Curiosity

Blogger.com very kindly hosts my blog site. And they very kindly keep statistics for me, too, so I can see how many people look at my blog in a day, or how many have looked at it over its lifespan.  I can see what browsers people use to read my ramblings, and I can even see where my public is located.  And that last bit is very curious. 

Look at this:



I noticed this last night. Thirty-five pageviews from Russia?

 Is this for real? I have readers in Russia?  Who? And why? And how? 

I must be a cat, because these questions are killing me.

Christmas 2012

decorating the tree

This Christmas season was kind of weird. I was pretty excited to be finished with school on the 6th because I thought I'd be able to spend lots of time with my family doing our fun little traditional things—like building our giant gingerbread house, etc.  And with two weeks at home while my kids were still in school, I thought I might make some homemade gifts for my family too. Instead I spent a lot of time sewing for people.

First I made a wedding dress for my niece, Gloria.  It turned out really nice, and she was very happy with it.  Then I did some alterations for my cousin's daughter and her friend, who were in another wedding reception. I was glad to be able to help Gloria, and give her a homemade wedding gift, and I got paid for the alterations, which is always nice :-). But they did take up a lot of time.

These are the only snowflakes
we had this year.  :-( 
Lindsey made them at school.

Well, OK. My kids were out of school by the time the dresses were done, but I thought we could still make a gingerbread house and snowflakes and stuff.  Nope. This year the kids drew each others' names and had to make home-made gifts for each other. I offered to help.  Even though  we drew names at the beginning of the month, nobody really had any great ideas and I really wasn't available to help until school was out for them. So we spent a lot of time from Friday morning (the 21st) until about 8:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve finishing up gifts.

To throw an extra wrench into the mix, our first paycheck after three months was due on the 21st. (Bruce started subbing for Granite School District in November; three months of no job or income is another story.) But someone in some office made a mistake and he didn't get paid! And, to make it even nicer, everyone was gone home for winter break (school district) so they can't fix it until school is back in session.  Thank goodness for my excellent family who has helped us more than we ever deserve, and who pitched in for Christmas, too. So Bruce and I spent most of Saturday doing all of our holiday shopping last-minute.

It sounds kind of frustrating and horrible, huh?  And it was, momentarily.

But Christmas Day was excellent! And the very best part was our new tradition of the homemade gifts—I think everyone really liked what they got.

Michael got a magic wallet from Ryan.  Ryan and I had a hard time figuring out exactly how to make the silly thing. It was a real brain puzzle for us—something Michael excells at (making us wish he could help us make it!).

Jessica made a Robin Hood hat for Jason. He put it on immediately and he's been wearing it every day.

Lindsey got a bookmark, cross-stitched by Rachel.

Brandon got four juggling balls and instructions on how to juggle from Lindsey.

Michael made Ryan a stuffed-toy creeper (some creature from the game Minecraft). Michael says it's also a private joke between him and Ryan. :-)

Kaylie got a cream and gold brocade pillow with navy-blue tassels, a la Jason.

Brandon cut a pendant from walnut and put a picture of Rachel playing with Tucker on it. Then he made it into a necklace for Rachel.

And Jessica got ballerina and jester dolls from Kaylie.

So that was all lots of fun. Then, of course, we had a nice time going to visit family for a few hours. We finished off the day by coming home and lighting a fire in the fireplace and watching Brave while we had Christmas munchies to snack on. 

Jason said this Christmas was really great; he liked the homemade gift exchange and enjoyed visiting family more than usual. So, yes, Christmas Day was very good.

The question is this:  I actually already bought all the candy and stuff for a gingerbread house (ages ago, actually).  Should we still make it, or just eat the candy and call it good?

And She Does It Again!

Mwah-hahaha!

Grandma?

Last weekend I babysat my cute little niece and nephew, Lizzy and David.

