New Arrival

Look what the stork dropped off....



Meet Sara.

She arrived on May 28, 2008 at 11.35 pm and weighed 8 lbs. She is gorgeous and the parents are madly in love with her. In this day and age we usually know what the sex will be but in this case she was a surprise. I love surprises! Now I plan on knitting up a lovely little something for her. Carla and Laurie Ann are both knitting up the cutest little sweater so I might just jump on their knitting bandwagon.

Welcome to the World pretty girl!

ABC's of Me

The ABC's of me I found on Lilia's page here and she got it from here. So I decided to play along. You can too.

Accent: like totally Val dude. Naw, I think I lost it after 10th grade.

Book that I like: I love books. The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles is a favorite. ShantaRam by Gregory David Roberts is a more current book. Another current book is Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami.

Chore I don't care for: Ironing...yeah it's hard when you love to sew.

Dog or Cat: Love ‘em both. If I had a big farm I would have a herd of dachshunds.

Essential Electronics: Camera, computer, ipod and Wii. I love video games. I can rock Guitar Hero.

Favorite Cologne: Ferré

Gold or Silver: Depends on my mood. I can work ‘70’s gold lamé disco fever or boho chic with silver bangles and rings.

Handbag I carry most often: There is a rotation of many bags. The current favorite is green or this one, which is technically a tote that my hubby surprised me with. Thanks honey bunny!


Insomnia: Not really. Thank goodness. Sounds like hell.

Job Title: Wayward grad student

Kids: This is a kid free zone.

Living Arrangements: The Hubby, Bodhi and Tank (the Pups), and Wiggs and Koi (the Kits) hanging out in the Hollywood Hills.

Most Admirable Trait: Kindness

Naughtiest Childhood Behavior: Sneaking out at night to go to my boyfriend’s house. I can still feel the morning air on my skin, the scent of tuber rose in the air, and the sounds of morning birdsong while rushing home and hoping my mom didn’t shut my window.

Overnight hospital stays: Nope, knock on wood.

Phobias: Woozy in tall buildings or structures. Not so bad on a mountaintop.

Quote: “Like a mad one beyond all limits go where you please and live like a lion completely free of all fear” ~Dzogchen Tantra

Religion: Free spirit filled with spirit and living with spirit

Siblings: The elder of a younger brother.

Time I wake up: around 7am but I am a better person at 8am

Unusual Talent or Skill: I can put my feet behind my head.

Vegetable I Refuse to Eat: Nope I will eat everything but there are some things I prefer over others.

Worst Habit: Procrastination

X-rays: my teeth and my chichis.

Yummy Stuff: Hubby’s homemade bread, gelato in Italia. Heck I love food!

Zoo Animal I Like Most: Polar Bears and monkeys. Another good book The Life of Pi by Yann Martel.

Granny Squares from Great Gran

This is a granny square afghan that was made by my Great Gran.





























My mom recently gave it to me. It is freshly laundered and I am about to crawl under it and take a cat nap. ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Ready, Set, Sew

For Carla's birthday I made her a seamstress apron.













It has lots of pockets for all the sewing notions you can think of. I even tried a little embroidery. This was my second foray into embroidery after making ant antennae and feet.














I got this fabulous pattern from CraftApple. If you like to sew check out her blog. It's a good one. The pattern was easy to follow and do. The hardest part was deciding what fabrics to use.













I made some stitch markers because she liked the ones I made for Mary Jo's birthday.












And I found in this vintage jar at an estate sale and filled it with buttons.


















There were a few sewing notions too.












Seam ripper (can you have too many of these?), tracing wheel (never used one...yet), pin cushion (just learned that the berry is an emery bag, which you use to sharpen your sewing needles. Picked up that little tip at Bitter Betty Blogs. Another great sewing blog.), and appliqué scissors. Carla had picked up the Alabama Stitch Book which has all kinds of reverse appliqué projects in it.



















Don't you you love it when people are tickled with their gifts?













Watch out she's got here sewing implements out and she know how to use them!

Happy Birthday To Carla!

Sometimes in this crazy life you bump into someone and it is like you have always known them. They fill a void you didn't even know you had. That's how it is with Carla. She's my partner in crime, crafty or otherwise. We can make ourselves laugh over nothing and everything, well, most of the time. And we can get deep, when we want to. The rhythm and presence of Carla and our friendship has slipped so easily into my life that now I really can't imagine bumping through this life without her.

