downton day 1 - the fun begins

Welcome to An Affaire at Downton

 (photo of the event above taken by my friend Susan and snatched by me LOL)

98 degree weather, an unrelenting pounding headache and horrible miserable cross town L.A. traffic, couldn't keep me from at least attending a smidge of day one of Downton.

The event was held at the exquisitely perfect Biltmore Hotel, in Downto(w)n Los Angeles.
 

(above photos from Google Images)

(photos taken by me)

Day 1 was the get acquainted cocktail party, dress up evening and market soirée. (Previously I  wrote that day 1 would include the swaps - that was incorrect, they came the evening of day two.) 

Ack! I'm such a pathetic dud. This is going to be such a disappointment to you all wishing to live vicariously through me! I'm an introvert and shy (a deadly combo for social events). 

I didn't attend the cocktail party (not having the gift of gab, I just about go into the fetal position thinking about it - chit chat is an unsolvable mystery to me) and I didn't dress up either - I had bought a dress in the early days after signing up but it looked so very sad on this chubby old lady body, that I returned it and never could think of, or find, an alternative. WAH! Practically everyone else did come in the most creative and charming attire, so fun to see.

But on to more important things, the details - first things first ... as we entered the room, we were greeted by the maid and footman at the top of my post and offered a fan. Then as we proceeded a little further into the room, there was a table with lovely gift bags with all of our names upon them (Lady Sally), awaiting us and inside there was a charming mirror. I didn't get a photo of the table and I apologize for my extremely uninteresting presentation at home.

 

And then beyond were the vendor tables. I didn't take any photos of them since artists usually don't like you to photograph their pieces.  I bought fun things from Karla Nathan, Hope Wallace, Christine Barker, Jill Sibbald and Arlene Baker (Arlene doesn't have a blog - she sells gorgeous silk velvets and felt and antique reproduction flower molds). I am now of course kicking myself for not buying something from all of the vendors!  

 

(Wire Birdcage Kit from Karla Nathan)

(Paper ephemera from Hope Wallace)

(Paper ephemera kit from Christine Barker)

(Flashcards, tags and reproduction ads from Jill Sibbald)



(Silk velvet and felt from Arlene Baker)

(I hadn't intended on buying anything - that was my plan since I'm buried deep underneath so much stuff as it is. But it was too much fun to see artists and bloggers in person and I succumbed. I decided I'd only pick up supplies - I don't have a hairs breadth of space to display stuff in my wee housie.)

I only stayed a short while, having arrived late and having a bad headache, I wanted to get home and hopefully feel better for Day 2 and my first two classes AND all the swaps the very next day. 


Day 2 to follow (hopefully tomorrow) ...

an affaire at downton

YIPPIE YIPPIE! At long last, it's finally here, the first day of An Affaire at Downton! I'm running behind as usual and I woke up with a rotten headache. GRRRRR Today is just the vendor fair this evening (that's the sound of rapidly diminishing funds in Sally's bank account, you hear LOL!), classes start tomorrow.

I've been told to be prepared to have my mind blown. Hoping to get some pictures taken to share with you guys but I always forget (so apologizing in advance) - the time flies by, as if the hours were minutes.

If you're a lone crafter (like me) and you've never been to a craft class and wish you could, I hope one day you'll be able to attend one. I don't know about you but no one in my real life shares my love of crafting, so its so much fun to be in the company of other people who are as nuts as you are over fibers and papers, etc.! Everyone is friendly, excited and giggling - instead of your family and friends responding with their eyes glazing over and beating a hasty retreat in the other direction, away from crafty you.

 

Here's to a happy crafty weekend to everyone!

hippity hoppity at French General

(photo source)

Yippie! Tomorrow is bunny hooking class at French General, taught by the wonderful Mary Stanley. I'm feeling not-so-great, fingers crossed I feel better tomorrow, I've been looking forward to this class so much!

Does anyone do rug hooking? I've never done it before (YIKES!) but have wanted to learn for years.

(photo source)

And Sunday we have tickets for a Shakespeare play, "A Midsummer's Night Dream" which we've seen before ... but this time, it's done with puppets! (From the same company that did "War Horse" on stage.)  So intrigued and excited to see it.