Lizzy watches a movie with Kaylie and Rachel. And drinks with her feet, apparently. ;-)

Lizzy is three and pretty much just played with my girls the whole time—I hardly knew she was there. David is fourteen months old and he is just so darn cute! 

He walked all around and chattered and had a fine old time.

What's this?

Aha!

He played with the contents of my lid-drawer.  Later he played with one of the girls' old baby dolls for a while.  At first he snuggled it and said, "Baay-beee!" Then he started throwing her around. In the evening he was a little tired, but we had set up his travel-crib in the living room (for space reasons—Lindsey planned to sleep in there with him) and my family wasn't ready for bed yet. We were watching The Prince of Persia, so we sat David on the couch with us, with a blanket and a cup of milk.  When the movie got exciting he said, "Whoooooaa!"

He is such a happy, pleasant little guy.  I thought I wouldn't mind having another baby. When I started to fall asleep in front of the movie (a common occurrence) it was bedtime. David went to bed with no complaint, and fell right asleep.

Then he woke up at 4:30. I thought I'd just see if I could ignore him and he'd go back to sleep. (Now you are learning something about my parenting.)  He was OK with that.  He didn't go back to sleep, but he didn't fuss either.  He just talked to himself for a while, so I got to doze a little.  But at 5:30 he was getting impatient with me.

What's this?  Cheerios on the floor?
David woke Lindsey, Rachel and Ryan at 5:30, too. I guess Ryan decided to sleep on the couch after that.

I got up and gave him some milk in hopes that he would still go back to sleep. He said, "Thanks!" But when I headed back to my room he complained—he was having none of that. So I got out of bed and took him out of the crib; he had a dirty diaper. I thought Oh yeah. Maybe having a baby isn't so much fun. Not with a 5:30 a.m. wake-up call.  But after about 20 minutes I was truly awake and I thought that I wouldn't mind another baby at all.

However, I am not pregnant nor am I planning to be.  I hate to say it, but at my age and with the ages of my kids . . . Ooooooh! Grandma-hood could be just around the corner for me. Am I really old enough to be a Grandma? 

Couldn't be!!

But, really, I guess I am. My parents and some of my older siblings and several of my friends were grandparents younger than this.

Weird!


Cutie!



Finals

It was a stressful two weeks, but my final projects are finally finished.  They were finally finalized at 1:30 a.m. Monday night/Tuesday morning.

"What does Robin Hood have to do with this?" you ask.

For 20th Century I had to choose one design element from one decade of 20th century fashion and use it to create three contemporary designs, choose fabric swatches for the designs, and illustrate them front and back.  I had to mount a historical picture of the design element I chose, the fabric swatches, and my drawings on a black foam-core board and do an in-class presentation of the whole thing.  I turned this one in yesterday (Tuesday, Dec. 4).

For Illustration I had to draw three original designs in full color (this one was due today).

For History of Costume I had to choose one design element from one period of historic fashion—from 3000 B.C. up until 1970—and use it to create three contemporary designs, choose fabric swatches for the designs, and illustrate them front and back.  I had to mount a historical picture of the design element I chose, the fabric swatches, and my drawings on a black foam-core board and do an in-class presentation of the whole thing.  (Sound familiar?)  This is due tomorrow (Thursday, Dec. 6). There will be a written exam for this class, too.

Now, if I had realized that Janet (my History and 20th-Century teacher) would let me use the same work for both classes I wouldn't have chosen an element from the Middle Ages for my history final; I would have definitely saved myself some time and effort and done 20th-Century for both classes. But I had already started on the Middle Ages project. Oh well.
At least I was able to use my History final for my Illustration class final. Yay!

For 20th-Century I decided to use Jackie Kennedy as my inspiration—partly because it sounded easy, but mostly because I realized that I already had fabrics I could use for the swatches.

 My designs mimic Jackie's style with slim, sheath dresses, and boxy jackets with 3/4-length sleeves.

