And as promised....

As long as you promise to look at the rest of the blog, lol, you can see more pictures.

Probably one of the most amazing animals we saw while at Kruger National Park were the Cape Buffalo. In 1957, there was not one Cape Buffalo in the Park. A few were brought in, and it was hoped that they could survive there. Well, survive they did. On our way into the park, before we'd ever made it to Jock Safari Lodge the first night, we literally came up over a rise, and before us were 300+ buffalo in a herd, blocking the road. We'd heard they were rather aggressive animals so we kept a healthy distance (about 100 yards), but it was fascinating to see that many of them. Young, old, babies, mothers. Then a day later, while out on a Game Drive at Jock, there they were again. Only this time we got to park in the middle of the herd (no kidding), so we had buffalo within touching distance for about a half hour. These animals are huge and dumber than bricks. lol If one gets upset about something, they ALL get upset, without knowing what they're getting upset about (wait a minute! I've met people like that online, most are called trolls).

You can see in the third picture that I wasn't kidding about being in the middle of the herd. And the first picture was what blocked the road our first day of our trip. Stunning to see hundreds of buffalo just taking their time crossing the road.

We only saw hippos in a couple of places, but as our guides kept reminding us, some of them could be underwater at the watering holes and dams we stopped at, and we wouldn't even be aware that they were there, until they pop their heads up to breathe. They are probably the most dangerous animals in Kruger. Possibly because people underestimate their speed. They look heavy and ungainly, but they're quite capable of running faster than a human. But the biggest reason they are the most dangerous is that if you happen to be between them and water, they will run you down or attack you, in order to take refuge where they are most comfortable.

And those really are crocodiles next to all the hippos. Apparently, there's some sort of agreement reached when everyone is near a watering hole and resting in the sun. The crocs weren't making any move to go after the hippos, the impala that were on the other side of the river, or the birds that were all over the place.

The funniest thing we saw going on with the Hippos happened at Lower Sabie in Kruger Park. The hippos were all over the place there, and the ones that were in the water were being used as surfs boards by the various fishing birds there. I called it Hippo Surfing, as the birds would only leave the hippos when they were fishing, and then would fly back onto the hippos backs to eat their catch.

Not quite Africa pictures yet....

I lied, I think you should see anal in action once again. I make no bones about being anal when it comes to designing things for my home.

A couple years ago, we chose an Italian porcelain tile for the kitchen. We decided to lay the tile in a stairstep pattern, but wanted something special there too. We decided on small 3 X 3 hand painted tiles to fit in the corners, and we also chose some solid color ones to alternate. Because these little tiles were hand painted, I had to cover each with three coats of a polyurethane meant for floors. And because they were hand painted each had to be coated with polyurethane by hand. What a production. But the floor was finally finished and we both loved it to death.

These are what the little tiles look like (there are five different patterns).

Now, being my normal anal self, I wanted to take those patterns and incorporate them into the rest of the kitchen. However, we hadn't decided on a back-splash, and had only put a new counter on the island, and not the actual kitchen counter yet. So, I didn't have the opportunity to "add" anything to the main countertop or the back-splash. But lest you think I couldn't come up with anything, there were still the fur-downs (the area between the tops of the cabinets and the ceiling). :-) So, I had John cut me little blocks of wood which I then painted to match the small tiles in the floor. I told you I was anal. I love having things tie together, but my version of "tie together" is obvious. I don't just do a color tie-in. I want the pattern there also. The first 3 pictures are of the painted wood blocks once I'd mounted them with Velcro (so I could remove and clean them). The last picture is of the island with the quartz, but it gives you a teensy glance at the floor in the background. I just now realized I don't have any pictures of the floor.

Some drawer dividers.

Usually, I get stuck doing stupid stuff for someone else. But this time, I wanted to see if I could avoid running to Walmart to buy plastic boxes (sans lids) to use in some drawers. I wanted something simple, but I didn't want them to just be cheap plastic. I wanted to cover them. Then I discovered cat food cases...not for the big cans for for the little ones, such as the ProPlan food I buy for my kitties.

