february is over, my favorite month. march will bring us spring and Mamma's English Garden challenge. i brought out my sewing machine last night and was once again frustrated at not even being able to thread it right. i have never been good with machines. so came up with a brilliant idea=to put an ad on craigslist for a few private sewing lessons. i so want to learn how to make those mixed media fabric and paper collages that saray does so well (see list of links).

things are very strange in america right now, sort of in limbo awaiting that CHANGE. things are changing surely, but into what is the big enigma. i have started to write down what i observe and what i think in a paper journal as i read 'this land is their land" a humourous book a la Michael Moore about the illness that affects our core values. ron paul still doing his best with his "campaign for liberty".

picking up every book off the bookshelf that i haven't read yet before i order more as in the Dylan Thomas Biography which has turned out to be a real page turner.

speaking of strange, i ran into this artist on etsy who sums up the insanity perfectly

Me sobra el sol del campo
Me sobra la luna desnuda
Me sobra el deseo
Me sobra el manantial
Y mi libro de Neruda
Si no tengo tus labios para sentirlos
Me sobra todo

Me sobran motivos tristes
Me sobran canciones de melancolia
Me sobra un dia de cada semana
Y sobro yo
Si hago que una lagrima sobre
Y salga de tus ojos

Coro

En el ultimo lugar del mundo
Luego de la cordillera
Esconderia las palabras
En mis poemas si te fueras
En el ultimo lugar del mundo
En cada pedazo de tierra
Esparciria yo mi llanto
Para que hallaras mi huella

Me sobra el paisaje
Me sobran los viajes de ida y volver
Me sobran el aire, me sobran los ojos
Y el sexto sentido
Si tengo la vida si tu no la vives
Me sobra todo.

Coro

Uhhhhhh

Y en el ltimo lugar del mundo
Luego de la cordillera
Esconderia mis palabras
En mis poemas si te fueras
Y en el ultimo lugar del mundo
En cada pedazo de tierra
Esparciria yo mi llanto
Para que hallaras mi huella

enjoy AND HOPEFULY listen to more of his music, the piece from BABEL was exquisite. You must turn off my playlist first in order to listen to it.

Photo credit goes to the Annie Liebovitz
This would have been my dress

i got them all right except for one; i was rooting for Mickey Rourke but Sean Penn is one of my all time favorite actors too so it was not disappointing at all. I am so happy Penelope won for Anna Christina Barcelona, she was terrific. I have followed her for years and still think her best roles were when she worked for Almodovar. My favorite movie of hers is Jamon Jamon, a Spanish comedy of errors.

too bad it's not Christmas cause...

my latest craze is

cabs, cabouchons, rhinestones, beads, bakelite, kitsch. I want to make the kitschiest box ever.

There are so many stories in old houses

There are so many stories in old houses
Originally uploaded by cassandra204

what would life be without "others", each with their unique vision of the world, each with their special gifts? today i ran across cassandras digital art again and fell in love with this particular one.

what truth. coincidentally i had been admiring another quote this morning about a house:

"In my Father's house there are many Mansions" John 14:2 featured as Victoria Mackenzie-Childs' favorite in the latest edition of Where Women Create (note I am still talking about this magazine two days after first reading it).

the shop is doing well and mailing out an average of 3 to 4 packages a day which brings me pride. i sometimes work so very hard at it.

one of those weeks. creative frenzy. too many ideas, not enough time. did anyone read the second issue of "Where Women Create? Oh my God, how jealous am i after seeing all those studios with snippets on what they actually create in them. a must read for al us "modernostalgics". which lead me to sew a vintage inspired boudoir pillow.

PALOMA'S NEST at ETSY

another little box. just a teeny tiny altered tin with embellishments. i brought out my sewing again today and am creating a small pillow for rhinestone and collectable pins. all of a sudden my head is swarming with ideas after a dull few weeks of almost nothingness.

and here's the ubiquitous bird nest, my take, with a shimmering white bird. i am still working on a little wooden sign and wand it will have to go with it.

it must be the romance in the air or my ever seeking that safe zone of it that has me turning back to romantic creations and a few vintage item purchases. lots of pink roses and old sewing notions, vintage teacups and sugar bowls, bird salt and pepper shakers. some a bit over the top but reading all those Victoria Magazines and my recent purchase of "Home Sewn" as well as my reading a life of Lincoln has transported me.

i have also been browsing through one of my favorite fabric artist's creations. She is a darling girl in New Zealand with a shop on etsy by the name of All Things Pretty or Little Things. Her work just takes my breath away.

