string*THEORY

Hyperventilating

Hyperventilating today for both good + exhausting reasons.

::Good::

Good, or goodness gracious look what Erin sent me. That woman is tres talented, I'm tellin' you - imagine the time she took to lovingly knit this for me....and it's even lined!! Look...

The most perfect little stitches ever...oh! and the Moo Cards - thank you, Erin!

::Exhausting::

I wont say what it is....but I will say that you could probably figure it based on all the clues here AND I'm super excited about it all. Exhausted too....super duper exhausted. But in a good way....okay, I can't keep a secret to save my life, so before I blurt....moving on...

::Good::

This is some patchwork goodness that I whipped up last night. Snuggly, soft goodness, perfect for the summer time + watching fireworks at the lake (if that's where you watch your fireworks, you know). It has more to do with the previous photo....and nothing to do with the coolest Sunday ever! Which was this past Sunday, spent meeting Angela + Steph. Two of the sweetest San Franciscan crafty blogger's. We had a fun filled afternoon involving delectable pastries, coffee talk with craft books + a new sandwich shop I was introduced to.  Thanks, girls, for inviting me on your crafty field trip!

Another Thrifty Weekend....

I can't say enough about how fun the meet up was on Thursday. There's something really cool about meeting blogging friends in the real life flesh. I don't know if it's the coolness of meeting someone "for the first time" - but knowing for a fact that we'll have lots in common. Or if it's the conversation of this n' that about our lives that takes place and we're all familiar with historical references. We know each other...kinda...but just enough. It was great.

If you missed out this time, don't worry, it wasn't the last time we're meeting up. We vowed to do it again....

Also great, are these here treasures found thrifting...estate-sale shopping & all-around "junking" (as they say, although I hate to use that word, since clearly these are treasures!).

The strangest thing about living in this relatively stylish city, is that the thrift store options don't at all reflect the print + pattern you see on the streets. For lack of a better word, I'd have to say that thrifty in San Francisco is pretty "weak". The options are "ok".....and the prices are usually too high. Same goes for estate sales. Trust me though, it doesn't stop me from trying.

Sacramento, my friends, is where all the action is. Myyyyy gooooodness, boooy did I hit the mother load of vintage fabric today.

Pictured here is just a small sampling & I'm sitting at "home" (is it weird that I still call my mom & dad's house "home"?) listening to the hum of the washer as it works hard to prepare the bounty for the cutting + sewing that will sure to come this week.

Shutting down the computer now to watch some type of ridiculous fighting/wrestling competition with my dad. Because, you know, it's Fathers Weekend, and if my pops wants to watch a fighting show with his daughter, then THAT is what I'll do.

~.~ a peaceful holiday to you all ~.~

Balancing The World Out

*.*.*.*.* DON'T FORGET*.*.*.*.*

Bay Area peeps - Movie night is TONIGHT! Details here....

*.*.*.*.* DON'T FORGET*.*.*.*.*

Have you seen the Three Colors Trilogy consisting of the films, Blue, White & Red directed by Kieslowski? One of the consistent themes is this idea of balance. When something good happens, something bad must happen - to keep the world in balance. Twisted as it may seem, this means that good things are looked at as bad luck. I'm simplifying it here, so if your a major Decalogue buff & I'm butchering the themes too much, read ahead a bit so I don't irritate you.

Subconsciously, yesterday was all about keeping the world balanced. Except, it was about doing something good for myself....and then doing the right thing by balancing it with something trashy.

After being cooped up in the sewing sweatshop house for 3 days, I finally escaped to breath the warm fresh, breezy air of San Francisco. I dragged my happy-ass to the gym. Feeling especially ambitious, I decided to take (for the first time, ever) the kicking boxing class. Why I thought I could keep up with the cracked-out robot that is the kick-boxing instructor at the gym is beyond me.

But it felt good. Great actually. All that kicking and punching and sweating was empowering. For the full 34 minutes that it lasted, anyway. Yes, I was "that girl". When I realized that I just couldn't take it any longer, I did the look-around....find the escape route...wait until everyone is facing the front....nonchalantly kick-box my way over to my gym bag...and jam the hell out of there!

I met eyes with a couple of people as I was running out. And I know they were judging me more out of envy rather then disappointment. We were all in pain, I just know it. Anyway, balance needed to be made, because at this point, 34 whole minutes of exercise was just too good, & it was my responsibility to do everything I could to make sure it wouldn't throw the world out of whack.

Naturally, that landed me right on the couch with a popsicle in one hand and the remote in the other. It was time for some good old fashioned trash-tv. Dr.Phil was just the medicine I needed. I watched an hour of "Dr. Phil Investigates" involving Robin (his cryogenically frozen wife) & the Doc chasing after some "Gypsy Scammers" posing to be a part of the show & stealing money from viewers. It was wonderfully mind numbing.

You can thank me later for keeping the world on it's axle. I do it for the kids.

The photos you see are also for the kids. One newborn baby, actually. And is, of course, another late gift. A small, cotton, simple-patchwork blanket (again with those hedgehogs, I just love those little guys) & a couple of crisp linen bibs. Those bibs, as simple as they may seem, were actually quite complicated and involved a few prototypes to be tweaked during the design process. I think I got it though, and depending on how they are received, I may consider offering them up on Etsy.

Bag Lady Part II

When someone says "best" they're usually referring to the most superior one thing in a group of things, right? Unless of course they're ten years old & their talking about their friends. In which case, there is almost always more then one, there is usually a whole group of "best".

