Mood:  celebratory

I can not draw cats. I can not paint cats. I can draw and paint almost anything else. Dogs, rabbits, planes, trains, plants, fungus, people, you name it I can draw and paint it.  I can even paint lions, tigers and lynxes, just not their domesticated cousins. my style of drawing and painting (not fashion sketching that's a different animal) often falls into the "magic Realism" style where a thing is so finely detailed it looks more real than the real thing.  This is not to be confused with classic "Photo-Realism" where a painting is done to closely resemble a photograph.

Cats have always been a weak spot in my artistic skill set.  They always end up looking terrible.  I think it's because I don't "see" cats; I feel them.  They are not object to draw and paint, they are creatures with personalities.  Yet, when drawn and painted the character never comes through, they look like characterless generic cats.

So I was quite surprised on Saturday when a cat based inspiration struck.  Inspiration can strike in many ways.  Sometimes it is a light tap on the shoulder saying, "hey, wouldn't it be cool if we tried..." and sometimes it's a slug across the back saying "WOW!  I just thought of something completely new I wonder if it work in I did this..." and rarely it is a full on body slam that says"HOLY FARK!  I NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT BEFORE NOR LOOKED AT IT FROM THAT PERSPECTIVE!" "THIS IS A REVELATION!!!!11!"

Yes, sometime inspiration shouts in all caps like Obvious Troll on the internet. Ad sometimes, after a long day filled with chores, you don't want any shouting or body slams.  Like Saturday, which was quite busy all day with housekeeping chores, scraping lime scale off the shower, vacuuming the carpet on the stairs, sweeping the hall...boring stuff. To be fair, it is rewarding work.  by four o'clock the basement bathroom is sparkling clean, the carpet looks almost new, and there aren't hairballs in the corners.

Bear with me, it will all make sense.  So after a full day of chores I sat down to watch a little Project Runway.  As always the cats hop up beside me.  Lucky sits on my lap and Trixie sits beside me with her back to my leg and her belly exposed for any tummy rubs that might come her way.

So I sat there petting lucky and listening to him purr.  I could feel the lines of muscle and sinew, the contours of his legs and paws and head and tail and how the curves of the muscles lined up with the curves of his body

And then INSPIRATION HIT! I could draw those lines, contours and curves.  And they could all fit together in sinuous lines.  And for the first time I could DRAW A CAT. 

I got out my pencils and some sketch paper, three holed lined stuff that's really cheap and cheerful, got a lap desk and sat to scribble in front of the television (Gordana wuz ROBBED!  ROBBED I tell ya!)   After a few tries I had my cat.  I went to the table where  I brought out my good paper and art supplies and refined the drawing.  I thin tried making it larger.  Smaller.  Square.  Really big.  Outlined.  Coloured.  solid black. I was quite pleased with the cat picture and went to do something else. I left it out and as Dave passed he said "That's a really good cat drawing.  You should make it your new logo."  Which is what I was hoping to use it for.  I was very happy Dave could see it as a logo without any prompting from me. My semi-nefarious plan worked.

So I now have a really nice cat graphic scanned into the computer.  I can manipulate however i want. It can be made bigger, smaller, favicon size, embroidered and woven into a label, silk screened on a shirt, and turned into a web banner.  It can be further simplified or it can have additional details.  It will fit well with my name and label, either lincatz or Linda S. It isn't overly cute, cloying, little girly-girl, or complex.  it's a good all purpose graphic that will make super logo.  Now I am looking around to see if it looks like any other cat graphics.  Then I have several options.

No, you can not see it yet, not until I make sure it's not like any other logos.  Then I can make it mine and then I can put it on the website.

Sometimes Inspiration is like that.  Usually inspiration is like "Wouldn't it be cool if we tried" and then it suggests something flammable, potentially mutilating, or impossible. 

I'm not the only one who can't draw cats, there's a whole site devoted to badly drawn cats: http://www.tiddles.co.uk/ 

Posted by lincatz at 11:54 AM EST

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I feels so freaking good to NOT sew curtains.  Those things were driving me crazy!  So today Dave has a day off and guess where he is?  If you said AT WORK then you win the prize! What's the prize?  A day without my hubby. pout.