A creamy silk/linen-blend sheath dress topped by an aqua jacket with beige embroidery.

The same sheath dress paired with a pink jacket. The jacket's hem, sleeves and lapels are trimmed with the cream silk/linen, and edged with self-fringing.

A brown tweed sheath dress with a reversed shawl collar in cream crepe-backed satin.

Janet really liked these; she said if she were a buyer looking for this style, she'd buy the whole line. (!) And she said I had beautiful illustrations. :-)

For my History project I chose dagging as my design element.  Dagging is that squared edge you see on the sleeve of Robin Hood's tunic. ("Aha!" you say.) I did choose an orginal 14th-century source picture, as requested; I won't be showing Errol Flynn to my class.

This guy is wearing a dagged cloak (with a chaperon, which probably also has a liripipe).

I came up with all kinds of great names for my dagging collection:  The Dagged Edge (prounounced like jagged)—or maybe The Dagged Line.  Or how about Well I'll be Dagged! (not prounounced like jagged); or—this one is great!— Dag Nab It!

Well, anyway, here are my designs:

Here we have a blue suede skirt with dagging at the hem, a cream blouse of crepe-backed satin, and an orange silk scarf with dagging on the ends. The shoes and narrow belt are of burgundy leather.



This model wears a tiered blouse in varying shades of orange; each tier is edged with dagging. It is paired with an A-line skirt of a soft brown wool herringbone, and the look is completed by brown leather boots topped with burgundy dagging.



This look begins with a pair of jeans and the cream-colored blouse. A brown leather jacket trimmed with burgundy dagging and an exposed zipper finishes the outfit.

I already showed the dagging collection in my Illustration class today. Tomorrow I present it to my History class, take the written final exam and I am finished!  NO school for a whole month!! Hooray!!!!

Add this to the list...

I obviously have not done my research or put much thought into my wish list, because I've just found another thing I want.

I have been hoping to find this movie on DVD for years—best Treasure Island I've seen! (With Christian Bale, Charleton Heston, and Christopher Lee—to name a few.)

Available on Amazon. :-)

I will try to behave myself and stop adding to my Christmas list now.

 

Oooh! And this, too!

On DVD (also available on Amazon).

OK. I'll stop now. ;-)

Well Kim, Maybe Not So Very Good . . .

My brain has been in rather a haze the last month, what with one HUGE school project after another, planning Thanksgiving dinner at my home, trying to keep the family running, kids' school plays (and rehearsals!), and having this stupid cold that has made me feel exhausted all day long, every day, for weeks.

Or maybe it's just that the 50-day shopping tradition is jinxed by my friend insisting that Thanksgiving should come before Christmas . . .

Whatever the reason, I suppose I'm not such a very, very good girl, because I am modifying my Christmas list.
So here (in no particular order) is what I'd like:

a Tonner 16-inch fashion doll  They have several points of articulation so they can be posed like real people instead of dolls; they have removable wigs so you can change their hairstyles, and they have removable feet so they can stand flat-footed or on their toes (and they have an amazing collection of shoes!) I think it would be way fun to design, sew, and display some of my outfits on one of these pretty dolls. Much cheaper than making them for big people, and I'd have samples to show off. Sort of, I think. Anyway, they are pretty and I like dolls.

a giant set of Prismacolor pencils is still on the list, and some drawing paper to go with them.

a Bernina sewing machine

and a serger

a drill-press

a CDN DTTC-S Combo Probe Thermometer Timer & Clock This one is still on the list, too.

Brave, too.

and the Rosemary plant —dried works, but I love the smell of fresh rosemary.

Hm. It seems like I'd thought of more than that. But I suppose it's a fluid list; one day I'll think of something cool that I want and it is so pressing and important that the very next day I've almost entirely forgotten about it! ;-)

Mostly, really, I want to get some nice things for my family—or at least do some nice things for and with my family.  This school semester is finished in two weeks. If I can survive all the final projects and exams, I will be thrilled to have the longest winter break yet and just be home being a mom again. Maybe that's what I really want for Christmas after all.

