Steampunk Babe & A Sleepy Pixie

I had two days vacation left & was determined to spend them finishing up sewing & craft projects. Forget housework! What holiday? Tomorrow's Thanksgiving? Well, I guess the turkey can bake while I sew :) And what have I done? Behold my finished (well, 98%) Steampunk doll from the October workshop with Barbara Schoenoff!

The unfinished 2% is what you're not seeing here....her boots. Having a bit of trouble with that part.

 I just love the steampunk style. Think Jules Vernes movies, or Wild, Wild West. That 1890s, Victorian style mixed with the dawning industrial age.

Steampunk characters carry an array of gears, wheels, metal, any component they might need to quickly invent something to help them in their work or get them out of a jam.

The hair is Tibetan lamb's wool. It's so soft. The white hair makes an interesting contrast with her young face. I really love the "Imagine" token. It's from Tim Holtz' line of industrial embellishments for scrapbooks, cards, etc.

This gal is really packin'. I used some old jewelry, a vest clasp, some tiny bottles & wire and bought the other embellishments at craft stores. The gauntlets are fingers cut from an old leather glove.

Here's one of the fun things of dollmaking. You start out with a plan, but it evolves & goes another direction. For instance, I was going to make the bustle from the pink&black check, like the ruffle on her corset. But it was just too much, especially with the socks. I sure didn't want to give those socks up, but wanting to get this finished, I rummaged thru my stash and found the sheer black piece I was going to use on our Diane Little doll (a previous workshop). When I made that doll, I had the black outfit all envisioned, but it just didn't work on that doll. I ended going with a red velour. Apparently, the black was meant for the Steampunk doll; which tells me the pink/black silk has a future purpose!

This is a "Bloom" pattern, also by Barbara S. It's easy & versatile. I think Barbara was imagining flowers but I went with a winter motif, since, you know, Christmas is next month.

Everything that makes up this doll, I already had. Some fabric scraps, ribbon, trims I picked up at last year's after-Christmas sales. In fact, the silver body fabric is "vintage." It's from a dressy top I made for a special night-out right after my son was born......31 years ago! Haha, I knew I would re-purpose that top some day!!

Biltmore Architecture

This is the view from the incredible gardens of the incredible Biltmore Mansion in Ashville, NC.

I liked the varying heights, arches, & grillwork in this frame. It's kind of a breezeway from the outer court, so to speak, to an inner courtyard. A building, that I think was a stable, has been converted into shops & restaurants.

 This is the conservatory. Loved the arched windows.

 An elaborate (of course!) wrought iron bench.

 I guess I like archways. This leads from one themed garden into another.

 Oval-framed oval in the garden.

Carving on the mansion.

I took almost 1000 pictures on this trip. It will take some time to get caught up on the blog!

Can You Say: Extravagant?

Sorry it's been so long since the last post! Life can sure get busy and when you do get time Blogger will decide to be s l o w uploading. I don't have the time or patience for persnickity interwebbing. {and no, the picture above is not me; although sometimes I can relate...especially when computers are being uncooperative}

On our last visit, I said we would be going from the cotton fields to a mansion. Here it is: the interesting architecture from the Biltmore Mansion in Ashville, NC.

Biltmore, as in, Vanderbilt. Not built by the Vanders, but built by George W. Vanderbilt and still owned by the family, this piece of extravagance consists of 250 rooms on 8,000 acres. Construction began in the late 1800's and George officially made himself at home in 1895. Three years later he married & brought his new bride here.

{Clearly he was a bachelor while this house was under construction because no marriage would survive this project. How do I know? We built a 1600 sq ft house in 1984 and, uh, let's just say.. it was a test of our love.}

In order to preserve the estate during the Depression, it was opened to the public in 1930. It's an interesting place to visit to see furniture and household articles from that era. You know, turn-of-the-century stuff like: an indoor swimming pool, bowling alley, gymnasium, 3 kitchens, and pipe organ. Did you get that - indoor swimming pool? Remember, this was a time when most people didn't have indoor plumbing!  

More Biltmore pictures to come....

Fall Vacation: Side Trip

This is the 3rd time we've made the trek east to the Smoky Mountains and the 2nd time the cotton was close to harvesting when we went thru west Tennessee.

Sounds goofy, but I'm just fascinated by the cotton fields. There were acres & acres, miles & miles of beautiful, white fluff.

The last time we passed through here, my husband noticed cotton balls loose along the highway. I was so excited, I asked him to pull over so I could jump out & get one. I put it in a little plastic bag & keep it here at my desk to remind me of how sweet & thoughtful he is.

So this time passing through, it was early in the day and we had time to take a little side trip. We went down a story-book country road lined with cotton fields on both sides. Oh my gosh, if I were a millionaire, I would've bought that farm on the spot. It was just the prettiest area and reminded me of summer vacations at my uncle's house in east Tenn.

See the pod and how the cotton bursts out. I don't know what I expected but I guess I didn't realize that cotton is just like the cotton balls we buy packaged in bags at the store (of course, they've been cleaned, etc)

So that's the little side trip story. Next we go from the cotton fields of Tennessee to an unbelievable mansion in North Carolina.   

Fall Vacation: Part 1 - "The Pilgrimage"

I love October! It's my absolute favorite month. We took a week off and got out of town for a few days. We had such a great time and I finally got to see a very special place.

Do you recognize it?

Here's another hint.

Yes, I have finally made the pilgrimage to Graceland!

Understandably, you can't take flash pictures inside, so these won't look really great. I did a couple of them in b/w to get around some of the blah color.

'Course there's not much you can do about the color in this room! Elvis, I love ya  man, but this was rather tacky! Everything in the pool table room is covered in this late  60's green/gold/red paisley print. The furniture, the walls, the tablecloth and especially the ceiling. The fabric is gathered to a big ol' covered button above the Tiffany lights.