So I just listened to a preview track from OMD's newest album "The History of Modern" The full track is available for free on their official website to registered fans. (ME!) and you can listen to an excerpt on the Band MySpace page.  I joined myspace so I could listen to music that wasn't public.  It's not too bad, has a bit of an Enola Gay vibe, features lots of vox humana and choir samples, a good strong beat and of course Andy's unique voice.  Of course I will buy it!  And of course i will buy the new DVD of OMD with the Liverpool philharmonic. Orchestral manoeuvres with a real orchestra -how could I resist.

A Dave Sim fan blog was asking about the girl who was the OMD fan because Dave wrote something about Joan of Arc or something and it was inspired by a girlfriend who was a huge OMD fan.  I think it might be me. Nothing more to offer other than I was a huge OMD fan, had a massive crush on Andy McCluskey,  raved about them constantly to Dave, played both Joan of Arc songs for him and that was about it. And did you know I lied to John about not knowing who OMD was? yeah...I knew who they were. 

So as I was saying...no curtains.  I finished the purple print hoodie and I want to get these boots to go with it:

These are at Overstock.com.  I was really looking at scanners and to go over the Free shipping limit these boots would fit the bill.  I would like to get a scanner from a bricks and mortar store nearer to home, but non printercopierfaxscannerwatermelondepitter all in one units are hard to find.  Oh and why not order from Zappos when the same boots are five dollars less?  Because Overstock.com has NO ADDITIONAL TAXES BORDER FEES OR DUTIES! YAY! So if I can't find a scanner anywhere else for under 50$ I will get these boots.  I mean th scanner.  The boots are only to save the shipping charges.

And that my friends, is how the female mind works! I am also working on the one top with the lace and the ribbon and jingle coins...it's a bit more work than i expected, especially sewing the laces together.  The sequins get in the way.  i switched to the "little foot" on my Kenmore and it' working better.  Far slower, but fewer shattered glass beads.

I'm also working on the black cashmere skirt.  I'm going to make is a simple and basic as possible so it doesn't go out of style.  There will be a couple trouser inspired pleats in the front, a button placket down the centre front and pockets.  The button placket adds a straight vertical line to make me look taller and straighter. The pleats also add vertical lines.  Pockets will be also vertical welts.  Everything is being done to make the skirt look long and slim.

Finally, i am working on a knit dress, my version of the infinite dress.  I don't like the shapeless tube of the true infinite dress So I am making my own version that has shape and a bit of structure yet still allows different styling options.

Finally, I have been spending most of the morning looking up hair colours.  It has been pointed out with great tact (NOT!) that my hair is quite white these days.  While it doesn't bother me, it is not the most flattering look under fluorescent store lights, where the white hairs turn almost a  blue-ish white.  As we all know, the only woman who can get away with blue hair is Marge Simpson.  So I need to warm things up a bit.  I'm thinking either summer blonde or just using a copper glaze.  So many decisions!

And that's all.  Once again i am off to my mother's only this time it is to help her pack up knick knacks and dishes. Later!

Posted by lincatz at 11:53 AM EST

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Mood:  accident prone

First draft for an article, posting it to test alignment, check links and all the crunchy HTML goodness. A good first sewing project is something that you use many times while sewing.  A good first project is a tailor's ham.  While you can buy hams at the fabric store, they are expensive and just a round lump of nothing. Unless you body is made entirely of lumps, it doesn't offer many options for pressing the curves and contours of the human body.  A true tailor's ham is curved and has many options for pressing both concave and convex body shapes. Sometimes this ham shape is called "the Schmoo" after a character in the long gone comic strip "L'il Abner" Since no one under the age of fifty remebers the comic strip I affectionately call mine "The Blob." 

Click picture for full size pattern part one.

The pattern is in JPG format, click on the small picture and the big one will open up.  You know the drill: right click and save. Print and tape the papers together and cut out the shape.  You need to cut out four: two from muslin for the inner part, one from sturdy cotton (such as twill) and one in a contrast fabric.  Wool flannel is the preferred fabric as wool hold moisture and dispenses it slowly as steam.  Cotton flannel will also work provided it is a densely woven flannel and not a loose pyjama top flannel.

The Tailors ham is stuffed with fine saw dust.  Do not use saw dust from pressure treated wood ever.  It's made with chemicals that will release vapours with heat and steam. Because the ham is used with the heat of the iron saw dust from pressure treated wood will make you sick every time you use the ham.

Use any basic solid wood planks like pine, maple, spruce -anything without glues or resins.  You will need lots of saw dust as you will be packing the ham very tightly and the dust will compress.  Saw dust is best and should be your first choice.

