Ah Oui, But of Course

I told ya'all that I was going to spread my fabric acquisition photos out over time. Too embarrassing otherwise. And you want to know what is worse? There's more out there. Must look away. Must look at pretty fabric I already own.

Here's Pokey modeling. You've seen bits of the buggy olive fabrics in previous posts, but not these two Paris prints. I'm a sucker for words anyway, and these are in French:

Definitely had to get this Paris map fabric. I love it, but it doesn't have my favorite area: Montmartre and the basilica.

Even more French-inspired fabric winged its way to me recently. The ever so sweet Jan of Be*Mused surprised me with Japanese fabric :

I get the feeling I need to put all the frenchiness into one quilt.

By the way, I didn't mean to make it look like my condition is so dire. I am not chair-bound, not by a long shot. Spending a whole day in the chair with Pokey? That was just indulgence and wanting to have her close by.

Watched The Bourne Identity last night. Oh, Matt Damon was so cute and young and I loved the interplay between him and Franke Potente. When the stars actually have charisma and the suspense stuff actually works? Heaven. So fun watching them race around Paris in the Mini Cooper - one of my favorite chase scenes ever.

Woohoo, Fringe has gotten renewed for a fourth season. Thrilled about that. It has gotten sooo good this season. But argh, now have to wait for new episodes. If you haven't tried it, read this and just give a recent episode a try.

Alright, I have to stop goofing off and do chores. Later.

Prezzies

Last month V, who blogs as Bumble Beans, came down to visit while she and her family were visiting Florida. Had such a good time talking with her, believe me. She was so sweet and made this quilt for me.  It is wonderful, you can see a pic on her blog that'll give a better idea of the size of it (as well as a peek at Pokey) and see me and V together as well.

V came up with her own way of doing the letters - very appealing. Look at how she did this N - I've never thought of doing an N that way yet it's so simple (well, if you're not splitting it in half and making it multi-colored).

I received a name block from Lois W who used dog fabric because she has three. Look at the really fine job she did on the S - marvelous and I bet it was a lot of work. 

Thank you V and Lois for the prezzies.

Everything here is pretty much the same as always. I'm getting my uptake scan this week (for the thyroid thingie) and boy will I be happy to end this low-iodine diet (which I started way earlier than I needed to because I'm an idiot).

The rest of this post is sci-fi geekness.

I watched the very short Eureka Season 3. Only seven episodes - was it cut short by the writers' strike? Anyway, I just adore the show, I really do and I thought this season was stellar. It's a nice happy show that does have hidden depths especially now that we've seen what could happen in the future. Haven't seen the show? It's kind of Northern Exposure, but with a lot of quirky scientists inventing things that too often go wrong.

Loved loved loved the time loop episode I Do Over. Ooh, it's available on Hulu if you want to watch it here. Not quite sure how you'll like it if you haven't seen the other episodes, but it's fun.

It's hardly surprising I love that ep since I'm fond of the whole Groundhog Day kinda thing. Now it wasn't as good an episode as Windows of Opportunity when Jack and Teal'c were stuck in a loop for months on Stargate SG-1, but what could be?

I'm trying to think of other time loops shows. There was one on X-files but remember that only being so-so. Did you ever see the movie 12:01? A poor guy who works in an office discovers that the lab's physics experiment has gone very wrong and he's the only one who knows it. And uh oh, can he save the girl of his dreams from being murdered? It's low-key and just really sweet.

Somewhere in Time (Christopher Reeve travels back in time to woo Jane Seymour) doesn't count - time travel but not a loop. Do love that movie, or should I say did? I watched it over and over and over again when it first came out. I was in high school and at an impressionable age. Haven't seen it in years though, so not sure how well it's aged.

That's all I can think of at the moment. See ya later. 

Tula Pink and Hulu's Evil Plot

Whee, new fabric from the Fabric Square Shop! These are some of the fabrics from Nest by Tula Pink. My absolutest favoritest fabric is the one in the top right. I love the colors, the design, the flow of it all. And yes, it has brown in it.

Violette Severin did a fun interview with Tula here. And you can read the TulaPink blog too. I'm fascinated by the whole fabric design process, so it's fun to get glimpses of how it works - for instance, the colorways that didn't get chosen.

