The Indifferent Kitten
I know this is not the best image, but I love this kitten. My Daughter and I saw this poster while window shopping in Portland, OR.
Please click on the image so you can read all the copy.
Hold On! I just found this poster on Amazon. Here is a much better image.
The Indifferent Kitten
Bob's Red Mill
Bob's Red Mill
It’s kind of located in the middle of a industrial part of town, so when we first drove into the area we where a bit confused. But suddenly, right in front of us was this huge red building.
All the grainy goodness.
Usually when I go to the store I see only 3 or 4 Bob’s Red Mill items. At Bob’s it was a bit overwhelming how many things they carry.
Bob's Red Mill
I wanted to buy everything and I don’t even bake! We did get a gluten free chocolate chip cookie mix and a bean soup mix.
Bob's Red Mill
We ate breakfast there two times. Good food, full of grainy goodness.
Voodoo Donuts, Portland, OR
I think it’s a law that when you visit Portland you have to go to Voodoo Donuts. Here is the a photo of the front of the line.
The almost there group.
Here is the middle of the line.
The we're-in-it-for-the-long-haul group.
And finially, the end of the line.
(For fun, count how many skinny people are in line. It’s easier than counting the other ones.)
(PS- Even though I am not in this line I am one of the other ones.)
Evil Pastries.
So we ate at Voodoo Donuts II on the other side of the river. No line whatsoever.
Floozie donuts.
Deciding on which tasty whor-ish donut to eat was hard.
Tasty Sin-nuts.
I know Satan is involved somehow.
Our choices.
Here is what we got. I got a tasty cream fill thingy and my Daughter chose the Captain, My Captain donut.
I would like to thank Renate and Emma for their Voodoo Donut recommendation, including the tip on avoiding the lines at the original Voodoo and partaking in the evil at Voodoo Donuts II.
Cargo, Portland Oregon
So where do I begin? Our trip lasted 2 weeks and we spent 2 whole days in Portland. We started out in the Pearl District. Lots of nice shops, but our favorites where Powell’s Books and a shop called Cargo. Let’s face it. Powell’s has everything book-wise, including rare books. And Cargo is a import shop that is totally filled with fun stuff.
Cargo, Portland Oregon
Cargo is easy to spot because of their not-so-subtle exterior.
Cargo, Portland Oregon
And, their not-so-subtle interior.
Some guy we met in Portland.
The people there weren’t very subtle either.
Choose a hair cut.
There is so much inside of Cargo I didn’t know where to begin, especially when taking photo’s. So I decided to take pictures that would show pretty colors. Oh…. Pretty beads……Oh, the pretty colors…..
The gang.
The whole gang turned up.
Minions in a box.
My favorite item at Cargo’s is the Minions in the box. Who doesn’t want minions.
Hypnotic gaze.
Can’t take your eyes aways, can you. Feel their stare as the little black eyes penetrate your soul.
Stare deeper.
Good minions…
*PLEASE NOTE* Minion images where taken by my Daughter. If I didn’t say this she said she would be very upset.
More trip stuff to come….
Okay, I swear to god that I didn’t realize what I was doing until I had almost finished this image. I mean, there I was, working away on my gnome house. “It’s so cute”, I thought. Then, looking at the mushrooms, I thought, “That’s kind of funny. The mushrooms looks like little penises…. Hey, wait a minute. The house looks like a…… ”
So , I made a very phallic discovery. What in the heck was I thinking about when I was sketching this. I really like my little gnome house, except that it looks like a huge penis.
This reminds me of a quilt I saw on Craftsters. A newbie quilter posted her first project. It was a kind of pinwheel design. She was very proud. All of us reading her post noticed right away that what she had created was a swastikas quilt. Someone ask her if she meant to make swastikas. “No”, she posted sadly, she had not meant to make a Nazi quilt.
If you think that you, a friend or some little tyke would like a picture of a huge penis shaped gnome house hanging on their wall, drop me a note, because this print will NOT be going up at my Etsy store.
Work Quilt #2 by Victoria Gertenbach, aka Silly Boodilly
I was innocently thumbing through my current Quilting Arts Magazine, June/July 2010, issue 45, when I came across a article written by a person named Victoria Gertenbach. This Victoria was clearly trying to pass herself off as my web friend Silly Boodilly. After a moment of confusion and deep thought it dawned on me that Victoria and Silly where the same people. I never remember a persons real name. I mean, who’s Mama would name their kid Silly Boodilly? Not a very good Mama, that’s who. Web names and the names of people’s pets is what I remember. Real names never.
