Aren't they gorgeous?

I went on a field trip today to Button Emporium. Apparently they've been there for 11 years, and I didn't know. But now I'm telling you, so if you're in PDX you need to go yourself! And if you're not in PDX, visit their web site. It's actually Button Emporium and Ribbonry, and they definitely have both. I had a lot of possible button choices for the Lady sweater, but when THE ONE popped up and grabbed me, I just knew.

I'm on the home stretch. And with these buttons waiting to be sewn on, I'm racing to the end!

The refrigerator dishes are in a pattern I don't usually buy, Crazy Daisy I believe, but they were $2.00. Plus, they can go along with Verde quite easily. I may be inclined to trade them in the future.

This small dish was only 75 cents. It matches a relish tray I bought back in January, one of my very early pieces. After going to the flea market, I stopped at an antique mall. One of the vendors was selling this exact thing for $7.50!  And she had the matching relish tray for $8. I know I didn't pay that much.

I found this box of buttons where I bought the 501s. When I saw the $6.00 price tag I knew I had to buy it. The previous owner and I must be kindred spirits. She organized them all by color! How fantastic is that. I finally have a good assortment of buttons in a variety of colors rather than just having a very large collection of brown and white.

Things are pretty strained here. My step-father gave me a huge bunch of flowers (they looked like funeral flowers) which you'd think I couldn't gripe about. That is, until I read the card.

"To Aria,

Welcome home.

Love the Connivers"

Now I sent my mother an email explaining exactly why I was upset about the whole two week holiday right in the middle of my visit thing & one of the things I said was

".....but while I'm still being treated like a child with everyone conniving around me, what else am I supposed to resort to."

So you see, to them it's all just a bunch of laughs. I've had this all before from them & it doesn't get any funnier I can assure you.

So needless to say, it caused things to go a little ski-wiff, at least on my end, but I thought best to just ignore it & carry on regardless. Until his next comment about Bear, one that was so offensive I don't want to go ahead & write it without speaking to him first. But either way, I got back by running rings around him with my whole McCain/Palin (he is but a Messiah fan) spiel which left him speechless (for once)..I'm sure the two of them were looking at me like I'd been brainwashed. Ah, bless their poor, spoon-fed minds.

Next

I hadn't been here a half hour & my mother tells me she's spoken to the police & they want to speak to me today (yesterday).

I told her straight up I had asked for strict confidence & that they deal with me, no-one else. But oh, it wasn't the guy I'd been speaking to - it was his boss. Right. So, communication anyone?! I'm guessing he conveniently left the bit about not dealing & making decisions with my mother out of it. Not to mention, my having said to hold up on my statement, don't do anything until I leave the country again. Evidently they want to act now, which I can understand, but the whole point of me doing my statement in America was so that I wouldn't be square in the middle of things when shit hit the fan & right now, I'm square in the fucking middle.

So I got this Sergent's number & gave it to Bear - (I even have my very own incident number - don't you just love how they refer to my past sexual abuse as an "incident".) - I didn't even have to ask him if he would phone on my behalf (I could hear everything on Skype though). It was late last night but he did get to speak to someone, even if it wasn't the person we were looking for. But today, he'll set the record straight - that I did what I was asked, I made my statement & simply, I won't be speaking to anyone or doing anything about it until I leave the country again in November. If my wishes are not respected, I'll pull the plug. Like I said to my mother when she asked my reasons why - My reasons are neither here nor there, if I want to pull the plug, I'll pull the plug, because it's my plug to pull.

My mum has been chapping at the bit, desperate to know if I've phoned yet & what I've said. I'd already made the decision before I left America that I would very much be a closed book & that's the way it's going to stay.

Of course my father goes on about how I need to think of everyone else - well excuse me but didn't I do that when I made my statement? The statement I didn't want to do but did anyway because of a) the pressure from everyone else & b) the feelings of everyone else. It's about fucking time I thought of myself & did what I want. I've played my part, I've held up my end, that was the deal & as far as I'm concerned, the deals done.