In other news, I had my physical a couple weeks ago and my blood panel showed I'm anemic ... then my doctor had me have another test to see what my actual Iron levels are, and he said I'm so depleted that I have ZERO iron in my body! WHOA! This has happened before but it's been a number of years and I had hoped all was well, as nothing had been showing up in my blood tests. At any rate, now I know why I have been having no energy at all and have had to drag myself around.

So I'm taking iron supplements that are making me queasy and I have to have a procedure next Friday, which I have to be knocked out for. PHOOEY! No fun. Not only not fun, I'm very anxious about the whole thing. shiver shiver shake ...

I'm still plugging away on my sampler for my swap for the Affaire at Downton event ... I'm about half way done. Such performance anxiety! I wish I could share with you but I don't want my partner to possibly see it before I give it to her in May. I promise to share photos after she's received it.

So, whatcha been up to in the crafty department?! Are you making anything for Easter? I'm enjoying seeing all the darling bunnies and chicks and eggs, etc. on everyone's blogs!

Happy crafty weekend!

easter pysanka for rednesday

(Edited to add:  PLEASE NOTE, these are my mom's postcards of pysanka ... I didn't take the photos and they aren't my pysanka. Wouldn't that be lovely to have so many?!)

Digging deep to find some red for Rednesday! Found these old postcards of my mom's from Slovakia, featuring pysanka eggs.  (I don't know for sure if they predate the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993 or not??? )

Any guesses what the wooden item with folk painting is? It looks like a noise maker?

Many many years ago, there was an article in the L.A. Times about a pysanka exhibit at the Ukrainian Art Center here in Los Angeles and my mom and I went. Such a lovely exhibit. Very few were for sale but I did buy one, a black one with reds and oranges - I'll have to hunt for it! 

Joining in on the Rednesday fun with Melody at Brown Gingham Creations, hope you will too!

zombie joe

(photo source)

Last night, in between bouts of not sleeping (ARGH!!),  I dreamed I wrote a book titled "Zombie Joe" and that I sold the book rights and it was being made into a film starring Audrey Tautou.

bwahahahahahhahahahhaha

Happy weekend and sweet dreams to everyone!

vintage pattern rednesday

It's slim to none in the red department over here but I wanted to join in on the Rednesday fun so I dug around and dug some more on the quest for red.  I finally found this darling pattern from 1939 I picked up several years ago to share with you. It's just got a smidge of red but it also has blue birds and a bird house, so it's all good, huh?!

Please join in the Rednesday fun with Melody at Brown Gingham Creations. Let's keep this linky party that we've all enjoyed so much, going!

if it walks like a duck ...

sniffle sniffle ...

The ugly duckling truth ... I ran out of time to finish my ducky in class last weekend and the past week had too many surprises in it, requiring my time, to try to finish her. 

I'm really anxious about having to finish her all on my own.

I found this sooooooooooo difficult. I have no eye for dimension or form or sculpting ability so I was so far out of my depth and comfort zone (which is pretty narrow to begin with, let alone in public!).

Please think cute ducky thoughts for me and that I can overcome my anxiety and get her finished. WAH!

make way for ducklings

Spring Duckling workshop
Teacher Evelyn Neily

(photo source and event)

Yippie yippie! Quack quack! I get to go to French General tomorrow and learn needle felting from Evelyn Neily and how to make an adorable duckling, like hers shown above. Mine most likely will resemble a yellow furry blob LOL. 

Happy crafty weekend to you!

procrastination saves the day

a very secret, top secret as a matter of fact,
photo of what may just be someone's supplies

Well, who'd a thunk it, huh?! Procrastination can actually be a pretty good thing sometimes when you're a noodle head like I am. Some might say, I was saved by it today in fact LOL.

I think I mentioned that I joined an embroidered sampler swap for the art event I'm going to in May ... well, I had grand highfalutin ideas for my sampler. In my head.

The base of it is to be vintage linen of a certain size. of a certain size.

I found this vintage linen napkin with cutwork that I loved at an antique mall and thought it was absolutely perfect for my sampler. 

I bought lace and ribbon and vintage buttons, etc. and thought about it quite an awful lot ... but as is my usual method of walking through life, did nothing further. Usually that would make me cranky with myself but not today.

For today I found out that my chosen linen was outside the largest dimensions our swap hostess gave us. By quite a bit, not just a hair. Thank heavens I hadn't begun right away in earnest, like an efficient on-top-of-things person would do. No - I procrastinated for a long time. And then. Something told me to reread our guidelines (weeks down the line!!!). Horror of horrors, I found my much loved linen would not do the trick. Nay, it would not. I would have to make a new plan of attack.