Dear Carla,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
To many more adventures and laughter in this life.
Love you,
Natalie

A little organization

Ever since Mary Jo posted about her very cool fishing lure/needle organizer I have been thinking about how to organize my needles. Here is how I usually store my needles.













Yes all thrown together in a tote. Double points in one baggie and circulars in another baggie. plus my pompom makers and other stuff. When I needed a needle I would go searching. It could get frustrating not knowing what was what and where. Of course my first instinct when seeing Mary Jo's worm binder was I need one of those too. I even got to check out Mary Jo's binder. It's like a little suitcase. Space is a premium in the house so I felt that I didn't have a space to store the suitcase. My solution was a file folder holder from the office supply store. I found a cute one too. Bonus!































The supplies: label maker (love it!), CD size baggies, needle sizer, and tape measure.


























I labeled the baggies with the needle size and the length of the needles.













After putting the labels on the file folder I filed the needles in their new home.













There you have it. Needle organization. I love it!

Brunch for Mom

Mom is coming over for brunch with her hubs and our good neighbor, since I was five, Penny.













The hubby has been cultivating his first sourdough. This started from a seed culture, which was then turned into a barm. This is a wheat sourdough bread based on the famous bread maker Lionel Poilane's miche and this particular recipe is found the Reinhart book.













The Hubby was up at 5am and made a mama and two babies. One for my mom and one for Penny. He even put hearts on the baby bread.













I made a frittata with grilled asparagus, grape tomatoes, onions, and basil.













The frittata was served with a mixed green salad, pink grapefruit, pine nuts and a citrus dressing.













The table was set and we were ready to celebrate Mom with great love and affection.

Happy Mother's Day


















WE LOVE YOU!!!!
in a goofy, happiest place on Earth is home on a summer day kind of way!


This photo was taken in August 1973.

It ain't no picnic without ants

This is the Pleated Beauty Bag I made for my swap partner.


I love the picnic, red and white checks against the navy linen.


The bag demanded some picnic ants (buttons, and embroidery). Also, I made the strap three inches longer, a little bit wider than the called for 1" thick strap and used interfacing to give it some durability. These were the only modifications I made for the bag.




I also made a zipper pouch for the bag. Carla recommended the tutorial found on craftster. It was pretty danged easy. These are my first lined bags. I'm not scared of lining no more. HA! Take that lining! The ant tape I got from Superbuzzy. It says "procession of ants" and "sugar attracts ants". Very cute.


This is the peach cobbler I made last 4th of July and this is the recipe I sent with my bag. Now this picture don't look like much but let me tell you......YUM! I actually made two peach cobblers on that day and this was the better recipe. The original recipe called for blueberries but I went for pure peach.

Look what came in the mail

My Pleated Beauty Bag from the BTRSswap arrived in the mail yesterday!

Here it is all the way from Prairie Grove, AR.



I think it is super cute and the perfect summer tote. I love the stripes and Asian floral together. I should have taken a close up picture of the floral but it has cherry blossoms and peonies and lotus flowers. The Good & Plenty colors are perfect. I love Good & Plenty. Yummmmm. I have just finished the cleanse and I am trying to go until June without the refined sugars. I have to satisfy my craving with fruit. Thank goodness the strawberries are sweet this time of year! Sorry, sugar deprived. Okay back to the bag.


Part of the swap was recipe for dessert. Yes, it's a teaser right now.


Can you read it?! HA!

The recipe is for Delicious Chocolate Pie. I am off the sugar for now but will try this recipe when I am back on the white stuff. For now I will share the recipe with you. Please leave a comment if you make it and let me know how it is. I will live vicariously.

Delicious Chocolate Pie

2 sticks regular butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate melted

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 eggs

1 baked pie shell



Beat butter & sugar together until light & fluffy, then mix in cooled melted chocolate. Add vanilla and mix. Turn the mixer to medium speed, then add in the 4 eggs, one at a time, mixing for 4 to 6 minutes after the addition of each egg. Scrape sides of the bowl once during mixing. Pour into the cooled pie shell & refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight. Plop whipped cream on top & serve. Garnish with chocolate curls if you are feeling sassy.