This is mirrored-wall bar area with glass shelves. Thought it made an interesting picture with the reflections.

Elvis converted an old smokehouse on the property into a shooting gallery. These old bike wheels must have served as a rustic style decor. I liked the look of the brick, the rust, & the dust.

The building housing his car collection was really interesting. 

Rolls, Caddies, Lincolns, a Harley and cars I've never heard of were on display.

The pink cadillac Elvis bought for his mom.

Pink Cadillac Magnets in the auto collection gift shop. Each area of the Graceland Experience ended in spectacular gift shop. The tour included the main house, detached buildings (Vernon's office, the racquetball room, the car collection, trophy room, etc.) Each gift shop was unique in that the gifts matched the theme of the display, i.e. classic Elvis, later years Elvis, etc.

The King had quite a collection of gold & platinum records.

This particular album was one of my favorites. It was my only exposure to gospel music. Not that I'm a huge fan of gospel style music (unless it's Elvis) but this is how I learned some of the classics. I wore this album out listening to that angelic voice.

It was fun to see the fancy jumpsuits and many other outfits we've seen many times in photos, including Elvis & Pricilla's wedding outfits.

TCB - "Taking Care of Business" was Elvis' motto and he had jewlery made for his close friends and associates with the emblem. It appeard in other places too - like the tail of his jet. It was really interesting actually being able to board the private jet he had customized for personal travel.

Sad moment coming up...the picture above is part of a stained glass display in the Meditation Garden where Elvis & his family are buried.

 All these years later - it's still sad to think he's gone.

 Elvis Presley. What a unique human being. 

The Many Shades of Blu





Electric Blu

Such beautiful weather! Yesterday was a perfect day for Blu-pampering. I bathed him, then set up my little salon on the patio to brush him out and of course, take pictures.  Just one little drawback....he doesn't like to be pampered.

  



Zen Blu

 


Elegant Blu

 

Blu doesn't like to be groomed at all.  Not a good thing when you're one big mass of long, silky hair. He was a little more patient than usual, I think because we did it early in the day when he usually sleeps. And treats were involved. 




Rock Star Blu

 There's nothing better than a clean, soft Afghan hound, silky fringe flying in the breeze.

When God Fills the Brackets

Wednesday was my turn to give devotions for the staff. (A devotion is a 5-8 minute teaching/reflection/encouragement talk). My turn comes up every 4 to 6 months and has for the last 14 years. I'm no stranger to this. Usually I've been really inspired by something I'm reading, or studying and the Lord helps develop it into something presentable. Until Tuesday night. I've been on the schedule for a month & was confident something would come to me before August 31st. But at 9:00 Tuesday night, I was b-l-a-n-k! No scripture, no flash of illumination, no brilliant insights. Zero. Nada. Zip.

I whined to my husband, who gallantly offered to fill in for me. Whew! Off the hook! In my relief, I continued my evening procrastination by cruising around Facebook. I posted my dilemma, describing my mind as looking like this:To my surprise, it started quite a conversation and some great suggestions.
Justin said simply, "talk about that." yes, abstract and metaphorical. Interesting. I like it.
Chrissy said "talk about the awesomeness of space and the universe and how that ties into God..." that's pretty good, too!
Bob: "how long does it need to be?" he's a pastor, can you tell?
Debbie said "talk about how in our weakness, God fills in the [ ]." hmmm, not a bad idea either!
She also offered Lamentations 3:23-33, her favorite scripture. Lamentations?! What in the world could be inspiring there??
Dennis said "I've seen Julie walk into a meeting not really knowing what to say...all she can do is make herself available to our Father. And you know what? The Holy Spirit always shows up. He will do the same for you. Sleep on it and the Lord will give you something in your sleep!" That's true & it happened not long ago. I woke up with the strong feeling that someone would be late for their devo & God gave me a teaching to fill in for them that morning. But that was a specific occasion. Don't want to be presumptous with the Lord!

I decided to look into Debbie's favorite scripture and she was right! Here it is in The Message version, starting in verse 19 (emphasis mine):

I'll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness,

the taste of ashes, the poison I've swallowed.
I remember it all - oh, how well I remember--

the feeling of hitting the bottom.

But there's one other thing I remember,

and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:

God's loyal love couldn't have run out,

his merciful love couldn't have dried up.

They're created new every morning.

How great your faithfulness!
I'm sticking with God (I say it over and over).

He's all I've got left.

God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits,

to the woman who diligently seeks.

It's a good thing to quietly hope,

quietly hope for help from God.

It's a good thing when you're young

to stick it out through the hard times.

When life is heavy and hard to take,

go off by yourself. Enter the silence.

Bow in prayer. Don't ask questions:
Wait for hope to appear.

Don't run from trouble. Take it full-face.
The "worst" is never the worst.

Why? Because the Master won't ever

walk out and fail to return.

Wow! That chapter was filled with great stuff!! Inspiration poured over me like a refreshing spring rain. There were many directions I could've gone with these beautiful verses, but this phrase really stood out: Enter the silence.


There's a line in a U2 song that goes "let me in the sound..." But you know what? We're drowning in sound. We're immersed in it. The sound of responsibilities, family, work, television, radio, the internet, talk shows, music (whatever your tastes, you probably have it on all the time!); the news... negativity. So much negativity. Information overload!

We multi-task our devotional time - driving & listening to praise&worship music or teaching cd's. I'm guilty - I pray while walking the dog!

We're all pulled on so much. We all need some empty bracket time.

We need to enter the silence.

God Himself will fill it with wondrous things. It doesn't get any better than that.