I got this grand idea and decided to do a couple of "drafts" the same way I would if I were making something brand new for myself or someone else. I must say, it would have been easier (probably) to sew the covers, but instead I chose to use Elmer's Glue and some fabric I'd purchased sometime in the 1980's (well, maybe not THAT long ago, but a while ago) and see what I could come up with.

I started with just an ordinary cat food case (holds 24 3 ounce cans), 2 fabric pieces cut to follow the lines of the box (one for the inside and one for the outside), and a bottle of Elmer's (I could have used any glue as long as it would work on both cardboard and fabric. Elmer's was the only one I could find that I knew would bond both.

Viola! And they're already in use. Next time though, I'm going to work them up by sewing a cover, as the glue drove me crazy. But if you're going to try this, based on these pictures, make sure you do the inside first (center on bottom of box, glue bottom, flatten the fabric onto it, then carefully glue each side on both inside the box and the outside edge - the fabric will fold over). I'm not much on giving tutorials but at least that will get you started and the box will turn out halfways decent. And now, onto more Africa pictures! :-)

And the last of the bunch tonight.

The next time you see my words, it will be about the drawer dividers I made today. :-) But for right now, we have more animal pictures. :-)

A Kudu is of the antelope family and its horns are the symbol for the South African National Park System. These animals are amazing, and luckily we got a couple of good still pictures of them. The last picture is a Kudu cow.

The flowers in and around Kruger were starting to bloom (as it was the spring there). I caught a couple of great pictures of Bougainvillea that I wanted to share.

Another member of the Antelope family is the Duiker (pronounced DAKER, rhymes with Baker). This little guy is one of the smallest in the family, and very shy. That we got this picture was pretty amazing.

And I found out the hard way that it is almost impossible to take a picture of a whole Giraffe. :-) We had to be a great distance away to get the whole animal in the frame. Instead, I had to settle for some closer shots.

More pictures of the trip. :-)

Thought I'd better get on the stick and post some more pictures of our trip. This will probably be the last set I post here. I figure if you've seen one rhino picture, you've seen them all. Same goes for elephants, lions, leopards, etc.

The young man in one of the pictures in this group is dressed in his Zulu costume. It was Heritage Day in South Africa and South Africans are encouraged to dress in their traditional garb. He descends from Zulu warriors, so he is wearing a period-exact piece. The pink across his chest and the necklace around his neck are beaded pieces. The Zulus have a huge business in jewelry now. In fact, everywhere I looked there was jewelry for sale, hand-made by the tribe. The beads they use are different too. All are glass, but they don't look the same as the beads we see coming out of China now. These, in his outfit, were gorgeous. His sandals are hand made, as is the rest of the outfit. He was one of the few employees at Jock Safari Lodge to wear traditional clothing that day, but I'm glad he did. Besides which, this guy was adorable. Tall and handsome. Sigh....

The red and white flowers are from a bush called an Impala Lily. It blooms with these flowers before it ever gets leaves, similar to a Lilac. The picture, luckily, captured that wonderful color. But no fragrance. :-(

The next is a Lilac Breasted Roller. This is one of the most beautiful birds I've ever seen. She/he stands about 6-7" tall, so its not a big bird. It is named the "roller" because of the acrobatics it does when its looking for a mate. It soars high into the sky, then dives, rolling as it falls, to attract the attention of the opposite sex. I wasn't able to catch this dive with my video camera, as it happens unexpectedly and very quickly, so I had to settle for a still picture of the colors. :-)

Then some elephants again, cause I fell in love with them over there. They are the true kings of the bushveld, jungle, or wherever you go. Lions will run from elephants and if they don't run fast enough, the elephants will chase them. I have it on video. :-)

Now onto a Blue Wildebeest and a Rhino family. :-)

I'll stop here and make another post with some Cape Buffalo, birds, and a few others. :-)

The Trip

We're known for taking "trips of a lifetime", incorrectly named because we seem to be taking these every couple of years. This year was a Safari to South Africa. The day we returned, after two weeks, was the day my second week of classes was posted. Since those classes started, I rarely have time to do much of anything except study, housework, a little sewing, a LOT more study. But I promised a lot of people I'd post some pictures and tell them about the trip.

