City Lights

I was asked by the leader of a group at our church to make a logo for his young adults meeting, which he's entitled "City Lights".  He'd seen a few of my collages and this is what we came up with. It was fun to head to church today and see this in all the bulletins and really big in poster form around the large campus.

Come to my yard today!

Not sure you'll get to see THESE polka dots, but there will be lots of polka dots present today...
(I dropped everything at the front door and ran over with my phone to get this pic yesterday...)

Last minute sewing

I don't love making these tees, but I love wearing them and have gotten enough requests for them that I'm making a few "I heart skirts" shirts for the sale tomorrow. (three to be exact). There will be loads
of necktie onesies and tees with my "hi" appliqué... But just a few of these!

Martha Stewart Dream

I dreamt 2 nights ago that Martha came through my house on a tour. (I have no idea why she would). The worst part was that we started the tour in the laundry room and she was too busy and had to leave before she ever got to the cuteness of any other parts of the house. All she saw was the mess.

I woke up laughing about that. Martha has a fabulous sense of style and color - though it's a little more subdued and pastel than my own... and she's truly impressive in what she's done for homemakers and also craft in general. But I don't like her ideal of perfection.

When I was speaking yesterday at the MOPS group, I kept saying that I just think that a B+ average is just fine with me. I don't expect perfection from myself in my personal life. (my skirts are another thing... that's why I have fabulous seamstresses sew them for me because I care about what I sell)... but when it comes to the simple everyday parts of life... "good enough" is indeed "good enough for me."

When I got home from MOPS and got to look at Sonja's pics... ... I was a little surprised to see these photos that she took. They are of the imperfections in my studio. The fabric not quite stacked perfectly, the books and whatnot crammed onto my shelves... and I remembered the dream and laughed again.

Sorry Martha. I'm not into being perfect here at home.

A Momma Kind of Day

Today was a "momma" kind of day. I went to MOPS and actually spent a little time as the speaker - encouraging the moms and reminding them that no one is perfect... I read them this list from my blog a few years ago and we had some good laughs.

While I was there, Sonja, my photographer pal, gave me a CD with photos from our shoot she did at my house a few weeks ago. She's working on a project where she is documenting Artist Moms and their homes and we had such a fun time when she came over. It was about a week after the whole situation with Ace was ending, so the distraction was sweet and the time together was wonderful.

She took so many many many amazing photos that I can't possibly show them all now. Today you'll get the first ones I got - which were the ones of me, Mimi and Z. These are so amazing, they truly capture us in our life... at the door, on the couch... laughing and playing together. I can't wait to show you the rest!!!! (well, not all 250 of them... let's just say that you'll be getting a few PRETTIER views of my stuff over the next few months.)

The evening ended with me having to cancel my babysitter after M got (ahem) sick in the car on the way home from school. (definitely a Momma kind of moment)... so I am here at home tonight instead, sewing like a madwoman as I try to build up as much as I can for the sale on Saturday... and then eventually catching up with "LOST."

g'nite!

best dinner in a long time - Truffle Asparagus Cream pasta

ok. Tonight's dinner was so yummy that I ate dinner twice and forgot to take a picture of my beautiful and yummy dish. Folks... I DON'T COOK. But every once in a while, I get back on the wagon and though I don't necessarily love the cooking process, I do love the grateful look on J's face when I actually make something. (and I'm not a bad cook, I'm just hardly interested in food...) sigh.

Tonight I got inspired. I've been trying to cook more, especially in front of the kids so that they will be forced to try new flavors, etc. We've been banging our heads against the quesadilla, mac n cheese, pasta, nuggets menu around here - and I'm sick of it... little by little...

Tonight's big coup came from the back of a pasta box - well, the idea did.  I added and changed quite a bit. Here you go....

Cook a box of wagon wheel pasta
in a skillet, saute asparagus and chopped onion in butter, olive oil, and minced garlic until the onion turns golden brown. Put the drained pasta in the skillet. Add some cream (I used fat free half'n'half) and stir until the flavors mix well and the onion is brown (and yummy!)... top this with about a teaspoon of truffle oil and mix well. Serve with  healthy dose of parmesan.
Wow! YUM.
not exactly low in fat - but every once in a while you can splurge.... this is good enough to serve guests!

Chuckling at my style

Sometimes I laugh when I look down at myself and what I'm wearing. One of Mimi's preschool teachers in Beverly Hills once said to me, "um, you don't dress like everyone else around here"... (no joke). Today is one of those days where I looked down at church and thought, "what would I wear and carry if I wasn't me?" In the past, I've blogged about this necklace, ring, tattoo, journals, skirts... And the paper filling my journal is the second half of the paper I use to print my mailing labels for orders that I ship out to all of you... And have I mentioned that this skirt (Coco) is my favorite other than Out & About? (well, it is)

Did I tell you I'm in a quilting bee?

By going to the Los Angeles Modern Quilt Guild meetings, I've met somegals who've formed a modern online quilting bee. Here are the submissions I made for my first two months' assignments... I love the orange and grey color combo and the other (grey and patchworky) square is part of a spiderweb quilt - (look it up on flickr... the end result is beautiful!)... I really want to make one now!
I have a few months to decide my color scheme and pattern before having everyone sew for me... Lots of time to think...

Spring Ruffle Top Dress (#2 of 3 for the week)

Still a little too chilly to wear the dress like a sundress, but here's the dress which is the elongated top with a ruffle attached.

Spring swingy top (1 of 3 in a week!)

This week I've been following through on a idea I've had for a year... Remember when I made the green spring ruffle top and a matching dress for Mimi last May? (will post that later)...

I just love that tutorial (found on Sew Mama Sew) and after making a dress that I wore in Italy which looked similar, but was fussy and not fun to make, I thought, "I need to revisit the swingy top with some fun variations... No ruffles, no contrast, longer like a dress..."

So I spent all last weekend working on those ideas. The weather isn't cooperating for me to wear them as spring tops yet, so today I found a way to wear one of them. This red one is made with some fabric Amy sent me from Thailand.... It's been in my stash for a while and I'm so happy to have the perfect use for it.