Things change rapidly around here, so this list is likely to grow!!
August 9th, 2009 Sunday only. Peach Festival ~ Grafton, IL (um, that’s tomorrow!) I will be at PereMarquette Lodge, justnorth of Grafton, Illinois on the Great River Road that sidles the Mighty Mississippi River. I will be there with some of my ShowMe Etsy Mates and the Peach Farmer, who’s name I have never known. I think he likes being known as “the peach farmer” or “the peach wine guy”, or simply ” the farmer”. Anyhow, it is a very kid friendly event with music, face painting, clowns making balloon creatures, etc…Plus wonderful crafty people like us! The Lodge at Pere Marquette is really a great place to stay if you are ever in the that area of the world. And while you are there be sure to make the hop down the road to eat at Elsah Landing, in historic Elsah, Illinois. Amazing. http://63.135.118.189/ This is also where we would have the stitchers retreat if that ever comes to fruition! Which is a conversation for another day!
August 21, 22, 23, 2009. Centralia Balloon Fest~ Centralia, IL (this is my hometown) I will be here, hawking my wares amongst the tethered and sailing ginormous hot air balloons. Folks come from all over to watch and race. There is a balloon glow too! So, I will be there from @ 7am-10pm each day! What an adventure! As per usual, I will have mostly my wearable items, not so many DIY kits or charts to adorn your home. http://www.balloon-fest.com/
September 12 & 13, 2009. Carlye Art & Wine~ Carlyle, IL Another great location to visit if you are ever in the Southern Illinois area. This is my first time attending this show, but knowing the area, and knowing I like the feel of Art shows vs. Craft shows better, I am certain this won’t be a show to miss!http://www.carlyleartandwine.com/index.htm
September 26th & 27th, 2009. StrangeFolkFestival ~ O’fallon, IL THIS, is by far the most original of these listed events. If you are tired of the same ole’ same ole’, THIS is the Show for you. I promise it is worth traveling to. Lots of outside of the box thinking going on here! We had a wonderful time at the show the past few years and last year the weather made it even that much better! They have a really wonderful website too! Autumn, the gal who organizes it has it goin’ on! Also Check out her UPCYCLE EXCHANGE. It may be right up your alley as well. www.strangefolkfestival.com
AND one more month while we are at it….
October 9,10 &11th, 2009. Highland Art in The Park ~ Highland, IL This is a delightful show, at the perfect time of year to wander around outside. Wonderful sponsors and talented artists, and last year the music was GREAT. All this makes for a very enjoyable time. Come visit if you can.
Just in case you missed the message the old code LOVE2009 doesn’t work for the sale. blah.
THE new and improved Customer Love Summer Sale Code is: ThisOneWorks
Enter it at checkout to receive 25% off your whole (!) purchase! For use one time from today until August 31st. Stock up on all your monsterbubbles projects now!
Last night. The second loved Kittie in our house since January died. I don’t know HOW much more I can take! seriously. But, this isn’t about me, this is about Dottie. She died here at home. She didn’t suffer, thought I know she didn’t feel well. She was purring when I pet her and talked to her, up to to the last. We may never really know what happened to her.
Dottie came to us in a fairly nontraditional way.
We acquired Dottie when we lived in Riverside, CA. There were loads of Ferrel cats in the area, and before I thought about it, I befriended a tiny girl cat, who I couldn’t get close enough to pet, but got closer and closer to all the time. Now, most of you know what happens in an urban setting when you start feeding one outside homeless cat. DUH. Now I do. So about 50 cats later, this original little grey cat had a littler of kittens. (DUH) Since I had befriended her I took it upon myself to find homes for them, 9 of them. And then immediately started “fixing” every cat I could catch. That too is another story. So, one of our colorful neighbors took three. Two went to friends of theirs and one they kept. I say these neighbors were colorful because I don’t know another nice way of describing them. They had four children who were under the age of 10, 2 boys two girls, the youngest was 3. Of which, the parents didn’t seem to know (read *care*) what they were doing at any given time. Though, really they were just kids with no guidance, no guidance leads to mischief. They routinely were caught starting fires in the neighborhood, something Southern Californians’ don’t take lightly. They through eggs at our house from their unscreened bedroom windows on more than one occasion. Broke into our neighbors garage…stuff like that. The father was in and out of the city jail. Don’t know why, exactly but have my suspicions. The mom, I wanted to help her, and sometimes I did, but I really didn’t want to get too involved either. She would often be found vacuuming her porch, and 10 at night. I had the kids help me pick up pecans, plant flowers, anything to keep them busy to stop throwing eggs at my house! When the father was home, my husband and I had taken to sitting out on the porch to watch, or listen to what we called the fireworks. He and his wife had epic battles that sometimes I would see the the kids recreate the next day. But those kids, especially the two girls doted on this kitten. And as far as I could tell, treated her well. They dressed her up, played tag with her. Good cat, great kid cat. Mellow, and smart enough to play a sort of tag. Eventually, the family got kicked out. It was inevitable probably. I have to admit I felt a guilty gladness they were leaving. However the reality of it was sad, and a hard one for the mom, who was at the time being a single mom, again. I knew they had gotten kicked out because the landlord of the house they lived in visited me very frequently, one; to check up on the neighbors and get a feel from me how the other neighbors (who often called the police on the house) were taking it, and two; coincidentally he to was a Southern Illinois boy transplanted in Southern Cali.
