To my VAST annoyance, i can’t figure out how to embed youtube films into my posts. BUt all you crafty quilt loving sewing peeps with a twisted sense of humor REALLY need to watch this:

The Quilt Club

enjoy! Muahahahahaha!!!!!

Yay! It’s done at last! I think i must have been embroidering on this skirt for no less than a century, no?

I so used to love wearing this skirt. I loved how it fit. I always felt all curvy and va-va-voom with it on. Who knew that within two months of it’s purchase i’d get knocked up (was it the skirt’s fault perhaps? LOL!) and have to retire it forever. But i just could not bring myself to get rid of it! So i recently decided to embellish it, just for fun. (And we all know that nothing is safe from my mad needling) AND here it is, all done!

Sadly, it’s a bit small, even for Miss Scarlett adjusted to her smallest setting….but at least i can get it over her hip, unlike my own, in order to photograph it. I really like how it came out, and i may go into fits of tantrums and sobbing because i can’t wear it!! It does do wonderful things for one’s booty! Rawr!

So off to the shop it goes. (wipes away tears, blows nose, lets it go, etc.! LOL!)

I have been a busy bee this weekend, making a few batches of soap, working on a new doll to take to the Belladonna’s open house next weekend, and trying think of some fun new designs for cuffs. I have so much to do, i need to step away from the computer. Has anyone seen my motivation? It seems to have wandered off…

Eeeeek! Topless ragdolly!

teehee!

I have been the slackest crafter ever lately….working on the same two dolls for weeks now, and still truckin’ along on the crazy dancing skellie skirt. I think having to re-do Sugar Mama in conjunction with helping my sister get ready for her big move has kept my creative juices on low-flow. But, Sugar mama v2 almost done….she alredy has a very fancy apron, now i need to make her a dress and some shoes, and she’s off. I think i like her even better than the first one, honestly, i am really really happy with the embroidery on this girl!

It is alot more detailed and i think the colors really “pop”. I plan to get her dress done TONIGHT, no more slackin’. I am not going to lie and say i am not TERRIFIED To put her in the mail. Thinking about the loss of the first one still makes me feel like crying. But i have to move on, because i have a busy time ahead…my pal Jen from Belladonna’s just called and said Postmortem Posie has sold, along with alot of the other stock i took to the shop, so i gotta get off my booty and make some more dollies, cuffs, soap and stuff. Also she asked me to make some voodoo dollies out of some materials she is supplying me with, and i can’t wait to get busy on that project! I loooooove voodoo dollies!

My sister is also still making funny and fabulous necklaces in the “TOOLS” series, in the shop,

i REALLY love “HACK”. HA! She is killin’ me with this stuff. LOL!

It’s been cold and nasty all day….. with ice and rain and frigid wind….we are not used to this kind of REAL winter weather here in SC this time of year! Normally i am still running around with bare feet at Thanksgiving. I would LOVE to see some snow this year! My little one has never even SEEN snow before! I am hoping that this weather means we get a “real” winter for a change…i want to build a snow man and make snow angels adn get blue frozen fingers that i can wrap around a nice hot mug of mexican hot chocolate…….mmmmmmmmmmm!

My little sister is just too much. We have our ups and downs, but always, she remains my best friend. She’s been through a lot lately, but it is very apparent that she is on her way back to the light-side of La La Land. She’s getting back into her jewelry making which is GREAT…being creative is one of the best methods of healing i know of ( i am imagining a Muse in a Nurse uniform), and has begun a new art-necklace series…TOOLS.

Too funny. Love the big old hammer on the first one, and “WENCH” with the wrench….what can i say…my girl has the best sense of humor ever. It’s all pretty-pearly girlie and big butch tools, married in the best way! As much as it PAINS my greedy self to do so, i have listed them on Etsy for her in my shop (but if she thinks she’s getting out of making one for me she’s VERY MISTAKEN! You hear me, La La? LOL!

Hope everyone is having a grand friday! xoxox

My rose bushes’ last gift to me of the season, with two last flowers for me before the first frost comes….

They are so beautiful, but so sad, too….the scent is heavenly, but bittersweet.

Already, i am longing for spring.

A few weeks ago, i was lucky enough to win a contest that Stacie over at Mommy Mosh Pit had going. I am generally pretty dang unlucky, in fact i NEVER win stuff, so it was quite a unique thrill! And she sent me a big box of fun and sweetness!

I am having an awful time getting good pictures these days, but i did the best i could so that everyone can see the FABULOUS gourd mask she sent me. It’s so “Voodoo Island” and it looks so cool in our orange bathroom. It’s made by a local artist in her community named Brenna Adams. One of the coolest things about Stacie is that she is VERY committed to buying and eating locally. Having spent a large part of my childhood on a farm, i understand first hand how important that it is to support local growers. (Speaking of support…i have to give a shout-out to my pal Alan, who is the creator of that fantastic Wonka illo hanging above the mask! It is one of most favorite things andit makes me smile every day without fail. Go check out his site and be amazed at his wonderful whimsical artistry! )
Along with the groovy mask, i also got a big tin of delicious home made cookies, some seeds from the beautiful cosmos flowers in her garden, a lovely little candle (also locally handmade!) that has a scent that reminds me of summer days spent on Edisto Island as a kid. It was a big box of nostalgia, and so appreciated….it brightened up my long dark yucky-time of the soul. Thanks so much, Stacie!