This next one is another Tula Pink called New Moon Forest.  I wouldn't have thought it (sounds too sweet) but I love the bunny in damask.

These are from another Moda packet, this one called Soiree. Wheeeee, the colors are so bright and happy.

And now for something completely different, a few from City Traditions. These ones are going to work well with the repro sampler I'm working on right now.

Look at how they go together. Obviously I need a few more dark darks in here:

It's definitely been good mail around here. I got this wonderful name and letter blocks from Jude. So wonderful to actually get to hold something from Jude and see the unusual fabrics she uses - they aren't the quilting cottons that cram my drawers, except for that one black with bright pindots...

I'm continuing to hand quilt Raspberry Rumspringa. I'm finally done with the border and am working on my second block. But I'm just not sure how much quilting is too much, and should certain areas be left empty...  I'll keep going. I figure I'll err on the side of too much.

Last night I watched the black and white version of The Mist which was based on a Stephen King novella of the same name. I really enjoyed reading the story but always thought the ending was lame. Well it was a heck of a lot better than the horrible nasty vile ending the movie used. awful. and it really changed the way I felt about the movie which had been really well done up to that point. Lots of suspense, not too gory and the humans could be as monstrous as the creatures outside.

On the much lighter side, I'm watching American version of The Office. I tried watching the British version as well, but as much as I adore Ricky Gervais I couldn't stand the show without Rainn Wilson. So I'm on the second season and loving it. Not as great as Arrested Development, but what could be?

Watched the second season of 30 Rock and loved it as much as the first. If only the season hadn't been cut short. I'm really tempted to get one of those Sabor de Soledad t-shirts... hee hee hee

I also just finished rewatching the first season of The Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles. I really enjoyed it again - it's a show for me. I was hoping that I'd be able to go to the Fox website or Hulu.com and get all caught up with the current season, but no such luck. They'd already removed the first couple of episodes. Guess I'm going to have to wait for the DVD to come out.

Speaking of Hulu.com have you seen the wonderful ad with Alec Baldwin about the evil plot to take over the world? I LOVE this:

If all commercials were this entertaining it would be a lot easier to watch live tv and not just DVDs.

Kitties in Sunshine

I told you that the cats are doing well, right? They're long since gotten over their jet lag, and Bibi isn't singing in the stairwells in the middle of the night anymore. The only lingering thing is Pokey and Lily aren't sweet with each other. They'll play and chase each other around the house, but no curling up together to sleep. They get to close together and it often ends in hissing. The same thing happened when we moved to Paris - it took six months to work through.

All the cats are enjoying the sunshine here. Pokey in a box, Lily tangled in cord:

The little cats love this spot behind my computer, next to the window. It's the first place in the morning to get sun.

Pokey and Habibi taking a break in the cat tree:

Lily half out of the carrier, soaking up the rays:

I know this looks a bit screwy - Bibi is lying on a red boa cat toy with feathers. Lily meanwhile has laid claim to a green shopping bag:

 

No photos of Howler today. He's not photogenic, plus he often runs away when I come near him with the camera - not a good combination. Howler is doing so well here and is so happy. In Paris he was peeing on the sofa, peeing on the bed, in my scrap bin... it made life difficult. I don't know if he felt insecure there (lots of dogs could have lived in that apartment, which was over a hundred years old), missed seeing nature out the window, or just had problems with the minerals in the water. Here he is a happy boy and oh boy he gets to sleep on the bed again! He often curls up on my side of the bed with his head on my pillow - it's very endearing.

It's gotten a bit colder here - have had the heat on for several days in the morning. Still marvelously happy to be here though, believe me.

Yesterday I went with my friend to look at townhouses and duplexes that are for sale. Rather horrific how badly prices crashed in the last couple of years and the number of foreclosures... argh. I am amazed at how some of these places look. Don't these people watch any HGTV? Take care of those roof leak stains on the ceiling - that is just something you don't want to see and worry about.

My favorite decorating to sell show is The Unsellables. I love the host Sofie's english accent and she's very commonsense about it all. She'll take the home-want-to-seller to see an equivalent home that just sold and it will be in immaculate condition. Really gives you a way to see what a difference decluttering and fixing a few problem areas can make.

