I seem to be moving in slow motion, but i assure you, i *AM* moving, tho’ it may be imperceptible to the naked eye! I am nesting, preparing myself for the “Big H” (which for now is tentatively scheduled for April 13th….yes, that WOULD be a friday, to my great amusement. My surgery on Friday the 13th. Heh! Good thing i am not the least bit superstitious about that day!) Anyway, i am making small moves! I have traced out the cicada pattern from the wondrous Omiyage book, i figured it would be a good project to work on while i am stuck in bed. I have also been making new Naughty icon candles….

i layered spring-themed printed tissue paper, lace, and a vintage nudie faerie printed onto vellum, and it looks really nifty with candle light shining through. I think the faeries like it, because lo and behold, ANOTHER nest has appeared!

Really, they are just all over the place. And the Good Neighbors are very messy nest-builders…leaving scraps of this and that all over the place. But it’s ok… it’s an infestation i can live with.

I am also working on a little dead ragdolly for dear Pushmeover, who probably thinks i have forgotten her, but i promise i have not! And as always, there’s an embroidered tree in the works.

But mostly, i am working on inner peace!!! Trying to have good humour and to not let my fears overwhelm me, and feeling incredible amounts of gratitude for all the well wishes and love from you all. Thank you all for your wonderfully kind comments and for hanging in there with me even when i whine like a big baby. It’s going to be ok, and i am so much stronger for knowing you are all out there! Love to you all!!!!

xoxoxo

Well, it seems that the time has come for me to go ahead and take ya’ll to the TMI place we all love so much (heh!)  I have to apoligize for not answering emails and comments the way i normally do, because i have gone into temporary hermit-state. The truth is that i am trying to make peace with the fact that i will be having a hysterectomy. (See, didn’t you all REALLY want to know all the intimate details of my personal life? haha!) After several visits to the doc we’ve figured out that i have a condition called adenomyosis. It’s not life threatening, but it HAS been adversely affecting my quality of life for quite some time (see, all my moodiness is not just for dramatic effect after all! LOL!) The fact is that i feel pretty awful about 85% of the time. My creativity had dropped, depression has settled in for the long haul and my family must REALLY be tired of how droopy and lack-luster i have become, constantly in pain. So, after thinking about it and talking it out at length with my doctor, i decided to just go ahead and have the surgery. At this time, i am not exactly sure what date it will happen, they are calling me with the details. But i assume it will be sometime in the next month or so. I can’t lie, i am absolutely petrified and quite heartbroken, which is why i have not kept up with all my lovely blog-peeps as well as i should. If i owe you an email, please forgive me. I hate putting all this out there into the blog world, but i really just wanted you guys to know what is going on with me. I have been trying to escape reality as much as i can, living on Cocteau Twins, faerie dresses, nest-building and daydreaming, trying to forget my fears. I hope that i will feel like a normal human again once the procedure is done…right now i am rather a mess.
ANYWAY. That’s the big bad news. And again, i am sorry i have not been answering comments consistently and checking on my favorite blog ya-yas like i should.  I will try to do better! I think once i know the date of the surgery it will get easier to deal with because i will be able to mentally prepare.  Right now i feel like i am in a daze and i’m not having the easiest of times accepting that this is REALLY going to happen!

And i won’t just dump all this yuckiness on you without some crafty stuff to  follow it up. My current WIP is  this very silly bag!

Asian Take-Out kitties! This adorable fabric was a gift from the wonderful Cindy. Last night it finally dawned on me what i could use it for! I’d gotten a big box of fabric scraps and odds and ends from the thrift store, and found this great fabric napkin mixed up in it, i imagine it must have come from a Chinese restaraunt maybe. But it is so cute, i thought it would make a great lining for a little purse.

That happy little smilie face just slays me!

I used the dreaded bias tape again, so the top of the bag is not up to snuff.  I am not sure how to correct the problems i am having with it, but hopefully i can come up with something. What is the deal with bias tape anyway?? I have NEVER been able to get it to look right!!! Sigh. Anyway, it’s a work in progress so i will report any epiphanies i have. LOL!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend…i plan to pack in as much joy as i possibly can….work in the garden, pant some flowers, build more nests, hang out with my fam, …take a trip to Zesto for a baklava sundae…find calm and beauty in every small thing…..

xoxox

Today i spied something strange hanging on the jasmine trellis….

