favorite shop friday: ugly kitty

Renee has one ugly kitty...



I mean really ugly...



Isn't she the cutest thing?



Her name is Quasi and she's owned by Renee who named her shop after her: Ugly Kitty.

You can find all kinds of wonderful things at Ugly Kitty like giant pincushions and little pillows...





...dorky magnets and and cool pins...





But my personal favorite are Renee's address boxes made with recycled paper...





Renee also does amazing stationary including custom wedding invitations...



And last, but certainly not least, at Renee's shop you can also give to the Ugly Kitty Fund which goes to the Cool Cat's Rescue Center, a no-kill adoption center where she adopted Quasi. So even if you're not in the mood to buy today, at least go give...because how can you say "no" to this face?



I know I can't so I'm off to make my donation and drool some more over those address boxes. Find Ugly Kitty and Quasi at http://uglykitty.etsy.com.

this photo is for me because i deserve it...

So...remember how I was bragging that time about how we're getting an early spring in Germany while the US is buried under lots of snow?

I think I jinxed our spring...



It's snowing right now. Big white flakes of snow. That's accumulating more by the minute. I guess that's what I get for my bragging...sorry.

diamonds and bars

On Thursday I spent the day in Karlsruhe to visit a contemporary arts museum for a wonderful exhibit of Amish Quilts.

Diamonds and Bars: The Art of the Amish was wonderful! Most of the quilts were made between about 1880 and 1940 and were from a collector, Maria Schlumberger, and most came from Pennsylvania and Ohio. And most were made of the recognizable simple piecing patterns, solid deep-colored dyes and intricate hand-quilting.

I had never seen such a collection of Amish Quilts in person. I was impressed both by how simple many of the patterns were pieced and yet how amazingly intricate the quilting patterns were...these quilts were deceptively complex. My own quilting seemed so little by comparison...what masterpieces! It made me wish we were moving back to Ohio after all!

Since I can't take you to the exhibit myself (which I would really like to do) then look through this online exhibit of Amish quilts...enjoy!

"--it keeps us warm, it soothes our pain and relieves our burdens, it commemorates important occasions, it preserves family history, it demonstrates skill, it encourages social interaction, and it supports intimate communication." --Robert L. Freeman, A Communion of the Spirts -- African-American Quilters, Preservers and their Stories

shop update

I got my shop updated today with several new items...go take a look!

favorite shop friday: oh my cavalier!

One of the first things I ever bought on Etsy.com was this strange and pretty print called "Tangle Hair" from a strange and pretty shop called Oh My Cavalier!...I love this shop!



Julianna fills her shop with an array of prints and cards and framed artwork that Julianna says is "inspired by fairy tales, animals with sharp claws...



...Victorian hair weaving, antique ephemera and postcards...



...bird song, nursery rhymes, lace...



...cabinets of curiosities, anthropomorphism of all kinds, and many more things!"



I think Julianna achieves just the right balance of elegance and charm with the bizarre and the curious!



Step into Julianna's world at http://ohmycavalier.etsy.com. You can also visit her website at www.ohmycavalier.com or her journal at wrentit.livejournal.com.

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Don't forget to check out this post for a special shop announcement and a discount for all my blog readers! Today is the last day for this special offer!

the oscars are still the oscars without pizza rolls

I watched the Oscars today. Yes, I know, I'm a little late. That's one of those not so nice things about living in Germany.

My family hates watching award ceremonies. But the big notable exception is the Oscars. We are movie people. When I was about 10 years old we could all recite line-for-line the first 20 minutes of the movie Blues Brothers. Nearly every Sunday for about 5 years we watched the original Hailey Mills and Hayley Mills Parent Trap. We loved watching Marx Brothers films as much as the latest Disney animation film. My siblings and I grew up communicating through movie lines. As adults, we discuss movies we've seen in every phone conversation. Christmas and birthday gifts to each other are usually DVDs. And every year we watch the Academy Awards.

As kids, we often didn't know anything about the movies nominated--they were often too grown up for kids--but my sister and I love to see the dresses and we loved seeing the movie stars making their acceptance speeches. And my parents would buy us Oscar night treats like popcorn and pizza rolls. As we got older, we would get more invested into seeing the movies we loved win. My sister, the actress, would give her frustrations about Hollywood politics, and my brother, who is truly All-Knowing when it comes to all forms of entertainment, would fill us in on all the films we may not have seen. And I would give my critiques on what made some movies great and why others just sucked no matter what awards you threw at it. And we would still eat pizza rolls.



(1940s MGM Movie Studio Glamour Photo, Movie Star Norma Shearer from Full Circle Studios)

And...although we live far from each other...we still watch them every year. When I lived in Michigan I loved to call my sister during the award ceremony to ask her what she thought of so-and-so winning and if that movie even warranted a nomination. But now that I'm in Germany...it's just not nearly as much fun.

First of all, I have to watch it after everyone else. My husband downloaded it for me yesterday so today is the first chance I've had to watch it. And that means I've already heard who got the big awards from the news and the internet.

And I can't call my brother and sister during the ceremony, 'cause while they're watching it, I'm fast asleep, and by the time I'm watching, they're fast asleep or at work or doing something else and the Oscars are already old news.

And they don't sell pizza rolls in Germany.

(Planet of the Apes-linocut from Artic Cobalt)

And I have to watch the Oscars all by myself. My husband would usually watch them with me, but, although he's just as much of a movie person as I am, he's just not into the whole giving out of awards part of it. Plus, he gets so upset every time a Pixar animation movie doesn't win, he threatens to boycott the Academy Awards the next year. So, here in Germany, he downloads the ceremony for me and I watch it while he's at work...then I replay a few highlights for him when he gets home.

But even though I had to eat ice cream instead of pizza rolls, I still enjoyed watching the Oscars this year! I loved that the song from Once won. We're big Coen brothers fans so we're glad they did well. And I'm glad Pixar won so Karl will hopefully be watching with me next year!

(Friendo T-Shirt from 24/7 Magnum)

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Don't forget to check out last Monday's post for a special shop announcement and a discount for all my blog readers! Only a few days left for this special offer!

favorite shop friday: go buggy

Machiko makes food. Healthy food. Beautiful food. Felt food.



I love the food Machiko makes for her shop, Go Buggy. They could be play food for children but they could also be play food for adults, too.

Wouldn't this farmers market basket look great as a table centerpiece?



Or wouldn't you love to carry this bucket of river fish to your kid's next playdate?



Machiko says that she is inspired by the food she grew up with. And I like that. Because there is something about her soft felt foods that that have just enough reality but just enough stylized simplicity so that they look like they were modeled after memories.

I love the grill marks on her grilled eggplant and grilled tofu:





And I love that her dumplings come with a bamboo steamer:



And I love that the aesthetics of food is so important to Machiko. I think it's her attention to the food's natural beauty that makes her food look good enough to eat...despite being made out of felt and polyfil.

Take for example the slightly different shades of pink used for this carton of eggs... (Ok, so I don't know when I've ever eaten pink eggs before either, but have you ever really looked at an egg? They really are different shades of color!)



And have you ever seen such a pretty ginger root?



Food is such an everyday thing I think we forget sometimes how beautiful and good it can be. I'm glad Machiko helps us remember. You'll find all of these wonderful foods and much more at http://gobuggy.etsy.com.

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Don't forget to check out last Monday's post for a special shop announcement and a discount for all my blog readers! Only a week left of for this special offer!