new life for childhood artifacts

it's february.  have you noticed?  and i have a brand new list of things to create.  this week i was able to cross off two items.  the first was to refashion an old dress of mine into a play dress for gl.  the dress is a purple velvet affair that i bought for 13 dollars in 1994.  i wore it to a college christmas banquet  that i attended with my then boyfriend (now husband), dan.  i can't even began to explain how much i loved this dress.  i felt like a complete princess in it.  i felt beautiful.  come to find out, a few years after, that dan hated that dress.  hated the way i looked in it.  press pin to bubble. POP !  so anyway, i packed it away in a box and have only recently pulled it out to cut down for my daughter. 

 i left a long train on the back but if she let me cut that off she could where this dress out and about.  it looks really cute on her.  

oh!  and she got a hair cut.  she wanted a mohawk or a shaved head but her father said "no"!  personally, i think she'd look cute in a mohawk.  maybe when she's 8. 

next on my list was some new curtains for gl's bedroom.  i had made her old ones out of a plain white sheet that i had found at goodwill and then sewn butterflies on.  they are old and grungy.  out with the old and in with the.....really old?  in my stash (which takes up a lot of my basement) i found the curtains that my mother had made for my bedroom when i was in high school. my bedroom was yellow.  guess what?  so is gl's!  all i had to do was wash them and cut them down a little and VOILA! 

it's kismet!

so let this be a lesson to YOU gentle readers!  do not be quick to throw out good material,  for you never know when or where it will come in handy.  OR, you could  just give it to me.  

homage

so i have this friend named Nina and she's beautiful and very talented.  Nina has a son, named Malachi, who is also beautiful and talented.  recently they were featured in an article on OnMilwaukee.com.  read it.  anyway, here's the thing, i really admire Nina's paintings but every time i see one my brain can't help but turn it into fiber art. when i saw the painting "you belong" that Nina and Malachi painted together my head nearly exploded.   i was like "but...wha....no....but that....it's got to....where are my.....".  the next thing i knew my previously clean kitchen was once more filled with piles of scrap material. 

"you belong" by Nina and Malachi

dear Nina and Malachi, thank you for your wonderful painting.  i stole a little of it for my own selfish pleasure.  i am sorry.  i couldn't help myself.  it was always intended for you, if that makes my crime more excusable.  i will send it via steev and jess.  love, harmonie

pillow for Nina and Malachi

Goodwill Holds Up Nose at Undead

 my daughter wanted to be a corpse bride this halloween.  i thought "great!  easiest costume ever!" what i was picturing was walking into Goodwill and purchasing an old outdated wedding dress for around 20 bucks.  WRONG!  really Goodwill?  REALLY?  80 dollars for that skanky, puffed sleeved, circa 1980's catastrophe?  i mean, c'mon Goodwill!  does that hand sewn, 1970's, polyester monstrosity carry so much hidden value?  really?  is it in the arm pit stains?  or the torn hem?  perhaps in the SMELL?  but surely Goodwill, SURELY that dress with all the questionable stains on it will be below 60 dollars?  after all, you're GOODWILL!   people GIVE you unwanted items.  i'm almost positive that the woman who gave you that bow bedecked, bedazzled, bohemoth would have kept it had she thought for an instant that it was worth 79.99.  really Goodwill?  REALLY?  listen goodwill, i am your biggest fan.  truly i am!  the kitchen table that i am writing this on is from you, as is my living room wardrobe and a painted dresser next to my bed.  you have treated me well in the past.  i have found yarn and material in your hidden depths.  this time goodwill, well, this time you let me down.  we aren't talking designer labels, no hand sewn glass beading or intricate lacing here.  you got greedy Goodwill.   should we change your name to GOODGREEDY?

sigh. i'm going to forgive you and give you a second chance Goodwill.  we all make mistakes and  i did end up getting a costume from you.  i had to sew it all together and do a lot more work than i originally anticipated but ok.  i'm good at stuff like that so i'll let you off the hook.
one more thing before i go, just a little warning, if, in the next couple weeks, i go into one of your stores and find the prices dropped on all your wedding dresses, then i'll KNOW.  i'll know Goodwill that you jacked up the prices for Halloween, and there will be a day of reckoning.   i'm watching you Goodwill.  i'm watching you.


. one cream, long sleeved lacy top, size 4: $4.99
. one yellowish, empire waist, sleeveless bridesmaid dress, size 4: $6.99
. one pair of size 11w, white dress shoes: $2.99
. one extra long, lace table cothe: $3.99
. one bag of bugs: $2.99
. one makeup kit: $6.00

 

 

  one undead bride who clawed her way out of the grave to find her stolen wedding band: priceless.