First, we stayed for four days at Jock Safari Lodge, which, in my humble opinion, was the greatest part of the trip. Their compound is within Kruger Park (they've purchased what is called a concession there, and it allows them to run tours from their location). The room we had was really nice, with outside decking overlooking a dry riverbed (dry only because it was the end of winter and the rains had not begun yet). The entire compound is surrounded by electric fence, so no fear of finding a lion curled on your deck in the morning. :-) I loved going on the safari rides, held at dawn and dusk. The morning trip would require leaving before 6am and would arrive back in time for lunch, usually around 11am. The afternoon trip would begin around 3pm, but wouldn't end until around 7pm. I have some wonderful video, some of which I posted on a special "group" I made on Facebook, so that my friends could see. If you are reading this and want the link, just let me know. :-)

The second place we stayed was at Satara, which is a South African-run rest camp. Rest camps are necessary as you can only enter and leave Kruger Park while the gates are open from around 7am until around 6pm (times vary according to the time of year). If you are in the park when the gates are closed, you MUST be in the one of the Lodges or Rest Camps. I think the fine is 500 Rand if you are caught inside the park and NOT booked into a rest camp. And while that doesn't amount to much with the exchange rate of 70 Rand per US dollar, it is a LOT of money for the everyday South African to pay. Satara wasn't much. John only booked it for us as he'd never been that far north and wanted to see the difference between the northern and southern part of the Park. I should tell you that John was born in South Africa, but moved with his parents to England when he was very young. He went back there as a young man to study for an advanced degree at University, then returned a couple of times later, but he hadn't been in the park since the 1980's. Satara was very close to what American's would call "seedy". It definitely needed some TLC, which it wasn't getting. But the little huts were clean, and I suppose in the grand scheme of things, it was a nice area. But I'd never stay there again. The huts were composed of a bathroom and bedroom, with an outside porch with included your seating and your kitchen. To my American eye, this was very odd, but workable. One of the things I did not like at Satara was a lack of space. These little huts were tiny and not modern at all. There are far more modern "camps" up in that area of Kruger, so this wasn't a good choice, in my opinion. The second thing I really hated was that we were on our own as far as traveling around and taking pictures and spotting game. This is tough, because without a trained eye, I'm sure we missed a LOT. And on this kind of trip, you do not want to miss much, as it isn't like you're going to be back there next week.

We next went to a place called MalaMala Game Reserve. Their property BORDERS Kruger Park, but they are not held to following the park rules. One thing you cannot do in the park is go off the road. In other words, there are lots of dirt roads at Kruger and you can drive on them all, but you cannot just take off driving through the bushveld. MalaMala does just that. On most of our game drives there, we were cutting through the bushveld, rather than following the road. Makes for a very rough ride. I'm still not convinced that we saw more game by doing this.

They also did something at MalaMala that I strenuously objected to...they follow predators (such as leopard, lion, hyena, etc). If they spot a Leopard, they may follow her for hours through the bush. Granted the animals don't seem to notice that the vehicle is there, and they aren't "chasing" her (in other words, she continues doing whatever it was she was doing, and she isn't running away from the vehicle). But I'm a true believer that just the ACT of watching something will somehow change it. In one case, there were two couples (us and some very nice people from Australia), and both the woman and I objected to following one leopard female because she hadn't eaten for TWO days and we both felt we were warning her prey about her presence. Luckily our game guide agreed to stop, otherwise, I doubt that his employer would have approved.

MalaMala was just ok, in my book. The rooms there were furnished so as to be thought opulent. The problem is that the place is not fenced. So if you decide to take a walk around, you'd darn well better keep your eyes open and be paying attention, cause you have NO idea who or what might be around the next corner. If I wanted to stay someplace where I couldn't go outside my room at night, this would be where I would stay. Otherwise, no.

Here are a few photos we took (I promise, once you've seen a few of these, I'll go back to posting about sewing and school, lol).

