Friday, August 31, 2007

To Boycott or To Not Boycott?

Here is what I feel like doing to Hancock Fabrics right now:


Oh, that brother of mine and his camera timer!

Here's my dilemma. I dropped ye olde sewing machine off at HF for a cleaning on August 10th. It wasn't back when we returned to Maine. I called last week, and the gal said it had just gone out. Apparently, nobody saw it on the 14th, when the fixer guy called to see if there were any machines for him to pick up. It has a giant Descendents sticker on it, for chrissakes!
I feel that THEY should pay for it, since they screwed me out of 2 weekends of sewing for the million craft fairs I'm doing this fall. No such luck. I'm going to pay them their little $60 and then decide if I will shop there again.
Am I wrong? What should I do? They're so close and I hate the Jo-Ann's with their dried flowers and seasonal banners and cutesy shit.

Rat finks.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Maine in pictures

Because I am feeling beaten down already by the school year, and because only 26 % of our last year's 7th graders scored "proficient" on the mother f-ing MAP test, here is our totally awesome trip to Maine in pictures. No reading.
Okay, some reading. We took the Amtrak to Chicago ( I will spare you the pics of me in a Panera Bread). From there, we got a sleeper car to Washington D.C. I actually love looking out the window of a moving vehicle, even though I look bored in the picture.























































We had some time to spend in DC, but the camera batteries were dead, so just imagine 2 sweaty folks trudging across the Mall. Many monuments, thousands of Asian tourists (how much would it cost them to vacation here?!) and many homeless folks. The Vietnam Memorial was really hard to walk past, what with the photos and boots and crying people. If you know me, you know I can't see soldiers without getting a little weepy.
It was cool just to ride around in the cab. We ate Haagen-Daz ice cream in honor of Ian Mackaye and Henry Rollins' early career. In the train station, there was a woman crying for no apparent reason, even when her husband and kids came up. They just stood there watching her cry, then all went to dinner.
Our train left DC at 10 pm, and sat in Penn Station for like 2 hours. I look like a gay Klan member. I did wake up in time to see the sun rise over the marches of CT or RI. Very pretty and quiet and peaceful.

Kate and Vin took us to Topsham Beach, where I spent a great deal of time digging a hole and building an army of heads. The water was super cold, so I just dipped my feet and kept digging my hole.

Kate drove us to Boston, where I visited with my old boss at Salem Street True Value and feasted on paninos. We also visited the reasons for my credit card debt: Urban Outfitters and Downtown Crossing. We parked in front of our old scummy apartment on Comm. Ave. It's still a depressing graffiti-filled shithole, but it felt oddly normal to be strolling down the street with Kate at my side. Allston is the shithole, not Boston. We also had dinner with my old flame Tom at The Common Ground, the source of my imminent liver failure. Anthony was kind enough to water us and entertain us with party videos from my wilder days, much to Matt's surprise. There are no videos on here, though...yet!
In Boston, we also went through the Old Granary Burial Ground, where we saw Sam Adams' grave. Good job, Mr. Adams! I like your beer!

We had lobster and mussels for dinner and fresh green beans and they were delicious.
Lewiston, ME has some cool stuff, but I liked Portland better, namely because Matt (innocently sitting on the sidewalk) was told to "Get a job" by some woman as she walked past. Plus we saw "The Simpsons" and it wasn't half bad!


It was easily the best vacation yet, including our honeymoon (alternator blew out in Petrified Forest). Sleeping cars on Amtrak are awesome, Maine is wonderful, Boston is the same, and I had great hair the entire week. We ate the best food ever, got sand in all our crevices, and I heard an owl or a loon. Shaun's little nieces let us make s'mores with their marshmallows and I drank blueberry beer. We went to an organic farm and fed goats and chickens. There was sea glass collected and WW2 forts explored.
Then we sat on the plane back for an hour BEFORE leaving the tarmac. It was so freakin' hot when we got home, even at 1 AM. We had 20 straight days of 90+ heat. Today was a break, but it's so humid you wouldn't believe it.

Kate, I'm moving to Maine! Let's do that fabric design/art school/fabric and yarn shop thing! What color is your parachute?!

Friday, August 03, 2007

The Cotton Whisperer


So, for my Craft Mafia pseudonym, I chose "The Cotton Whisperer" not just because I love Cesar Milan, but because I feel that I have a way with cotton, much like Cesar and his pooches.
Here is what I've been sewing furiously on for the past week or so.

I know they're not quilted yet, but I wanted to take a pic of them since it's like 100 degrees outside with 89% humidity. Mmmm...warm wet St. Louis blanket.



You all wanted to see a crotch shot of my dog, right?



The perfect Baby's First Quilt....skulls and roses!




There's not many times when I feel proud of myself, but looking at these makes me feel that way. I don't hate myself; I just never feel accomplished. Of course, I could get my Ph.D. and be like, "Big deal--tons of people have their doctorate!"
Now back to quilting. Blech.

I'll be selling these bad boys at CraftaNostra on August 18th. You better be there, but not in a stalking way. I might be short, but I will reiterate my shortness=compressed rage theory.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Next tattoo!


OMG! This is the most awesome thing I've seen since Tiny Montgomery's new hairless rat (not in a perverted way).
I so love this design! I'd change the butterfly to....a praying mantis? A grasshopper? No, a ladybug! Nah,. maybe a grasshopper.
Obviously I wouldn't include the book title. And maybe I'd change the colors a little bit.
Where to put it?