I just wish I could watch British decorating shows. In Cairo we got to see all sorts of them and it was heaven. I mean, let's face it, some of those English homes are awwweful and funny. Horrific patterned carpets and wallpaper and curtains.... My favorites were Kevin McCloud's Grand Designs and Grand Designs Abroad. Moving to a foreign country where you don't speak the language and acting as the contractor to build a house? Eeek, crazy people. And before any of you say it, already tried to watch these programs online, but it won't let me - have to be in the UK. I just wish some channel would show them stateside.

I've watched some movies. I thought Hellboy II was disappointing. I loved the first one but this one didn't have enough of the main characters. Certainly beautiful to look at and I'm sure I would have enjoyed it more on the big screen. 

The other movie was Forgetting Sarah Marshall about a composer who goes to Hawai'i to get over the break-up with his girlfriend only to discover her there with the new man in her life. It had cute bits, but did it really have to be that crude and graphic? Bleck, but maybe that's how you get men to go to a romantic comedy. The best bit of the movie was definitely the Dracula musical preformed with puppets - I would so go to see that at a theater. It's worth renting the movie just to see that bit.

On a blogging note, Fabric Fanatic wanted to know how I get the pictures to show up in my blog list on the sidebar. Add a "Blog List" gadget to your sidebar and then select the "thumbnail of most recent item" option. voila.

That's all from here. Ya'all take care.

Cat Fabric

I continue to play around on my new Mac. I soooo should have taken my external hard drive to the Apple Store and had them move everything over onto the Mac. Trying to get all of my windows-based music up and running. After a couple of software downloads I HOPE I've finally got that working. And did I tell you that I'd managed to download about 5 duplicates (if not more) of each of my photographs onto the hard drive when I was in Paris and then onto the Mac when I got here. I'm not even sure if I'm deleting them off the hard drive or just off of Picasa... Trial and error.

Anyway, I had some queries from the last post about fabric. So here's Habibi being a pretty good sport about getting fussed with, as compared to Howler who bolted. This is 2007 Cat's Meow by RJR.

I fell in love with the one-eyed monster the moment I saw him on this fabric, though quite honestly don't love the entire thing. That's when I have to remember that I cut it up into little bits and it will look quite different. This is Wild Things by May &... - sorry, that's all the title that was on the fat quarter. I asked at JaMPatch where I bought it and they said it's a few years old. I did an item search on quiltshops.com (a great tool when you're looking for a specific fabric) but had no luck.

Speaking of JaMPatch, I went over on Wednesday and helped the owners with their new blog. That was a lot of fun. I don't know if quilt shows ever have a room of computers that are hooked into the internet, but it would be fun to teach blogging there to get even more quilters involved. Maybe folks would have to bring their laptops and we'd meet at a coffeeshop with wi-fi...

Since I had the camera out, here are a couple more kitty pics for you. First is Pokey sitting on the back of Raspberry Rumspringa. I thread basted this one because I didn't want to lose any space in my suitcase to all those safety pins.

Lily sleeping in her cat carrier. Obviously no trauma associated with being stuffed into this for a long flight, multiple times. Howler also sleeps in these, which is pretty funny given his bulk. I think they feel safe since they can only be approached from the front.

What else is going on with me. Lots and lots of tv watching and hand quilting on Raspberry Rumspringa. That's no surprise really - when I'm a bit stressed out that's my favorite activity in the world. Okay, even when I'm not stressed.... The rest of the post is going to be about tv so feel free to bail out now.

I finished season one of Chuck. I really adore that show about the guy who has all sorts of government secrets downloaded into his brain. It's so much goofy fun with spy action, romance, friendship, family. Kind of a less serious Alias. I adore the characters and enjoy spending time with them. And hey, that was Marshall as a bad guy!

Also watched all of Wonderfalls, which I also enjoyed and am sorry there are only a few episodes. At least they had a chance to kinda tie things up at the end, so it felt complete. It's another one of Bryan Fuller's shows and I definitely prefer Pushing Daisies (of course) and Dead Like Me. The latter has a straight-to-DVD movie coming out soon, I'm hoping for the best.

I tried Fringe, but decided I need to watch these from the beginning. Watched a commercial for Lie to Me and didn't even try it. Watched one episode of The Mentalist and felt so-so about it. I liked the main character well enough but hated all the young, overly attractive agents he's working with. Pulease. Put him in a show like Columbo where he's solving crimes on his own and I might make this one a habit.

