More paper?

Yes.

The mobile is actually finished (Cathey, you knew I could).  But, I had problems with assembling it, and it took me way too long to realize that glue can be my friend.  So, it’s lopsided.  It is currently weighted down with an AA battery to balance it.  I decided to re-string it next week.  It’s too important to me to accept ‘good enough,’ or ‘at least I tried.’  It has to be just right.  It has to be the best I can do.  M deserves that.  So do I.  In the meantime, here is more paper:

You can probably figure out what it’s for…

If not, all will be revealed next week.  Tonight, we’re going on an impromptu trip to PA.  We’ll zip through Pittsburgh and pick up the step-daughter, and it’s off to Hershey.  The husband wanted to get outta town this weekend, and I realized the CATS festival is this weekend.  I made a half-hearted suggestion, and well, we’re goin’.  It’s a long drive for a basically overnight trip, but that’s how we are.  The step-daughter and the boy will visit the Hersheypark, I’ll stay at the Hershey Lodge for the festival (no classes, just shopping and drooling), and the husband will go for a bike ride.  Then, home again, home again on Sunday. 

Have a good weekend!  I know I will.

Peanuts!

So, I’m sittin’ here, listening to the hamsters squabble.  Finally, I have to see what all the ruckus is about, b/c they are squeaking up a blue streak.  They got the peanut shell open and were fighting over the peanut.  The nut was split, and the lucky winners weren’t sharing their booty for anything!  I apologize for the blurry pictures.  Hamsters don’t pose for pictures.  If there’s a setting for photographing squirmy rodents, I don’t know it.

I know there’s something good in here!

YUM!  I knew it was going to be worth it.

They are so protective of their treasure, they won’t let me see it!

I got a picture, anyway.

I broke the top off the peanut for the loser.  It didn’t take long to crack this peanut!

Queen of procrastination

I stitched this piece in 2000.  It was my first attempt at hardanger, and I was proud of my work.  I lost the locket that came with the kit.  After a lot of searching, I found a close-enough replacement.  I had to use a cream paint called Treasure Gold by Plaid to get it to be gold, and not silver.  Then it took me for forever to get the picture into the frame and the frame stitched onto the sampler.  First, I didn’t have a scanner, and I wasn’t quite sure about going to a photographer for a teeny print.  Then I thought it would be hard for me to get the photo the right size.  It was.  It took me a long time, like I thought it would.  It wasn’t as terrible a thing to do as I anticipated (is it ever???).  I’m not happy with my printer’s photo printing, but it’s a tiny picture, so it’s passable. 

I hung it up in the kitchen.  Wonder how long it will take the men to notice it?

Vitals:
Kit by Lorri Birmingham.  Stitched using supplied banding and fibers.  Only the frame has been replaced.  After I finished stitching the kit, I discovered I had the chart in one of the Treasures in Needlework magazines I own.  I don’t know offhand which one.

Mobile construction begins

After the cranes were folded, I fiddled around with the beads I wanted to include in the mobile.  Some of the beads I used were from the first mobile I attempted to put together.  Some are new.  I could have continued to fiddle and browse at bead and craft stores forever.  At some point you have to say, “No more,” and decide.  Every time I had a new inspiration for the beads, I’d head to the store.  Well, I’m sure you know you can get lost browsing beads.  I came home more than once with a few beads that I thought would be fantastic, only to discover I was wrong.  *sigh*

The final decisions.  I used the Murano glass hearts on the bottom combinations in the first mobile.  Unfortunately, when it broke, some of the original beads were lost, including the smaller heart.  I searched for a replacement high and low.  I found a tolerable replacement, but I really wasn’t happy with it.  I don’t know why I didn’t look online.  Then, last week, after visiting the Rocking Horse for no particular reason, I went to a bead store in Farmington, and Eureka!  It was my lucky day.

Most of the beads were chosen b/c I liked them.  Some of them have particular significance, though.  For instance, the surfer in the bottom center.  M loved the beach so very much.  The stone star above it was b/c she loved stones.  Tiger Eye was among her favorites, but I didn’t think it would work here.  Turqoise stones always remind me of her.  The star and rectangular cube aren’t turqoise stones, but they serve my purposes.  I loves stars.

Bead combination for the Circle of Eight.  The shells are for M’s love of the beach and ocean, and the ladybugs are b/c when she died, she had often mentioned her daughter’s love of ladybugs.  I wish I’d used a darker blue bead on the top instead of the light blue crystal.  I decided it was time to put the thing together and stop going out looking for more. 

 

I staggered the 24 single cranes underneath the Circle of Eight.  I was going to fill the empty space below the low-hanging strands with beads, but decided on wishing star ‘beads’ instead.  I’ve written something in each of them, b/c it seemed wrong to leave them blank.  The comments are a reflection of what was on my iPod when I wrote inside them.

