TIME Magazine, R2D2 & Lostsentiments?

Yesterday I was contacted by one of TIME Magazines Associate Photo Editors - they will be doing an article on the evolution of Etsy some time in the future and they said they really liked my R2D2 (!) and that while they had contacted Lucy (the original designer of the R2D2 pattern) whey wouldn't be able to get an R2 from her in time for the shoot and was hoping I'd be able to send them mine. Um... YEAH! :D Luckily I already had one made up and ready to go! I sent it off last night via FedEx to be sure that R2D2 would arrive in time for the shoot. While I hope they will get some kick butt photos of R2D2 to use him in the article I'm just elated that they contacted me! I'd say it's quite a compliment and how cool to be a little part of TIME Magazine history? Yes please :). Also the Photo Editor did say they'd be sharing my shops name in the article too.. so crazy... crazy cool :). Needless to say I'm pretty excited. :) And still in shock. :)

While I'm sure TIME will do R2D2 more justice than my photos could, I'm sharing mine with you so you know what the one I sent looks like :) When I have more information about the article - I'll be sharing. :) For sure! ;) Anyways, thanks for following along with me in this creative journey - wherever it may take me! :)

Study Blanket Color Idea...

By Study I mean the Study Room in our house - mkay? Not hey, I'm studying... I should grab this study designated blanket... that's just silly... or is it? I like to coordinate things... but lets not limit ourselves mkay? :)

Mkay I'm ready to get on with this post... just one more mkay after this though - mkay? :) K :) 

I am on my second cup of decaf just now... but it feels like I might have... (this is when I ran upstairs, checked the coffee bag and realized I made regular coffee...) ...have made regular... a really strong regular coffee... crap... how I will get to sleep tonight I'm not sure - meh. Here I thought I was super excited about the colors for this blanket... sigh.

Awe wells - so this past 3 day weekend for me :) I took on a room in our house that has been left destitute because we found out we had to fix our siding, our roof, our windows, etc. to stop the leak that was happening in the Study ceiling. We've had the house for a little over 3 years so I was really looking forward to digging in, super cleaning, painting and primping this room and make it part of my "nest"... my home if you will ;). What an undertaking though! :) I promise to share pictures with you of the progression once I have the Study reasonably decorated. It's a bit bare bones at the moment. 

Of the yarns my grandma gave me I have 4 hanks of the lovely earthy green and the thick brown in the middle I have 2 hanks. I might unravel the yarn as I go to give it a worsted weight instead the current chunkiness it has going on, this will make it go farther too for this project :)  

...and yes... you are welcome... the desk, and walls are a "sneak peek" of the study :) muha ;) 

I present from bottom to top Saffron by Lion Brand, Brown by LeeWards, Green by LeeWards and Coffee by Red Heart

I'm thinking of doing a granny square blanket unless I find another design I like better... at the moment I plan on using this ravelry pattern: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/free-smoothfoxs-tea-for-two though I think the square favors solid colors. Still debating :) Maybe this one... http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/flowers-in-the-snow ...still granny square but the color change is eye candy! :) We shall see.. I hope you like the colors! I'd be elated to clear up some of my yarn stash and put it to use... just have to decide and start now huh? lol ;)

I hope you're having a great week! I'll share what I can when I can! Thank you for reading! :D ♥ Dawn

Doily Construction and Reconstruction

I grew up in a waste not want not family. If you ask me, my family is one of those midwest families that you could call "the salt of the earth". We like to save and preserve things. These projects are definitely a testament to my roots and thank you mom and dad I do :).

Last year my parents came and visited us here in Virginia from Iowa bringing me a half done doily (among some other goodies :)). While the lady managed to make some headway on the doily, she had since passed. My mom must have some faith in my crochet skills to pass this baby to me. I'm not sure if she thought I'd finish it since the pattern & doily were wrapped around the thread spool so it would seem I have all I need. However, another project is probably the last thing I need ;). Right? LOL There are not enough hours in the day to do all that I want to do... who's with me? :) Life is exciting when you have something to look forward to and a vision in mind of a completed project so I suppose I shouldn't complain huh? ;)

Having caught up on my recent custom orders I pulled out the doilies I had laying around that need some TLC and a good starching ;). I undid the rubber band that had been cleverly placed about the thread spool holding the doily and pattern to it. I sized up the work that was done to see how much thread I would need to pull out to make the circle look complete and asked my sister if she liked the half that had an additional row or the other. At first I was annoyed that she liked the additional row look because this meant I would have to work and finalize the row (who wants to work, when you can just tear it out and call it done ;)) but as I looked at the work that'd already been done on this row and knew what stitches were needed my attitude changed a bit. I was finishing a doily. Look at me! Not just a snowflake, (though those are beautiful!) I'm working on a substantially sized doily... ^-^. At some point I bothered to look at the pattern and as I unfolded this baby I realized this doily would be friggin huge! What an undertaking! ...So... I'm going to finish it. Yup. This may take a while as I'll likely be working on it between projects but that's okay... through the workings of life this ended up in my possession and I can finish it... and seriously it has an endearing quality knowing someone else wanted to finish it. This is what lostsentiments is about too - reclaiming things, ideas, notions and bringing them back to life again! :) This, is exciting. :)

Here she is in all her glory so far ;) 

The doily that came without a pattern - just needs to be starched!

I also acquired a big box from a lady on freecycle, scoring many antique items, some I passed on and others I held onto. One of the items I kept was a doily with what looks like a pineapple pattern (this was before my mom has brought me any from Iowa :)). One of the pineapples was frayed but I still used it as a prop in my shop many times over to give a bit of a cozy feel to the items, doing well to omit the torn corner from the photos. :) I finally pieced together this lovely tonight and made her about as good as new as she'll get :).

The corner to the right is the one I patched back together :)

Salt of the earth baby. Salt.. of the earth :) These will decorate my house for years to come. :) Oh yeah...

Bite the Bullet

First post of the year! Woo Hoo! Happy 2013 everybody! I hope you rung in the year doing whatever the heck you wanted! I'm pretty excited about this year... who has resolutions?? O.o ;)

I don't set resolutions. I resolve to have, none. I figure if you are going to set a goal who cares what day it is when you start, just start. Like Nike says, just do it. Some things would never have been done, ventures never been taken, roads never trodden if one just sat thinking on it, contemplating all factors and opportunities for failure along the way... dude... just bite the bullet. Mkay? :)

Clearly based on the photo above you can trust that biting the bullet is socially acceptable and completely bad ass. Soldiers used this way of coping with pain when there were no drugs and operation was necessary. A soldiers life is hard and some trials you go through with your flight (other people), some all on your own. I challenge you this year to make your own way. Do the thing you thought you'd never have the courage to do, and once yo've finished that, do the next thing. People will be like "Look at you leader.. look at you all DECIDING and what not." That's hot. :) And while every one else may sit there still working on the details of how to go about doing something, when presented with an issue you have a mental image flash before, kind of like this:

Keep Calm and Bite the Bullet you do, and you shall. 2013 is your year buddy! And why not? No better time than today to seize the moment or opportunity and trust through whatever the outcome may be that things will work out the way they should and they do. 

Whatever you do this year - make it a good one and when in doubt - bite the bullet. ;) 

Yeah... that's hot. LOL :)