Also used for stuffing hams was dry hay cut into very small pieces.  This is still used for making lace-maker's pillows in England.  You need to be cautious if you use hay.  It must not be sprayed with any pesticides and it must be as dry as possible.  Making the hay small is easy, place cut hay into a metal trash can, put you weed whipper in the can and turn on the whipper.  The hay will be shredded quickly.  It's far faster than the traditional method of snipping hay with scissors.

Don't stuff with buckwheat shells, oat husks, beans, peas or dry grains.  All these can not be sufficiently packed and compressed into the ham.  Shells and husks shift and move while peas and beans are simply too large and lumpy.  Do not use polyester fibrefill.  It can not be compressed enough to be hard and firm. 

Sew up the inner ham first and leave an opening about three inches long on one side.  Press the seams flat using a small quilter's detail iron or by using a bamboo point tool or with a thumbnail if that all you have.  The seam must be pressed flat before stuffing.  Start scooping in the saw dust and press it firmly into the ends.  The ham should be HARD.  It's not a pillow for a nap, it needs to be as firm as possible.  Use a mallet to hammer the stuffing in the ham and stuff even more it. 

When the ham is stuffed enough that it almost stands on its own you can begin hand sewing the side.  Use length of thread doubled and a long, thick sharp needle.  Knot one end and backstitch in place along one side of the opening.  The thread must be very secure and it should not be at any risk of breaking.  Add extra knots and forget everything anyone told you about how knots in the ends of threads are bad. Use a modified baseball stitch and continue to stuff more sawdust as you close the seam. Use very close stitches so none of the sawdust can escape.  Turn the ham over and go back and re-stitch the seam.  Knot again and be sure the seam is firm and the knot won't open.  There should be no loose stitches. The fabric should be drum tight over the sawdust.  If it isn't, open up and stuff in more sawdust.

(Insert new pictures of sewing here.  First ones sucked)

To sew the outer layer you need to sew slightly inside the seam-lines so the cover is fractionally smaller than the inner bag.  This will keep the cover from shifting on the ham and keep the cover fabric tight.  Leave the lager bulgy side open, press the seams, turn and press again.  put the inner ham in the outer cover, this will take a little work. Finally, use doubled thread and sew the cover shut.  Again, sew this seam so it is tight against the ham. 

For a sleeve roll, the instructions are similar.  The sleeve roll needs to be very firmly stuffed, so leave an opening on both sides of the roll and sew the opening so it is very tight on both layers.

The contoured ham is useful when pressing bust darts, jacket lapels, hip curves, shoulders, backs, anywhere the body curves.  The shape simulates most body contours and will make all your pressing much easier.

The sleeve roll is inserted into set in sleeves so the seam can be pressed flat without pressing a crease into the sleeve.  It also works when pressing cuffs on finished garments

These two are good early projects because they sewing is quite straightforward and not complicated in the least.  The roll shouldn't take more than a few hours.  The most time consuming step is stuffing and pounding the sawdust into place. The contoured ham takes a bit longer and it requires more sawdust.

Now let's see if this looks good.  More illustrations will be forthcoming, especially for the hand sewing. 

Posted by lincatz at 11:02 AM EST

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This week's newsworthy squirrel comes once again from England,  I think.  the story appears in the Daily Mail...but it cites foreign news sources.  Nevertheless our newsworthy squirrel is a black squirrel and a mom.  baby falls down tree. Dog sees squirrel and decides it's lunch time. Mom squirrel fights off the large dog that is attacking her baby.  Mom squirrel successfully fights off large dog. Baby and mom live happily ever after and dog is sad for about one half a nano second until something else catches its interest.  You can find the whole story and lots of pictures by clicking the pretty coloured letters.  Mom's behaviour is not that difficult to explain or understand. When squirrels are cornered or threatened they can be vicious and they will attack much larger animals.  Much more difficult to explain and impossible to understand  is this picture here:

Although to be fair it looks like Barbie is having good time.

And that's all for today. See you next week! Same squirrel time, same squirrel channel.