In these pictures you'll see a young male elephant that came over to the vehicle to say hello. An African Hornbill bird (this one happens to be a Red Hornbill). A female lion returning to her cubs after a night of hunting (we'd watched her hunting the night before). Our "hut" at Jock Safari Lodge, with me just barely getting caught in the picture. And a baby Lion who gave us a little bit of a growl while we were taking pictures.

Long Time No See

OK. Boy do I owe myself some time to sit down and reflect on school, the trip, sewing time (or lack of), and just some everyday stuff.

I've been contacted by a woman who would like me to make her wooden valances for her dining room. Now, I should have known better than to do a wooden, fabric covered valance for ANYONE, but little did I know that by doing a friend a favor, I would now be in the spot of having to say no to one of HER friends. Darn! I HATE it when something grows when you don't want it to.

First, fabric covered wooden valances are a pain in the you-know-what. The measurements for each window have to be exact, not even a mm off, since once covered with quilt batting and the fabric, they actually have to fit the window you've measured days before. Second, my first valances were done ONLY because a friend had tried to do them herself and had the wood already cut and had gotten stuck on how to do the fabric and batting. I know mine are different than some because the front of the valance (the part that actually hangs from the wood) is fabric. So you basically have a shelf of wood that you cover with batting and fabric, and on that you attach a fabric front and sides in a pleasing design (in this case, I did 3 shield shapes across the front and one shield shape on each side, and the shelf itself was 6" deep. The depth of the shelf needs to be in good proportion to the windows, so that requires a bit of planning also.

All things I really didn't want to do for anyone else, especially not someone I don't know. But I think I'm going to do them, just because this woman is a good friend of MY friend, and I'm not in the mood to disappoint anyone right now.

And on top of the valances, which really don't take too much sewing, but a lot of time "constructing", I need to get back on the stick with my own designing and sewing. I have two sketches, one for a jumper with an assymetric neckline, and the other for a jacket with a shawl collar and raglan sleeves, that I really want to construct the patterns for. In addition, winter is on the way, and I'm thinking that I'd love to make a pattern for a hooded scarf (but not a knitted one - maybe wool plaid). So as you can tell, I really should get back to it. :-)

Frustration

I haven't gotten to the pictures yet, which is a bummer. I did manage to edit one video of a very rare Black Rhino that we'd seen when we were staying at Jock Safari Lodge, within Kruger Park. I had promised them that I would post the video on their Facebook page. These rhines are rarely seen. They are very shy. The video I took was taken a half mile away, and it didn't come out badly. This weekend, I'm going to work on getting the photos up on Photobucket so that family and friends can see them. Then, I have to do a video/slide show for friends here in VT who all want to see the animals....and we took videos and stills of lots and lots of animals.

In Africa, they call one group of animals The Big Five - Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Rhino, and Cape Buffalo. By our second day on safari we'd seen all five! That usually doesn't happen. In our case, it was serendipitous, because after seeing the Big Five, we then started watching carefully for all the other animals. All in all, we took over 1500 still photographs and about 600 videos, so you can see why it is taking me so long.

In addition, my classes started on September 29, and I had to get online each day of our trip in order to keep up. The college had given us an estimate of 30 hours a week that we would have to spend online in order to do these intensive courses. I think they were dreaming. While on vacation, I ended up being online 25 hours. This week, after only 4 days, I've spent almost 40 hours online, and still have two quizzes to take and a paper to write. One instructor made the statement that each course was originally meant to take a semester to teach. Each course we're taking is 5 weeks long, meaning that we're covering 4 semesters of work between now and April 30. Sigh...........

I'm frustrated more because the classes aren't giving me the time to think, let alone do anything extra. I'm usually very good at managing my time, but in this case, I've had to shift my organization skills into hyper-drive.

Heading Home....

We start the journey home tomorrow. I'll write more about the trip over the next week or so, but for now, I'll say this. I'm going to truly miss the elephants of Kruger Park. They are the most amazing animals, as well as being far smarter than us dumb humans want to ever admit.