by chance i also ran into an estare sale on ebay and am bidding an an old barber shop sign, an eccentric move but hopefully a wise one. it will add such flair to the house since it is true americana folklore. everything she has for sale is unique and exquisite. check her out under shabbytownusa but be prepared to pull out the big bucks.

is romance obsolete? i mean in the strictest sense? i sometimes think it is. just looking back at all the pretty things and the length of time people used to take to create love tokens, write love letters, send boxes of chocolates, deliver flower arrangements,

Painting by Claudio Bravo (Realist Chilean painter)

collecting locks of hair in golden lockets, hand sewing their trousseaus makes me want to be transported to another era. being a consummate romantic i have to wait it out until the 14th to see what my sweetheart will surprise me with.

my baby is back from her five week trip to chile and we have spent the day chatting and exchanging giggles over all her stories, photos and videos. jon and i had missed her terribly since she is the vivacious one in the family, full of energy, very dramatic and so girly unlike mom and brother who are so introspective.

the week has been positive. i have finally begun to put some order and some structure into my daily routine (i was staying up way too late and really not taking much care about my closets and craft supplies. my little corner shop on etsy was also suffereing from neglect so i jump started it with lots of new items, doing pretty well over the last three days.

tati brought back a whole lot of antiques from my friend patti and have been sorting through buttons, old english tins, vintage kets and locks and little jewelry pieces. so much fun. i will take pictures tomorrow and psot all the wonderful items that came my way.

lots of reading, a biography of Jefferson this time after having read both Benjamin Franklin's and John Adam's. totally different perspective on the american independence, more a dreamer and an idealist than adams or franklin who were very much realistis and pragmatists. at the same time reading "Profiles in Courage" by John F. Kennedy on the courageous few who have sacrificed their careers in exchange for voting with their consciences when it came to very prickly issues in the Senate. loving them both simultaneously.

Tatiana at far left

february has always been my favorite month. love the word, i love the season approaching yet not quite yet spring, i love its difference from every other month with its 28 days and that twist of 29 every four years. different, i have always followed different. february's gift has been three glorious days of rain and still more to come. ahhh... the smell of cleanliness, green hills, clover growing in the garden covered in raindrops=memories of england. so much so that i have now watched miss potter a total of four times; how i love that film. and mr. warne and his music box gift to beatrix. i will never ever tire of it. what an irony that she could not have him, they would have been so so happy together.

so here i am, cozying up to my warm hearth, sifting through my latest magazines and in a totally english state of mind. i made these darling little button holders with vintage backgrounds for a sewing basket and working on a couple of sepia fabric dolls inspired by Sandra Everston as well as completing MAD Mamma's paper doll. all is good with the world when nature is happy.

inevitably looking at photographs of cumbria and making plans to visit. there are three great authors who made their homes there so will wander from on to the other. dove cottage especially calls me due to its spectacular gardens. only the brits.

slowing down has brought me a new inner peace. i really needed that. the body is so wise in warning us when we're abusing it. so being gentle with myself has truly worked wonders these last two weeks.

it is raining here, heavily this morning, and i opened up the bedroom curtains and just stood there looking at it come down on the orange trees. what a gift; we have had so little rain in the last years so this is a blessing for California. i love it because it brings new sensations and the desire to light the fireplace, wrap a blanket around my legs and sit and watch a good oldie with a cup of coffee and a slice of apple pie a la mode. contentment, pure bliss.

we ventured out yesterday to the good old Oxnard Thrift Stores and then to Borders where i picked up the latest Somerset magazines (Sew Somerset & Somerset Life), luxuries at $14.99 a piece. The Stuffed Softies magazine was out too but just couldn't buy 3. Somerset has about 10 different magazines at this point and I can't decide which I like the best, the're all so filled with ME. I love Artful Blogging too and have a few back issues of that. so back to thrift store where i found an amazing celluloid Tyrolean doll. she's a keeper. i'll have some pictures of her up soon.

after reading them last night with Fred Astaire dancing in the background, I was on an e-bay binge after years not visiting that site other than to sell. all kinds of miniature dolls i need to make a panel i saw in Somerset made with different sized canvases flipped backwards. where is MAMMA when I need her to spank me and send me to my room? o many ideas popping into my head right now so i had to put a stop to it by exercising self-control. the problem with e-bay is that you're there to shop for one thing and it's a labyrinth and you end up bidding on ALL the things you ever dreamed of. DANGEROUS! still have a few more items i'm bidding on and they all seem to be religious items totally unrealted to what i had intended. my collection of religious items is now up to over 100 items.

here are some of my eccentricities. isn't Toto the clown a true find?