knock, knock, cat in hand, “heather, we are getting evicted. Can you watch our cat?” the mom said “we are at the hotel and I am afraid if they find out we have a cat we will get kicked out and I can’t have a cat gettin’ my kids kicked out of the only place we have now” valid. Naturally, I reply: Come get her anytime, we will take real good care of her. Since I already had three cats, this was a bad move on my part, but what could ya’ do? So, I scooped up Dottie, (which is what I had always called her since she had a little grey spot on her muzzle that looked like it was supposed to be her nose) and took her straight to the vet. Got shots, all the stuff I wasn’t sure for sure had already been done and brought her home.
They never came back. I can’t say that I blame them, or that I was suprised. So Dottie just became part of our family. Could not have asked for a better cat to have Myles the infant, then toddler, now pre-schooler around. She tolerated a lot, and gave lots (LOTS) of fair warning before she had had it!And was smart enough to just get up and move. She chased Myles around while he was dragging a big string off the back of his tricycle. Ran around the yard with him, sat with us in the shade, and was generally easy to be with. A rare quality in cats or humans. Delightful. Lots of laughs with this one, for all of us. Thanks Dottie.
She will be missed.
Until next time, love your animals, and learn to appriciate the “specialty fibers” they add to your projects!
Summer. Seriously, where did the spring go? Though technically we have a month or so left of Spring, but Memorial Day weekend, at least in the USA marks the beginning of summer. With schools getting out, baseball in full swing, Swimming pools opening…all signs of summer! One of my favorite things to do in the summer is go camping. A good book (which I may never get to) ,a cooler full of food, beer, some pistachios and a new cross stitch project. I live in my swimsuit and cut offs, and my only job is to get the fire going in the morning for coffee, collecting pretty rocks in the river with Myles and stitching! Seriously makes me dreamy just talking about it.
Do you have your summer projects lined up yet? I am having a Memorial Day Salethis weekend to get you started: 20% off everything & free shipping. This will be good until Monday night, so you will have time to look. I have added scissorCandy, eyeCandyand countingCandyfor you! I use my countingCandy religiously now and wonder how I made it through so many years of stitching, and counting, and counting, and counting again without them. IF you want threads for your designs pop me an email and I will send you back a price. OK?
Have a wonderful weekend. Have fun picking out your summer stitch projects. Until next time, let someone else do the grilling, you sit, stitch and enjoy the world around you!
Heather
oh yeah, if you are in the St Louis area the next show I will be doing is the Strawberry Festival in Kimmswick, MO June 6th and 7th. If you have never been to Kimmswick, it is a treat, a great little river town.
It is here. And, there is a peacock flying around our yard, and neighborhood letting us know it is time to come and embrace this lovely time of year. Not the normal way spring usually announces itself, but very much welcome all the same!
Go plant your flowers and then come back and we’ll talk. It is time to start discussing your summer vacation projects? I have mine! I bought it from the Online Needlwork Show last week. When all of my orders are shipped, I may get to start it! But, lets chat about that later…
I leave you with new Kool-Aid dyeing kit from monsterbubbles! ENJOY!
What a great weekend to go to a Needlework Market, in your pj’s! Unlike your usual trade show, anyone can check it out. If you see something you like, you then can order it from one of the shops listed on the Retail Shop page. If you need help trying to figure out what shop to order from, let me know. I have a list of great to work with shops that I can share with you. OK?!
monsterbubbles will have 3 newNew designs at the show. “hop.Hop” which I have pictured here,
hop.Hop
“spellbound” which is a for your journal, or important book. I also use mine as a bookmark. And ONE MORE!! A kool-aid dye kit that reads, “if at first you don’t succeed, dye, dye again”. You will also find countingCandy, eyeCandy, and scissorCandy. All things any hip stitcher needs! AND old~loosing~their~vision~and~needs~ reading~glasses~to~stitch, stitchers like me. I am sure from the looks of the Vendor list you will have a wonderful time looking through the pages of this show!
The new charts will also be available here on the web site sometime today.
I have one more show I want to give you a heads up about in case you are or will be in the St Louis area this month. It is my Etsy Street Teams’ show, ShowMe Etsy. Artropy is the name of the handmade show. I will remind everyone again as the show draws closer.
Until next time, stitch like the easter decorations can stay out all year & the flowers will plant themselves!
be there or be square. I will be doing a demonstration on stitching on screen at 10am on Saturday and giving out some free take home stuff for you to work on later! YAY!