The first episode of Trust Me was okay about two friends in the crazy world of advertising. There are bits of it I liked but they are kidding about the "You can do it with one hand" tagline for the cellular phone company, right? That one is an instant dirty joke waiting to be mocked.

Finally saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. sigh. Wanted to like it a lot more than I did. Seemed like they were just going through the motions rather than enjoying themselves. And somewhere along the way I just really started disliking Harrison Ford. Not his old movies mind, but everything he's done since the 1980's. The last movie he made that I really enjoyed and thought he'd done a good job in was Presumed Innocent way back in 1990.

Holy cow it just started raining here. Insane crazy pounding rain. Wheeeee! Time to get off the computer!

Noël en Grand

The Galeries Lafayette in Paris is a gorgeous old building. It has a magnificent dome and a multistory area in the middle which is currently filled with an enormous Christmas tree.

The balconies overlooking the middle make me think of the opera.

I love how this looks in photographs – magical because you can’t see the wires. Very celestial.

This is my favorite “ornament” but I love the details of the stained glass too.

The outside of the building. They do an elaborate light show at night.

So outside in the world it’s Christmasy but I haven’t even begun to decorate here in the apartment – it’s still Halloween. I just don’t want to tackle all the clutter that needs to be moved. sigh.

We have started our Christmas movies though. My beloved Bell, Book, and Candle with Kim Novak and Jimmy Stewart and Desk Set with Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracey. Both wonderful romantic comedies – amazing how the old Hollywood appreciated that you could fall in love at any age, instead of only in your perky perfect 20’s…

Also watched the first Wallace and Gromit adventure: A Grand Day Out. Definitely my favorite. I appreciate the roughness and coziness of it all. And I love the little coin-operated contraption on the moon – expressive little machine.

I am so jealous of you with BBC One: there’s a new W&G feature called A Matter of Loaf and Death. I hope they don’t wait too long before showing it in the states.

I am making great progress with quilting Rumspringa – that’s the one thing I seem able to focus on lately. Been watching Buffy (Mayor definitely their best villain ever and while Hush is an amazing episode, you just can’t quilt to it) alternating with Angel (The first season is not as bad as I remember it. And now Wesley is on – woohoo)

Ya’all take care and I’m having fun reading all your comments on the last post.

The Non-Quilt Blog Post

Okay, I've done several quilty posts so now I feel free to write one that's completely off topic.

First off, a close-up of Lily making herself at home right where I don't want her. At least I'd moved a lot of stuff so she didn't knock everything down when she jumped up.

I'm doing well, the cats are doing well, the husband is travelling. I'm taking advantage of the latter and eating things like popcorn and nachos for dinner. Not at the same time.

I've avidly searched for news of the fate of Pushing Daisies. Please, ABC, please don't cancel this show. I wouldn't mind if they didn't make any more for this season - they've already made 13 episodes. That's fine, lots of my favorite shows have short seasons, not the 20-something episodes of the traditional networks. Just renew Pushing Daisies for fall 2009. Please, please, pretty please.

Bryan Fuller, the creator of Pushing Daisies, has stated that he might go back to Heroes if the show is cancelled. Can't say I'm excited about that. I love superheroes, but the first season of Heroes was only good, not great. I figured it was the backstory of how everyone got their powers and that's why it occasionally DRAGGED and after that the show would really click. But from the rather bad things I've heard, not the case... So I might catch more Heroes someday, but not going out of my way to see it.

Finished watching the final season of The Wire. There are shows that I love more, that I enjoy more, but I'd still vote The Wire as THE best overall, consistent tv show ever made. Every episode is fantastic, the writing and acting amazing and the story heartbreaking. Not a single bad episode in the lot and I can't say that about any other show. (Well, unless you count Fawlty Towers which only had 12 episodes.) Shows you how broken the Emmy system is since this show never got the love it deserved.

Interesting blog post here about what Barack Obama could learn from watching The Wire.

Finished watching season 6 of The Shield, another excellent cop show, though more melodramatic than The Wire.

