Stumbling Blocks

I wore my new crocheted rose hair clip out today and I am just so in love with it.

When we moved, I got rid of 4 shelves which had held my fabric.  I'm barely getting along without them.  Most of my material is still in boxes and it makes it so difficult to go through and work with my inspiration.  Plus, the boxes don't stack so well since they are from such different places and of varying sizes.  Right now my machine is on the floor in the family room and my supplies are upstairs which makes finding matching patterns hard.  Everything I've made since I've been here has been from the same pieces.   Oh well.  So much else has been going in my favor.  Once Easter comes I'll have to push it off to a corner since people will be staying in that room.  Frustrating... 

I love how many hippies are here in NC.  I drove by a couple of them today and they had a sign looking for a ride to Greensboro.  Had it been my car, I probably would have picked them up, just for the adventure and to explore a new place.  Instead, my mom locked the doors.

After thinking I had killed off my seeds by planting them too early, today I spotted growth!!  Finally something identifiable as Purple Basil cannot be mistaken for cilantro or chiles.

Tea Party

Gorgeous Weather, Blooming Peach Tree Branches in vases, Cherry Plates, and some delicious pie on sale at Target all called for an afternoon tea party.  This tablecloth was a clearance find at a Target as well but from the end of last season.  Man, I like collecting stuff.  The dishes were not mine, but maybe someday will be my inheritance, hee hee.

In the name of gardening, some branches must be pruned away- but their beauty cannot go to waste!

This is the vase from my bedroom I brought down for the day.  I acquired it from a church yard sale.

Gorgeous!

I began setting the table with hand-sewn pot-holders and set an array of teas on a plate.  The plate stand came from a store just this week and was half off.  Oooh lala!

There are random containers of these branches all over the house.

The peach-raspberry pie was amazing as was the strawberry shortcake.  I wash it down (and the cookies) with about 5 glasses of tea, so I expect a lot of bathroom breaks tonight.

I finally acquired a copy of the long-sought Herb Book by John Lust.  I even got it for free!  Major score.  The herbs have begun springing in the yard yet not so many of my new seeds.  I think I should have obeyed the package and waited til April/May to plant them, but I was so anxious in March.  Oh well.  Something is doing very well, but I neglected to label them so I have no idea what it is.  At least my beans are doing well!

I'm about to transplant some spearmint from the ground into a pot to start an indoor garden.  I also bought more seeds today but I'm waiting to plant them.  At least the Herb Fest is right around the corner and I hope to buy lots of things!

Nostril Piercing

I REALLY want to get a nostril piercing.  I had one before but Im too touchy feely with my nose (picker) and was with someone who was very conservative so I took it out.  I like the look of a stud but apparently the best jewelry to start out with is a ring and you should leave it in for months til it's all healed.  After having had 14 piercings, I still always think I could be that one weird, rare case.  I could deal with the ring but being a hypochondriac I've been googling piercing PROBLEMS.  Oh, and images as well.

Whoo Boy!!

"It comes after research estimated one in 10 adults in England have piercings in places other than their earlobes.
More than a quarter have had complications while 13 per cent have had problems so serious they sought further help.
Almost one in 100 piercings among young people aged 16 to 24 led to them being admitted to hospital.
Among this age group, 31 per cent of piercings result in complications, with half of those requiring medical attention."
I'd like to know my chances of developing a "bump" or horrible scar tissue.  I'd love to be able to see my face in the future and know if it was a good choice.  Amidst pictures of gorgeous, Indian jewelry and medical oddities, I came across this cool blog:
http://www.whiteindianhousewife.com/

It was a nice mental  break but back to reading about pus, compresses, and keloids....

Also,
I have been featured on Dollar Store Crafts, hooray!

Once in a million tortillas...

Some have said it is the face of Jesus.  While cooking up a great mexican meal, this guy appeared on one of the tortillas:

Super happy, despite his ultimate fate of being devoured alive at dinner.  It took a lifetime of making these for my mom to be graced by such a miraculous apparition.  

My grandmother said it's the devil.  But I think he only makes appearances on Devil's Food Cakes and the oh so sinful creme brulee. 

