It's So Sweet to Be Needed...

The day before I left for a long anticipated trip to Kauai, the kitchen sink started leaking.  DH tko ultimately, but I had to stand there like a surgical nurse with tools and handling all the accumulated bottles of whatever..., and felt like a turd for leaving in such a crises.  So I  mopped up with the authority and dedication of a hazmat team after disposing of most of it.  When I called home to say I arrived safely, I received the news that our internet was down.  I tried to talk dh through resetting the modem, even gave him our isp info so he could handle it, but I think he preferred to just ignore the problem and eat hamburgers or buffets with his pals for a number of days.  Me?  I was eating fresh ahi, and making fresh salsa's with mangoes and papayas as often as I could and well,  having the time of my life. And I stopped calling home.  I bought ahi at the local markets and this picture was taken from the grounds of our condo ....

I have simple tastes, a simple camera, and get too involved in my experiences to be a reliable historian.  I do think I could have fed this bird by hand if I had the appropriate morsel, the sparrows across the way were devouring a bit of hand made sugar cone with drips  of mango gelato (pog) from my hand....

My alarm clock...

The cocka-doodlest rooster that you ever met..2am and he was ready to roar.  I sent a small pile of fresh bean sprouts over the lanai thinking I was feeding my wild friends some healthy food.  The birds wouldn't touch the sprouts much to my dismay and embarassment, but finally the sun faded them into nothing.  The sprouts I mean.   Chickens are wild and rampant all over the island.  But not apparently too hungry.  I saw a couple of chicks I would have loved to stash and take home with me at Spouting Horn though.  No chance.

 As am bonafide member of the Jaws generation, I've been duly afraid to bathe since the 70's or thereabouts.  I got pretty wild on the beach though, or rather, the beach got wild with me.  The surf knocked the tar out of me and then some.  Sand enema. 

Yes, there is a beached whale (meaning moi) somewhere in there with the boogie board.  Shameful.  I did see, the day before I left, a whale, a biological specimen, jump far into the air....at least 4 times in the same spot within the same hour.  It was one of the highlights of my adventure.

If you look closely, you will find a pair of doves getting lovey-dovey....they both walked across my toes in their dance, another astonishing event for me.  I was not in the wild country looking to meet up with boars or giant spiders though one hairy arachnid did manage to crawl sleepily out of my luggage when I was unpacking, how does that happen I ask you?  I roll my clothes????!....  I did eat the best seared ahi taco with drippy wasabi something or other, and had several days of positive goodness, and lit my eyes on pure magnificence.  Fabulous time, much to remember, even though I came back to piles of mail, a blown sewer pipe, freezing cold, a man and family/pets starved for affection...by golly....there's no place like home.  Aloha...and

Mahalo!

Tube the Ditch

Yes, that is what I intend to do, and very soon.  After an antique show this weekend, I'm off to Kauai.  I'll be vacating shops, internet, pets, kids, husband, and off with a girlfriend to relax.  Lucky, lucky me.  Almost Aloha time.....

Merry Christmas to All... and to All

Peace, sanity, strength and the discipline to pray regularly.  I haven't had that discipline,....and it was not by my faith that my mom survived an aneurysm, crainiotomy and all the brutality that comes along with such an event.  She is a very young 70 and seems relatively unchanged in personality.  What??  The stories I have heard about these things are beyond imagination.  We've been so very blessed that it has brought me to my knees.  To my knees.  

My sister is 5 years clear now of a devastating breast cancer, and my husband has his vision despite detached retinas in both eyes.  These are my Christmas gifts.  My children are beyond well, my nephew is to become a father shortly.

This next year I will spend significant time on my knees.

I wish you all the very happiest and peaceful of holidays, and may the promise of the Christ Child keep you where you need to be.

~Lis

Bags, Bags and More Bags!