So please, if you haven’t already, go get the newest Quilting Arts Magazine and check out VICTORIA’S article, Stitching from the Soul / Laying the past & present. She tells of her inspirations and goes into detail regarding her quilting technique.
Oh, I almost forgot, I was looking through the contributors of Quilting Arts Magazine and I found the name of another friend of mine, Jane LaFazio. She is a San Diego based quilt artist, and teacher. She also beat me at getting into the Quilt Visions show. I might forgive her for this since she is the one that got me started in teaching quilting and embroidery.
I love name dropping.
In the past I have listed places where you can find embroidery patterns, both free and not so free. So, dumb me, I thought I would do it again. Wow! I can’t believe how many sites there are in which to get embroidery patterns.
In gathering these sites together there is a real possiblity that I didn’t get everyone who carries cool patterns. Please feel free to let me know what I have missed. I will do a update post to make sure I cover everyone.
Also, This list is in no particular order. Some of these sites are blogs and you will have to search their blogs to find their patterns. Many of these sites offer patterns on Flickr, blogs, Etsy, Artfire and other places. Since my head was already hurting from trying to piece this article together, I will leave it to you to explore each pattern supplier. And lastly, many of these sites have both patterns to buy and free patterns.
ps- I don’t have a personal relationship with many of these pattern suppliers. I have no idea if any of them are evil.
Jacque Davis (flickr)
Merwing (Little Dear Tracks)
Wool and Hoop I know her personally and we are carried by the same art gallery in Marfa, TX, Galleri Urbane. Besides her wonderful shop and online store she has two of the cutest kids I have ever seen.
The last three pattern makers listed you should already know about. If you don’t, hang you head in shame.
Aunt Martha, aka Colonial Patterns
Me! Badbird – I figure you know who I am if you are looking through my blog. Also, I am totally awesome. Spread the word….
Route 66 between Kingman and Oatman, AZ
I have just returned from a trip to, and into, the Grand Canyon in Arizona. You all know that I do this trip once or twice a year and post photo’s of the hike down to the Phantom Ranch. So, in effort to not bore you to much I have instead posted photo’s of Route 66, between Kingman and Oatman, Arizona.
Route 66, between Kingman & Oatman, AZ
Oatman, AZ and Giant Burro Termite
Beside ghosts, there are other inhabitants which infest Oatman, Gigantis Equus Mulus Isoptera . Better known as the dreaded Giant Burro Termite.
Oatman, AZ and Giant Burro Termites
The highly effective camouflage of the Giant Burro Termite lets it travel through out the town without the slightest notice of the residents or tourist.
Termite Damage
The Giant Burro Termite is a dry wood termite. Once you recognise the signs you can see that in fact the whole town is infested by quite a large swarm. The picture above illustrates how the damage can occur right in the open, in sight of visitors and residents alike.
It makes me wonder if the owner of this establishment knows the damage these wood eating beasties are inflicting on their building? Is there even enough orange oil is the world that could stop the greedy munching?
You all know me mainly by my needlework. I embroider, quilt and sale embroidery patterns. But, in the deepest part of my soul I am a painter. I believe that oil paints have their own life. I feel privileged to have the ability to use the life in oil paints to communicate.
I do get lost though. The images in my head become distant. The flash of pictures in my mind tumble out before they can reach my hand, paint brush and canvas. My ideas vanish leaving only a crude idea of what I was thinking.
That is when I open my book of work by Lucian Freud. His images stop the leakage of my ideas. The simple concept returns. I stop the overthinking and analyzing. Because what I really do in my art is paint people. I may put them in headdresses or costumes, but what interests me is that they are just people.
Mr Freud’s paintings are just people. But these people are extremely alive. I never look for the symbolism or possible hidden messages in these paintings. What excites me about Freud’s work is how human and alive he paints his subjects.
The painting of Queen Elizabeth is a good example of what I like about Freud’s work. It’s a very simple composition. You can see the crown, the done up hair, but he has made this queen human.
I know my work doesn’t compare to Freud’s, but if I can get just a touch of humanity in my work, like he does, I would say that I had a good day painting.
So there I was, minding my own business, reading the most current issue of Stitch magazine, and what did behold! Why, it’s my Flickr group, Stitched by Hand, listed as a resource for the Stitch article: Needled, The Art of Embroidery (pg 20, lower right hand side). Also mentioned was the super awesome Flickr group, Embroidery, which I am a member of.
So , for all of you that belong to either Stitched by Hand or Embroidery, at Flickr, you might want to brush your teeth, comb your hair and have cookies baked because we might be having a few visitors come by.
My Etsy Feed