I'm meeting my dad today for coffee - apparently it would have been dinner only if my step-mother could join us. But fine, skipping another meal works out fine for me & my long lost (yet new found) eating disorder anyway, so thank you.

Actually you know I was so worried about what my mother would say about my weight if I didn't lose what I'd gained before going back - I lost it & more by the way - but I was right, & thank Christ I did it because she's been going on & on about how thin I'm looking & how I've "kept the weight off".

I rest my case.

My mum hasn't told anyone that I'm engaged either, she thought I'd like to do it. Well hell, yes please - means I can whip out my camera at the precise moment of "OMFG you're what?!" Nothing like a candid shot of peoples shock, dissent & disgust. Snort. Perhaps breaking the news won't be so bad but damn, they didn't hold back on telling anyone about the sexual-abuse did they?!

On a better & completely different note, I'm so glad I have pets here to keep me company, especially as I'm missing my boys so much. My Boxer dog here is so protective its unreal, but again, being smack bang in the middle of a shit storm, this is a good thing. My cat, big bundle of fluff that she is, was surely glad to see me too. She's looking so much better than last time.

Anyway, there's so much going down I could write for days. I'm not even sure where to begin nor end these days. No doubt once I come back from meeting my father I'll have a lot more to get out of my head - watch this space much?!

Having finished these, I then turned to a card for my neice who celebrates her first birthday shortly. I decided to stick with easy images, ladybird and butterfiles, and some toadstools and leaves, and made them brightly coloured. I used my cuttlebug for all the images except the butterflies. I hope it is stimulating enough,or at least colourful enough to capture her interest.

Next was a card for my daughter. I am sending her the bag I crocheted for her (previous post) and made the card to accompany it, and explain the surprise. This card is in colours I wouldn't normally use. I love my purples and pinks, blues and greens...but yellows, oranges, peachy pink?!! Well I quite like the colour combination in this and I think it's refreshingly different for me.

And lastly, I made some ATc's for a swap called 'The colour Purple'.  Self explanatory really. Of course, being this colour, I was in my element. I had the drawer of flowers out after making the flower ATC's so I ended up using more flowers. I did try to vary the theme a bit in one of them...the stripy ribbon one, but even then the desire to add a flower got the better of me. My favourite is the one with the crochet diamond. I really like these, and make no apologies for lushness or overcrowding. They are sumptuous and purple. Brilliant! Gosh...I really hope my swap partners love purple as much as I do, and flowers! :)

Quite a day for crafting, and at least three cards to make tomorrow!.

Best get some sleep!

I've been working on this little guy for months.  I have this awful habit of putting things off because my mind makes them out to be worse than they really are.  It's a real pity, too, because whenever I think something is going to take a really long time, it ends up taking little time at all.

Of course, whenever I think something isn't going to take much time at all, it always takes me at least twice as long to finish.  This happens in work and in life, and I find it frustrating.  If I anticipate how long something is going to take, I will inevitably be wrong.  Shoot too low, and I end up losing time.  Shoot too high, and I won't do it at all.  Either way I lose.  Unless I have a definite deadline, I don't work on things in anything resembling a timely manner.  Of course, sometimes when I do have a deadline, my work gets sloppy.  Just ask my sister. : /

Despite his long gestation (and despite the poor photo quality), I do think this little feller is pretty damn cute.  He is by no means perfect, as I'm still in the learning stages of sock monkey making.  Any suggestions are certainly welcome and celebrated.  Especially in the area of hand stitching.  That is NOT where I am a viking.

Mm, Rich Lucas. This is by far, the best feeling I've ever experienced in my entire life. The fact that you love me every day, without question or debate, no matter what I do. I promise not to take advantage of that. I won't let this pass me by. I've seen it happen to so many girls, tossing away what they don't know they have. I see them throw away what could be so precious. What we have is real, it's sincere. I wouldn't change anything. AT ALL. I love every little thing about you, there is nothing wrong about you, at all. In any way, shape, or form. You are just to much, to special, to close for me to let go of now. I'll hold on to this until I can't hold on any longer. There's a happiness inside of me, whenever I'm with you that I don't feel around anyone else. And the best part? The fact that your more than just a boyfriend. Your a friend first and foremost. It's brilliant.

