mmm.... coffee.....

head, shoulders, knees & toes, knees & toes

it's finally feeling like October in New England - yesterday was the first day i wore my light winter coat, today i also wore my favorite wool sweater.   yes, i get pretty warm while walking, but that's how it always is, i wear layers & peel them off as i go.  both coat & sweater looked so ratty that i thought i'd have to stop wearing them, but i used one of those little fabric shavers on 'em & they look like new again! 

that petite cup is from a set of bowls that i had been coveting at Ikea called Syntes Konst.  i finally bought each of the two sets of two: they're black & white and the smaller the bowl, the larger the dots. i decided that this is perfect for sipping coffee out of.  i have a very small french press so i can fill this twice & it makes my coffee last a little longer.

last night was probably Art's last night in my apartment which is sad, but you should be seeing more productive photos from now on!  it's fun having a friend around all the time except i have some important things to prepare for like Craftland & the Foundry Show...

this will make the Universe so much prettier!

i spent this afternoon sewing together a tiny pink quilt out of farics i had arranged months ago.  they've been sitting in a polite little pile on the corner of my table, neglected despite their undeniable cuteness!

i almost completed it, but then i sewed something i didn't like so i left the house with Art for a little bit & went to the mall.  what a terrible idea to go to the mall on a sunday!  we only went into 3 stores, but one of those was Williams Sonoma where i briefly lost my self-control.  some how i escaped with only a couple packages of halloween napkins (on sale for 99 cents!) mulling spices, white decorating sugar & a pink heat-proof spatula (which i actually needed.)  i managed to not buy any of the octopus, sandcastle or stadium cake pans, but it was difficult!

and all he left behind was an eyelash & three skin flakes

so that wasn't fun!  the Roto-Rooter guy juuuuust left.  why was the Roto-Rooter guy here, you ask?  because i came home to find that my kitchen sink had overflowed aross the counter, into the cabinets & all over the floor!  sweeeeeet.

thank goodness art was here because he heard it pouring, tossed towels on the floor & bailed the sink out into the tub!  so things were not as bad as they could have been.  oh dear, they could have been so much worse...  basically, unbeknownst to my landlady upstairs, a clog in the pipe between the 1st & 2nd floor was causing all her water to back up into my sink, across the counter, into the cabinet drawers & all over the floor.

but it's okay now.  and i have a glass of wine.  and the dishes can wait.

i've got a book on karate, haven't actually read it yet

a quick glimpse of my weekend:

i'm completely reorganizing my fabric from my studio & in to the middle room of my apartment.  i've been wanting to move it because i noticed some of my fabrics were getting sun-bleached.  once i'm finally done picking it up off the floor & squirrelling it safely away, i will have more space to pull it out & spread it around so i can make all those quilts i'm imagining in my head!

it's totally art's fault that i didn't get much sorting done yesterday because at the farmers' market he thought of steaming mussells in tomato & white wine.  we invited the other beetle over (art drives a beetle, as does kristin) and got cooking.  of course he had to open a bottle of wine for the mussells & well, once it was open...

i'll just type it up on my invisible typewriter...

i've been terrible about updating over here & i'm sorry.  things have been pretty great & i've been super busy, but i'm going to try to fill you in on what's been going on for the past week or so - in mostly picture form:

my birthday was on friday, it was swell.  besides being taken out to lunch a couple times last week, i made a big dish of baked ziti friday night & some friends came over, they brought cupcakes, blintzes, presents & themselves.   it was one of those great get-togethers where there's all these different people who are mostly unconnected except through me, but because they're all super cool they all got along.  art baked a cake for me in my fancy bundt pan & even made this super sweet sign to go on top:

he's been staying with me for a couple weeks while they're waiting for the house his sister bid on.  it's been really fun having him around.  he's the cleanest, most organized roommate i've ever had: he cooks dinner, washes dishes, cleans the bathroom & even throws my towels in the laundry!  i'm getting a little spoiled. 

last week we made caramel apples one night & candy apples another.  i've never had either of them, they were both fun to make, but eating the candy apples was a little unnerving since my front teeth are porcelain.

one night i came home & he had crabs, mussels & quahogs steaming.  this past saturday his sisters came over & brought lobsters & steamers!  seriously, spoiled.

oh yeah, the alumni sale!  that happened the weekend before & it went really really well.  i wasn't able to bring as much as i wanted, but i sold more than i expected so, sweet, no complaints.  the creatures were a huge hit, i'd forgotten just how much fun they are to sell.  i had quite a few people come up to the table who had bought them in past years & were excited to see them once again.  i'll definitely sew a pile of them for Craftland.

i'll try not to stay away for so long again - i still have to catch you up on 2 weeks ago when my family went out to Shelter Island....