Posted by lincatz at 11:28 AM EST

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Mood:  cheeky

I forgot to mention that on Saturday we moved Rachel the Tarantula to her new terrarium.  My brother said they just scoot her into a container, place the container in the new tank and open it. When I tried that -the second she saw the container she began to panic.  Her front legs began waving wildly and her back legs flung hairs everywhere.  We removed the container and she calmed down.  Dave and I noodled out approach number two.  We took her old tank, which fit in the new tank quite nicely, and placed in on it;s side.  She gradually crawled out and explored her new place.  She ate a cricket, drank some water and crawled on top of her spider hider house.  She proclaimed herself queen of her domain and she's been happy ever since. Except she's not pleased with her substrate as it's fresh and new and doesn't smell like her. Here's a picture of her on her throne.

Isn't she adorable? I don't know if I posted a picture of my necklace inspired by Van Gogh's Starry Night painting when it was finished.  I think I have a picture of the wire wrapped heart.  Here's the finished piece:

The necklace is made with lots of preciosa and swarovski crystals from "the Bead Bazaar" store in Waterloo.  The heart itself is from "the Weather" in Waterloo Square.  Here's a close up of the wire wrapped heart of stars.  I tried to make the spiral of the wires echo Van Gogh's swirls around the stars.

And that's my heart.  As we can see, it is filled with stars.  This is my very first attempt at complex bail construction and wire wrapping.  It's a little rough, but I am more than pleased with the results.  It's exactly what I wanted.  The heart is enhanced, it echos its inspiration and it is truly unique.  It is a very heavy necklace and when I wear it I wear nothing else.

One more finished project: The ammolite earrings.  Ammolite, as previously mentioned is the opalized fossil remains of a snail that lived millions of years ago. This one was cut in half and  thought it would make a wonderful pair of earrings.  Here they are!

The holes were drilled with something I found at a Michael's craft store in the "science nerd toys" beside the rock tumblers.  A "rock driller"  it took a while but it drilled the holes quite nicely.  Only problem?  They are almost too heavy to wear as earrings.   And these are the very lightest ammolite I have ever found.  Interesting story, the guy at the store remembered me and remembered I wanted to make ammolite earrings so he pointed these out to me.  Cool or what?

I can't recall if I posted the completed butterfly bag.  Here it is with trumpet flowers and leaves.  The leaves were mottled by sprinkling salt on the dye.  The dye was held in place by a thick line of Jones Tones glitter pearl paint.  All the airbrush effects were done with float medium added to standard acrylic paint.  the sparkles were done by adding transparent glaze medium to basic white based sparkle fabric paint. This piece is all about combing dyes, paints, and various additives to both to achieve the effects that I wanted.  To work this I made a play-list of a whole bunch of 1960's hippy music  (inna gadda da vida bay bee) (going up the country) (and lots of Melanie) and listed on my headphones as I drew out the wings and mixed the colours.  It helped me channel some of the acid-dropping  head trip colours of the era...without any of the -you know -acid dropping.

Speaking of authentic retro: Later I am going to Schreiter's furniture downtown Kitchener.  It has lots of modern and mid-century modern furniture.  This is NOT ikea modern, this is flying saucer end table modern.  They don't sell boxes and squares, they sell circles and truncated spheres organic undulating shapes and nested moons and bifurcated non euclidean solids.  I want to do the basement in modern loft style, one wall open storage, one wall home office, and one section seating options.  I want the seating to be adaptable and changeable. loft furniture offers the most options for changeable seating.  One of these tables is going to find a place in my room: http://www.schreitershome.ca/fjords3.html  I also like the Gus collection, I think the picture rails are quite thoughtful and perfect for people with eclectic collections: http://www.schreitershome.ca/gusdesign5.html  according to the store, these have a very shallow profile and can be installed at any height in a room.  They are a welcome contrast to the frilly fussy wood picture rails sold at most stores. The cabinets store an amazing amount of stuff and several are designed for "projects" meaning arts: http://www.schreitershome.ca/gusdesign7.html    And how can you not love this "modulicious" unit from BluDot? http://www.schreitershome.ca/bluDotConsoleShelves.html 

So that's all for today.  Still working on a couple of sewing patterns for posting here and there. 

Posted by lincatz at 10:53 AM EST

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Note to everyone who is searching about ugg.gg or uggs.gg.  The site is a scam.  Not only is it selling cheap poorly made counterfeits with the real uggsaustralia tag, some people are now reporting that money is being taken out of their credit cards accounts and banks multiple times and they are getting nothing in return.  Additionally, little web birds are saying the site has been shut down by the real UGGSAustralia.  Block these people from taking any more of your money.  You will not receive anything. Ever.

