12.07.09: the dirty dozen, part III {twelve seasonal things}

it's difficult to be both ill and gracious: it'd be nice to channel beth march from little women, but sometimes we're fated to be lucy westenra from dracula. i was doing pretty well until saturday, when i missed the two big parties of our holiday season (one of which began on a bus; o, vehicular parties!) in one fell swoop. joe put on workin' with the miles davis quintet just as i was feeling especially sorry for myself (i also missed yesterday's bust holiday craftacular, which featured animals for adoption this year), and i actually started crying with frustration. i really hate jazz.

when i regained my manners, i got back to combing the web for clever presents (every day is cyber monday when you can't leave the house) and finishing our holiday cards. i communed with the cat and got started on handmade gifts, joe represented us on the bus, and decorum was restored.

09 one of my last pre-pestilence acts was a spin around midtown to ogle the holiday windows. i have yet to make it up to bloomingdale's and barneys, but i have a feeling that the "compendium of curiosities" (read: alice in [couture and] wonderland) displays at bergdorf will remain my favorites. this mini-tableau in particular felt like lewis carroll via david lynch; very black lodge.



10 speaking of holiday fripperies, if you're the sort who paints his or her nails for fancy dress occasions, let me save you some trouble. i hadn't bought nail polish in years (i just find the colors i like in the beauty closet at the office), but i went out of my way to find this stuff:



it's an essie color called chinchilly, it works on everyone, and it matches everything. it even elevates bedhead (or not, but pretend for me). you're welcome.

11.02.09

when i was a wee lass, we didn't mess around on halloween: my mother has an art degree from stanford, and she put it to good use in service of the holiday and our whims. each of our costumes was completely handmade,* and many of them were so well received that they were re-used by friends and neighbors over the next few trick-or-treating seasons (artichoke costume of the late '80s, i salute you). she still has a hand-feathered bird costume she made when my sister was a toddler, and it still drops jaws. said sister has her own art degree now (and is plugging away at costume design in grad school); the family tradition of bringing it each october has survived and gotten ever more feisty over the years.**

...which worried me when i decided to be the log lady. last year's bowie costume didn't involve a lot of sewing, but it called for enthusiastic face-painting; i got my effort in, after a fashion. i did some fancy ebaying to find a proper sweater coat and wig, but the former ended up being too big (the log lady is frumpy, but she isn't portly) and the latter arrived from hong kong...today, actually; getting a sweater from old navy and turning another wig into a bob (lauren: "hey, would you wear this while i chop it up?" joe: "no!") hardly seemed like a proper tribute to the fam. so (in the convenient absence of ponderosa pine) i made my log.



like most of the soft pieces i've built, it's primarily felt; this time i sprang for decent wool felt rather than the crappy stuff from the local art store, as i knew i'd be detailing the hell out of the bark (it will be a long time before i applique again) and i wanted it to retain its shape (and be washable, which turned out to be important, as i carried it around all night at a bar).



inspired by an extremely timely copy of jenny hart's embroidered effects,*** i tried my hand at some simple rings for the cut edges of the log and branches; given that it's the first time i've ever embroidered, i'm pretty happy with how it came out.



(that's stuffing sneaking out around the stitches; i sort of forgot to do the detailing before i constructed and stuffed the log.)

i also had a go at one of lovely amanda's favorite pastimes and spent a lunch break in central park gathering acorns and caps. i hot-glued a pair back together (you know it's craft if you melt glue), convinced them to stick to a pair of leaves i cut from log-scraps, and glued all of that to a safety pin. boom! brooch.



(you can see a bit of glue behind the caps, but that's a little cobweb rather than glue in the front. sometimes it's important to wear cobwebs.)

my log and i had a lovely time on saturday; a few people thought i was a tree-hugger and a few more thought i was carrying a giant cigarette (?), but the occasional twin peaks fan's happy shrieking was more than enough. log on, internets.

*which was especially impressive when i chose to be, say a telephone receiver, or autumn. you were patient, ma.

**my dad's side has its own techie subspecies of enthusiasts: for their semiannual halloween party this year, my godparents made a dvd invitation complete with easter eggs.

***jenny hart is my crafting idol; i've seen her at events in the city for years now, and i'm still too starstruck to roll up and say hello.

10.31.09

I carry a log--yes. Is it funny to you? It is not to me. Behind all things are reasons. Reasons can even explain the absurd. Do we have the time to learn the reasons behind the human being's varied behavior? I think not. Some take the time. Are they called detectives?

01.07.09: new year's realizations

kyle maclachlan is much more attractive than i'd given him credit for being.*

reading poetry is dandy, but writing it leaves me a bit cold at the moment (and that's fine; we'll reconnect if we're meant to settle down together).

there is nothing wrong with failing to own belts.

if bed bugs want to live in your apartment, they pretty much will.***

i've got a photography ego (even though i'm a newbie and i know it).

i'm fond of my job. quite fond of it, actually.

*poor kyle: david foster wallace's "david lynch loses his head" (in which he became "nerdy and potatofaced") really did a number on a generation of ladies, i think.**

**exception that proves the rule: kick-ass agent cooper tattoo.

***not my way of saying we have or have had them ourselves; i've just been reading about them (fun book, incidentally, though it'll freak you out about the bee crisis).