The Illusionist

He's the kind of guy who does everything right, on the surface. Says all the right things, gives tiny thoughtful gifts, he's an expert illusionist. He's so good, you can walk around for years before you notice there is a knife in your back. When I mentioned this to one of my friends she said "Oh, that's a knife hilt? That's been there so long I just thought you were making some off-beat fashion statement."

Mostly deleted

I had a few months here of what has been going on in my life lately. I decided that I would move it because I didn't want certain people to read it. So, if you are looking for it, then you know who I really am, and can email me. I'll be happy to send you to the new blog. But this one is going back to being for the general public, or those unlucky enough to stumble over it accidently.

I got a hug!

"Oh look! I have a package!" I said happily. It was a small, square box, but I wasn't expecting anything in a box at all. I love getting packages!

"Open it now" piped Rosebud, so we all trapsed off to the other room, where the box (and Rosebud) were safe from the kitties.

I started to unwrap the box, and it soon became clear even the box was special.













"Oh, pretty!" Rosebud said. "Someone knows you---kitties!"







"Isn't it cute?" I said. I opened the lid and there was a tag.

Now this is where K claims I squealed like a two year old in a tub of tadpoles. He's pretty truthful, so I probably did.

"Matilda Huggington Bear! Wendy!"

K and Rosebud nodded. There is a picture of Elwin and Tiffany on my computer.

The first thing I saw was a couple of long needles, curved in an arc.

"What are those?" Rosebud asked. "And why are you laughing like that?"

"Those are needles," I giggled. "Broken ones, for my Teddy Bear's Revenge project."

I lifted out the tag, and the box was full of things! First, a tiny floppy strawberry bear with tiny dragonfly wings! Oh my goodness! He was a fairy bear! I'd never seen a real one before. He looked like he had been made out of real strawberries!


"I wonder how she makes them so small," K marveled.

"Wow!" I said, "He's my very first artist's bear! I have a hug!"

"A hug?" K asked. " Is that like a pride of lions, a hug of teddies?" He likes words. "No wonder you were attracted to them."

He knows how much I like his hugs!


I took the little bear fairy out of the box. Rosebud wrapped her arms around him and giggled. He was smaller than she was! That was a new feeling for her.













"What are these?" K pulled two little blue items from the box. "Oh, look, it's a platypus! And I think this one is a cougar!"

I looked at the puffy and laughed. "I think that's a WildCat! Wendy drew those!"

Next I pulled out a little brown animal.

"What's that?" Rosebud said. "Is it a rabbit? I don't think it's a rabbit."

"Nope," I said, "It's a joey! See the golden kangaroo earring?" Darwin hopped over and gave the joey a sniff. He nodded once and hopped away.

"See," I said "Darwin knows."





"G'day mates," a squeaky little voice said. "A fine day for it, let's hit the waves!"

We all peered into the box. Sitting on a bag of noses and broken eyes was a tiny white mouse in a bikini!

"Um, " I ventured. "We don't have any waves. No beach either I'm afraid."

"Oh good!" The tiny mouse exclaimed. "I can't swim. But with the bathing suit and all, I thought I'd better try and fit in."

"Oh you do!" Rosebud cried, "Most of us can't swim either. And you can't really call what Mom does "swimming"..."

I let this pass because we had company. I lifted the mouse out of the box. K will probably claim I squealed again.

"You're so TINY" I said. "You're even cuter than your picture!


"I'm Matildamouse," she said "I saw pictures too! You're my new Mom, WildCatLady, and this is my sister Rosebud."

Rosebud squealed when she heard this. (I know she did, because it made my hearing aid cringe) She grabbed Matildamouse and hugged her. "Oh, she's soft!" Rosebud exclaimed, "She didn't look plushy in the picture."

"She's very, very cute, " I said, sneakily wiping a tear from my eye. "And it was so nice of Wendy to send her and her friends to live with us."

Rosebud came and whispered in my ear. "I think that's a great idea, Rosebud." I said.

"Could a platypus be of any help?" a rather cheeky voice asked. "I can take care of anything wet, since I seem to be the only one who can swim."

"I can swim..." K began, but he was interrupted by a growl.