The Park and the surrounding area was wonderful. The trip was ok...I enjoyed the animals, but there were some things I just did not enjoy. But later.....

I'll post more when we arrive in NY on Saturday morning (leaving Friday afternoon, traveling 15 hours by plane, but gaining hours...talk about confusing).

I'm posting only a couple of pictures here.

We took about a thousand pictures and videos, but all will have to be edited. I was thoroughly amazed (and loved it) that the animals were within touching distance most of the time. These zebras were just standing, posing for me. :-)

These pictures were NOT taken with a regular camera. These stills were taken with my video camera!

Malaria and other mundane things I have to worry about

I haven't mentioned our upcoming vacation much because I'm getting less and less enthusiastic the closer it gets. It isn't because it won't be an exciting trip, and it isn't that we won't enjoy ourselves once we're there. It is the preparation that has gone into this.

We have cats, and because we feel very responsible towards those animals, we hire a house sitter to take care of them while we are gone. We pay her what amounts to a small fortune (no I'm not kidding, around $125.00 a day), and for that, we get someone who will care for the house and the cats like we do. This is our second house-sitter. The first one was a doll, but she moved away to get married, and thus we had to go advertising for another. We found our current sitter through our veterinarian (whom we call Auntie Janine because she's one of my best friends as well as our vet).

We have preparation to do for her end of this vacation. Things like medications, food, treats, toys...those all have to be ready for her. And everything needs to be stored in an orderly fashion, as she has to be able to find everything she needs to run a house.

Then there are the preparations for the trip itself. We are going on safari. Yep, you heard right. A safari. First we'll spend a couple days in NYC, where I'll try my best to find a pair of casual boots and will visit Mood Fabrics (featured on the show Project Runway). Then we'll get on a plane and fly to South Africa. We'll fly from Johannesburg to a smaller, rural airport near Kruger Park. We'll spend 3 days in Kruger Park...then we'll move on to a couple of different large game preserves bordering Kruger. Each day will have at least one game drive...and possibly a game hike. Every morning, we'll go out with a guide at dawn to specific places within the preserve and/or Park.

When we're in the vehicles, we will have a guide and a ranger (for the lack of a better name for him) who will be armed. For the walks, and this caused me a little bit of pause, the guide and the ranger will be armed with elephant guns and handguns. Our nights will be spent surrounded by mosquito netting in quite elegant rooms (we've seen pictures).

The preparation for this which is causing the most problem is Malarone. This medication is to be taken beginning two days before you arrive in any malarial area and for 7 days after you leave. Obviously, you also slather on bug spray everywhere you go for the time you are in an area where malarial mosquitos might be found. The "mosquito" season in South Africa runs from October through March, but we are going at the end of September and because of Climate Change, we may find mosquitos waiting for us (oh goody gumdrops).

I had no problem with being told we had to take the malaria medicine. My problem arose when I tried to get it prescribed and filled at a pharmacy. Our local hospital, Fletcher Allen, decided that it would cost us $321.00 EACH for the appointment, the medicine, and the counseling. I told them more than once that neither of us needed any sort of counseling, but their reply was that it was mandatory.

Next I called my doctor, who told me that the counseling had to be done by the "travel office" at Fletcher Allen. I told him that we didn't need counseling, that we understood malaria, Malarone, and what we needed to do. He then, finally, granted my request to prescribe it. Great! Well, maybe not. First the drugstore didn't stock it and it had to be ordered. Then, when they tried to charge our insurance, the insurance carrier went crazy, going even so far as to call us on the phone and ask what we thought we were doing, lol.

Finally, we get the scripts filled and find that the medication is $171.00 per person. So we paid the $342.00 gladly, considering Fletcher Allen was about to charge us almost double that.

So, we will begin taking the medication on our second day in New York, and we're hoping to avoid insect bites during our trip, so that we can arrive back home safe and sound.

The rest of the prep has been the clothing, which has to be pretty specific, based on the conditions we'll encounter. We're taking one set of clothing for New York, then we will pack all of that away and store one suitcase at JFK airport while we're gone then pick it up when we arrive back in the US.

