Random Fall Shots

Mother Nature can be VICIOUS..and the East Coast has been taking such a beating from Hurricane Sandy...the ocean surge...the flooding...the power outages...yikes...

Here in Iowa -- wé are delighted to be dealing with some very ordinary Fall scenes...I was looking for something particular, and found these pictures from last fall. The crops are mostly picked -- but we still see the occasional combine, cleaning up the last of the harvest...

No more flowers...just rocks and ceramic pigs in Ronda's garden...

Time to get out the warm sweaters and coats. Lilly loves to feed the chickens....John had to buy a new flock...

To all our housewife friends in New York and New Jersey......be strong....

Mother Nature

I love New York City. I stayed up late last night, watching the terrible scenes of Hurricane Sandy -- the FRANKENSTORM that smashed into the East Coast...
At 2:00 AM, watching CNN and the live coverage of the water pouring into the subways --I looked back at some of my visits to that beautiful city...

This is a random shot of me -- STANDING IN FRONT OF MACY'S. Right on the corner of 34th and Broadway.  This is one of the places I always say you MUST VISIT when you're in New York City because then, every Thanksgiving, for the rest of your natural life, you can watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and say, 'I was there"...


And we are all praying for you, our New Yorker, New Jersey, New England friends...you are as tough and smart as they come...we are with you in spirit, standing on that corner...

Be safe...

What is Art?

Here's my elegant friend Marion, enjoying an art museum...Hey -- ART comes in all different forms, people...

AND OF COURSE she knew there was the danger of a recycled-t-shirt-maxi dress...

In this case, I started out with THIS t-shirt...

Then -- my usual treatments...add a wild print...tone it down with some t-shirt fringe...

And -- TAKE A MIRROR PICTURE...

Yes.  This is art.  A.R.T. Dress.... (A Recycled T-shirt Dress)

Mate Factor

Ithaca, New York did what a lot of other cities did. They closed off their downtown area to automobile traffic -- creating a pedestrian mall. Obviously, I am no city planner -- but this plan rarely works. Here's what they forgot about Americans -- if we can't park, we won't go...

However, because I am traveling with my CANADIAN friend -- we finally DID figure out where to park -- and then we walked around the pedestrian mall...we pretty much had the place to ourselves...

All that walking wore me out -- so we went into the Mate Factor cafe. I wanted a cup of coffee...

And Marion ordered a "spelt waffle"....

The place was very quirky...as you can see, it felt like the trees were growing up to create the booths...

The guy at the counter explained that the cafe was owned by their commune...and the waffle was delicious...

It was only AFTER I got home -- when I couldn't remember the name of the cafe -- I went online to see if I could figure it out. Imagine my surprise when I found this website. Ithacans boycotting the Mate Factor cafe -- because they are objecting to the "cult" that runs it.

No kidding? Marion and I always say the same thing...and it certainly applies here...

Why would anybody write fiction? The truth is so bizarre, it will NEVER let you down...

Have Scrapple Will Travel

sEven though I live in Iowa and we are famous for our love of all-things-pork...WE DON'T HAVE SCRAPPLE HERE... So, having scrapple for breakfast is a treat I only get when I'm visiting Pennsylvania...and it is QUITE a special occasion.

On this day -- I was headed off for an adventure all by myself. My friend Kathy was in the hospital, recovering from her appendectomy...so I went to a local restaurant, based solely on their scrapple reputation...I had some tourist maps and books -- so I enjoyed my scrapple and planned my bonus day!!

With the help of my trusty cellphone navigator -- I WAS OFF...

I can't believe I forgot to take a picture of my ACTUAL rental car. I had reserved an economy car -- but they didn't have one in stock. So I got beautiful BIG, nearly full size ALTIMA...it was such a pleasure to drive over all those Pennsylvania mountains...

One of these days, I'm going to post ALL THE TREASURE that ended up in the trunk of that car!! Really, really amazing...

MacKenzie Childs, #2

I do not know if I've ever visited a place -- a museum, a historic home, a private residence -- where EVERY SINGLE DETAIL is completely, 100%, all about one thing. At the MacKenzie Childs studio -- you will become immersed in ALL THINGS MACKENZIE CHILDS...

They have a little theater where you can watch a 20 minute film about the history of the company -- how things are made, etc...

BUT then -- if you are very, very lucky -- you'll be able to take an actual real live TOUR of the house which sits on the property. Every room is set up and decorated with MacKenzie Childs...

Of course, Marion and I could hardly wait to take that tour...

And that's where you get to see everything set up in a real house environment...how they attend to every detail is simply amazing...

I mean -- EVERY SINGLE SURFACE is decorated...

This is a "tile rug" in a small bathroom...each tile represents one year's design motif...

One of the NEW things coming out next year will be this Grandmother's Clock...

Which has an extraordinary bouquet of enameled flowers at the top!!

Marion and I took a minute to sit on the front porch. This is the picture I took...

Oh, yeah, people...it just doesn't get any better than this...

A Wonderful Story

This video is 8 minutes long.  I've watched it a dozen times. There are so many people dealing with autism...it's is a GREAT story. ...

And it's official -- I love Katy Perry...

MacKenzie Childs

On our very first day in the Finger Lakes area --we ended up here....at the Studio/Shop of MacKenzie Childs...

They have all the furniture and accessories set up -- I was so relaxed, I could have taken a nap in this big comfy chair...(I think it cost $8,000)
...

Can you imagine actually having this sink in your bathroom?

