Luna's Baublebilities

Allow me to say a few words about socks. 

I hate socks.  I wear them.  I enjoy wearing them.  They keep my feet warm and prevent my shoes from stinking.  But I hate being responsible for them.  Especially Maxx's.

With all of the socks Maxx owns, one would think that I could easily find a pair that reasonably matches.  No - I am not OCD about two socks needing to have exactly the same degree of grey-ness or stainage, but Maxx and I do insist that the socks be about  the same length & thickness and have the same sort of toe seam. 

It would help if he would remove his socks in the same place.  I don't necessarily mean removing both of  his socks in the same place every day - I mean removing both of his socks at the same time and place on any given day.  His normal mode is to come home and kick his boots off - one usually goes in one direction while the other flies off into the opposite room.  Eventually he takes one sock off.  He travels about a bit, indoors and out.  Then he takes the other sock off.  I have not done any studies about which sock he tends to remove first.  I'm not sure that would help. 

Sooner or later both socks end up in the laundry.  But not necessarily in the same load.  Not even necessarily in the same week.

Not 8 weeks ago, I bought him some little black socks, - 6 pair, 12 total -  thinking this would make it easier to find him a pair in the sock basket.  Can I find more than one of those socks at any given time? 

No. 

I can find any number of grayed white socks with holes in the bottom, but only one of the new black socks.  Sigh.

I have some mesh laundry bags I my Amazon shopping cart.  (Why can't I find these things when I go shopping in a real store?  Why must I pay shipping for them?  Should I just go to JoAnne Fabrics and buy some mesh to make my own bags?)   

I think that if I had 4 mesh laundry bags, everyone could be responsible for putting their own socks in their own laundry sack (or I could go around the house of a laundry day and gather up all manner of socks, placing them each in their designated bag) - wash the whole sack at once and then I would not have to sort socks anymore.   When children (and husbands) whine for socks, I could just chuck a mesh bag full of socks at them and make them choose a pair for themselves.

I may be delusional.

But I am reluctant to push the buy button because my Etsy shops are dead.  (And because I have several other things in my shopping cart.)  Very few sales this past week - just enough to pay my Etsy bill.  I am becoming disgruntled but am loathe to murmur about it too much, lest the Etsy Gods take vengeance.  Perhaps they already have and this is why my shops are dead.

Oh, how I wish people would learn to shop on ArtFire.


Meanwhile it is 49 degrees and raining outside.  The rain is O.K.,  I suppose the 49 degrees is really not all that bad - but it has, in general, been too warm.  My lilacs look like this. 

They should not look like this until May.  They are at least 3 weeks ahead of schedule - along with every other growing thing right now. 

Craziness.  We could still get a blizzard - or an ice storm - or at least a very heavy frost - and then where would my blossoms be? 

Blighted, that's where. 

Curse you, Global Warming and Climate Change!

While I'm cursing people, I shouldn't forget our dear Governor Patterson who now intends to lay off all the construction workers in NYS, along with the over 150,000 teachers across the state who are slated to lose their jobs come June.  That will be a nice change for our laborers - a big summer vacation.  It will be handy for NYS too, considering that they have been on the job just long enough to cause their unemployment to expire but not long enough to earn another round. 

Sigh. 

At least the Arts Council is making progress.  New classroom spaces in Old Snell Hall  - Dance Classes coming right up!  I hope someone will be able to afford them.

Keep yer socks on.  I'm off to do laundry.

We attended Conference at the Chapel this weekend.  Sometimes, we watch the Saturday sessions at home but this spring, we knew it would be too much of a temptation to go over and work on the Beorningstead in the beautiful weather - 89 degrees.  (That's just wrong, by the way.  That's mid-July weather, not April.)

So I worked on some embroidery.

Remember this post?  I've gotten this far.  I'm making grape leaves for a multi-dimensional embroidery piece that I will probably finish sometime in 2050.  I got as far as tacking the wire down and whip-stitching the middle vein down.  The edges require some sort of buttonhole variation and I wasn't up to trying to parse the instructions for that stitch while also trying to hear what was happening in conference.  (Lots and lots of discussion about the importance of teaching children and strengthening our families.)

I have a sort of half-baked plan for this piece that is marginally related to the Beorningstead and Burnett Hollow.  The further I take it, the less pleased I am. It is a bit too iconic.  It started as a non-trad Asissi work piece.  I guess it's working as far as that goes.  The sky and ground are covered with hand dyed variegated cotton thread.  More embellishment is planned, I just need some bravery and a bit more time.  Maybe in October.  ;)   (Edit - May 3, 2010 - This weeks TAST 2 stitch is Cloud Filling.  I haven't had time for TAST the last few weeks but I was tickled to find that this week's challenge stitch is something I'm already familiar with!  I used Cloud Filling on the Peacock above - the green ground area is mostly that stitch.  You can find out more about TAST 2010 and see how to do Could Filling yourself at Pin Tangle.  Sharon is one of my fiber heroes.)

And I had a chance to try Portuguese Border Stitch from TAST 2.


I removed the unfortunate border I had here earlier and replaced it with  Portuguese Border with teeny seed beads tucked into the openings.    I'm not sure that it might not be a bit heavy-handed for this piece right here?















Maxx played ball between sessions and had fun playing with pattern blocks with Melanie.  He's convinced that he will marry her someday - just like all the other older girls who are nice to him.  (he's got good taste, though, all of his "girlfriends" are very sweet, intelligent and good with younger kids.)

Conference rarely falls on Easter.  To make the day more special, the branch had a Ham dinner with potluck between sessions.  Then we visited Meemo in the evening.  The Easter Bunny has agreed to visit over Spring Break for a Spring Holiday event over at the grandparents.  More about that next week.  
     




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FreeShipping on all US orders of Jewelry or Scarves from my GoblinsMarket ArtFire shop over Easter Weekend! 

Click here to go to my shop.







I love ArtFire.  I can offer this sale there because they have a global product editor that allows up to change shipping profiles, % off prices and all manner of other nifty factiods in the blink of an eye.  (On Etsy, I would have to edit every single item individually and then process a refund through PayPal for every sale.  What a pain!)