On my list of things to make today, is a skirt with an appliquéd giraffe.  I drew inspiration from this great book I got on clearance at an antique/junk shop yesterday.  It has pics of clothing and articles from the 60's.  Here she is, the "Gay Day" Giraffe, made in South Africa.

I eventually want to try making the plush toy as well, but it's number 138 on my to do list.  Today is for skirts.

B.O.M.B.

Before I left Cleveland, I got a tattoo with my bestest friend, Bonnie.  She sews leather accessories and clothing and has gone by B. Original (even though some time back I saw this show on tv where the girl went by this, Bonnie has had this name for a much longer time so Bonnie is THE B. Original) for decades.  Since my site is MeliBeli and I have an awesome flag that was made with this, when we join forces we are B.O.M.B. (B. Original MeliBeli).

I miss her like crazy and as awesome as the South is, I don't think I will ever have such a great group of friends like I had back in Ohio.  At one of our first shows together, our two friends modeled in the gallery window for us and here they are:

*Sigh* 

Now whenever I fly, if I'm asked if I have a bomb on me, technically I do!

Crocheted Flowers

Spent some time crocheting these flowers for the hair.  Some will be attached to headbands and others onto barrettes.  Luckily these go easily into my thick hair but I wanted some options so that those with finer hair could still use them.  My favorites are the ones with skulls but I'm trying to only take one or two for my own personal use.

I'm using vintage buttons as well as cool beads for the center pieces

They are 100% cotton in most cases and I've really got to get them for sale in my shop.

They're flowers you can place behind your ear that will never wilt or fade.  Well, maybe if you wore it every day for YEARS the natural fibers would have their color fade a bit... but they'll last a hell of a lot longer than their real counterparts.

At the moment I am making black beans.  I've never successfully made a batch of beans that weren't from a  can so we'll see.  As  much as I love black bean soup, these will be just normal beans since they will be complimenting chicken tacos.   

Mmmmmm, tacos....

Muddy Days, Planting the seeds away..

As you can see, I had quite a productive day outdoors:

I think I need another pair of Nomad rubber boots.  Maybe in red this time.  A pair for mud and a pair for rain.

So I have a lot of high expectations for the coming season.  So far I've mostly planted herbs but I do have squash, beans, cumquats and spinach in pots as well.   The thing thats growing the best so far is the garlic I got from my sister's fridge because it already had an inch or so of greenery and a decent root system.  Having done well in dark, cold conditions I expect it to flourish in sunlight and dirt.

I also worked on some of the outdoor decor and hung random thingys around that I had made:

Then I saw what looked like a jumping rock, and after chasing it down handed it off to my husband so I could run in for my camera:

Then after chasing a squirrel, one of the cats followed suit and actually CAUGHT it for me.  He released it and then chased it up a tree.  He set up vigilant watch at the base of this tree for quite some time despite my many attempts to distract him and let the poor squirrel run away.

Despite such muddy conditions, I took a stroll round the woods

After coming inside, I played around with my magnificent, recent acquisition of a nepalese, hand carved set of Mexican Milagro stamps.

Milagros are small metal religious charms found in many areas of Latin America, especially Mexico and Peru. The word “Milagro” means “miracle”. They are also used in Europe, where they are often referred to as Exvotos (Offerings). These small charms, often depicting arms, legs, praying people, farm animals and a wide range of other subjects are typically nailed or pinned to crosses or wooden statues of various saints like the Virgin Mary or Christ, sacred objects, pinned on the clothing of saint statues, or hung with little red ribbons or threads from altars and shrines. They are also carried for protection and good luck

I want to mail small, stamped cards with online purchases to send off good luck and prayers around the world. 

And I finally got my earring holder up.  It was made by The Sign Guy from Tremont in Cleveland and was originally a piece of wall art however now it is utilitarian wall art.

Art Weekend

Last night's event was fun and my first since moving south.  I got to meet some other artists which was great and selling always feels great.  I then came home to see even more sales from online- hooray!

Today I check out a local craft event which looks like it'll be really nice.  It's the 

The Designers Downtown Market  and it's partially hosted by a local bead store.  I hope to meet some area artists that would be interested in bartering or letting me know what other events are going on this summer.

Art is an Alliance- the goal of our Artisans Alliance

This is part of a piece done by Becky Gammon in Cleveland Ohio.  Her link is to the left.

