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| Becka's Library Shelf |
| Becka's Games Shelf |
how can i not love susanna poykio from Finland? not only did she compete in the olympics but she is studying textiles and designed her own costume! (according to tonight's commentators)
becka on 02.23.06 @ 11:29 PM CST [link]
huge apologies to anyone getting spam today claiming to be from anything @beckarahn.com. a spammer hijacked the name, using it to mask their real address and we've been flooded with junk on the server today. grumble grumble. can't these people find anything better to do!
becka on 02.23.06 @ 11:17 PM CST [link]
did you know that the boy scouts have a textile merit badge? they learn about textile careers, they find samples of silk and wool and tencel. they have to learn vocab like shuttle, spindle, warp, sliver, staple, greige goods! i even had to look some of them up. why? because i had my first group of boyscouts this week, learning to make felt. it was a hoot and i had a lot of fun. i think they did too.
this week seems to have lasted about 2 weeks worth so far. don't know why. i have watched 0 olympics in the last 2 days because i keep having meetings to go to. i've had a little overdose of caffeine from drinking coffee at said meetings and i have about 5 more to go this week. then i have to find time to go to the bookstore and stock up on reading material for my weekend of sitting and reading by the pool in orlando. for now, i have to go do laundry or i will have nothing to wear in orlando.
becka on 02.22.06 @ 10:32 PM CST [link]
"How cool is this stuff? Sonic Fabric is woven from 50% recycled prerecorded audiocassette tape and 50% cotton. Not only does it look amazing but if you draw a tape head over the surface of the fabric the sounds recorded on the tape can be heard." head over to whipup.net and scroll down to see pictures of this cool stuff. i am going to have to see if i can get a swatch of this for my summer camp kids.
becka on 02.18.06 @ 10:27 AM CST [link]
i just realized that a bag that i made had a lining fabric that is not to be used for "commercial" purposes, or in otherwords you can't sell anything made from that fabric. it was actually difficult to track down the official policy but i happened to stumble across another fabric by the same designer in a blog this morning and a comment that the designer was very specific about this policy led me to a little internet research. it's kind of annoying because i really like this designer's prints and i would be happy to give credit for them. what's worse is that i knew i couldn't use prints by this designer, but this one was done by her under a different "collection" name and so i didn't know it was the same one. i have always been careful about things that are obviously "licensed" prints - like disney, comics characters etc. it is so annoying to be someone who follows the rules and then still get it wrong. so i did have the bag listed in my shop and i pulled it. so now i guess i have another cute new bag.
becka on 02.17.06 @ 09:31 AM CST [link]
i love to watch the olympics. last night i was rooting for matt savoie in the men's figure skating.
he is the kind of skater i just love. he commits to every movement and makes it a part of the whole. he doesn't throw in flourishes of arm movements just as something to do before he jumps. i remember cheering at the tv for brian boitano and paul wylie. i didn't do a lot of cheering last night, but this guy was my number one.
becka on 02.17.06 @ 08:58 AM CST [link]
mom's birthday was on wednesday and i sent her this little guy to watch over her orchids. he is made from a trowel and washers and bits of things and then enameled bright green. it was love it first sight.
wednesday also marked being finished with a huge project at work. i am so happy to have one part done. just a few more projects to whip in to shape in the next week and then andy and i are off to orlando for 4 days! i can't wait.
becka on 02.17.06 @ 08:42 AM CST [link]
i taught a class today to an amazing group of kids. it was a project i have done a bunch of times before - intro to weaving with inkle looms. everyone got to pick the colors and make a bookmark to take home. kids love to use the looms because they are a kind of a machine and that's always cool. these kids all had a ball and everyone finished a bookmark (one even had enough for a belt!) and some thought their weaving would make a great valentine present for their mom. they tried hard, they had great attitudes, it was a treat to work with them. what was even more special about this group was that it was a "Life Skills" special education classroom and the parents of two of the kids brought me in as their christmas present to the class. i am pretty sure i will remember this class always.