I'm a lucky member of a group of four "best friends", & have been since around the time when I didn't realize that "best" was supposed to be only one. Good thing, too, because it would have meant a life time of quiet birthdays, boring college living-situations & a rather small bridal party.

Four "bests" is much better then 1, I have to say.

The other great reason why four is better then one is the mixture of personalities. You have the quirky one...the busy-chaotic one (that's me)...the shy one & of course, every group of four needs an organized, punctual one.

Last week, the punctual one called the busy one (I prefer to go by "busy" rather then, "chaotic") to remind her that the shy one has a birthday coming up.

Thank God for that, because, as usual - I forgot. Her big day came up...and I thought about her all day. Should I call now? Nah, it's too early. How about now? Nah, she's at work. And now? No way, its dinner time.

Then, sadly....it slipped out of my mind...

11:35pm rolled around and I did the old - "OOH SHIT"...jumping off the couch...flinging the knitting aside....and paced about, yelling "what do I do?? what do I do??". I never called the shy one for her birthday. She's notoriously early to bed (and I'm a major night-owl), so an 11:35pm phone call would not have gone over well.

So, I sent an email. Technically, I contacted her on her birthday....but really, come one - that's just not cool.

So in a bout of redemption, I ran to my sewing machine. I needed to make her the best birthday present ever. And yes, I'll add this to the rest of her "bests"...from all the previous years, that I've done this. No, this wasn't the first time.

Equipped with guilt, and the hope of tricking her into forgetting my forgetfulness, I designed this little beach bag. She's one of those "itty-bitty-purse" types that can't hold much more then a cell phone & pen. Something of this size should come in handy.

Without getting too mushy, I'll say that the bag represents her current transitional situation. Bag's are designed for transition, right? Today she lives in the hustle and bustle of sourthern California. This is represented by the cars and people on one side of the bag. Soon, she will attempt to slow her life down a bit with a move to a peaceful, natural spot in Vermont - represented by the trees on the other side. The bag will hopefully carry her most treasured things, keeping them near during this time.

Two weeks late, she'll receive her bag, a framed art-card from Etsy artist D-Kim and a few of those gift tags I told you about the other day....

Now tell me, how many Hail Mary's do I need to recite?

*.*.*.*.* DON'T FORGET*.*.*.*.*

Bay Area peeps - Movie night is TOMORROW! Details here....

*.*.*.*.* DON'T FORGET*.*.*.*.*

Bag Lady

As if their lives weren't hard enough, they have ding-dong's calling them ridiculous names making fun of some of the only things they have.

So when I say "bag lady", I'm not saying "homeless woman, down on her luck", I'm saying frantic, Madame String who spent the whole weekend making bags. And, shopping for thifted fabric, of course...to make bags. Because there is always time for that.

The walk, to the thrift store was, of course, colorful. I wonder who "Babby" is....

...and then there was the obstacle of the naked men on bikes (wouldn't that hurt?). [click on the photos if your interested in the detail. Go, ahead, you know you want to....]. Nice camera, dude!

A little street art. Who needs graffiti when you have crazed-cupcakes? hmm....

 

...and the bounty....YUM! This was my first time to this thrift store and when I got there, I noticed 3 or 4 crafter types already cruising the linens section. This weird frantic feeling swept over me & the desperate thoughts of "they're going to take all the good stuff" creeped into my calm saturday-mind. It was overwhelming, really. I finally got a hold of myself,  and kept repeating the "there's plenty to go around...not eveyone loves the 70's..." mantra. Stay Calm & Carry On. Turns out they were into "solids", which, I clearly am not. So, we're friends now.

....and magically, some of that 70's fabric turned into this.

...and a bunch of other stuff that I'm going to hold out until tomorrow to share.

*.*.*.*.* DON'T FORGET*.*.*.*.*

Bay Area peeps - Movie night is this Thursday! Details here....

*.*.*.*.* DON'T FORGET*.*.*.*.*

A Couple Things to Share:

Three, actually. I'll list them first, so you can scroll to what interests you. No sense in boring anyone on a Friday.

1. Bay Area Meet up - June 14th.
2. Showing off some cool stuff I received recently.
3. More of #2.

June 14th - Movie Night in the Park!

Calling all knitters...crafters...and generally cool people living or visiting the Bay Area!

Marisol & I are organizing a meet-up....click here to check out the details!

Moving right along....

Do you know who Cynic the Lamb is? Or how about Soto Softies? You might recognize her from these:

Well, it's Maritza, a super-creative crafty girl in Massachusetts. She responded to my call-for-swapping a few weeks back and sent me the most loveliest of beauties.

She pays attention, boy, let me tell you! Embroidery floss (for my new obsession)...ribbon...and a letter-pressed card. Love it all - thank you, Maritza.

Moving right along, we're almost done here...part deux of the all the gifty love I've been gettin' lately.

There's no possible way for me to list out all the cool stuff that Elaine sent me. Good God, that woman is generous! She had the brilliant idea of doing a Daiso swap.

I'm glad I agreed, because, not only did she send me the cutest Japanese things ever (hedge-hogs - hello!) ...she also threw in a bit of her own hand dyed yarn! And...and...a beautiful apron...and that's not all...a kit to make my own paper flowers (more on that later)!. Thank you Ms.Elaine!

Okay, peeps...it's Friday, and I'm off to hit up the first round of estate sales for the weekend. Have a good one!