She is multi talented as a photographer, web designer, jewelry maker, and 3-D collage artist. 

Quick Update

So much going on I will have to elaborate in a day or so-

Fell in love with bean sprouts.  Got excited to grow them myself.  Then heard of a link to salmonella and e coli...gotta look into this more because they're good and super good FOR you.

Preparing for Art After Hours tomorrow where I'll be a feature artist.  Nervous since its my first event and I wish I had made more but you gotta jump in at some point.  Im excited that I'll be at a tattoo shop, wheee!

Made 8 tea wallets and doing some sweet bags right now.

Saw peacocks and donkeys today.  Cool.

Upped my tea intake which is nice except for the increase in pee breaks.

Taking such a break now and then back to sewing!!

Spring Weekend

There's a great place here that will clean out your garage/attic/storage place FOR FREE and whatever you want to get rid of, they donate, recycle, or sell at their shop which is like an indoor garage sale.  Found some AMAZING things for cheap and I loved the electronics room where they had such beauties as these televisions:

I ended up buying vintage suitcases and a few bottles of Lugger bullet shells.  The weather was great so we also went around to some green houses to start planning the gardens.  That's where I met this interesting fellow.

I think he was made by NC State students.  The guy had to spend the night in jail for stealing city property but the publicity was worth it as now others have been putting in orders for these Construction Barrel Men.  Here you can also see my new fave boots, the rubber Nomads I got a few months ago.  I merrily tromped through mud and puddle and walked under some waterfalls with them.

The people that own the greenhouses had the most amazing yard and had created waterfalls on the property.

Later we built a fire in the backyard and whenever the flames waned, we pulled out the gas powered leaf blower to get it going again:

I caught fire once but it was only a smidgeon.

Mother Mary Machine

Site is resting comfortably in its new home and now I just need to go through and find whatever may have been left behind in the hectic move.

For anyone that may have wondered-

Mother Mary Machine: A Marshall full stack with La Virgen de Guadalupe printed or painted on the screens.

Here, you can see the matching Les Paul accessory to such a set up:

And here, we have the matching wife tattoo.  

Glitchy Boo

In an effort to speed along a process, I acted too hastily and now my main site is down til possibly Friday.  Depending on whether Yahoo has a 5 or 7 day business week.  Super Frustrated.  After hours and hours of work I get this period of time where I can do nothing and I get nothing.

I want a bat and smashy things.

Spring Decor

These are images I had collected when I was planning the wedding (took about a month) and I'm loving them for spring/summer decor.  This year, I actually have a yard and I'm super excited for an outdoor dinner.  

Candles are one of my favorite things to have- right next to glass.  I hate throwing away any jar and I have many colored glass bottles lining the ledge of my windows.

White beans would also work at the bottom of the jar.  The cheaper, the better!

All this decorating talk makes me miss Domino.  First they take away Sassy Magazine, then Jane.  And when I fell in Love with Domino and the amazing rooms within, of course, the curse comes back into play.  I'm afraid to admit how much I adore Bust lest they leave me as well.   Lately the magazine aisle just isn't what it used to be.  I may pick up a Cosmo or a tattoo mag but only to flip through for a moment.  Domino was beautiful on every page. 

As soon as I get a cardboard egg carton I'll start my seeds.  

-Purple Basil

-Sweet Basil

-Cilantro

-Spinach

Tons of herbs are already growing wild in the yard so I anxiously await bountiful harvests!

Interview today.  Thought I'd get some spending mula but I'm wondering if a 45 min drive will be worth working in an awesome store with no required uniform where creativity is strongly encouraged.  Plus, the discount may end up breaking me even since I always make a purchase there.  

(Virtual) Moving

The Arduous Task of Switching Hosts

 

Hours and hours and days later things seem to finally have hit a smooth patch.  After struggling with a dropping connection, enduring an endless software update, downloading and then uploading a decade's worth of images and pages, setting up new email accounts, going through 1,000 emails and forwarding the important messages one by one I think I'm close.  And by that I mean hopefully by the end of the day I say SEE YA! to Yahoo!

These pictures were on some site of mine when I was still in college and they still make me smile to this day. Odd little internet finds of the day.  Perhaps the process of the move has been somewhat hindered by my nostalgia and going through images taken back in the 90's.