Thank you my swap partner from Prairie Grove!
Love the bag! And I know I will love the recipe.

The next Bend the Rules Sewing Swap will be announced soon. I will keep you posted or go here.

Good vibrations

Today there were two didgeridoos! And a rain stick!
I really dig that didg sound. It just moves through the body and hits that place in you that has been here for an eternity.

Bolonatha is the didgeridoo man. He does massage and sound therapy and can really blow a mean didg. After class today he introduced Isis, the new didgeridoo that he played today. He said that Isis is fragile and needs a carrying case so if there were any crafty people out there that would want to barter services he was willing. Well, I am a crafty person. Instead of becoming shy or thinking I couldn't possibly sew a didgeridoo cover or any of the other thoughts that would keep me from speaking up I went up to him after class and told him I was crafty.

He introduced me to Isis personally. Showed me her amethyst encrusted yoni (that's how he knew she was a girl). And then he played her for me. She can sing and flutter. The sound started at my feet and moved up through my body. Her counterpart is Osiris who is a complete basso and I feel in love with him on first note yesterday. Yeah a sucker for a singer.

So now I am going to make a didgeridoo cover for beautiful Isis. What will I do? How will I do it? How do I make it sexy? What I see right now is a fuschia fleece lining with green canvas on the outside. She will slide in top to bottom. The bottom of the didg is the largest part. It has a bulbous shape. This is where she is most fragile. I see a pointed hoodie for the top of the bag, with double fleece for extra cushion. Or the bag comes all the way up and then she has a fancy hat/hoodie that comes over the top for a double layer of protection. A shoulder strap for sure and maybe a pocket.

I will happily take all and any suggestions. How would you make a didgeridoo cover? In your dreamtime what do you see?

Get out there...way out there and be free

What I love about yoga...

I love that it is like kindergarten for grown-ups.
There is singing, dancing, learning something new, repetition, recess, and nap time.

This was my morning.
We had a discussion about healthy poop. It should be approximately 6 inches in length, 1.5 inches in diameter and with a nice formation. If you are vegetarian it should float, if you eat meat it will sink. It was even suggested to keep a pair of chop sticks in the bathroom so as to further examine your poop. Oh I am not joking. (I can see you with your mouth open or shaking your head or many of the other reactions that flashed through the room.) Chopsticks!?!

Then we got up and danced. Yes danced first thing this morning. Whooping and hollaring and shaking our stuff. This is good for the lymphatic system and great for the soul. I highly recommend it.

After the dance and a stroll around the room we found a partner and chanted to our partner.

I am happy
I am good

I am happy
I am good

Sata nam
sata nam
sata nam gi

wahe guru
wahe guru
wahe guru gi

Sat Nam is a biju (seed) mantra that means truth is my identity or I am that.
Wahe guru is the mantra of ecstasy and elevates the spirit.

Next, with our partner, we found someone's mat and sat down face to face and knees to knees. We looked into each other's eyes. Formed lose fists, inhaled then on the exhale raised our fists over our head, stuck out our tongue and gave a loud HA! Yes, a big ole HA right in the face with tongue out and fists in the air. This goes on for 5 minutes. Try this for 30 seconds. Go on and try it. It's not easy to get in touch with your inner ape, HA, and look into someone else's eyes.

We found our way back to our own mats to lay down. Now it was time for a sound bath. We had a guest musician who started the sound bath with the singing bowls. Then he started playing the didgeridoo. WHOA! I love the singing bowls. They sound like infinite space. But from the first note of the didgeridoo I was completely grounded and focused. I could feel the vibrations moving through my body. I was aware of my heartbeat in my chest and the pulse in my belly. The didgeridoo has such a primal sound. This sound bath, while it might sound like a crazy thing to do, was amazing. Everything that was scattered about me became aligned. That is what it felt like.

We then had savasana aka naptime to the singing and guitar playing of Michael, one of the other participants. We sat up and chanted a little more all together and then we went about our day.

I know these things may sound really out there. But yoga offers a chance to really be yourself and get outside of your box. I love to dance and to sing and to listen to music. Who doesn't?! I got to do all of that before 8am this morning. It's been a great day!