Since we are showing off a picture from the brightest colored room in the buttonbox, i might as well go for broke and show ya’ll another corner of the bathroom that i love. The color of the room is much truer in this shot…it really is almost day-glo in here! My oldest son and i made that cool mobile last year from a neat kit we got at a local Oriental Market. All the directions were in Korean, tho’, so it is really good thing Raven is an origami master. We had fun putting the mobile together and i love seeing it hang there, constantly in motion, making little fish shadows on the wall.

I know i have been really quiet lately, and not pouring forth with the creativity like usual. With the constant drama, i confess to feeling quite down-trodden. I hate whining on my blog all the time, so i have just kinda pulled into my shell temporarily and not doing very much that i can post about. I have been working on an extra special “poppet-portrait” skully doll for a Very Special Baker, she’s almost done and i am EXTREMELY pleased with her… but i don’t want to post pictures and ruin the surprise! I am still working on the embroidery for the replacement sugar mama doll as well. (I had forgotten how long the really flamboyant embroidery takes!) Still working the skelly-skirt too. Miles of embroidery flow both behind me and before me. Fortunately, it’s very therapeutic and keeping me sane. I also have a few other swaps to work on, which is both good adn bad, because i need some motivation, yet i wish i didn’t feel stressed about them. I know it will be a good thing in the end, as i am very much in need of distraction from all the navel gazing, care-taking, and possible/probable pet trauma looming before me. Too much sad! Dammit, i want my perkiness back ASAP!

Wow, my week is off to a ROARING start! It would seem that there is at least ONE thing that is consistent within the universe of the buttonbox…..DRAMA!

First of all. my little sister is in the hospital with a very serious infection. Fun stuff. Hub recovering for minor surgery. Wahoooooo! One broken car, so i am totally home-bound right now. And to further my unhappiness…the Sugar Mama doll got lost in the mail on her way to her new home. I have always had pretty good luck with the postal system (aside from my jack-ass postman who literally backs into my driveway, leans from his window and THROWS WITH GREAT FORCE my parcels onto my porch…a good ten feet! GOD i hate that guy) Anyway, i am heartbroken to know that one of my little dead girls is just gone. Who knows where. Probably in the trash somewhere. It causes me a true, physical pain in my chest when i think of it.

Fortunately, the WONDERFUL (and talented, i might add) kind gentleman who purchased Sugar Mama is so understanding….i am making him a new doll. She won’t be exactly the same, but i am trying to get the embroidery as similar as possible.

The other big thing i am doing is embroidering BIG BIG BIG dancing skellies all over this really pretty (but alas, too small) flared and ruffled black skirt i got from the thrift store. It is probably going to be WAY over the top…the skellies are really large and very primitively drawn (all hail Amanda’s brilliant drawing skills! NOT!) Still, i am liking the effect and hopefully some small person out there will like it enough to wear it.

I also managed to go vote today (thanks to my MIL!) I try to keep my politics quiet on the blog, but i have to say that i AM on pins and needles waiting for the today’s outcome. Our state is trying vote in an amendment banning gay marriage….and i wish i could say i had faith that it won’t pass…but this *IS* SC, and part of the Bible belt. So i am trying to keep my expectations low….but i can at least say i did my part to try to prevent this horribly unfair (and unconstitutional) amendment. Why why why can’t folks just live and let live????? i never understand it, and it dismays me to the core of my soul that people are so unkind and bigoted on this issue. There is so little real love in the world….why can ALL marriages be honored and cherished?
Anyway….Viva La Resistance…..crossing my fingers that just MAYBE this poor fractured country could be beginning the slow process of regime change at last…..

The unimaginable has occured in the buttonbox….i have been stricken with the most alien of feelings….

BOREDOM.

I am almost NEVER EVER truly bored. I pretty much always have no fewer than three projects in the works that i am ALWAYS happy to be working on, as well as a million other ideas swiriling thru that tangled grey fluffball i call a brain, just waiting to be pulled out and acted upon.

But, my hub had minor surgery today, so i am taking care of him since he is not allowed out of bed, so i can’t slip off to the “studio” to do stuff… And to make matters worse, for once the toddler went to sleep at a normal and decent hour for the average three year old. Theoretically, i COULD be DOING stuff….making something, cleaning my hideous filthy house, reading a book…ANYTHING!

But, i am just not moved! I guess it equates to the “blah” feeling kids get after xmas passes…only i get the post-Halloween blahs instead. I feel so uninspired right now, and i am not satisfied with a single thing i put my hand to today. i hate feeling this way! I sure hope the Muse wakes her sleepy butt up and comes back to get me going again soon! Because boredom=slow painful death. And i am not ready to be overcome by consumption just yet…..

Hoping everyone out there in blogland is having a much more inspired and productive Friday night than me, my TIVO, and my large bottle of Merlot (who has become my best pal tonight)

xoxox

Here is little Juju Mae,

all dressed up pretty for All Soul’s Day

She hope the clouds and rain won’t stay

so sugar skull won’t melt away….

Miss Juju Mae has been in the works for a while…i had orginally intended her for the series of three for Belladonna’s. But as i am not super woman (DAMN! and i try so hard!) i was not able to complete her in time. Another naked and bald dolly sitting around here, looking reproachfully at me…just what i need! LOL!

I got her dress done the other night, but was dismayed to find that i am all out of black yarn ….the plan was for her to have black and white hair orginally. But last night it hit me…why not just give her a head full of white hair but put a bunch skullie beads in it. So, i sat for a couple hours watching telly and threading a gajillion beads in my girl’s hair. I think it came out quite nicely in the end!

And now she is ready for adoption! I’ll list her on Etsy after i get some coffee in me!

I hope everyone is having a lovely vist with their ancestors and not getting too high on sugar skulls and marigolds!

xoxo