THEN, March 28 and 29, I will be at the Crestwood/Sunset Hills Rotary Craft Show.
I will be outside in a tent at this one, in March, (ha!) wish me luck…
IF you are planning to come to either of these shows and want some specific monsterbubbles swag, let me know and I will be sure to bring it with me! OK?! ‘Cause sometimes I don’t bring all my charts to these types of shows.
The Green with Indie show is a very crafty bunch. The show is sponsored by the St. Louis Craft Mafia. I made these cool flower brooches out of old sweaters special for this show. AND, these
beaded felted banglebeaded fleted bracelet
my funny valentine
I went crazy last week wet and needle felting. Crazy. My hands were toast from all the soap and hot water. I had not a clue how bad that could be! What we do for our creations…
This year, as in years past, my family and I do a little gambling. We put $5 or $10 down on our Oscar picks, and then winner takes ALL. NO second places here! High stakes for a group of people who never seem to have time to actually WATCH all these movies prior to the event anymore. SO, at the risk of my mom and sister discovering I posted my picks here I share them with you. Feel free to copy. I take no responsibility for lost funds other than my own….
Best Picture: “Slumdog Millionaire”
Best Actor: Sean Penn “Milk” ~ though my heart thinks Mickey Rourke may prevail.
Best Actress: Kate Winslet “The Reader”
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger “The Dark Knight”
Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz “Vicki Christina Barcelona” ~ this is one of the only movies I actually have seen, she is a hoot.
Best Director: Danny Boyle
Best Original Screenplay: “Milk”
Best Adapted Screenplay: “Slumdog Millionaire”
Best Animated Film: “Wall-E” ~ This is a no brain-er, right?!
Best Documentary Feature: “Man on Wire”
Best Foreign-Language Film: “The Class” ~ this category is always impossible. If you read all the predictions out there, this is one category that is usually split three or four ways. Pure guess for me! Hopefully it pays off!
Best Cinematography: “Slumdog Millionaire”
Best Art Direction: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Best Costume Design: “The Duchess” ~ though I may be the only person out there who liked “Australia”, so I am tempted to vote for it, because I want it to win SOMETHING!
Best Song: “Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire” ~ it is the only catchy ditty of the crew.
Best Musical Score: “Slumdog Millionaire” ~ this is the same guy who wrote “Bombay Dreams” music, the Andrew Lloyd Webber Bollywood musical. Which I liked, very listenable, though probably don’t need to see it again, ever.
Best Film Editing: “Slumdog Millionaire”
Best Sound Mixing: “The Dark Knight”
Best Sound Editing: “The Dark Knight”
Best Makeup: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” ~how could this not win?
Best Special Visual Effects: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Best Animated Short: “Presto”
Best Live-Action Short: “Toyland”
Best Documentary Short: “The Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306″
OK, that is it! I am discounting MOVIE inspired cross stitches for the event!! ENJOY!
until next time, stitch, watch the Oscars and let someone else worry about keeping track of the ballots!
So about 50 cats later, this original little grey cat had a littler of kittens. (DUH) Since I had befriended her I took it upon myself to find homes for them, 9 of them. And then immediately started “fixing” every cat I could catch. That too is another story. So, one of our colorful neighbors took three. Two went to friends of theirs and one they kept. I say these neighbors were colorful because I don’t know another nice way of describing them. They had four children who were under the age of 10, 2 boys two girls, the youngest was 3. Of which, the parents didn’t seem to know (read *care*) what they were doing at any given time. Though, really they were just kids with no guidance, no guidance leads to mischief. They routinely were caught starting fires in the neighborhood, something Southern Californians’ don’t take lightly. They through eggs at our house from their unscreened bedroom windows on more than one occasion. Broke into our neighbors garage…stuff like that. The father was in and out of the city jail. Don’t know why, exactly but have my suspicions. The mom, I wanted to help her, and sometimes I did, but I really didn’t want to get too involved either. She would often be found vacuuming her porch, and 10 at night. I had the kids help me pick up pecans, plant flowers, anything to keep them busy to stop throwing eggs at my house! When the father was home, my husband and I had taken to sitting out on the porch to watch, or listen to what we called the fireworks. He and his wife had epic battles that sometimes I would see the the kids recreate the next day. But those kids, especially the two girls doted on this kitten. And as far as I could tell, treated her well. They dressed her up, played tag with her. Good cat, great kid cat. Mellow, and smart enough to play a sort of tag. Eventually, the family got kicked out. It was inevitable probably. I have to admit I felt a guilty gladness they were leaving. However the reality of it was sad, and a hard one for the mom, who was at the time being a single mom, again. I knew they had gotten kicked out because the landlord of the house they lived in visited me very frequently, one; to check up on the neighbors and get a feel from me how the other neighbors (who often called the police on the house) were taking it, and two; coincidentally he to was a Southern Illinois boy transplanted in Southern Cali.
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