I watched the first few episodes of Chuck, which I'd never intended to try. But I read a review that praised its sheer entertainment value so I gave it a shot. It's about a 20-something guy who isn't living up to his potential, working in the Nerd Herd at Buy More (hmm, wonder what that could be a reference to) who gets government secrets downloaded into his brain. I was afraid he'd all of a sudden be a perfect spy but it doesn't work like that--he gets flashes of insight but is still himself.

So definitely goofy fun. Nothing to take seriously. Kinda Aliasy, but not that kickass. Much better than Jake 2.0 which it vaguely resembles, but with a lot more humor and fun.

Tried Life about the cop who was wrongly sent to jail but is out now etc. It stars Damian Lewis who I loved in Band of Brothers. I hated the show. Didn't expect that at all, but totally hated it and couldn't even watch all the episodes on the disc. Just immediately set my teeth on edge.

I'm officially giving up on Smallville about Clark Kent and how he learns to be Superman. That show just lost it after the kids graduated high school. I kept plugging away with it because I do think Tom Welling does a wonderful job as Clark and I loved the relationship with the Luthors. But watched the first disc of season 7 with Supergirl and I just can't take it anymore.

Tried watching Sweeney Todd with Johnny Depp and hated that one too. It was the singing and music I just couldn't stand. Give me rock opera anytime, but obviously not this stuff. Speaking of rock opera, Repo! the Genetic Opera sounds intriguing. Doesn't look good, just like it might be fun to watch on a double-bill with Rocky Horror Picture Show. And hey, that's Giles (Anthony Steward Head) starring - that's gotta be worth something.

I watched the new Masterpiece Theater version of Northanger Abbey. It was cute and fun but definitely Young Adult section Jane Austen.

Okay, that's all for now. Catch ya later.

Late to the Party

I really enjoyed seeing Calamity Kim's Halloween movies, so I thought I'd show you mine.

One movie is missing. I managed to break Shaun of the Dead yesterday as I wrestled it out of its packaging. boohoo! I don't care about high definition this or that, I just want indestructable DVDs. I broke Terminator earlier this year. Don't know my own strength.

I didn't even watch any of these this year. I've been continuing on the Buffy kick. Buffy's award at the end of The Prom episode made me cry.

I want to show you the fabric I picked out for the Peace and Plenty quilt for my mom and dad. Now if Lily would just get out of the way...

This quilt will be a mix of hand-dyes and commercial prints. Not sure all of these will get used, but it helps to have an assortment to choose from.

Enough contrast?

On a completely different topic, I'm thinking of switching to a Mac computer. I've never actually used one, but lots of things about it appeal to me. I don't have any PC programs that I really use, except for Upwords and I'll still be able to do that easily. Anybody made the switch and hated it? Any words of advice?

Strings and Jane Austen

It doesn't feel like I've made much progress with my sewing, but maybe that's because I keep slicing up more strings for the pile. For what I'm currently working on (which I love by the way) I've discovered that I need a lot more thin strips than usual, so I keep adding more of those and then I wanted more with angles...


This is an older pic of Lily's paw - she was in my way while I was trying to baste Rumspringa.

And she's definitely decided the quilt is a great place to nap:

I have started hand quilting it and I'm making some progress. I bet you can guess what pattern I'm doing...

I watched the new BBC/PBS adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion and enjoyed it, definitely better than the 1995 version. I wish it had been longer with more carefully drawn details, but maybe that's the fault of the book... I admit I haven't read any of Miss Austen's work even though I avidly watch the tv shows and movies. Persuasion IS good but it's not Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility.

Have any of you seen the latest Mansfield Park? I've heard very mixed reviews and the picture on the cover of a slutty young thing completely turns me off. That is NOT a Jane Austen heroine. I love the 1999 Mansfield Park but I've heard it's not very true to the novel. Not that I care, I suspect they've really improved on it.

I also watched The Painted Veil with Edward Norton and Naomi Watts, based on a Somerset Maugham novel about a doctor and his wife in China during a cholera outbreak in the 1920s. Bleah. For the most part dull dull dull and I just didn't care about the characters. No wit, vitality and charm like Austen's.

It's been gray here and I've been struggling. Don't ever ever let me move to the Pacific Northwest no matter how much I love it there. The weather will do me in. I spent a glorious summer in Seattle once and enjoyed it thoroughly, but then again they were having a drought, so I'm not sure I got the right impression.

