Winging it Wednesday

Gave myself permission to sleep late today. Got up at 10:30. I woke to a miraculous surprise. It was sunny. It was slightly warm. Where did it come from? I was fortunate to speak to my favorite person in the world last night and perhaps that is why I woke to sunshine today instead of the predicted cold and rain.
I made my way to the gym late in the afternoon after running errands. This old laptop of mine has been threatening to melt so I picked up one of those fan coolers. Seems to be keeping my little guy cooler.
On another consumer note, has anyone out there tried Vibram FiveFingers barefoot running shoes. If you'd like to share your experience with me, I'd love to hear.
Today I want to mention Literacy Volunteers of America. Find one in your county and give some time. If that's not your cup of tea, try something else but get out there and do something. You'll thank yourself.
Final note of appreciation goes to PBS for being so entertaining, educational and inspiring.
Told you I was winging it today. My flint is skinny. I'll try to introduce more crafts in the coming weeks or I'll just keep entertaining you with my fantabulous thoughts.
Cheers until tomorrow.

What a busy day. I began tutoring my new ESL student today.It went pretty well. My student learned and I was pleased with my lesson plan. I have never prepared a real lesson plan before, unless you count the one I did for my training class. This was much more in depth than the class requirement I think. So hopefully, that much better for my student. 

The afternoon was taken up by the gym, and after I dragged my dripping carcass home I fought with the USAJobs Web site. Well, that's not entirely true. It was more of a fight with my broadband. It seems that whenever I am in the middle of a job application I lose Internet service. Well today, I didn't just get the infamous service is limited yellow triangle of death. Oh no, I completely lost the Web page. I was on question 34 of 37 away from being done. Just when I think, "Maybe I'll kick this laptop across the room," I look up and see a liquor store ad on television. "Is this a sign?" I ask myself. Absolutely not. I take a deep breath, ignore the suggestion that I give up for today and drown my sorrows in a tasty bottle of red and restart my computer. My Internet is mysteriously all better now, and I proceed without further trouble, although I hurry, in case it should happen again. 

So the highlight of my day was tutoring and the gym. So what if it went downhill from there? Sometimes staying out of the bell jar is a matter of not ceasing to move forward whatever you may be doing. I can say I did that today, and my laptop is still in one piece. 

We seem to be back on track

Greetings again. It seems my art is back in place even if the spacing is a bit odd looking. Here in the northeast we've been blessed with yet another gray day. However, I've been so busy I'm only now just noticing it. But after three days, I must admit it is getting to me.

"What have I been busy with?" you may ask. Well, over the weekend I carried on with my felting project and created this no-sew felted bag. The felting work was fun but the grommets gave me some trouble. They just refused to sit properly. But overall, I am happy with the bag, and the pocket is really cute. Not sure how well the color is represented here but it's Kelly green and deep eggplant purple.
Today I've been working on a lesson plan for my new ESL student. I've tutored casually in the past, but formal tutoring and lesson plans are a new experience. I've been out of school for a few years now, but once I got into the planning, it felt pretty good to be doing this type of work.
I took a course through Literacy Volunteers of America and ProAction last fall and have been anxiously waiting for a student. I highly recommend this sort of volunteering to anyone looking to give back to their community. Well have a great day, and do something good.

Something has gone wrong

Well dear readers, as you can see, my images have vanished. They were present yesterday and overnight have gone away. I'm working on fixing this however the steps I took to add the photos initially is failing to add them now. Hang in there as I work to resolve this problem.
Thanks,
Cherie

Almost missed it

OK, I have seven minutes before it is officially Saturday, which would mean that I had missed posting a day on my first week blogging. That would be a bad start.
To follow up from Thursday I did make a trip to the fabric store today, but it turned out to be a very quick trip. Nevertheless, I've got some felt and have started a project which I hope to share with you in the next week. I do want to take time with it though since I have so much time these days.
On a filmy note, in the last week I've seen The Women (1939) and The Women (2009?) and much preferred the '39 version. I used to love Meg Ryan but honestly it seems she's the same woman in every character these days. I'm so sorry, but I thinks its true. No,  I still love her, just not her newer movies. Two minutes have to stop there.
See you Monday.