Also, I'd like to call out all the sluts. I've felt like one, many times before. I've been called one, many times before. Hear me out, here. You don't have to toss yourself around to get guys, no matter what they put off. If they can't have you for you, then they don't deserve you at all. Don't date them for 4 days, make out with them, and then cry right after. By god, especially if people warned you about the outcome. Sluts have friends to, and I'm a friend to one, and she cried today. I really could care less, because I warned her. It's just so pitiful to watch, because I see her as someone I could get close to, and I hate to see her hurting. I hate to see anyone hurting, and that's mostly what sluts get. Sorry to address it so informally but it was completely necessary.

I'd like to say, something about teachers too. Teachers are here to inform you of how to improve yourself, not to put you down or lower your self esteem. They're here to show you what needs to be done, and not what you can't do. If they were here to butcher your confidence, and kill your passion for something, then they should be a prison teacher. At least those people deserve it half the time. I mean, seriously. Come on. It's ridiculous for a teacher to be so cold hearted about things. To not think of how what they do, or say affects a student. I need a teacher, to show me what I did wrong, without forcefulness, or bitterness towards me.

Mm, and for all the faggots out there. No, not the homosexuals. The jerks. The ones that get what they want and leave, and never speak to you again. The ones that won't look your way after you put so much into getting their attention. The ones that look you in the eye and say they want to be with you, just to tell you your a pathetic slut, and to never say hello, or goodbye to them again, fuck you. You need to get over yourselves, and evaluate what you want. It's unfair, and wrong to treat a girl that way. To treat them like a game, like it's just a few buttons on a controller. That you push, and push, and push until finally it breaks, and you get a new one. Your pathetic, and your not worth it. Sluts, and faggots fall in the same category, they're all in on it for attention, or to play a game. Live to live, not to play.

Mm, I would continue by saying.  I hate the way people play things off like they don't care. I absolutely cannot stand that. I hate when something goes wrong, and something happens, if it's completely terrible and they just play it off like it doesn't even matter. Like, a falling out, and no matter what you say, alls they can say in reply is "oh," or "It's whatever". There's an extent to which your supposed to feel, and those who deny what they feel, drive me up the wall. I want you to feel, I want to make you feel something. I might even push your buttons until I find a reaction, and that may even sound terrible, but in all honesty, if you can't be real about how your feeling about something, how are you supposed to be real about anything else.

I don't want to call this name out, but Lexie pointed it out to me earlier. There's a girl, who hops in the way of me feeling anything I want to, sometimes. Certain conversations get stopped mid sentence, or some sentences I just can't say. I hate the way she thinks just because there was history, she can brag to me, and tell me all these things that I don't care about. He's mine now, yes. I'm that possessive. He is mine, and we are happy. I wish she would stop getting in the middle. Trying to talk to me as if I don't know him myself. Talking to me like I don't know what I should do, or what I should say. I'm perfectly content with how our relationship, and to be totally open, It's apparently going better than how it would have went with you. Because you didn't go very far from what I can tell. You dropped him as fast as you picked him up half the time, and that's not how to keep something going. He spend so much time, effort, not to mention a few spare dollars on you, and you took advantage of it so much. I almost hate you for that, if it weren't for the fact that you were so nice, I'd probably hate you.

I think I'll keep adding to this, later. Rantrantrant.