becka on 02.13.06 @ 09:03 PM CST [link]
i just remembered that last year i posted handmade valentines ideas leading up to valentines day and this year i completely forgot. if you need some valentines inspiration, have a look back at the February 2005 Archives...
becka on 02.12.06 @ 10:36 PM CST [link]
i can't believe i haven't posted anything since tuesday. i wish i could say i had been busy with something fun or exciting, but i really haven't been doing much of anything. i little bit of sewing, a little movie watching... i have been very occupied with a big project at work and i think it has zapped my brain. it will soon be done (at least one part) so maybe... i'm off to read a book and zone out some more.
becka on 02.12.06 @ 10:30 PM CST [link]
check out the embroidery gallery of aimee ray at dreamfollow.com. i have a hard time choosing which piece i like best. wow. i have been doing some similar little sketches in thread...
... which i am making in to little business card cases.
becka on 02.07.06 @ 11:43 PM CST [link]
how did i not know this existed?!?!
go here and design your own muppet tshirt (or monsters inc or various other disney characters). oh man! i thought i had a lot of muppet tshirts already....
becka on 02.07.06 @ 03:06 PM CST [link]
friday night i had a special event to dress up for. since i had to work on a friday night i decided it would make it a lot more fun if i had a new something to wear and then when i found emerald green dupioni silk on a clearance sale table, i knew it was meant to be. i adapted this great little bolero style shrug pattern a bit and it went together really fast. for the trim i cut strips of silk on the bias, gathered them and stitched them down. then for just a little something fun i put some little swirls of beads in 4 or 5 places among the ruffles. i used a bunch of different glass beads and some fresh-water pearls in shades of green and bronze. i love the way it turned out. total time: maybe 4 hours. total cost: $8.
becka on 02.07.06 @ 02:52 PM CST [link]
i thought i lost one of my very favorite earrings today. they are little simple silver hoops that my husband got for me. i wear them almost every day. about lunch time, i tried to tuck my hair behind one ear and noticed no earring! but i got home from work and found it. thank you to the kind spirits that watch over little lost things. i would have been so sad if it was gone.
becka on 02.06.06 @ 05:44 PM CST [link]
a couple more crafty blogs to add to my regular reading. i ran across these at some point and i am enjoying them. i will add them to the sidebar soon, but i wanted to share.
My Spare Time
Whip Up
becka on 02.06.06 @ 08:37 AM CST [link]
we went to coffee this morning and ran in to some friends from the Boulder PhD days also having coffee and enjoying a bit of quiet. they live here in the cities too, but we never seem to quite hook up with them - we should be better about that. anyhow, as we sat down we discovered a brand new tiny girl has joined the family. (we didn't even know that they were expecting, it's been that long.) in any case, we got to meet sophia, who is a week and a half old and super cute.
after they went off to get on with the day, i wandered through the flower shop next door and met raffia and zella, the shop cats. raffia, an orange tabby, was sitting on a shoulder supervising a flower arrangement being made. zella (a tiny black and white kitten) was peeking out at me from behind leaves and pouncing on things. the shop girls told me that zella is there for "day care" because when they were going to spay her, the vet discovered that she had a serious heart murmur. because her people don't want her to be totally on her own during the day, she gets to come to the flower shop and hang out there. (i think zella and my cat-brother lucifer must be cousins)
becka on 02.03.06 @ 11:53 AM CST [link]
at etsy, where i have my shop, they have implemented a new feature called "alchemy". you can use alchemy to request a custom item from a specific artist or post up a kind of "want ad" and ask for bids to make your whatever. i got my first alchemy request for a custom bag and so i am throwing my proposal on the blog because this is an easy place for her to stop by and see some pictures. plus it is something fun to blog about. so here it is: three great fabrics and one ducky bag.
(very rough drawing. it will be much cuter than this!)
becka on 02.01.06 @ 07:54 PM CST [link]
