Friday, October 10, 2008

WIPs, Wishes and Weaknesses

A few stitchy items in the works. Actually this little Owl from La D Da is done and in his sparkly black wreath. I think he will live at home here with me rather then go away as a gift. There is something about stitched animals that attaches me to them, as if they are real animals. I am still working along on the French Sampler too.The Halloween decorating at my friend Sharee's is also a WIP. Here is the porch, made up after last years' magazine cover of "Mary Englebreit's Home Companion". (Picture is very dark, but I love how the sky looks!)Doll clothes are always a WIP and I need to complete some more for the 18" dolls for a craft fair at the gym 13 December. I still dream about making more 1900 outfits for the 16" dolls though. The last WIP is a little turkey quilt patch I pieced together years ago.I found him in a box of holiday decorations last week. What he's doing in there I have no idea. He is part of a larger seasonal quilt by "Country Threads". That series of books is similar to the "Needl' Love" books I am crazy about. But now I am drifting into the Wishes category..................
As for wishes; the usual ones apply.....health, happiness, peace, financial security. On a more tangible scale:
1. I wish I wrote more letters. I used to be an avid letter-writer, but a combination of soaring postal rates and the Internet have really curtailed my writing. I have over a dozen "pen-pals". I suppose there is a more adult word then pen-pal, but I have called them that since childhood. Infact, one of these "pals" has been around for over 25 years. I have been writing to my friend Gudula in Germany since we were both young, aspiring gymnasts in our early teens.
2. I wish I could focus more. I find I set out to do one task and as I walk to that particular area of the house or yard I am suddenly taken up by another task and then another and then nothing seems to get completely done.
3. I wish I saw more movies. I made a list the other night of the movies I have actual seen as first-run features in the movie theater. There were 9. Yes, nine in my entire lifetime! I think that is part of the focusing wish. I just can't sit still in a theater for several hours and not be able to stitch or clean or cook or perform some other useful task. Here is a list of the movies I have seen:
Star Wars ( yes, the original in about 1976)
Strawberry Fields (or something like that. A drippy little movie with Peter Frampton redoing Beetles tunes. My cousin and I were just wild over Peter Frampton in those days, about 1978)
Mad Max (yuck, not my style at all. But it was the style of the boy I had a crush on in 1981)
One of the Bond/007 flicks (about 1984, again more crush-oriented then a topic I was really interested in.)
Some horrible South American torture movie (again motivated by a boy. Around 1987 and I closed my eyes through most of this one, hence the lack of a proper title.)
Nightmare Before Christmas, 1993.(Liked this one, except for the fact that I went with my neighbor and her three screaming kids)
Somersby, about 1993(again with the same neighbor and her screaming kids)
Jurassic Park about 1994(went with my mom and dad of all people! My mom wanted to see it because she taught 3rd Grade and wanted to be up on the current trends. My dad went to see it because it was a $1 matinee!)
Ace Venture Pet Detective about 1995 ( with my husband,just for laughs)
Movies I wish I could see: The Duchess, The Notebook, The Queen, Brideshead Revisited....are you seeing a trend here? Movies I saw on TV loved: Enchanted April, Out of Africa, Forrest Gump, Cold Mountain, The Piano. Those last two sort of creeped me out a bit, but I still like them.
Under the category of weaknesses: Of course I don't include chocolate,cheese, fabrics, threads, cats of any shape or form. Magazines is #1. The more expensive and hard to find the better! My latest two cravings are "Majesty" and "Haute Doll". Both totally useless (no patterns or charts) and dreadfully over-priced. Another weakness is dolls. I just can't seem to get enough of them. I have nearly all of my childhood dolls, including two 11.5" Dollikins that my mother bought for me in 1973. Here are two more beauties I would love to have. They are "The Devereaux Sisters" form the Robert Tonner Doll Company. They are 16.5" tall fashionistas from 1920's Paris. They are $70 each so they will remain just a wish for now.
I suppose I should add the category of "Weirdness", since this entire post is rather odd. But that is the course my brain is taking today. Oh well, it's Friday and I have the entire weekend to get back to reality before Monday rolls around again.

3 comments:

  1. Your creative endeavors are so wonderful and unique, Jennifer!! :D

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  2. Cute stuff, owl, turkey and Halloween decorations. You are so busy and creative.

    I can identify with you about starting to do one thing and going to another part of the house and end up doing something else. I do that all the time.

    Having long standing pen pals is something that has always faacinated me. I think that would be so fun to keep in touch with someone like that for a long time.

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  3. That black-painted wreath is a really creative way to frame the embroidery.

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