Hab gar nicht mehr damit gerechnet, doch heute lag wieder was wunderbar tolles für mich im Briefkasten. Unzwar Post von Roland. Der kleine Kuvert beinhaltete: 5 Buttons und nen Sticker. Besser gehts doch gar nicht <3 Also meine lieben Leser, wenn ihr mir auch den Tag versüßen wollt, dann schickt mir handgeschriebene Post, am besten mit buttigem und/oder stickerigen Anhang <3 Ich liebe es!

teatowel apron with waitress pocket

Well I managed to squeeze in a project for August - you didn't think I'd do it did you?  I made 3 teatowel aprons on Saturday night with the help of my mum, God bless her.  Now technically she only helped a little bit so I haven't cheated!  I just needed a refresher on using my sewing machine.  It's just a cheapie I got from KMart like um maybe 2 years ago and only just used it for the first time a few months ago to make snoods for the dogs.  I think I paid around $150-200 for it, it's a Brother made in Japan under lisense but it has a lot of features for the price and I didn't want to commit a lot of money to something that possibly wouldn't get used!  Anyway the aprons were easy to make, a great project for a beginner and inexpensive if you stuff it up.  I'm quite proud of them and can't wait to bake some cookies while wearing one.  Not sure if I shall keep them all to myself or give as gifts?

Mum and I spent Saturday afternoon in Spotlight and I walked away with a nice bundle of goodies for $37.  I wasn't going to buy anything after my last trip there but mum said "while they're on sale..." which is true - some of the fabrics were $2 per metre which doesn't happen everyday.  I plan to make some tiered skirts with the corduroys - I have this gorgeous green print cord Mossimo skirt I bought at Target when I was in America (they have way better clothes than our Targets) so I'm hoping to copy the style as it's one of my fave skirts.  I also picked up a few cheap patterns - one was $2, bargain.  So lookout for me in my new glad rags.

Craft Alive was on in Shepparton and I ended up manning the Kaszazz stand on the Sunday morning.  It was great fun, I got to show heaps of people how to make a pretty little butterfly card.  There were some fantastic stalls including my two faves; a lady who makes these cute little wooden style buttons and a quilting shop both from Wangaratta.  I had trouble deciding which buttons to buy so I just got some love hearts and I'll check out her website for future projects.

This Saturday is my Four Flowers scrapbook page workshop and I have plenty of spaces left so if you're interested give me a hoy (the sooner the better plz).  I had fun last night unpacking and repacking the orders for the Numurkah party, it was like Christmas time with goodies spread all over the place.  We had a special on for August when you spend $60 you could buy a surprise pack for $20 with $60 worth of product in it - well they are great value and I think all the ladies who took advantage of this offer will be very pleased.  I did buy 3 for myself he he heee.

Better blast off - am fighting a cold that dear James has passed on so don't panic if I don't post for a few days (and this is different to y normal slackness in posting...how?)

Take care

Kris

The patterned papers this month are a combination of Little Yellow Bicycle Vita Bella, Basic Grey Eva and Basic Grey Offbeat.  There is also 6 sheets of coordinating Bazzill cardstock: 2 each of 3 different colors.  We have metallic rub-ons from Little Yellow Bicycle and alphabet stickers from Basic Grey Offbeat Sweets Mini Monos.  The ribbon and mesh trim are from May Arts, and you will receive one yard of each.  Lastly, there is an embellishment bag containing Offbeat buttons, Offbeat brads, American Crafts felt flowers, Vita Bella Metal Filigree brads, Colorbok chipboard tags & tabs, a white hydrangea floral pick, and Making Memories (Jack) Animal Crackers felt shapes.

Now that's a whole lot of gorgeous, isn't it?  And, it's available now.  Just pop on over to the Paper-Playground website and get one for yourself.

Hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day holiday today!  My kids are back home from the beach and we are going to enjoy this beautiful summer day together.  We don't have big plans......maybe a trip up to the pool.  Just blissful, nothing-to-do relaxation!  Sounds so good to me.  But tomorrow........now that's another story.  Tomorrow is Pete's 13th birthday.  No wonder I've been so sentimental lately, huh?  If we keep busy enough, I won't have to think about the fact that I now have an official teenager.  Uuuggghhhh!