"I can swim," WildKitty said in her growly voice, "If I choose to." She glared at the platypus, who just grinned back cheekily. Her grumble turned into a purr and she whacked him with her big fluffy tail. It was clear these two were long time friends.

The baby wallaby bounced up and down, to show his willingness to fetch things from high shelves.

The little red fairybear just drooped over in Rosebud's arms, to floppy to help.

"He doesn't say much" Matildamouse commented, "but he's very educated." She put her ear next to his mouth. "And he can spell, do sums, and hum "God Save The Queen" in three octaves." She turned her head away and whispered, "I don't know if that is true, because I can't hear him, but he does know all the lyrics to "I'm a Lumberjack, And That's OK."

"He'll fit right in," K and I chorused.

Matildamouse told everyone what she had in mind, and we hurried off to do our parts.

Soon we were back. Matildamouse did the writing, and Strawberry spelled the words out to her one by one.

And here it is!

The Hair of the Dog

Maybe my eyeballs are fried, but I think I've forgotten to mention my good luck. First, Judy, my crafty friend, sent me what she says is three ounces of washed wool. Three ounces of washed wool fills an entire grocery bag when it's picked. That's where I got the wool, neat huh! I had a whole bunch of pictures and stuff I thought I put on here. So weird....

Thanks to the lovely and talented Kimberly of Barebottomed Bears http://www.picturetrail.com/bearbottoms who also makes adorable mice and leopards http://stores.ebay.com/Bear-Bottoms-Originals who sent me gorgeous fur off of her Beranese Mountain Dog, Frodo. It's jet black and so soft, and best yet, he sheds twice a year. Well, best for me at least!

I also have a bag of poodle fur from the darlings of Velma's, Fritz, Julie and Nikki. This of course will go to the making of mini poodles.

The Color Purple

Let's see, where did I leave this saga. At the lilac, grey and red violet fright wig? Well, rinsed it, carded it, it still was a mess. I could have carded this for a week and still got clumps. Ugly clumps. So today, back it goes. Popped it into a plastic freezer bag with some vinegar and soap, set it outside in the sun. Ooooo grape wool tea!

So all nice and clean, two packages of KoolAid and a bit of vinegar. 2 minutes on high, cool down time. Purple water. 2 minutes on high, cool down time. Purple water. This goes on for around 8 tries, when the water is now sky blue. The bag is leaking. K has put a dish under it, now why didn't I find that dish earlier, it's perfect! So, I dump extra water out of the dish, open the bag, dump out most of the water, dump white vinegar in to replace it. Turn away for a second, bag collapses, flooding the tacky white vinyl flooring with sky blue water. Which immediately runs under the fridge, carrying a flood tide of dirt and cat fur with it. ANIMAL TOWEL!!! I love having a stack of animal towels around. And now, there is a small, white clean spot on the floor. Bonus!

Well, the purple wool is dripping on the dish rack. At least it's darker. Experiment KoolAid continues.

It's not quite dry yet, but I think I can state at this point the experiment was a failure. It's a better color, but clumpy, it tried to felt but couldn't quite make it. The color is still extremely varied, from deep grape to one tip of a curl that didn't dye at all.

We have such interesting conversations around here. Hubby, talking to his mom "Well, he was terrified someone was going to find out you aren't a witch." Hmmm. Unless we're talking Glenda Goodwitch, I don't think anyone would think of Mom as anything bad. She's the sweetest person I've ever met, and the worlds best mother in law. Love the snippets around here.

I think it would look a lot better if you cut off it's nose. (It did. It was a teddy bear)

Honey, would you give the wally his bottle?

Life around here is interesting.

The Great KoolAid Experiment

After a great deal of research, I decided to dye some of my batt purple. It seems the easiest way to do that is by dumping KoolAid on it. Well, there is a little more than that, and of course, being me, I research it six ways from Sunday.

Research done, KoolAid bought. All instructions seem to be for either roving, mohair fabric or yarn, none for batting. Oh well, I'm sure it works the same. Right? Right?

First, since I'm doing the microwave version, soak the wool in a glass bowl for at least half an hour. Now, I don't cook any more, and so I don't keep track of the dishes. But I did use to have a a fully stocked mixing and baking bowls and pans. Not a one now. Hmmm. Eventually I find a glass canister and poke my wool into that and cover it with water.