Of course, the MacKenzie Childs CHECK is everywhere you look...

This game table used chestnuts around the edge? Why didn't I think of that...?

We took the "tour"of the house -- note the roosters on top of the bed posts...

I'm taking a picture of myself taking a picture...

More about the house in a later post. Although I could never afford to buy MacKenzie Childs -- I got some wonderful inspiration.

Project Runway FINALE

Okay -- I've watched the Finale TWICE -- and I am just about over Heidi's chest-barring dress. No -- wait -- I promised myself that I would not mention it again....

There are four designers in the FINALE -- Fabio, Melissa, Christopher and Dmitry.

And, for the record -- I did not see the point of having FOUR of them.

Cuz WHY?? -- it seems to me they just didn't want to send Christopher home the week before. The three "looks" he chose to show were so lame -- two pair of black leather shorts?? He SHOULD have gone home.

Although I liked that Chris made his own fabric -- using is mother's x-ray -- that was the beginning and end of his creativity. The actual garments were forgettable and  too simplistic -- a straight skirt?? A tank top? His big wow moment -- the dress with all the layers -- was fabulous the first time we saw it -- IN SEASON ONE -- WHEN JAY MCCARROLL DID IT..and that was TEN SEASONS AGO, Chris...C'mon...

I wonder who designed Heidi's dress...really - she usually looks so great.  It was atrocious...oops...sorry...


Melissa was the most-improved designer. By the time she spent five weeks at home working on her collection -- somebody at least taught her how to put in a zipper. And I really did love her red dress -- even though it had nothing to do with the rest of her garments...

Fabio did a collection of pastel bed sheets that the judges LOVED for it's fresh innovation. WHA?? I really didn't get what they loved about it. Of course, I was so worried about Heidi's boob falling out, it was hard to concentrate...

I would have voted for Dmitry -- hands down. And not just because he belongs to the Russian mob and his people scare me. That guy can SEW!! Of all the garments that went down the runway that night -- he had the most memorable clothes. That fabulous dress -- with all the openings -- and the geometric shapes invisibly holding everything together deserved the win.... even though I was a little distracte by the uni-brow... 

And this jacket is CRAZY good -- those sleeves have FRINGES, people!! And the pants were so amazing, I can't even imagine how he worked that pattern out.GO DMITRY!!

So, for me -- the right person won this season. And Dmitry should have won three or four of the other challenges -- the judges really did not like him.  But I have to say that overall, it was a very dismal year. The other day -- Lifetime was running a marathon of Season 4. Remember Christian? Jillian? Chris March? Rami? WOW. They ALL had better ideas and collections than this season's lackluster bunch. I found myself wondering what Chris March would have sent down the runway. I'm still a fan of the show...but I'm hanging on by a thread... And I am worried about the drop in Heidi's taste level. You knew I wasn't done with her dress... maybe she's just trying to diss Victori's Secret...you know -- prove that she doesn't NEED a bra...It was not a good look, Heidi...

The most interesting fact is that this year -- EIGHT of the designers made 10-piece collections for Mercedes Benz Fashion week.  To prevent the "spoiler" ...and if you go to the website called Blogging Project Runway  -- you can actually SEE all of the collections.  I thought Ven's would be good -- but I was wrong.  However -- Gunnar did a GREAT job.  He would have given Dmitry a run for his money...!

Syracuse

The thing about vacations:  When you have the TIME -- you don't have the MONEY. And, of course -- when you have the MONEY -- you don't have the TIME... So it's pretty darned easy to wake up one morning and realize you haven't had a vacation in a year. Or a decade. Or maybe ever...

To make sure that doesn't happen to me -- I decided to turn everything into a vacation. In the spring, the planning meeting for Sew Expo was a great vacation...I enjoyed touristing around Tacoma/Seattle and had some truly wonderful visits with friends there....

Our annual visit to John's family in Pennsylvania was a vacation -- I always rent a car and plan day trips with friends. Last month -- my trip to Quilt Expo in Wisconsin turned into a vacation -- full of great conversations with friends and some exciting shopping adventures...

So -- you can see that my "vacations" always start with some other agenda...

BUT NOT THIS TIME.....
 
I went to Syracuse for a little road trip with my friend Marion around the Finger Lakes. The sole purpose of the trip was to RELAX and do a little one-on-one catching up.  I've never been to this part of upstate New York. And I could NOT BE HAPPIER...



We started off in the quaint little town of Skaneatales, New York. OH MY...such cute shops. There was a gift shop in a former bank...

Imagine how many yards of fabric it took to make these draperies? I wonder how you'd even sew seams in this much fabric??

Marion did ALL THE PLANNING AND WORK. Oh My Goodness. All I had to do was get myself on the plane. She charted our route, and organized our hotels, she knew where to go, which lakes we should visit...

I'm working on some blog posts -- it is a beautiful part of the world -- all new to me -- and there were lots of delightful surprises. But the BEST thing?? Of course -- that would be spending time with my thoughtful friend. I almost bought the cheesy plaque...the one that said, "A real friend asks how you are -- and then listens to the answer." It was heaven. We both asked....and we both listened.... Thanks for taking the time, Marion...

Midwest Ya Ya Sister Head Shots...

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO IGNORE this post... Mary and I are trying to pick out the picture we're going to use for next year's Sewing Weekend in Beaver Dam... THIS is the easy part, people...! Anyway -- it's tough to email pictures. But it's easy for me to put them up on my blog. So this is how Mary is going to pick our next head shot... Tell me which one you like, Mary...