As I recounted in the post below, I visited my cousin Jane to receive from her the dresser of my great great grandparents -- called Nain and Taid in the family -- Thomas and Jane, both Welsh immigrants to Wisconsin.  I feel very honored to have this piece of furniture, to be the temporary steward of it.  I am putting it's picture here, so my sibs can see what it looks like.  Odin's happy to have it in front of yet another window where he can survey the neighborhood.

Since I last blogged I have made many, many buttons.  Some are for a religious convention to be held in September.  Some are for Halloween.  Some are for the upcoming election.  I am not posting button photos in this blog.  More about that some other time.  Button-making has taken up a lot of time.  It might become a small business, which is a surprise.  I did finish a little knitting - here's a photo of a finished scarf.

It is a reversible cable scarf with some twists and braids.  The yarn is an English yarn called Marble, made by James C Brett, and it is acrylic, which makes my nieces and sister happy.  I am now working on my first DPN (double pointed needle) project using a yarn called Katmandu DK from the Queensland Collection, which is a blend of merino wool (85%), silk (10%), and cashmere (5%).  (I think my sister might not wear these -- but I have a ball of cashrino that might suit her.)

One final photo for today, this is Grandma Emily's cactus -- well, a daughter branch of it - and for the first time in years, it is going to bloom.  See the little pussy-willow fuzzy spot on it?  One day pretty soon it will be a big white flower.  And if I pay attention, I will get a photo of it.  And I must pay attention because the flower lasts only a day. 

Currently I am reading:  Shining Cityby Seth Greenland (a funny book -- a guy inherits a dry cleaning business from his brother, but the dry cleaning business turns out to be a front for a call girl business);  The History of Myddle by Richard Gough (the history of an English town named Myddle - it's still there -- organized according to the ownership of the pews in the town church);  and A Grief Observed by C S Lewis (a journal by Lewis on his grief at the loss of his wife Joy, a book that is hard to read because his experiences of grief and questions of God so closely parallel mine.)

Grace be with you all.

I spent the last few days creating this pattern and sewing up the first coat from it. I am so excited to say that it turned out just as I had envisioned it - and that never happens! I came to realize that it reminds me of a foggy, London morning, which then reminded me of one of my most favorite bears - Paddington. How appropriate that the first Baby Bear Bums coat would remind me of such an adorable little bear.

It seems quite contradictory to show you this warm, lovely-lined coat in the midst of such sunshine pouring through the window. However, I couldn't resist and missed taking photos in the overcast and all-too-rare raininess of yesterday.

My daughter, I'm sure, stamps in protest to the wearing of such an item in her brilliant 18-month-old logic, "Mom, it's 105 degrees outside!" Of course, she didn't really say that but that is definitely what I heard. Perhaps we'll get a snapshot or two outside over the next couple days as they are calling for rain again by the weekend!

I have yet to add the closure to the coat, but am envisioning a large red button. As you can see, the coat can be worn either way so it is just oozing with fashion options!

For example, I always like to have my email on the far left. But if I close it down for some reason, the only way to get it to appear on the left again is to close down everything else, then make sure I run Outlook Express first, and then Firefox so I can get at my Googlemail and calendar. And then I can open my Word docs...

Why can't I just drag the buttons around on the taskbar and put them where I like? Well now you can with this free little add-in for Windows: Taskbar Shuffle. It downloads and installs in a few seconds, and then it just works. You don't even have to reboot your computer or close down anything you're already running.

Taskbar Shuffle is a free download from:
http://www.freewebs.com/nerdcave/taskbarshuffle.htm

Dave Haslett, ideas4writers, www.ideas4writers.co.uk

Gray pearly buttons and a Beatrix Potter cat:

The adorable owl buttons I posted about last time, some more Beatrix Potter buttons, and awesome sushi buttons from Reprodepot:

More Beatrix Potter--I'm not really so serious about these on this cardigan, but I just happen to have a stash of them--and a pearly white shirt button

A closer view of the adorable owl:

What do you think? Which buttons look best?