Tin and water

The rain and a noisy Blue Jay called me outside. The Jay was quicker to flee than the tin roof. 

It seems that spring is on the way. Buds in silhouette. 

Fabric Friday

You may have read yesterday that my felting needle tool and mat came in the post. Very excited about that. Tomorrow I'll be able to head over to the fabric store to get some felt. Until then I will be at work trying to figure out what my first project should be. I could do a quilted bag or a soft throw with patterns appliquéd on. We will see. 

Today, the cold is returning to our northern region. Beyond heading out to the gym this morning and taking my little buddy Chili for short walks, I haven't desired to be outdoors. The temp says 50 but it feels about 45. Tomorrow will be back in the 30s. 

This makes me really appreciate my gym membership. Not only does it give me a break from job applications and a reason to leave the house but it's good for the spirit. I enjoy cranking up some house music from my Pandora station and hopping on the elliptical machine for a good hour. My gym is on a very walkable street and that makes for great people watching. The hour goes by quickly. 

Felting is fun

My needle felting tool and mat came today and I can tell already this will be an addictive hobby. If you appreciate quilting but don't have the patience for it this may be a nice alternative. 

Below is a close up of what the needles look like. They go smoothly through the felt but tear it up on the way out. This is how the two fabrics are intertwined. Never, ever stick yourself with these needles or parts of you will get intertwined that should not! Read on ...

So I've already felt together some seems and want to appliqué a heart (why not a symbol of love?) onto what will be a book or laptop sleeve. The heart has already been completed. These images are just to show the process. I place the mat into the sleeve  and smooth the fabric over the top. Then use the needle felting tool to secure the heart to the sleeve. (I really did not intend that pun). Read on ... 

Press down on the fabric. The needle will go through both layers and safely down into the bristles of the mat. Do your edges first to secure the top layer. Then, continue until the two layers are well secured. 

 

So that's how it's done. Below is a finished sample. I put the fuzzy side out for a more subtle effect. All of the edges were joined using the same technique. 

I can just imagine the complicated landscapes or abstract patterns that could be created using needle felting technique. I'd love to see what other people are doing with this. That's all for today folks. Have a good one.

These are a few of my favorite things ... when the dog bites, when the bee stings

No projects in the works today, but in an effort to keep the momentum going, I thought I would list a few of my favorite things. Maybe some of these are favorites of yours or are things you may try for yourself. Enjoy.
I love taking pictures. To the right is a little diddy from my iphone, first processed through the "Old Camera" app and then "Shake It," which lets you process pictures like an old Polaroid. And speaking of old cameras, I have a growing collection. I have a couple of Twin Lens Medium Format cameras, one of which says "Made in the USSR." Hows that for history? It still makes great photos. I got it on eBay for a song from a guy in Ukraine.
My latest addition is is a Kodak Brownie Holiday, which I've used but have yet to get the film developed. Really looking forward to that. Love bringing life to an old camera that thinks its picture taking days are over. 
Books I'm reading at the moment: Brava, Valentine, it's the second in a trilogy by Adriana Trigiani. Also, Born to Run  by Christopher McDougall. The first is a romantic comedy set in Italian-American and Italian culture. It's rich in cooking and shoe crafting descriptions, and is a fun read for 30-somethings. The latter is about an amazing group of people in Mexico that are beyond terrific runners. I'm not doing a book review here so we'll move on. A favorite I've read twice  is The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver.
Now a few favorite movies: Charade, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Amelie, Chocolate,  The Women (the original version), Space Balls. I'll stop there or the list may never end. 
While this is not the most inspired post, it's sort of like writing, you need to do it every day whether you are on or off that day in order to call yourself a writer. Hopefully, you found a couple of interesting things here today or had a feeling of "I can relate to that," at some point. 
In the meantime, I've ordered felting needles and a needle felting pad from Amazon. This will arrive soon and I'll be learning a new crafting skill to share with you. For an idea of what this is click here and watch the video. Anyone working at Jo Ann Fabrics should do so as they had no idea what a felting needle was when I stopped by my nearest location.