The final combination for the single 24.

The center cranes strung together.

The single 24 after the Circle of Eight’s beads were strung. 

The Circle of Eight.

I think I’m going to use an acrylic sealant for the mobile.  I’ll be experimenting with Krylon’s Matte Finish.  If I like it, I’m using it.  After all that fretting about the Nori Paste!  Oh, well.  That’s what happens when you make up something as you go along.

25 seconds of cuteness

What happens when you decide you want a peanut, and you’re only the size of a peanut?

He’d been struggling with this for awhile.

OMG, he’s lost his balance with this thing!  Why don’t I have this on video?

done

is that adorable, or what?

Saotome and Kakitsubata

Saotome begins:

Or, Girl Planting Rice.  I call it M supports T supports M.  It represents the times she supported me, and the times I supported her.  There are two identical models.  Sometimes you can’t really tell who’s supporting who.  Or whom.  Whomever.  Whoever.  Whatever.

The paper I used.

Midway in folding. The smaller crane is two squares folded together.

The first model completed.

The second, and first, models.

Kakitsubata begins:

Or, the Iris Flower.  I call it Marianne holds Teddi (her daughter).

The paper.  Pretty butterflies!

A close-up of the mama crane holding the baby crane by the back.

Kakitsubata complete.

These six cranes will form the center of the crane.  They will be surrounded by Yatsuhashi and 24 other cranes–32 in a circle.

Yatsuhashi paper and paper for the single cranes.  Eight designs, three of each.  I don’t know why the thumbnail is fuzzy.  The 425-pixel picture is not.  Click for non-fuzziness if you please. 

Folding complete.  Now the hard part begins.

Yatsuhashi, or Eight Bridges

On M’s birthday, I gave you a sneak peek of her memorial.  It’s still not finished, though I have made good progress.  I haven’t been stitching at all, just focusing all my creative energy and time on this project.  The sneak peek was the beginning and anchor of a crane mobile I’m making.  When finished, there will be 38 cranes, as that was M’s age when she died.   I got the directions for this “anchor” of eight cranes from Origami: Rokoan Style: The Art of Connecting Cranes.  Fascinating and beautiful stuff in there.  There are two volumes, both of which I own.  The first volume is my favorite.  In November, they’re due to be published in a single, paperback volume.  Groovy.

The paper selection.  Isn’t great?  I think it really captures M’s exuberance. 

The sneak peak, showing the other side of the paper after it had been scored (pre-folded) and had its notations.

Scored folds fully folded and waiting to be transformed.

I clipped each crane together to make it neater to finish the cranes.  I was terrified of having the circle rip.  Again.

A close-up of two cranes’ wings.  I ended up reinforcing all the connected wings with Nori paste.  Useless info: that link goes to the Nori paste page of Hollander’s, a paper shop in Ann Arbor, MI, where I bought the paste and the paper you see on this page.  If you like paper, it’s heavenly.  Excuse the digression.  Using the paste is so NOT an origami purist’s way of doing things.  And yet.  I’ve already had this project destroyed once.  I have a deep need for it to be stronger than it is.  Surely you understand?  This Nori paste is good stuff, Maynard.  For my needs.  )  Besides, I’m not a purist. 

Yatsuhashi, or Eight Bridges, complete.  Nine squares, eight cranes, one circle.  One of the cranes is made of two squares (upper right and lower left, to be exact), which is how the circle is formed.

The next part…

Happy Birthday, M

Today would have been my best friend, M’s, 45th birthday.  She died 6 years ago due to complications from her diabetes.  I’d hoped to have something finished to post here today, but it hasn’t worked out that way.  The days come quickly sometimes, don’t they?  Here’s a quick peek at the beginning of the project:

This isn’t the first time I’ve attempted this memorial project.  I’ve hit a few snags, and even though it appeared it was a permanent UFO, it wasn’t. 

Now, for stitchy-love Desiderata pictures!

I loved working on the Rhodes stitch row.  Have I mentioned lately how much I love Wildflowers Cafe Au Lait?  Every time I’ve stitched with it in this sampler, the stitches have showed the beauty of the floss in slightly different ways, and I fall in love with it again.  I had some Murphy’s Law and going hurrier with this row.  Murphy’s Law: the floss was a jumbly mess and needed straightening.  That took a while.  I ended up separating all the floss, so now I have lots of single plies looped on a floss card.  The Hurrier I Go: after the ply-separating party, I started stitching away without first consulting the instruction page.  Heh.  Yeah.  I was supposed to use to plies of floss for the Rhodes stitches in this row.  Now, y’all know I’d rip it out and fix it.  I love doing Rhodes stitches, and I’m not in a deadline rush to get this project finished.  I didn’t frog.  I like it the way it is.  It’s delicate, and I think it shows off the beauty of the floss better than if I’d used 2 plies.  Happy Accident! *cheering* 

Can you see why I love working with this floss?  Just look at the way the colors change.  I think having a nearly skein-long length of floss to work with, instead of cutting a working length and using it up before cutting a new working length, really showed off the floss to its fullest advantage.  Another happy accident, thanks to Mr. Murphy.