I mentioned in my last post that I was constructing market bags to use as gifts for my peeps, and so I've made about 16 of these.  I scanned some illustrations from an old La Fontaine book of fables, I purchased some images from graphics sellers, one of them was a rubber stamp I scanned and blew up.  Using t-shirt transfer paper, and an assortment of fabrics from ye olde stash, it was not an expensive project.  The transfer paper was the pricey element, but Michael's and JoAnne's coupons defrayed the cost considerably. 

That interesting rubber stamp, I think it is from a Tim Holz collection.

This peach bag was the back and front of a linen blouse!

I used different scraps for linings, old pillow tickings, this one has a sweet 1930's textile.

I was pretty amazed with the detail that the transfer paper picked up.

I don't intend to make a career out of market bags, but it was a great way to use up some osnaburg and other cottons that I had piling up. The adhesive from the transfer paper made a darker area but because I used such detailed images, no way was I trimming all that excess off. I would like to try silk screening at some point and see if the same detail is possible. Once the fabric was cut and the transfer applied, I could sew one up in about 20 minutes, seriously.



Credit is due and most gratefully given to  oldgreymare for her basic bag construction tutorial. I roughly duplicated her measurements and flew through these.



I intend to use them instead of gift wrap wherever possible. So there you go!

Just a Preview Now...

I hope everyone had a fabulous holiday.  I could live off what I ate for days and days..:( We went to the folks house at Cave Rock, Nevada....I got one barely focused picture flying down the road on the way.  We've had days of snow since, but it is always lovely, no matter.

Yes I've been busy since, and here are some pics to give you just a little peek at what I am getting ready to list.

Yum?  Just maybe?  I am pretty pleased with this latest work.  I've been really focused on design and feeling my form, no matter how random I wish to be, my style is historically inspired by Victorians, Edwardians, Georgians, Flappers and Fiends. Pirates, Poets, Prayer and the Past.........So there you are, I am off to list while it is quiet and peaceful.  If you have a  moment I'd love it if you stopped by my ArtFire studio, only because you can see the rest of the pictures and it saves me just a bit of time.  I am still in the process of sewing vast numbers of market bags to use for Christmas gifts that I'll share with you next time.  On with the Holidays!

~Lis

Checking in and Out

One of the first pieces I sold on Etsy.....



I imagine everyone is sick to death of these sort of posts, I'd like to put them all to bed myself, but I just needed to get this out and be done with it.  I have officially closed, not just deactivated but closed both Etsy shops.  I don't want to belabor all the issues so please let it suffice to say that I am simply not pleased with the direction the site is taking.  I don't want to ugly up my blog with all the issues.  Anyone can be successful without Etsy and the associated headaches and heartaches....just watch. 

I still have a buyer account and will continue at times to purchase from artisans that I adore, I am not about boycotting the little guy or punishing people who choose to stay.  And don't misunderstand, it's been a very sad journey for me.

You can still find me easily on  ArtFire and I'm in the process of opening two more studios there!  One of the new ones in the works is for my husband, serious guy stuff for the Western Americana collector, and the last one, CobwebPalaceStudio, will be an extension of my original handmade studio.  I've recently updated Bonjourmadame with a nice selection of vintage, and CobwebPalace with new old redux luxe.... There are other plans and projects in the works to talk about later.....

So there you go, you know where to find me, and I only want to conclude with the fact that I feel hugely relieved and can turn back now to what I do with focus and joy.

Blessings,
Lis~

Christmas Ideas....

For ME!  or you.  Or anyone!  I put together a collection on Artfire, something I have no experience with, and I thought it was fairly cool and loaded with practical gift ideas.  I haven't received much response.  Do check it out if you have a moment, please? 

Practical Matters

Curated By: cobwebpalace

ArtFire.com

Indie Design

I've been building grocery totes with salvaged materials to use for Christmas wrap of late, and putting Victorian graphics on them, getting disgusted with the whole project.  I much prefer the look of silk screening and though I've been using nice quality transfer paper, it's just not the same.

I've put a few pieces in my ArtFire vintage studio lately and am off to list a bit more, before battening down hatches for our first snow storm.  Thanks for stopping by!
Lis~