What on earth can it be???

Perhaps some kind of crazy faerie nest?

And what’s that i see peeking out?

There’s an EGG in there!!!!

I wonder what will hatch from it??

Pixies build such flamboyant nests, don’t they? I am QUITE sure i see some of the ribbons, pearls, and buttons that have gone “missing” from my supplies!

But i don’t mind…an egg that pretty deserves a really deluxe nest, don’t you think?

Hoping everyone is having a wondrous week so far, full of nests and magic….

xoxox

We made a lovely place to rest and recline, a place to reconnect with magic……a place to heal and remember beautful things……..

At dusk we built a fire and feasted…….

I believe that the faerie folk who live in my yard must have appreciated our efforts, for the next morning when we awoke, we discovered evidence of very fashionable pixies hanging in the trees!

“For hours beneath the velvet sky they dance without a care,
Until the clock chimes midnight . . . then she’s no longer there!
Just a single lily petal and her fragrance in the air.”

I am so grateful for times of such whimsy and love!!!!!! I hope my wonderful Darling of Hecate had a lovely birthday escape! Kisses, hugs and Stoli, sweetie Darling!

Have you ever had one of those projects that just REFUSE to go into ANY of the directions you attempt to steer it? Well, here i my latest problem child…introducing Lady Helena Handbasket!

SO named because that is JUST where this project went…Hell in a handbasket!!!

Dear lord, where where where did those crow’s feet come from!!!!???

I has aspirations of making her a mermaid, which she quickly made clear she had NO intention of becoming. We argued. I said lots of inappropriate words, but finally, i just mad the best of it and and now her she is in all her glory. I wish i had more time to work with the mermaid idea, but right now i am a bit rushed, and maybe half-mad to boot. SO, what to do but just go with it and hope that she will be loved in her new home….we shall see.

I hope everyone has a grand St. Patty’s day….

xoxo

this morning i decided to photograph some of the things that surround me, the things that have brought me incredible amounts of happiness in recent times, the wonderful creative gifts of beauty that give a reason to smile when i don’t feel like smiling. And when i see it, all photographed like this, i feel like a crusty old dragon laying atop a mound of magical treasures, i feel shy about putting the photos out there because it almost seems like gloating…but it’s really gratitude and i know that i am blessed and lucky to have such beauty around me every day! Even on days when i feel like this:

But then there are books full of whimsy and knowledge from Kim, so i can laugh alittle and learn ALOT!

And there is art…….

And NeoVamp things that make me feel beautiful…….

And things From MommyMoshPit and NeoVamp to wear and use and love…….

And Calamity mushrooms, crawling with gnomes, growing in unexpected places…..

What a wonderful hoard of love i have! And i smile…….

I am pleased to introduce the newest member of the little dead ragdoll family…

Lucinda La Grippe! I was inspired by the truly wonderful Squirrel Nut Zippers song “La Grippe” ….here’s a link where you can hear it accompanied by a very morbid little film full of consumptive fun!

Theres a flu bug getting passed around
And its spreading like fire through the town
Theres a virus holing up inside us
Everyone that I know is coming down
Theres an asian influenza
Infecting us all by the score
And its turning into pneumonia
We must go out once more
Theres a fool moon howling at the night
And its bark is much worse than its bite
So we must go out and dance around
Yes we must go tonight
So the doctors came on the evening train
With their flasks and their caskets and vials
Mass psychosis was their diagnosis (yes)
So we all cashed our checks and went wild
Theres a fool moon howling at the night
And its bark is much worse than its bite
So we must go out and dance around
Yes we must go tonight
La grippe!

xoxo

I think i have embellished the gypsy bag within an inch of it’s life, but i think i am done at last….

The fabric is my very dearly loved and hoarded vintage drapery, lined with satin from a vintage dress….add Lace, yoyos, faux pearls, buttons and three sweet little brass bells that jingle in the most pleasing way! Viola! Jingly Gypsy Bauble Bag!