This and That

I'm still quilting away at Orphan Train. Hand quilting over all the seams on the log cabin blocks is definitely a pain in the patootie, but I do love how it's looking.

Kitties are doing what kitties do: lots of sleeping. Pokey and Habibi:

My sweetie and I went to the Louvre on 26th December. What a mistake. It was incredibly crowded - as bad as any day in the summertime, possibly worse. It was even crowded over in the Oriental Antiquities area, which is usually pretty quiet except for Egypt.

Here are some pics from a previous visit to Levantine antiquities. From the 9th century B.C. in what is now Syria:

A small sphinx carved from hippo ivory:

Some hippy babes:

Sweetie and I watched Ratatouille about the rat in Paris who loves to cook. I wanted to love it. Paris looks beautiful (and doggy-doo free) and I LOVED the cooking scenes in the kitchen, but the story petered out at the end. The Incredibles was superior. Anyway, I give it 4 out of 5 stars - definitely fun to watch.

We also watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which is always a hoot. I still have huge chunks of the dialogue memorized from repeated viewings while in high school.

The weather is horrible and overcast. I'm using a light visor to fight against my SAD tendencies, but don't think it's really working. When the sun is out, I'm happy and energetic and when it's not all I want to do is sleep on the couch. It's like the sun is my on/off switch. sigh.

Dr Seuss Christmas Quilt

My favorite color combination for Christmas is red, green, and purple. It gives my husband-- Mr Traditional--fits. You can see a better picture of the Merry crusty pictured in the upper right and another red christmas tree quilt here.

This is our Christmas tree. It's up on a table so that we can see it, and the table is crammed with other things so that the kitties won't jump up. The three Santas were made in Egypt.

I have been searching for French Noel decorations, but it's pretty skimpy. Lots of imported Chinese santas that you can find anywhere. Very little Father Christmas or things with french words. The exception is the ornament that says "J'aime le Pere Noel".

This is my Dr Seuss Christmas Quilt. I made it a few years back. I have my usual assessment of my earlier work: needs more quilting!

Still working on making Christmas, particularly name tags.
One of my family's traditions was to open one present for each kid on Christmas Eve. My parents always chose it and when we were younger it was a game we could all play together. When we were older it was always a book. My husband and I have continued the tradition of opening one gift, but it's pretty hit or miss. My husband can never remember what gift could be where. This year I made special tags and told him in particular that a quilt book would be a great choice.

I make these tags the same way I make a crusty (follow the Susan Shie link in my sidebar). The batting and backing are a quarter inch smaller than the top and I just fold the top back over and use embroidery floss to hold it down. I have no idea what stitch that would be. Then I stem stitch or quilt the words in.

For my tag I used a silvery Madeira thread along with white perle cotton to stem stitch the words. I like how it looks although it's lumpy. But all that fraying is a pain in the ass. Certainly wouldn't do a big project like this.

Here's the back of it. You can even see where I've sewn on the safety pin.

For my husband's tag, I used 3 strands of embroidery floss to stem stitch the word "open." I quilted "24 Dec" with white perle cotton thread and then wrapped the green floss through to get this great candy cane effect:

On Sunday we watched Christmas in Connecticut, a Barbara Stanwick movie about a Martha Stewart character who's actually a fraud. It's fun, but I got hung up this year on what a goober the sailor is. bleck, didn't like that character at all. I definitely choked on the spending 6 months worth of salary for a mink coat. Aiyee. No kind of clothing item is worth that. Never. That's a car or house remodeling.

We finished up Jonathon Creek Season One as well. Jonathon is a brilliant Englishman who creates magic tricks (for a stage magician played with a horrible american accent by Giles, sorry Anthony Stewart Head) and uses his skills to help solve murders. It's along the lines of Columbo or Monk, none of the grisly CSI stuff. The puzzles are always great and I have a thing for British crime shows. And nerds. 4.5 out of 5.

I can also recommend Jenny Bowker's blog Postcards from Cairo if you're not already reading it. Jenny is currently posting pics of her desert trek to see cave paintings. She's far more adventurous than I am, although that doesn't take much. No toilets or showers? I'm out.

I have to go now and wrap presents that are too oddly shaped to go in bags. They're for me of course. Now I'm not only choosing my own presents but wrapping them.