My Thankful List

Everyone's doing it. You know, keeping a daily list of their "thankfuls."  I am behind; I kind of had an all-consuming project.  But right here, right now, I am starting my list and I will try to remember to add to it every day this month.

November 29:  I am very thankful for a husband to snuggle up with in the morning.
November 28:  I am thankful for good food in my house every day.
November 27:  Thankful for teachers who are as burned-out with this semester as I am, and let us go early.
November 26:  I am thankful for my family! They are awesome!!
November 25:  Thankful for another lazy day of much-needed rest. That, and chocolate-chip cookies.
November 24: Today I'm thankful that I slept so much yesterday. I slept in until 9:00 (very rare!); I slept through most of The Two Towers when my family was watching; I fell asleep early last night and slept the whole night through (also very rare). And today I woke up feeling better than I have in weeks!
November 23:  I'm grateful that we were able to get new shoes for the kids today.
November 22:  Today I am thankful for spending an hour chatting with my sister. I am thankful for friends and family all around me, plenty to eat, and good times together.

November 21:  Did good work today. Grateful to be going to bed!

November 20: Today I was very grateful for my husband who saw I was stressed and let me spend the entire evening in my room reading a book.
I love you Bruce!
November 19:  Today as I was riding to school, a girl got on the bus, looked through her wallet and found she only had a ten-dollar bill. She asked the passengers if anyone could change a ten for her. One man searched his pockets and gave her a bus token—as a gift, with a smile. I'm thankful for good people.
November 18:  I got behind again, but this weekend I am thankful that I don't have a cold (or worse) every single day of the year.

November 15: Today I got a total kick out of ...
get this...
...being home, cleaning the kitchen, baking bread, cleaning the living room, and having Bruce call me from work to see how my day was going. (And the answer is, by the way, GOOD!)
I am thankful to be home.

November 14: I'm thankful that Michael baked bread today! :)
Very nice to come home to when you're starved. Thanks, Michael! Love ya!

November 13: Today I'm thankful that I got out of school early, and made it home before my kids did! :-)
November 12: I'm thankful to have a crockpot, into which I can throw raw foods and come home six hours later to a prepared dinner. :-)

November 11:  Today I'm grateful for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

November 10: Today I am grateful for a daughter who sings all the time, and bakes chocolate-chip cookies, too!
November 9:  I am grateful for a husband who rubs the stress-knots out of my shoulders. Ahhhhh.
November 8:  (Today!) I am thankful for a husband who loves me and takes care of me even when I think I must be a huge pain. (Love you Bruce!)
November 7:  Oh, oops! This morning I decided I just had to re-draw one of my illustrations.  But I'm thankful it's done now, and the presentation is over, and it was stellar!
I am also truly grateful for friends who did not shove politics down my throat for the last three months. (Yes, I'm interested and yes, I voted, but it was getting to be a bit much for my stressometer.)
November 6: I am thankful for a decent pencil sharpener and that I got my pictures all drawn and colored before midnight.
November 5:  I am thankful for a family who does the dishes while I draw and color all night.
November 4: I am thankful for an afternoon nap, an easy dinner, and  some quiet time.
November 3:  I am thankful for sleeping in with my sweetheart.
November 2: I am thankful there was no school today. :-)
November 1:    I am thankful Halloween is over and the candy is almost gone (and I didn't eat all of it either—or even most of it!)

The Audrey Collection

Here's my line of gowns designed for Audrey Hepburn. The assignment was to illustrate three outfits for a celebrity. I don't keep up with celebrities, and who's the hottest new thing, but I did watch an Audrey Hepburn movie last week . . .