At first i imagined it as a tarot bag, rather like the bag i made years ago when i got my Brian Froud Faerie Oracle deck… back then, i did not even own a sewing machine and i sewed all these little things by hand! (That old bag is well-worn and well loved, and not nearly as fancy, but it holds one of my dearest treasures…that Oracle deck is true magic!!!!) Tho’ THIS bag was machine sewn, all the little details and embellishments are hand sewn…i have really enjoyed all the hand work just like i enjoy embroidery. That meditative place that it takes me is a very good place! This another piece that i am unleashing on the world, via etsy. The Gypsy within wants to go on a voyage, and shall travel in spirit in this little bag! No need having it hang around here when it could go on a fantastic adventure who-knows-where! What magical treasures might this little bag come to contain? It is open and ready to receive!

I have been so busy busy busy with projects and experiments, trying to lean new embroidery stitches and such. Two new little dead Ragdollies coming along nicely, so i should have at least ONE new member of the family to introduce by tomorrow. (And for fans of my little dead dollies, have a look at the Softie Awards page! I was shocked and pleased beyond words to find my own Mouldering Mildred shown there! Glee!!!)

I have been immersing myself in my creativity, which i think is a much healthier way to deal with my current state of affairs than moping about things! So BOO to the moping and on with the making!
I hope everyone’s week had gone by peacefully and wonderfully…..i see more and more spring happening around me every day and it fills me with joy and inspiration…..hoping you all feel it too!

xoxox

Yesterday, with my dear friend Calamity Kim coaching and cheering me along, i learned a new technique! The yoyo! This is the first decent-looking one that i made….

Naturally, since Kim is responsible for pushing me to try try try all the time, i had to turn that first yoyo into a kind of THANK YOU note

(edited to add: It’s a THANKIE HANKIE! Clever name award goes to Jungle Dream Pagoda! i am giggling like crazy now! teehee!)
When Big Daddy came home and saw my wonderful yoyo, the teasing began….the subject of a certain Very Bad Designer from last season’s Project Runway was brought up. Laughter was had at my expense. Fortunately, i was laughing too. Look Out, Angela….I see your “Rosette” and raise you a YoYo!

After thinking about the whole yoyo thing, and being so inspired by the amazing things that Kim does with the funky little things, it dawned on me what i could do to FINALLY work on finishing off the Gypsy bag i have been struggling along with.

It just needed some yoyos! Or rosettes, depending on who you ask! Hahahahaha!

I think they are kinda pretty. I am still not done…the bag needs bells and more pearls added, i think. Or maybe i just don’t know when to stop.

In other news, my home was invaded by a giant insect!

This marvelous little bag was made by Karen, who is an amazing artist and crafter as well as Cellist and Ukulele player. Too cool for words!

I wish everyone could be lucky enough to have bugs this pretty invade their houses…spring is almost here and with spring comes Palmetto bugs and mosquitos….i dearly hope my big beautful Cicada will ward them off!

i hope everyone is having a grand week!!!!

xoxox

Last year, i did this embroidery of a pink tree, not really knowing what i was going to do with it. Eventually i appliquéd little leaves onto it, and then set it aside for the longest time, intending to make it into a bag. Well, that was a mighty longtime ago, but i recently got the urge to resurrect the project….probably because it seems so spring-y to me. And i have truly been pining away for the spring the hurry up and come! So maybe this bag is my invocation of warm dirt and pale pink blossoms a fat flower buds ready to burst into bloom, and i am thrilled to say that it’s finished at last!!!! I should have awaited for a better day to photograph it, because it’s raining and miserable and the light is dreadful. But i am so happy to have overcome all my recent creative blockage and achieve closure with this long-languishing project!!! So please forgive the dark photography and indulge me while i celebrate!

You can see the embroidery alittle better here, and the tiny leaves…i REALLY like how the leaves came out!

Miss Scarlet just could not resist trying it on with the skirt i made out of that same old sheet is used in part of the appliqué, the leaves, strap and lining. She is so bright, pretty and full of hope for spring on this wet gray day! I can’t decide whether to put it in the etsy shop or to just keep it for greedy greedy little me! Decisions decisions!