We Live in a Beautiful World

Yeah, we do; yeah we do.

Sorry, that Coldplay song running through my head and now it’s running through my headphones. 😉

Anyway, it’s another beautiful day in the neighborhood. I so wish I didn’t have to be fighting with malfunctioning software right now. I could stand to be out on the boat. We played hooky yesterday (otherwise known as a rare vacation day) and went sailing. Of course, problems cropped up at work for both of us, but I was able to pass mine off onto someone else, while Terry actually had to come in and fix something. Ah, the life of the dedicated computer professional. Isn’t it lovely?

We had a bunch of company on the boat yesterday afternoon/evening. That was… um… interesting. 6 people don’t fit on the boat at one time. Anna is probably going to read this and fall off of her chair, as she’s been on the boat with the Dude and knows what it must have been like to have crammed another 2 people on board. Never again.

We were so out of our normal rhythm that poor Terry got hurt. He was trying to bring the sails down while having me turn the boat. Bad idea. The boom for the main sail came across the deck and knocked him over the side of the boat! Think Pirates of the Caribbean when Johnny Depp’s character wheels the boat around hard and knocks Orlando Bloom’s character so that he’s hanging over the water, hanging onto nothing but the boom. Terry didn’t end up in the water, but was hanging onto a pole and the lifelines. He’s pretty banged up, though he did his best to act like it was nothing at the time, to allay everyone’s fears. I feel bad for him. Just one of those things that wouldn’t normally happen, but I’ve learned the hard way that jamming a lot of people into any sort of vehicle can be a recipe for disaster. After all, that’s how I got into my first automobile accident as a teenager.

Heh-heh… automobile. Dong, where is my automobile? 😆

Anywhoooooooo. Not much going on here. I received my pearl cottons so that I can create the cording to finish off Barnabee’s Quest. Just as soon as I finish sewing on the velcro strips to hold it to the bellpull hardware. You sew both strips onto the back of the piece so that it wraps around the bellpull and then sticks to itself. A good technique to know for fixed bellpull hardware, since the only ones I’ve used so far either allowed you to slip the piece over the dowel and/or the finials could be removed to allow you to slip the piece onto the dowel. So, I’m used to just stitching a little pocket for the dowel, which wouldn’t work this time. Hopefully, Barnabee will ready for his debut as a finishing product sometime in the next week or so.

No more card crafting for now. I’m not totally tapped out of ideas, but I have nothing to do with them, so I’m going to send some to Barbara and the rest to my grandmother. I’ve also been working at learning and practicing Kirigami, though all I’ve done so far are two pop-up cards/sculptures. I’ll have to take pictures. One is of a ballerina on pink backing cardstock and the other is an oriental dragon. The ballerina will go to my psychiatrist, who has a special interest in ballet. The dragon is for me, especially because he took quite a while to cut out and was a good challenge for me. I just forgot to mount him on his backing paper before I popped him out, so it will be interesting to try to put on the backing after the fact. I may have to do him again!

I printed the patterns from this website, if anyone is interested. All you need is some white cardstock and a sharp Exacto (or other) knife. And I mean SHARP. I was working with a dull blade for the entire ballerina and part of the dragon and it was really hard on my hand to push so hard. When I finally changed out the blade, it was amazingly easy and I was able to finish up the dragon in no time afterwards. Duh to me. 😉

I’ve even almost picked up a needle. Okay, that’s a lie. I did pick up a very thick needle yesterday to do some plastic canvas work while on the boat. Remember the coasters I stitched last year? Well, I bought a matching tissue box cover at the same time. So, I started it yesterday, only to find out (much to my dismay) that they totally forgot one color of yarn – the gold that is used for the anchor. There are only 5 colors used, how do you manage to miss one? So, now I need to run out to ACMoore or WalMart or someplace and pick up some gold yarn, along with some more white cardstock so I can make more 3D cards. 😀

I also kitted up Just Nan’s Flower Girls WhimZi design that I bought for my work cubicle for the spring and summer months. I will put needle to fabric on that one soon, I think. I even ironed the fabric last night, so I’m ready to go whenever my mojo decides to pay me a visit.

Finally, I acquired some new stash yesterday. Shame on me! I was trying not to buy anything else for quite some time, but this one called out to me with a specific purpose. I won an eBay auction for Just Nan (can you tell I like her designs or something?)’s Sparkling Iris design, embellishments and the beautiful frame. Once finished, this will go to either my mother or grandmother, both of whom love irises!

That’s enough babbling from this little brook for now. Time to get back to the grind. 🙂