Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Why not Wednesday?

Yes, I realize it is Wednesday. I also realize that I almost never post mid-week but a few things prompted some thoughts today.

Received an "O" Mission calendar inspiration email today. Normally, I read and delete but today I felt the spark of relevance.

The greatest joy of life is to accomplish. It is the getting, not the having. It is the giving, not the keeping.
—Frederick Banting


Received this in the mail today.


The "Golden Rule" at it again.




Also received this today....remember my quest for vintage teacups?



The Curly Girl Design calendar graced my front step this weekend,too. (I really love this.)

June happens to be my favorite.

One more random quote:


As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
—Nelson Mandela

So, change a few things, let your light shine, accomplish some and give.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Joie de Vivre..

It's been snowing here in the upper Midwest.

("Go figure."those of you might say who think it's arctic here all the time.")

It's a grey, grey day-good for catching up. If you know me, I'm always trying to beat myself at this little game.




I made the fortunate (yes, fortunate) mistake of bringing Urban Market samples to my day job. Received a few orders so I spent Saturday in my individually owned sweatshop whipping up these beauties. I can't wait to package them up and give them a good home. Someone might actually like their Christmas gifts this year.
I finished these up on Saturday. (Yes, my weekends have been reduced to sewing and playing taxi. What happened?)

So, today. No time like the present to organize the studio. There is nothing like a clean slate to get the juices flowing again. Must get manufacturing for debut #2...

So hung up my tape measures (yes, plural...I bought another since I couldn't find the original.)

Seems that little miss was measuring to confirm her arguments that a trip to Victoria's Secret is an immediate necessity in the very near future.
Needless to say, I found the original buried under a week's worth of dirty laundry. (Again, not a surprise, in this house.)

I realized today that "fabric whore" might be a term I can assimilate to. A little harsh, yes, but I do make "Fruity Bitch" aprons. I believe we've discussed the dichotomy of my personality in previous posts-so I apologize to any new readers.


So, after seeing my little room take shape into something now better described as neat and tidy, I looked to my work table (which as of 3 minutes ago, I could once again see the top). Behold, my inspiration board that I've just recently started to use.


On my weekly "Micheal's" excursion..I picked up the "Twinkle Type" that I've been wanting and the angels of paper sounded their horns of approval. My empty "Inspiration Board" glared at me and subliminally screamed, "Accessorize, Accessorize, Accessorize!"

Ta-Dah................................................



Joie de vivre-
Joie de vivre (from the French joie, "joy"; de, "of"; vivre, "to live, living"; "the joy of living") is a term sometimes imported into English to express a cheerful enjoyment of life; an exultation of spirit. Joie de vivre, as one scholar has written,
"can be a joy of conversation, joy of eating, joy of anything one might do… And joie de vivre may be seen as a joy of everything, a comprehensive joy, a philosophy of life, a Weltanschauung. Robert's Dictionnaire says joie is sentiment exaltant ressenti par toute la conscience, that is, involves one's whole being."[1]

Ok, so forget the snow-this too shall pass. Muster up all the "joie de vivre" you can find, take a deep breath, and organize your life.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Inspiration..


Spent today finishing a custom apron order-from a husband to his wife-(yikes!). Not sure how a wife will feel being given an apron for her birthday. But, if someone gave me one that is as cute as this one, I might be inclined to forgive.



Spent the rest of the weekend tending to family matters. (Yuck, I never want to get old.) Had a blast playing Bingo (Seriously,it was fun but I never got to yell that 5 letter word.)


Visited with my in-laws. My mother-in-law and I are, for lack of a better word; "polar opposites"-Country Mouse and City Mouse but we've learned to love each other. She,the country mouse, with her pine trees and oak decor is a subscriber to Country Living Magazine. I was flipping through one of the issues and gasped--"I love this magazine"...Who knew? We have something else in common.


The above is a "handmade" project from the magazine. I want to make one so bad!! Added vintage teacups to my thrifting list-now to just find the time.
It was a perfect day for the pumpkin patch that we never got to-next weekend. No lesson today-living instead of learning, I guess.