Normally I keep my scam/spam busting separate and don't mention it much but I just cleared up a dozen e-mails about this company.  I bundled them up and sent them to a consumer complaint site, among others.  Remember everyone...if it seems too good to be true, it is.  And UGGS are made and distributed in Australia, not wholesaled from factories in China. Real uggs are 50% more expensive in China than anywhere else in the world.  Many larger companies are refusing to sell in China because counterfeiters buy the real thing then counterfeit it.

There's a difference between generic fuggs and counterfeit UGGS.  fuggs don't claim to be anything other than fuggs.  They don't have a fake uggs Australia brand tag on them, they aren't being sold for hundreds of dollars and the stores that sell them are quite honest.  I got a cheap pair of fuggs at payless and they were 100% honest they aren't real uggs and it is okay to call them fuggs. Claire's has fuggs too, and they tell everyone they aren't real, just generic ugg style boots.

I don't feel as harsh toward Uggs as i do toward crocs.  I like uggs.  They look cute with tights and skirts and with jeans tucked in.  They are casual and fun.  They don't claim to be a revolution in fashion, a new way of life or any of the nonsense the crocs people were spouting.  They come from an eco friendly renewable resource that does not pollute the earth the way plastic does, and they are comfy and warm.  They aren't snow boots, so don't wear them as such.

So I had a really good time this weekend. First the weather is still more like March than November.  While this is nice for going out, it's does not inspire me to buy chrisms stuff.  My sis in law thinks that if her Christmas shopping isn't done by Canadian thanksgiving then it's almost too late.  I think that if I think about starting by American Thanksgiving then I'm getting too far ahead of myself.  If it's done by 12:00 on December 24 that's good enough for me.

I went to my cousin Tina's bridal shower.  She's Kathy's youngest and the youngest first cousin of the Boshart bunch.  I think there's over 40 of us first cousins on one side of my family.  If I include my dad's side I have over 60 first cousins.  My mom's side of the family is drawing closer as we all get older so these family get together are getting nicer and nicer all the time.

Sunday we took Dan and Heather with us to spend some gift cards.  The Mark's store in Kitchener was having a big sale (we figured out why at home later) and we all had gift cards.  I got some new socks which I needed desperately, and a brown velour hoodie that looks almost exactly like a brown velour hoodie I had when i was a teen ager. 

Yes, you read that right...I bought a hoodie.  I bought clothes.  From a chain store. I didn't make it, design it or embellish it the second i got home.  And I didn't get it from a small dark out of the way place in the depths of downtown.

Dave and Ben got winter things and Dan and Heather got winter boots.  When we got home we realized everything was so cheap because it all vaguely smelled like hot rubber and diesel fuel.  Spill or fire perhaps?  Doesn't matter, everything was really well priced.

So that's all for today.  I'm working on the patterns and instruction for making a sleeve roll and pressing ham, two things professional designers dressmakers and tailors use in conjunction with the iron for pressing curves and tubes. Neither are difficult to make.  When I took my dressmaking and design course long ago they were the very first project in the course.  I've used mine to the point where I need to replace them. Hams and rolls are quite expensive and there's no need to spend so much money on something that can be easily made at home.

So that's all for today.  Tonight is CSI Miami.  Or Canada's worst drivers.  In honour of CSI:Miami I offer up this new LOLCaruso:

See y'all tomorrow!  We're having ham and rolls stuffed with sawdust and sand!  YUM YUM!

Posted by lincatz at 11:42 AM EST

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NO MORE CURTAINS! PLEASE!

In other news it is Danny's birthday today.  He's now 24.  He's in his final year of college and he's got a tentative job offer for when he graduates.  Kids are the biggest crap shoot of all, you really have no idea what you are going to get or how it will turn out in the end.  When a kid is born I think every parent deludes themselves thinking their kid is going to be the best, the brightest, have the highest marks in school, excel at everything they try and never ever have a bad day in their entire lives.  By the time your kid is heading for the teen years you realize how big a delusion that rally is and laugh at new parents thinking their kid is better than the rest.  By the time you kid is 16 it's more like "whew!  We made it through the tough yeas without any criminal convictions" and when they graduate somewhere in the middle you think, "we made it through the tough part intact"

So it ended up taking far less time to do the curtains than i thought and now I do not need to go to my Mom's today so all in all this day is turning out okay. And I get the bigger terrarium for Rachel tomorrow, so then that's taken care of too.  On Sunday we can do something for Dan for his birthday, like get him a cake and feed him some sort of special dinner.  Maybe try again with the duck, last time he was sick with swine flu.