As you might be able to tell, this has occupied us for the last month, and now we're down to the last week and a half or so before we leave. I'm excited, and somewhat relieved to have it finally arrive. We've gone on some wonderful vacations, adventures if you will. Hopefully, this vacation will be as great as the last 3. :-) We'll see.

New peekers....

You're definitely allowed to peak at this blog now and again. Keep in mind, I don't care if you "follow" it or not. My worth isn't based on how many followers I have, or how many people comment. I do this solely for myself...sometimes to vent, but usually just to play it back to myself.

Enjoy, read, comment, or not. But whatever you do, enjoy.

V-Day minus 14 days

On the 17th of this month, I start back to school. Not that I really wanted to do this, but this will allow me to branch out into an entirely new field of work. I'm going to be studying Health Information Technology. This intensive course is six months, 35 hours a week, and will teach me to use the software that doctors, hospitals, and clinics use to do their coding, billing, and information transmission. This course is for the technical side - software and support. After that, if I choose, I'll be able to take the remainder of the course which will be the "human" side of it...coding, billing, and understanding the "backroom" of a medical office.

This course is completely paid for by a Federal Grant, which responded to the screaming being done by doctors, hospitals, software companies, and insurers that there were few people trained to handle the technological side of Health Care. I chose this because, frankly, I'm bored. I have gone as far as I can go with managing an office. I'm finding myself thoroughly frustrated by the lack of ethics I've run into lately. I'm tired of having to repeat myself constantly because my co-workers deliberately fail to do things they would rather I did for them. Do I sound like I've had it with people looking for a free ride? I am. My parents taught me that you reap what you sow....that means, the harder I work, the better the rewards. Unfortunately, I can honestly say that the people I've met lately are rarely looking that far forward. So, I'm going to switch careers....and hopefully give myself the time to work on my pattern-making and sewing, which I truly love but haven't been able to concentrate on.

I DID finish a pattern commission last week. The oddest thing about it was that I didn't know this woman. She was a friend of a friend, of a friend. She wanted a "mother of the bride" dress, but wanted something stunning. She's quite an accomplished seamstress, but when she'd tried to build this pattern, she just couldn't quite put it together. Think that famous Demi Moore dress with the criss-cross straps, with a turtleneck front. I thought that the design idea was strange until I realized that she has a surgical scar on her neck that is quite prominent..hence the turtleneck. Add to that, she wanted a matching cape because it is a fall wedding, in Vermont, at a mountain inn. Vermont weather is always unpredictable...add in the autumn and the mountain, and she's right in thinking she might need a cover of some type.

This took me almost two weeks to complete. We had to do two fittings with this pattern, as she (like me) is not perfectly proportioned and those straps were teeth-grinders.

When we got it done, I made it up in muslin for her, just as a test run. I was amazed that it fit so beautifully, and she's promised me a picture when she completes the dress (hopefully this week). She's doing it in a gorgeous, rich-looking Navy Blue stretch velvet, and the cape is going to be the same fabric, lined in this beautiful patterned silk. I was very pleased with this, but I don't expect to become rich doing this. A pattern in a store (Vogue, Butterick, etc) would run about $13 for a long dress and it might even have the cape pattern with it, or at least some sort of shawl. I charged her $35 for this pattern, as it was custom fit, and included the muslin. Keep in mind, I had NO idea what to charge for this work, as the pattern software does the really hard work....making the pattern.

I'll be tickled to death if she gets me a picture of this dress.....

Irene, again, you were a witch

We really dodged a bullet in Northern Vermont with that storm. But the Central and Southern parts of our state did not. Roads and bridges aren't merely washed out, they are gone. In some cases, it will take years to rebuild the infrastructure that this storm destroyed.

We ended up with 7" of rain, some wind, but overall not at all what was forecast. She just didn't come this far north, and because of the direction she was turning, Mount Mansfield protected this area from the full brunt of her winds.

Irene, you witch

For almost two days, we've been sitting in front of our TV, watching the progress of Irene up the East Coast of the US. This storm frightens me, not because of her winds, but because of the rain.