Intermission. We eat, watch Due South dvd, laugh over Moosie deciding that artichoke leaves are the next best thing to chicken, but ONLY if fed from Mom's fingers. Time to begin the experiment.

I had left the container with the wool on the kitchen counter. Now it has one little peak poking up, suspiciously like it had stuck to a cat's tongue when licked. But of course, my cats aren't allowed on the counter, so it couldn't be that! I crack myself up sometimes.

So, I empty out the water and take the wool out. Run hot water in the container, mix the package of KoolAid, poke wool back in. Hey wait a minute. I spent hours getting this stuff nice and fluffy. And now I'm skooshing it all up again? But I preservere, because that's what all the directions say, and I've seen some gorgeous colors. Run enough water in to cover. My wool expands again, but of course where it gets to the top, it doesn't have much color. Stir, stir. Doesn't help. Ok, zap in microwave for two minutes, let rest for two minutes. Run in and write on blog, so if this works, I can recreate it. If it doesn't I know what not to do . Riiiight.

Time to check on wool. Kitchen smells grapely wonderful. I don't actually like the taste of KoolAid much, but I do love the smell. And the verdict is...

Grayish purple. Just the color I didn't want. Why do other people get brilliant purples, I've seen them on their sites, not one has a grayish purple. Look at that, the picture on the grape KoolAid package is exactly the same!

The water is still blue. Not a bit of purple, just a nice, sea blue. I stir and cook for another two minutes. Check all the directions on 5 different sites. Cross fingers, eyes and toes and pray.

Maybe I need more KoolAid. It's one a.m. so hubby is not going to dash out and pick it up for me. I only have 3 or 4 ounces total, and I only used a third of that, so who thought it would take more than one package of KoolAid? Obviously not me. I have other colors, but I want PURPLE darn it. I wonder what would happen if I added Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade. Why do they tend to make raspberry flavoring blue? And raspberry lemonade should be rather orangy, maybe a peachy color, shouldn't it? I mean, I did learn my color chart. But this is the world of food/buyer consumption. In other words, Lala land. Must check to see what color it is on the other sites.

Light turquoise. Pretty, but likely to muddy up purple. I also have Soarin' Strawberry Lemonade (what happened to just Pink Lemonade?), Cherry, and Black Cherry.

Ah, Black Cherry. Now, I told hubby to choose which colors he knew I like. So he had no idea what buying a package of Black Cherry KoolAid would do to me. He just thought it might make a nice purplish color.

Flashback. It's the prim and proper 1950's. Ike is in the White House. I am at a birthday party. I am wearing a dark plaid dress, and my hair is scraped back in a pony tail so tight my eyebrows are where my hairline should be. To this day, I attribute that to my not having hardly any forehead wrinkles. All the other little girls have black patent leather shoes. I have clunky "corrective" saddle shoes. This increases my gazelle-like grace. NOT! I also have on white gloves and maybe a hat that is giving me a headache. I have been threatened within an inch of my life to be a proper lady.

Aaaah, birthday cake! Oh, good, chocolate. Things are looking up! Not that awful cherry chip (because it isn't invented for a few more blissful years). And to drink...KoolAid. Just what I want to go with chocolate cake, citrus sour watery fruit drink. Please, at least let it be grape, please, please...

Dark Cherry. I think it probably was invented just in time to torture my childhood. I dislike fake cherry flavoring, but Black Cherry was the bane of my existence. It was touted on the new big screen (12 inch) black and white TV as THE thing to serve at children's parties. No one thought to ask the kids if they liked it.

And, because I am a proper little lady, I eat my cake and drink my poison. It never occurs to me to drop it on the grass, pretend to spill it, or, heaven forefend, ask for water instead. That would not be lady like. I must suffer, as all women before me have suffered (according to mom) and do what is Right and Proper. I gag it down. Could be worse. Could be cherry chip cake. And in a few years, it will be.

Repeat scene an infinite number of times, changing only the dress and maybe the gloves and hat.