I guess it doesn't make any sense to get the swine flu shot, we've all been exposed and I am quite certain Dave and i both had it.  Not as severe as Dan and Heather, but we both had something fitting the description.  

And now for something completely gasp-worthy: and epic sewing machine fail:

Yes, someone is using a hair clip as a presser foot. The pin inserted the wrong way is nothing compared to a hair clip presser foot.  I can imagine the needle hitting this an breaking the needle, bending the needle shaft shattering the hair clip and sending shards of metal into the bobbin area.

Over at Fashion Incubator there's a challenge posted, draw a 2X rectangle and cut it out.  label it #1.  Take #1 and trace around it, cut it and label it number 2.  Use 2 to trace and cut 3.  and so on until you have a stack of  with the smallest on top.  Yes, there's a trick, a hook, a catch, a twist.  I know what it is.  See, there SHOULD NOT BE A SMALLEST, they should all be of uniform size.  If you do it correctly,  and cut off the traced lines, all the pieces should remain the original 2x6.  Most people will end up with the pieces creeping up in size with number eight significantly larger than piece one.  This challenge is used to illustrate the importance of accurate cutting and tracing in the pattern development stage.  Inaccurate tracing and cutting of basic blocks will lead to big headaches in garment development. Most patterns are traced over and over until the final pattern piece shape is arrived at.  All those little fractions here and there don't seem like much, but they quickly add up and can screw up the fit to the point where the sleeves are too long, a bodice is too wide across the chest, darts are distorted etc.  The lesson of this challenge is that accurate tracing and cutting are essential in all stages of fashion and pattern design. All eight pieces should be the exact same size.

What do i win?

Nothing?  A stack of 2x6 rectangles!  cool I've always wanted that...it's so whimsicle.  That's a buzz phrase on a whole mass of craft blogs, it's like whimsical only spelled wrong and used in the wrong context.  It's often spelled in the annoying mix of capital and lower case letters with ascii characters thrown in to confuse people. 

Speaking of stupid this is a private message sent to me through a fashion site:

" heyy i read ur msg 2day about the site... 'ugg.gg' .. sorry 2 mither u but i dont kno weva u kno what the boots actually look like and if ther good copy's onli bcoz i orderd a pair and had a bit off trouble with the company bcoz they tried takinn 2 payments out of my bank, plus wen i enterd all my details the page cant up in chinese rytin [ when i translated it into english it said page cant not be displayd] so i panniced... and ound ur msg's on here,! i rang the comany of my bank and they told me that one payment had gon out so i canceld it jus incase they tried 2 take any more money, im jus wonderin weather u kno how long they usually take and what the copys of the boots are like?..."

Some people deserve to be ripped off.  Lessee...they charged your account twice, you couldn't get the page to come up correctly, and they still want to know if they will ever get anything and if the counterfeits are any good?  Since i can't send this person the message I would like to send I'll will write what I would like to say here: Dear Stupid: I think most people would have figured out by the Chinese contact page that something isn't right. When they continually take money from your bank and never ship anything that's a sign that you are dealing with a scammer.  You will not get anything.  Ever. Not even a really bad fake ugg.  So cut your losses and cut out any contact with this ripoff site! You don't get something for nothing.

What I sent: Hi.  You will likely wait and wait and wait and possibly never receive anything.  Most parcels from counterfeiters are seized at the border as the international trade of counterfeits is illegal.  If you do receive anything they will be poor quality and look nothing like the pictures on the website, which are stolen from UGGS. You are dealing with a scammer. Cut your losses.  Block them from taking any further payments from you bank and cancel the order.  All sites from China sell poor quality counterfeits. If something seems too good to be true, it is.  Inform the Better Business Bureau about you transaction, submit  your story to US border patrol on this page: (link to form removed)write to UGGSAustralia on the counterfeit education page found here: (removed for blog post) and (more scam buster contact sites) Do not buy from these sites. They use slave labour and often launder money for criminal gangs. If you want cheap uggs, buy on sale, at a place like Payless, or get EMU or bearpaws, they look similar but aren't as expensive.

There was more...but you get the gist.  I doubt that's what this person wanted to hear.  I doubt the person can read the big words. 