We are in Northern Vermont, not too far from the Canadian Border. Most of the land around us is farmland, mainly corn for silage in the winter. There's some sweet corn up here, some soybean, some alfalfa, but mainly corn. This is the primary way that the dairy farmers, which Vermont is known for, can feed their cows during the long Vermont winter. Without those fields of corn, the farmers have to purchase.

This year's crop was already damaged before it was even planted. This spring, prior to the "planting time" we got rain...lots and lots of rain. So much so that any low-lying cornfield couldn't be planted until it stopped. Some of the farmers know their crop is probably doomed. It won't be ready for the fall harvest. Up here, we have a finite planting season. We have a long winter that can begin at the end of October, and can end in May.

Now, these farmers are looking at anywhere between 6 and 10 inches of rain coming at us. That will flood their fields, and probably further damage an "iffy" crop.

Then add the damage of rain-soaked ground. We live in a house surrounded by a one acre yard (most of the yard is circular, closer to house at the sides than at the front and back). The more the rain falls, the softer the ground gets, then the trees begin to uproot. We had one do this in our yard in the spring. Luckily it didn't fall, it just began leaning, and was losing the fight. It fell sideways about 10 feet the afternoon before the tree guys showed up to take it down.

Now, I'm afraid that the same thing will happen today, because this rain today will be equal to what would have fallen in a week this spring. It is now 12:30 in the afternoon, and we've gotten about 2-1/2 inches of rain and it doesn't look like its going to slow down any time soon. We've done everything we can, but it is impossible to predict what Mother Nature is about to throw at Northern Vermont. If the back end of this storm drops the expected 7" of rain on us, added onto what is falling now, it will be devastating here. I hate feeling helpless in the face of weather.

Some days....

Some days you just have to wonder what goes through the mind of a cat. This is Shelby, deciding out of the blue that she should drink my morning coffee. A moment after this picture was taken, she lifted her head up, spitting because she didn't like the taste.

A look at me...

When I was about 10 or 11, I was drooling over the clothing coming out of London. Here I was stuck in VERY rural Pennsylvania, with few TV stations that we could get with our antenna, some radio stations, and.....a SEARS catalog, lol. And so I went to school wearing what I'd made copying the Sears catalog styles. I remember they did a wonderful winter catalog in 1966 or 1967, and featured clothing based on all the top London designers (remember Mary Quant?)and the pictures were (supposedly) taken in London. There were beautiful turtlenecks, hip hugging bell bottoms, leather, frilly shirts, lace, and boots...lots and lots of boots. And every time my mother and I would go to a fabric store, I would beg her for fabric I thought could replicate those styles. Including the men's tie, with a white shirt...worn with knickers no less. And yes, the other kids at school called me strange...and weird. But I loved the clothing. So nothing could deter me from making more of it.

Then I hit my twenties. Western Pennsylvania was never a booming area to begin with but by the time I got out of college, the jobs were few and far between. So I picked up and moved to New Jersey...and pretty much stopped sewing. Working in the Metro NY/NJ area gave me lots of opportunity to buy new styles from stores..and I got lazy.

I've tried everything I ever wanted to try in my life and I'm not lazy any more, and am really enjoying putting stylish clothing together for myself. And of course, let us not forget that my phone usually rings when someone has either screwed something up while sewing OR they can't quite get the fabrics right for something they want to make with a "WOW" factor. I will take on outside jobs, and right now, they're mainly design jobs.

Right now, I've got some more animal print, and some really great moleskin in a milk chocolate color, and am trying to decide what to do with it. While moleskin is usually something I would grab for suits...there isn't a suit in my future right now, so something a little more casual is in the works.

Oh, and before I forget, I'm starting back to school for IT. Will be headed there next month, in fact. :-)

What's that you say?

What's that you say? You made ANOTHER shirt? lol Oh yes, I'm just a busy little beaver this weekend. Actually, I went through my stash (and going through it is another story all on its own), and decided that there were 3 lengths of fabric that would lend itself to this blouse pattern, giving me 3 new shirts. The price for all of them (counting fabric and thread, since there are no buttons, zippers, etc) was $20.50 as all the fabric was bought on sale at one time or another.