Marshmallow bed inspired by The District Hotel

Here is what I promised yesterday: The marshmallow bed, recreated because there is something so nice about hotel beds. I built the head board and my fiancé and I created the canopy from bamboo and soft muslin. Nothing beats down feather pillows and white linens for a lux feel. I look forward to bed and hate to get out in the morning. Now if I could just figure out what to do with the rest of the room. Well, keeping myself busy with these projects is nice. I always find doing things with my hands, having a creative outlet is vital to my happiness. Bye the way, I did sew the pillow linens on the long neck roll pillow and the two square European pillows. Now, I'm off for a snooze zzz
Not sure what you'll see here tomorrow. The rainy spring weather is less than inspirational at the moment, though it does remind me that sometimes, while it seems nothing is going on on the surface, there is much going on behind the scenes or in spring's case below the topsoil. Let's hope that is the case with life as well. There's something to think about. 
It's comforting really to consider that things are at work in other places at other times that may take my life, your life, anyone's life in a direction we don't expect but may give us great joy in the future. Something to hope for, yes? See you tomorrow. 

It's been a cheesy day

I decided yesterday to try making cheese at home. Gourmet Sleuth has a number of recipes for cheese, and I went with a really simple one called butter-
milk quark for my first effort. I cannot really describe the smell the buttermilk made while sitting in a 150 degree oven for eight hours, but I will say, to me it was very pleasant and invoked a kind of Heidi in the Alps mood: good air, good cheese and bread and fresh milk, goats running about eat sweet hay. 
Before heading to bed, I poured out the whey and the moved the cheese to a tightly woven cheese cloth in a colander. It drained overnight and looked sort of like paneer today. It crumbles like feta and tastes similar. The recipe suggested adding milk for a sour cream texture, which I tried, but in future I think I'll stay with the crumbly texture for salads. 
I think this would go really well with garlic stuffed olives and cucumbers. Mmm deeelish. 


Tomorrow: I'll show you how I recreated the cozy marshmallow beds from The District Hotel in my own room, with the help of my fiancé.  

OOh la la Chocolate Mexicana

Tried a new recipe this evening. Mexican Chocolate Ricotta, which I found on the Gourmet Sleuth Web site. I found myself with leftover Ricotta after an attempt at homemade ravioli, and searched for recipes that called for it. So in addition 

to the cheese, you will need honey (I used raw cane sugar, fair trade), cocoa powder, cinnamon, vanilla and a mixer or food processor. I also added Chipolte Chili Pepper because I love it in my drinking cocoa. 

The result is an incredibly rich, thick and tasty treat. It's like a mousse but much more dense. 

Welcome to the beginning

Hi and welcome to my Bliss Bubble. This has been a challenging year so far and it's only March. In January I was laid off and in February my wedding was postponed. Talk about an emotionally charged time. I could say emotionally crushing time but I won't. 
When disappointments, or seemingly awful things happen it's easy to fall apart. And, it's OK to fall apart for a couple of days. You owe it to yourself. An emotional bomb is like a cold. It can take you down, so treat it that way: with rest, some good food if that's what you want and some couch time. Things do fall apart, but staying apart or broken is no way to live. After a reasonable amount of time (depends on the bomb) you've got to get up again. 
This blog is about doing just that. Everyday I am trying to do things that make me feel happy while I search for a new career and wait to marry the man of my dreams. Because just waiting is not an option. 
So what makes me happy? So so many things. So lets begin ...
In the above image, I'm standing in front of The White House in D.C. I went there for two days with my fiancé (who is taking the picture). I enjoy travel, historic places and the company of my fiancé, Ernest. 
The weather was fine, if a little sprinkley, but it didn't bother us. We had a great meal at Thai Tanic, just around the corner from our hotel, The District Hotel. 
The District has small, cozy rooms and beds that look like giant marshmallows and are just as comfy (I would imagine). Location is the District's greatest feature.
From our hotel, we were in walking distance to all the monuments and museums. (Tip: Book the District through a travel site like Orbitz for a lower rate than those found on the hotel's Web site). 
The Lincoln Monument was most moving for me as was standing where Martin Luther King Jr. stood. These two men have affected more people than we can even fathom. 
Thank you for visiting my Bliss Bubble. I ran a little long today but in future will aim to keep it shorter. Come back soon.