Flickr Faves: Yellow Quilts

I love drooling over quilts...especially when they are yellow.  Yellow makes me happy.  I keep promising myself that I will learn how to quilt.  I sure hope that I keep my promise...someday.

Yellow Bloom Quilt

From vintage sheets

Modern Quilt Challenge

Yellow Cross Quilt

Vintage Fabric Inspired Quilt

Pinwheel Quilt

Heart Applique

Random Ohio Stars

Antique Quilt

Old quilt

Ode to my childhood cartoons

I was reminiscing with my sister about old cartoons we used to watch when we were kids.  We started combing through YouTube looking at all the ones we remembered; Transformers, He-Man, Snorks, She-Ra, Animaniacs and the list goes on.   We had a blast just looking at all of them—some of them I had forgotten about—Mr. T anyone?  I have actually been re-watching Jem on Hub and it’s been really interesting watching it again.  They just don’t make cartoons like they used to.  So I thought I’d see what craftiness is out there for all those good cartoons I grew up with.   

A rocking Pizazz amigurami from chubbyninjcrafts.  She was in the band Misfits--arch enemies of Jem and the Holograms.  She's got a bad attitude but this little crocheted cutie almost makes her seem sweet (but don't be fooled, she will try to blow you up as evidenced in the carton).  You can get Roxy and Stormer to complete the band! 

You can fulfill your dream of finally being She-Ra Princes of Power with this wonderful handmade costume by tonyagergely.  How rad is this!!  I could totally rock this on Halloween---or on a Tuesday---whatever.

Another crocheted goodie--you can buy this pattern for All-Star Snork from erinscull and make your own cutie.  I have watched the Snorks as an adult and it doesn't quite translate to adulthood--it was much better when I was a kid.  

OK I wasn't a young child when I watched Animaniacs but so what.  This cartoon is so good that I just loved it, even as a teen--I would totally watch it today and I don't care who knows it.  This fabulous Brain cross stitch by PuzzlingPeach rocks my world!  The best things about Animaniacs were the all the different characters they had and Pinky and The Brain were no exception.  I also came across this super cute crochet Wakko doll from BunnieBard--she even includes the pattern so you can stitch this up yourself!  I also totally want these magnets!

Care Bears were everywhere in the 80's and what's not to love--I mean seriously--they were just too cute.  Micheleleigh stitched up this super cute design!  She also did this one.  I'm also pretty sure I want this for work badge and this cake for my next birthday.

The Smurfs were great and so it this sweet cross stitch of Smurfette by helby.  Also, what kid wouldn't look adorable in this?  I would also take this cake for my next birthday.  I love this cross stitch of Grouchy Smurf.

The Beetlejuice cartoon was awesome!  This is a great machine embroidered patch by Neither Sparky.   If I had pierced ears I totally rock these and I sorts love this Lydia Deetz cham.

Well that's about it for now I guess--I may have to do a part 2 to this to look up even more cartoon awesomeness.  I'm so glad that I refuse to truly grow up becuase I  still get so much enjoyment out of these cartoons. Just pure joy really.  So I'm going to leave with a few truly outrageous videos. 

And by the way...What's your favorite cartoon? 

In process...

I finally worked a bit more on my latest painting.  I'm liking the direction it's going. 

I have this rather large piece of fabric hanging from the bottom that I can't decide if I want to cut it or not.  I'm going to think a bit more on it. Still more to do...but it sure felt good to work on this again. 

Mysterious ladies

I don't know too much about these ladies.  I found them a couple of years ago at the Hospice flea market and just had to have them. I love them, especially their faces. 

They have bodies made out of a heavy paper cone, their heads are wooden.  

I love the little touches of lace and sequins.  I just think they are adorable, wherever they came from.  

Inspiration: Elaine Bradford

I stumbled across the works of Elaine Bradford and was immediately blown away.  She makes wonderful sculptures with crochet, other mixed media materials and taxidermy animals.  I would love to see them in person.  You can check out her site and flickr for more info and photos.   Here's a few of my favorites.

"Little Guy" 2010  

I really like them when they are photographed outside.  Adds a sense of surreality to them.

'Family Portrait as Panda Bears" 2010     This is one of favorite pieces.  I love the little world she created. 

'Harry, With Worlds on Top"

"Divided Attention" 2006

'Of course it Quacks, It's a Duck"  This piece is amazing--the gold feet and bill are so great.

'No Legs" 2007

This elephant is just amazing.  Can you just imagine the size of this?  Wow. 

Well I guess that's enough---please go check out all of her photos.  She has a ton of work--each piece worth a look. 

Ode to "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is my favorite movie.  It has a wonderful cast and the writing is perfect.  It's a little quirky, but that just adds to the charm.  At it's core, it is the perfect love story. The main characters, Clementine and Joel (played wonderfully by Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey) are in a relationship that has taken a turn for the worse.  In their anger and hurt they both erase their memories of each other, which is where the delightful quirkiness comes to play.   We travel with Joel through the erasing process and relive his memories of Clementine and their relationship--from how they first met, to the special moments they shared. Some are so absolutely touching that I cry every time.  It is through this loss that they both truly realize their love is real and, in the end, they find each other again.  What more can you ask for in the perfect love story. I thought I'd see if there are any other fans out there, perhaps getting a little creative--so here's what I found.