Why in the world does the package say "Caffeine Free". It's got enough dye in it to color 40 white rats deep cherry, but we need assurance it's caffeine free? Lets see, Red 40, Artificial Flavor (no really? is that why I never had a cherry that tasted anything like this guck?) Blue 1. Do not store in metal container. That's because it makes people nervous to find their old, tarnished pitcher shiny and clean where the KoolAid has touched it. Or, if left long enough, small pit holes while the fridge is invaded by a creeping bog of Red 40, Blue 1. Cheers!

Interesting, plain old cherry also has Red 40, Blue 1. Ironically, they all have Red 40 except for Blue Raspberry Lemonade, which only has Blue 1. Wouldn't you think they would put at least a drop of red in, just to pretend raspberries have something to do with it?

Ah. The blue water. So that's Blue 1.

Brief intermission while I worry about Pudge, the sugarglider. Time to check on wool.

Hearing a noise, I flash the light around outside, checking for lurking junkies (I spent part of my day chasing them off). Not that it would do any thing but make them dive for the bushes. But since all the bushes are blackberry brambles, it would at least be satisfying.

The wool, when washed is...unsuccessful is a polite term. It ranges from almost undyed pale gray to red violet to mid grayish purple. Nor have I given any thought to where I'm going to hang it to dry in this cat strewn house. I've tossed over the shower curtain for now, but being free form, it won't stay there for long. Plus Ariel already has her eye on it. She has her "I must touch it because Mom touched it therefore I must adore it" look. Was that the wet splat of wool I heard? Must check.

Rescued in the nick of time. Ariel had yet to make the stretch to the curtain rod, but Morpheus entered the scene. One look and he just KNEW that was something he wasn't supposed to have. Nothing for it but to chase all kitties out of bathroom and shut the door. They will resent this, and begin banging on the door just as soon as we fall asleep. They will continue at calculated intervals. Note to self, do this during the day and hang it outside to dry. Where the horse can't get it.

Although it's hardly worth it. It's got the worst case of blotchy I've ever seen. Some blue, some still white, some lilac, not enough of anything to make anything but a mess. It might be pretty as mohair, but it's just pretty ugly as wool batt. Larger container, more KoolAid maybe?

Must ask Teddy Talkers. If nothing else, they will be sympathetic and have good ideas. After they stop giggling.

Raggae

I entered a challenge on Teddy Talk to make an anime creature. So, I planed carefully, looked at the cute anime sites and looked at what I had to make my creature out of.

Not much. Some cool yarn Penny gave me, some roving that K got me, plus obsidian beads. Oh well. So I sketched out some ideas.

My fingers had been twitching ever since I saw this one yarn Penny had included. That had to be a mane or something flowing. It was waaaay cool!

While I was at the in-laws, I worked on my creature. I had a small bit of roving that was a good color match for the yarn. I felted a little lion. For some reason, rocks in the head seemed called for. So I put a small container holding lapis chips and one crystal chip, to rattle. Then I decided I didn't want him so hard, so I felted over some cotton balls. They felted nicely! It seemed a good idea to make his nose the same color as his mane, so I did. Since I didn't have a lot of blue roving, I made his underneath parts from some grey roving. I made him sitting so his little pads show. I was going to joint him, then decided not to. I got his cheeks done, then he wanted a mouth. The better to roar with I guess. I wanted some eyes but all I had was some obsidian beads. So I felted some whites, and put his eyes over that. He looked soft and velvety. Next, the mane. Went wild with that, planning to trim it. But everyone who saw it said "DON"T cut his mane!" Carol said he looked like he had reggae dreads. So I didn't cut his mane and Raggae was born.

Sadly, with all that mane, Raggae doesn't photograph very well. But here's what I can get.


That's Ariels paw sneaking into the picture.

That's his little tail sticking out behind him. I don't know if he is anime, but he was fun to make and he's a lot cuter than the pictures!

Now tomorrow, I try Kool Aid dye!

Rosebud's Big Day

Now that Rosebud was born, and had introduced herself to everyone at Teddy Talk, it was time for her to strut her stuff a bit. So first, the photoshoot

Then her debut as an avatar and an Easter Greeting.
















She was so good, and posed just like I wanted her to. But she was a little sad that she couldn't meet the rest of the family. So I promised her a trip to Hollywood to meet some real stars.

She really liked Meeko, and got along great with Puss In Boots. But she thought the little guy in the green helmet was just a little strange.