I finished up this animal print this afternoon and will start on the next one tomorrow morning. The next one will be a black blouse with 3/4 length sleeves AND the animal print for the collar. The last "stash" fabric is a sheer red knit that I picked up for something like $2.50 a yard about 3 years ago...time to use it for something constructive so it will become the next blouse with a very short flirty sleeve. And then I'll be done. At least for now.

I had a little bit of a problem taking the picture of the animal print. If I used the flash, it washed the color out, but if I didn't, it appeared to be too dark. So I turned all of the lights on in our office/sewing room and tried it that way. These are the by-product of that problem-solving session.

The next piece....

Today, I made a little blouse. It is sleeveless with home-made bias binding. But the most important thing is that this took me less than 2 hours to put together. The whole thing! Rarely, do I believe the advertisements that you see claiming a piece of clothing will only take an hour to make. Bah! More likely that piece of clothing will take 3 hours at least. In this case, there are 3 pattern pieces...two of them on the fold, and the third on the bias (and you can put it on the fold, if you have enough fabric). This is my own design (again). I've been experimenting with pleating, so you can see I tried it on the neckline (both front and back, although the back is only two pleats).

But the absolute best is where the fabric came from. I had in my mind that I wanted this color of blue for a blouse, but look as I might, the color just wasn't available (or at least not near me). I was already familiar with this color as I had three tablecloths this color that I used for decoration when doing antique shows years ago. So guess what? You guessed it, one tablecloth is now "missing in action". :-)

The only thing not done in this picture is the hem, and I'll do that while watching TV either tonight or tomorrow. Hems are simple and take very little time to finish. And the next time you see this blouse on here, it will be made from knit fabric, because I'm about to make another. :-)

The Jumper

I want to publish this picture even though the jumper/dress isn't finished yet. This closes with buttons at both shoulders (and it is pinned on the dress form right now).

This is ALSO embroidered fabric. And once again, I picked up a large amount of it, thinking that I didn't have a clue at the time what to make with it, but it was so gorgeous, I wanted enough that my imagination could go crazy.

My time...

I am sometimes amazed at where the time goes. I'll get up in the morning, get coffee, breakfast, feed the cats, usually watch the previous night's 11 pm news, then either sew, do yard-work, clean house...something. And then I'll look at the clock and it is already 4pm. And I don't feel like I've accomplished much in that time.

Sometimes I've been lucky in that I DO accomplish something and don't even realize.

Here is a picture of the cape I finished last weekend. The fabric is embroidered and initially, I bought a ton of it because I had no idea what I wanted to use it for. It lent itself well to this lined cape (and I designed the pattern also, so it was a double-whammy success for me). Now, I've got an a-line skirt cut and am thinking: pants. But this fabric wrinkles easily. So I'll debate that while I work on something else.

Picture of the Dream house

As promised, here is a not-so-great picture of what we call "my dream house". It is actually a condo community at the foot of the hill that is Seattle.

ATTENTION!!! ATTENTION!!! lol An update is that one of the two-level condos in this group is up for sale! It is a two bedroom (but rather on the smallish side with a tiny kitchen) and the asking price is $399K. Now I told you I'd have to be rich, but what I didn't figure on was that the price would be UNDER $400K. Oh well, I'll see if I can get pictures and post them here, lol.

This first picture is a view of the Condo community from the balcony at the back of Pike's Market.

The next two pictures are of the actual unit for sale (in the middle of the picture, ground floor two story unit, separate from the main building) and a picture of the bedroom at the back of the first floor.

This is the floor plan of the original unit. :-) Yes, I've done my homework.

This place needs a lot of updating. It was built in 1982 and I really don't think anyone has done any real work since then. New kitchen appliances, new kitchen counter, replace carpet hardwood and tile, fresh paint, closet inserts, new drapes, etc. etc.

And this is why the place is too small. This is where we live now. I can only imagine that less than half of what is in this house would fit in the condo. :-(