The Behinder I Get

Some of it’s from going hurrier, some of it’s Murphy’s Law, and some of it is the nuisances of life.  I did work on Desiderata this week.  I’ve taken pictures, too.  Just haven’t taken them off the camera.  Thank goodness for Desiderata.  It was the soothing balm of my week.

 Getting ready to repaint the boy’s bedroom.  I’m only making inches of progress here and there.  It was a disaster to begin with.  Anyway, doing something is better than doing nothing.  Right?

New Pinkies arrived on Sunday!  We could tell Sparky was going to give birth soon, and the boy and I decided Saturday night that we would separate them on Sunday, instead of waiting for their 3-week birthday, which was Tuesday.  Dwarf Hamsters have a gestation period of 18-25 days, so if Sparky (aka “Fertile Myrtle”) didn’t get pg on the day she gave birth, it was very close afterwards.  We unintentionally separated the babies and Ridley (aka “Potent Pete”) while Sparky was in labor.  There were 2 pinkies!  We separated the boys.  We ended up putting a female in the male cage.  Oopsie!  They aren’t supposed to be sexually mature until 4 wks.  I think we’ve got them accurately sexed now, so hopefully, no more pinkies.  Later, we thought we saw 4 pinkies.  We’re down to three now.  The boy prefers to think we miscounted the 4 originally.  I’d like to think so, too.  Maybe one of them was just not going to make it.  Sparky is a really good mother, over all.  *shrug*  I can’t speculate.  We have 3 pinkies right now.  I think that will be the final count.  I’ve read that once a dwarf has a second litter, she kicks the previous litter out of her nest.  I don’t expect she’s still nursing the females we left in the cage with her, but they all sleep together in Sparky’s hut, happy as clams.

We’ve named one of the babies from the first litter: Edmund.  This boy can climb like mad.  When we separated him from his mother, he went nuts, climbing in ways I wouldn’t have guessed he was able.  So, we named him after Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to climb Mt. Everest.  He would have climbed to the top of the cage if he was bigger.  He’s not long enough to do it yet.  The husband joked that once he makes it to the top, he’ll swing across the top of the cage, and we’ll have to rename him George (of the Jungle).   

I’ve been working on a non-stitchy project that I hoped to finish by tomorrow.  Not going to happen, and I can only blame myself for not starting sooner.  I’m going to focus on it until it’s done, though.  It’s time to take it off the back burner, and get it done.

 No pics right now, and I’m sorry for that.  Pictures are one of my blog-reading joys.  I’ll have a Desiderata update post soon, complete with pics.

More hamster love

I was having trouble uploading pictures of our hamsters the other day, and Monique told me she couldn’t see the picture I managed to upload. 

I’ve uploaded some hammie shots onto my webshots account. Here’s a link to a baby hamster slide show.  And, a father-and-child photo for your tiny creature viewing pleasure.

Hamster love

When my son got hamsters for his b’day, I never dreamed the whole family would fall in love with them the way we have.  I can’t get over it.  The husband is forever wondering who loves the little guys more, me or the son.  

When we bought them, I sort of knew they were a male and a female, but didn’t think about it.  On the one hand, there was denial (of future offspring).  On the other hand, I wanted babies (if I’m honest).  They warm my heart.  In two, short weeks, they’ve gone from being creepy to flat-out adorable.  They’re difficult for me to photgraph, but I keep trying.

Baby with Mum.

One of the best feelings in the world is a baby hamster’s paws on your fingers, looking for its share of apple, or carrot, or oat, since its littermate just got some.  Such a delicate sensation, delivering joy.

We held a couple of them for the first time this morning.  I was worried the mum would panic, but she didn’t bat an eye. I’d bore you with more pics, but WordPress is being disagreeable right now. Besides, it’s near impossible to capture the cuteness factor in photos.

On the stitching front, we went to IKEA to browse for bedroom furniture for the boy yesterday, and I didn’t get to stitch at all.  I did work on my DMC floss re-organizing project.  I mention it only b/c it was a consolation for me to at least do something stitchy. heh.

And, and, the boy started middle school today!  Oh, the milestones.