I confess, one of these gowns is a knock-off. The prettiest one, I think. :-/ 

Anyway, here they are:

Empire-waisted gold silk with a ruched bodice of black silk velvet

Peacock-blue silk jersey gown with an indigo-blue sparkle organza bustle accented with an indigo belt with a gold swirl design

Black satin sheath dress with a ruched bodice
offset with an oversized salmon-pink and cream bow



Now, on to the next project.

"You Nailed It!"

My kitchen table looked like this for most evenings
over the past three weeks.

I pondered, fretted, cried, and worked, worked, worked for a whole month! And finally, this very day, I gave my mid-term presentation for Illustration.  You may remember the big fabrication I invented to sell my dress line? I think that, at least at first, some of my fellow students thought the story was true. When I told about the fourteen-year-old granddaughter with cancer there were a few sad Awww's and Oh's in my audience.


My "inspiration board." Can you see how I used these images to create my dresses?

 My line carries the theme of Joplin's rags, gold, and, since it's been a century of music, I incorporated some popular styles/silhouettes of the 20th century as well. The presentation went very well. I only wish I'd had a recording of one of Joplin's rags to play for them.

Anyway I am happy to report that ALL comments by teacher and students were positive.  I was praised for my artwork, detail in the hairstyles and the coloring, as well as the designs themselves. I had two classmates tell me which dresses they wanted for themselves, and the teacher said that I could sell my gowns "for thousands." (Because of detail, fabrics, etc.) She told me, "You nailed it."

Yay!

So, without any further ado, I would like to present

"The Weeping Willow Rag" is a flapper-styled sheath dress made of silk, but  fitted a little closer to the body than a vintage 1920's flapper dress. The skirt is of looped ribbons, weighted down with gold teardrop beads and the bodice is embellished with gold beading.

"The Easy Winner Rag" has a 1950's "New Look" styling.  The bodice
is of gold velvet and red, gold and cream brocade; the scoop back
has a self-bow.  The skirt is of cream-clored satin covered
in layers of gold tulle.

"The Entertainer" is a wink to the 1960's with a grand piano "pop-art" look. It is made of white peau de soie and gold lame'. Three large, gold grommets make the neckline pop!

"The Entertainer's" look is completed with an asymettrical black taffeta wrap, closed with a piano keyboard belt. The broad shoulders could represent the 40's or 80's.

"The Sunflower Slow-Drag" is made of deep green peau de soie; the asymmetrical skirt is lined with gold china silk. The ribbon sunflowers boast "seeds" of black and gold sequins and beading.

"Maple Leaf Rag" is a look at the glamourous, "goddess-styling" of the 1930's. It is made of deep red-orange silk charmeuse; the bias-cut skirt contains layers of shibori-dyed silk chiffon, printed with gold maple leaves. The belt and shoulder are adorned with gold maple leaves.

So watch for my line of formal gowns at the Scott Joplin 100th Anniversary Gold-Ribbon Gala. They are worth thousands! ;-)

2012 Wish List

It's that time of year again.  The time when I drive Kim absolutely bonkers.

Yes, I am posting my Christmas list today—giving you a whole 50 days to get everything I've ever wanted and get it beautifully wrapped! ;-)

Hmm. How have I been?

Here's this year's list:

a big rosemary plant. One that's big enough for me to cut off pieces to cook with (frequently), and it will still live to see another year.

a big box of Prismacolor pencils (the more colors, the better!) I've discovered a passion for drawing and coloring my own pictures!





a CDN DTTC-S Combo Probe Thermometer Timer & Clock Yes, I manage to break a brand-new candy thermometer every year. Cooks Illustrated says this one can stand up, even to me.

Brave  (I want the movie, not to become brave. Although that would be all right, too.)

Hm. That's about it. I would like some new clothes for my kids (dresses for girls, slacks and new shirts for boys).

And I'd like to know what really cool thing to get for Bruce. Besides a new car, new Apple computer, etc. (In other words, something I can actually afford.) I'm open to suggestions.

So, fifty days.  ;-)