I am in love with this paper doll of Clementine by claudiavarosio.  It comes with her orange sweatshirt and her ever changing hair colors.   Way too cute.

This lovely pillow by schinders with the phrase "Meet Me in Montauk" a very significant line in the movie.  You may remember this pillow that I received from her in a swap.  She rocks!  Check out her blog, too.

When I first saw this piece by theawkwardunicorn a couple years ago, I fell in love immediately.  This line, "Please let me keep this memory-just this one" resonated so deeply with me.  It's a perfect stitching the way the letters seem to fade away, just like the memory that was being erased, though Joel was trying so desperately to hold on to it.  Just wonderful. 

This lovely necklace by enamor is based on the necklace Joel was going to give to Joel.  He bought it at a flea market because she's the type of girl that likes unique things.  This is super cute. 

I first saw this piece in a MrXStitch post.  This is a movie poster created by Ezgi Genç.  It's a wonderful representation of the frozen river scene.  I love the little Clementine and Joel.  Super cute. 

I hope you were inspired by these wonderful pieces.  I love when a movie inspires creativity.  That is the true mark of something special, when fans start creating things based on their favorite movie or show or band or whatever.  Here's my favorite scene from the movie ( I could only find this one) and also the music theme by the wonderful Jon Brion. I love the music in the movie too, and had planned on walking down the aisle to the theme before my disk messed up and I had to pick a new one last minute.  But I imagined it in my head and it was beautiful. 

Hollow hearts and balloons

It's been H-O-T hot here in NC!  I've had to stay inside with the A/C and stitch--poor me.  So since I've been busy stitching I've got a finished embroidery to share.  I'm really loving stitching up these Sublime patterns on found linens.  I've got quite a series going now.  This is another Tara Mcpherson pattern.  (If you click that link you'll see my other Tara McPherson pattern being used on the SS site!--eek).  

The flowers and border were already stitched on the fabric and the crocheted border was already there, too. 

This pattern was really fun to stitch.  I chose fun colors and kept the stitches simple.  Now--I just have to decide what to stitch next!   Although I really should paint some...I'm such a procrastinator when it comes to my paintings. 

Yo-Yo dolls

I have two yo-yo dolls.  These are actually the only two yo-yo dolls I've ever seen.  I'm always surprised that I don't see them in thrift or antique stores more often.

 This one has a lovely painted face and yarn hair.  

 I love the face on this one.  

I found a couple of great tutorials here and here to make your own yo-yo doll if you are so inclined.  I would love to give it a try.  I have tons of fabric scraps that would be perfect.

Favorite things

I love this little vignette sitting on my TV stand. It's got several of my favorite things.

The flowers are my wedding bouquet that I made sitting in a beautiful milk glass vase.  The smaller milk glass dish holds my "rock babies" that I received in the Chuck Palahniuk swap (based on the book Choke).  The little figurines are all thrift store finds (the larger kitty now missing a chunk of her ear due to my real kitty).  The print is by a fabulous artist, Pinkytoast and my sister gave it to me. Even the doilies are treasured, I received them at our wedding shower.  It's just small things like this that make me smile.

Our "garden"

The best thing about summer in my opinion is fresh produce.  I look forward to going to Farmer's Markets, and getting things from family and friends.  They always want to share!  Since we are apartment dwellers we have no yard (sadsies), so I thought I'd try to grow a few things in containers this year. 

We've got some herbs; basil, oregano and chives and I'm also trying radishes, swiss chard and a salad blend. 

Everything has sprouted!  It is so hot here in NC right now that I'm hoping everything will make it through. I would still like to get some cherry tomato plants, too.

So keep your fingers crossed for me that my little garden will be fruitful for us!  What are you growing this summer?

Swap part 2!

Holy Jeebus!!  I received these super awesome stitchings from my partner for the Phat Quarter swap!  They blew me away!! 

It's Harry Potter and the gang!

Hermione, Harry and Ron

Hagrid, Ginny, Freg, George and Dumbledore!

Ron even has his broken wand!  I love it!

Weasley's

Hagrid is one of my favorite characters in the books (he even has his little pink umbrella!

These are just so great.  My partner really went above and beyond!  It's definitely making me want to do more swaps. Check out my partner's stuff here!  She does great work. 

Also fittingly enough, I received a sweet package from a dear friend.  She recently visited The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios and sent me a Chocolate Frog (it was tasty).  I received the Godric Gryffindor Wizard card inside!  Now I can start my collection!

I am both sad and excited about the final Harry Potter movie. I want to see it badly but knowing that it is the last one is definitely bittersweet. I'm sure I will need to bring a tissue or two. TTFN!