my good brushes! If you are interested in getting some of these, email me and we can work up a swap or paypal or somesuch.

Home from NY

This is the first day I'm feeling semi-normal since getting back from NY and the first duty of the day is to get my buddy Voodoo to the vet to see about his overdue shots and an abcess on his shoulder that's been perking for a few days. Poor bugger...he'll feel better in no time. 'Doo is one of those rare cats that actually likes the pink antibiotic prescribed for infections. When the boys were young and prone to ear infections I sometimes had three different bottles of it lined up in the fridge labeled "JAKE", "COLIN" and our first cat "MOSES". Maybe later this evening there will be some fiber fiddling... until then look at this gorgeous hairstick Jan Thompson made for me from polymer clay

I Asked For It

As I stepped off the plane, the icy blast caught me full in the face. "Ahh wonderful.." after being cooped up on the plane for 2+ hours. The the snow and freezing rain started in the early evening but the alarmist hysterics have taken over weather forecasting in the northeast too. When I lived here schools would not close for this measly lick of a squall. Dad mends apace, walking better each day. We took my Mom to a post-surgical gripe session with her orthopedist who prescribed a corset to help her back woes. She's happy now but last night I dreamed she had gotten ahold of someone's Glock and was waving it around, gansta-style, at the nursing home waitstaff. Not too farfetched. This is Reno & Ryder's buddy Mr. Potato Head.

Sweet & Sour & Reheated

Bet you didnt' know I was a secret, closet, reformed and backsliding embroiderer?! Stitching with three or six strands of DMC floss was my very first initiation to the Society of the Needle. I used to calculate my allowance as to how many hanks of DMC I could buy each week. Floss was my crack at the age of five! Back then I made my own colors by pulling one strand from each of several colors and blending them to suit my mood. This UFO, "Sweet & Sour", has been mocking me from the pile for a while now. Last week I went to JoAnns to see if I could use a 50% off coupon on anything I actually needed. Of course not! (Jan, you were right) but I did find myself drawn to the array of embroidery threads and selected just exactly the right colors to set Sweet & Sour on the path to completion. TODAY...DMC Floss is 5 for 1$. I'm putting on my shoes right now. Another thing, I used polar fleece for batting in this piece and there is ZERO coming through as I stitch. No fluffers, no cooties, or whatever embroiderers call it when wool or cotton batting comes a creeping. ZERO creeping with fleece inside. Tasty.