More telltale fragments

Here's another of the pieces in the telltale fragments/vagabond shard series from the Designs & Ragtags vault.

January 18, 2006, Redux

Only fifty of "My Favorite Things" in absolutely no special order, first posted Jan. 18, 2006, mostly still totally true (at least I'm consistent!):

1. retro & vintage snapshots of girls with braids, or wearing plaid
2. "Paris" perfume (no longer available?)
3. things which smell like peaches
4. dusk
5. my kids
6. the color pink
7. taking hot bubble baths without the phone ringing
8. road trips
9. the movies
10. all of my friends
11. surprising someone with a gift
12. music from the '60s & the '80s
13. the original Oh! de London perfume by Yardley
14. black boots
15. funky scarves
16. bookstores
17. my grandchildren
18. Chicago
19. long flowery skirts
20. cozy cardigans
21. The New York Times
22. a sunny day at the beach
23. a cloudy day at the beach
24. Fiestaware
25. frames made of weathered wood, with a hint of color still there, or added on
26. mobiles made from seashells & driftwood
27. thinking about my grandparents
28. Urban decay make-up, including the names, like "Gash"
29. train stations
30. dangly earrings
31. capri pants
32. a long leisurely massage
33. the art of Marc Chagall
34. black 3/4 sleeve v-neck leotards
35. yogurt
36. vintage ribbons, esp. plaid
37. graffiti
38. finishing a project
39. cut flowers in things not intended to be vases
40. making art in a well-appointed cabin in the mountains
41. spray paint
42. Champagne
43. the Internet
44. zines
45. Irish Coffee made with Scotch whiskey!
46. daisies
47. vintage glitter
48. the art of Peter Max
49. being surprised with a gift
50. walking down a city street

Oh Frabjous Day!

Want a chance to win a copy of Pasticcio 9?

Go here, read my Gauche Alchemy interview 

and find out how you can!!! Calloo, callay!

Need a Vacation? Visit Unlake Michigan!

You won't return the same

take-it-all-for-granted kid

you were when you set out.

Quick take!

Apolgies! No time to really, truly, post... must get a few minutes of sleep,  and YET! I have to tell you! I'm totally captivated by The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. And to think I almost passed this one by! What!? Was I nutz!?:

The Forgotten Garden

A lost child...

On the eve of the first world war, a little girl
is found abandoned on a ship to Australia.
A mysterious woman called the Authoress
had promised to look after her -
but the Authoress has disappeared without
a trace.

A terrible secret...

On the night of her twenty-first birthday, Nell O'Connor learns a secret that will change her life forever. Decades later, she embarks upon a search for the truth that leads her to the windswept Cornish coast and the strange and beautiful Blackhurst Manor, once owned by the aristocratic Mountrachet family.

A mysterious inheritance...

On Nell's death, her grand-daughter, Cassandra, comes into an unexpected inheritance. Cliff Cottage and its forgotten garden are notorious amongst the Cornish locals for the secrets they hold - secrets about the doomed Mountrachet family and their ward Eliza Makepeace, a writer of dark Victorian fairytales. It is here that Cassandra will finally uncover the truth about the family, and solve the century-old mystery of a little girl lost.

"Take the pencil in hand,"

"Take the pencil in hand," the first sentence told me, "and draw a line."
I took the pencil in hand. I drew a line.   
"Draw a circle." I drew a circle. 
"Draw a square." I drew a square.
"Have you completed all these commands correctly?" the page asked, and it offered a picture of each thing, just in case I needed a reminder of what they were supposed to look like.
I studied my line. I studied my circle. I studied my square.
All appeared to me to be as good as what I saw printed next to directions, though maybe not as sharp and bold and exact -- but I hadn't used a ruler or a compass or anything, so what would you expect?
"Are they just as they appear in the illustrations?"
I checked again. I had done what I was supposed to.
"Then we wish you sincere congratulations!" the words told me.
"Now you are an artist."
Suzanne Strempek Shea

Swing lightly, and clean up the mess.

From the New York Times this morning:

It may not warrant a special designation from the United Nations, but Saturday is International Pillow Fight Day. Leave your jammies on, grab a soft, non-feather pillow, and head to Union Square for the fifth annual event. The fight, which is timed to coincide with other fights around the world, is hosted byNewmindspace, which produces "interactive public art, creative cultural interventions and urban bliss dissemination." Participants must swing lightly and clean up their mess. All leftover pillows will be donated to two Manhattan no-kill animal shelters to make bedding for puppies and kittens. The fight kicks off at 3 p.m.

It's sew --- me!

This gorgeous OOAK fabric, designed by Becca Louise, is available at the Spoonflower shop...Soon my sewing machine - for fabric - will be set up & ready to stitch @ the drop of a proverbial hat. I am scouting out fabric - the Spoonflower editions are fairly spensie, but maybe for a special treat?