Thankfully I did not procrastinate but got right on the task. I found that I had one piece of linen that fits the size requirements and it's near the smallest size, suggested to use for the swap.

OH! I am doing my happy dance ... because I'm a dawdler and a delayer, I don't have to stitch a HUGE sampler anymore, cry my eyes out for my stupidity in not reading the guidelines again, kick myself in the rump, and begin anew.

Oh no! I get to start with a clean slate and a much smaller clean slate WOOHOO.

Miracles do happen. Even when you're a procrastinator.

secret leprechaun mission completed

I've had so much fun participating in Viv's Secret Leprechaun Swap!

Viv gave me Lynn, of Life on the Wienee Ranch, as my secret leprechaun package recipient. Lynn's package has been delivered now per the good old USPS, so now I can blab and spill the beans and do a show and tell. Yippie!

I love making things for people, making life special and celebrating the days of our lives. And I'm a dog person, so I fell in love with Lynn's blog title and finding out she has five dachshunds!  You can see from the photo above, what happened next - a St. Patty's dachshund!

There are so many great resources online for crafts. I found the the leprechaun footprints and leprechaun polaroid here ... I used them on the envelope for my card to Lynn.

I love sweetness, silliness and whimsy so I typed on the top of the envelope:

blarneyville bulletin::
breaking news::

and on the bottom I typed:

Leprechaun sighting:: wanted for gold theft @ 317 Rainbows End
Known member of Viv's Secret Society::Trained in stealth swapping

I foo foo'd the inside of the card too with leprechaun related stufferoonie ...

There must be leprechaun gold at the end of the rainbow ...

And a wiener dog of course ...

and a springtime heart to match ...

and some St. Patty things for crafty fun ... shamrock shaped cards, yellow doilies, a shamrock stamp, shamrock stickers

and that's the whole shebang! Hope you enjoyed everything Lynn!

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

my secret leprechaun has arrived

I joined Viv's Secret Leprechaun Swap and I was paired with the adorable Holly, of Damita's Pretty Wrap.  Today the mail carrier delivered my package. YIPPIE YIPPIE! I'm old as dirt but felt like a kid waiting for my surprise to arrive LOL. 

Thank you so much for all my darling things, Holly!

I opened the box and saw all this cuteness!

Out of one package, came a darling St. Patrick's Day hanger and out of another came the cutest green earrings.

Out of another came the most darling vintage shaker and out of the last one, came yummy warmer tarts.

Holly made me this darling Wearing of the Green hanger, so cute! And enclosed gold coins and rainbow confetti - such a great idea!

So many fun green things! A little potted plant, a darling owl coaster, a St. Patrick's Day hanger or ornament (SO CUTE and festive!), vintage Apple Green bias tape (which I have felt the same color!), the sweetest vintage shaker (love love love!), really cool green earrings, yummy warmer tarts in the scent of one of my favorite things (Macintosh Apples!), CHOCOLATE gold coins (chocolate, my dearest friend LOL), adorable crocheted green heart and fun rainbow confetti!

Thank you so very much for being my Secret Leprechaun, Holly, and for all the fantastic goodies you gave me. So very sweet and generous of you!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

in the meantime ... An Affaire At Downton Abbey

While I'm beyond excited and stalking my mail carrier and my email regarding Viv's Secret Leprechaun Swap, waiting for my surprise and also news of my partner receiving hers - I dream about all things Downton.

In May I'm attending An Affaire At Downton, can't wait! This is the first time I'm attending one of Kim Caldwell's elaborate and thrilling art weekends.

The first evening we are to dress up (if we wish to) in ensembles in the spirit of Downton. Fun fun fun. We've just received news of a cocktail party to kick off the evening too.

Later there will be wonderful vendors selling their artistic wares and there will be lots of swaps the first evening too.

I joined an embroidered sampler swap ... my head is overwhelmed with ideas swimming around.  I'm pulling things out and having fun playing. (I don't know why some of the floss is so dark in my photo?)

What shall Lady Sally make???

leprechauns afoot

(leprechaun feet printable source)

Today is the deadline to mail our secret leprechaun packages ... I'm getting so excited, I can't wait for mine to arrive!  & Hoping too that my dear secret leprechaun swappee pal finds hers in her mailbox today as promised by the USPS!  

Happy Friday everyone!