So that's all my mom and dad are coming over and i need to stop!  Later! 

Posted by lincatz at 12:16 PM EST

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It's curtains for me! Again.  One condition of sale was that mom is to leave all window treatment on the windows, so we have to come up with some substitute curtains that look like the ones she already has. She forgot to remove Mike's good foam backed insulating drapes when he moved, now he wants them back. So I have to make curtains that look exactly like the ones he took away, only from cheaper fabric. I think I can handle that!

I will be looking after Rachel the Tarantula until January.  I hope to get her larger terrarium soon.  She needs more space to run, or whatever tarantulas do.  I plan to get her a new water dish and give her a hiding spot for the days when she feels less social. I was reaching into her tank a few days ago and she came up to me and touched my hand several times with her pedipalps, then with her front legs.  She then stayed right by her water dish as I took away a dead uneaten cricket.  She didn't shoot hairs at me or anything.  Cool!

Coming very soon is the annual Christmas market at City hall. this is always my "official start to Christmas" event.  http://www.christkindl.ca/  It's full of food, decorations, and people, lots of people.  There are a few people that I almost always see there, including aardvark Dave.  He's almost always in a good mood, especially after a visit to the Bavarian nut guy!  My relationship with Dave can vary from weirdly awkward, to amicable, to warm and genuine, to bristly.  I never know from time to time how he's going to be -although genuine is probably the rarest and most welcome of all. Dave being genuine is like finding a silk blouse in a rack of polyester shirts, you know when it real because it's so different from everything else around it.  But at the Christmas market it's all about happy times and sparkly things and it's difficult to feel angry or sad or anything else, so it's always warm and fuzzy.  We will always be each other's Rebound Relationship.   I always get some Summer Sausage from Cloverleaf farms, and there are a couple of vendor who sell gluten free Christmas cookies and treats.  YAY!

One thing does need a comment: German Pop Music. All of it is horrible ear-worm stuff that gets stuck in the brain and never gets out. To my ear mush of it sounds the same with a vague polka type beat.  There is one vendor of CD's VHS tapes and DVD's of German Pop Music and every year he has a big screen TV and he runs an endless loop of that sort of creepy looking white haired white skinned guy singer and his sort of disturbing blond haired Teutonic warrior princess sidekick. These two made several of their only outside-of-Germany appearances in Kitchener. In the mid 60's early 70's they sold out a for a week at the Auditorium a few years in a row.  He always appeared in a suit and dark glasses and his side kick often wore gingham dirndls with white batiste pinafores. In a German city like Kitchener, I grew up seeing posters of these two in many stores downtown and hearing their music blaring from some of these stores.

And to this day they seem to be fondly remembered by the older German residents of the city. The seller of these CD's and DVD's say that his stuff is always their top seller every year, so he plays the previous year's German television special because of popular demand.  His booth is right in the back of the main floor and these video play right along the benches in the back of city hall where everyone sits to eat so we have no choice but to watch ad listen to this vague polka like pop and these two oddly creepy singers.  Last year was different.  There wasn't one creepy white skinned guy and dirndl clad valkyrie...there were HUNDREDS! apparently this guy is a national treasure or icon or something and they were playing a tribute concert and everyone dressed like these two.  They featured a one hundred person dance troupe doing a five minute tribute dance to these two.  I think my brain melted around minute two.

There's also plenty of good food including smoked pork chops, giant turkey legs, sausages of all types and lots of hot chocolate and apple cider. One could get very plump eating German food.

So tomorrow's Danny's birthday.  He'll be 24.  I think.  Yeah...24.  He grew up okay!  We did a good job.  The hard part is over. 

Something I have ranted about: Carbon offsets are useless and do more damage to the environment because they make people think there's nothing wrong with their big polluting car or constant jet trips. They are nothing more than a new form of "papal indulgences" 

And that's all for now.  I have to get my stuff together to take to mom's.  I need scissors, tape measure, pins, and other notions.  And i need to wash my hair.  Later!

Posted by lincatz at 11:32 AM EST

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Good Monday Morning.  Saturday was sunny and warm and felt more like late April than mid November.  Dave and i went for a nice long walk and ended it at our local timmy's for a cup of coffee.  It was nice enough for a visit to DQ, but sadly the local one is closed for the winter.  The Christmas decorations looked odd sparkling in the bright warm sun. November is supposed to be the most depressing month of the year, always grey, dull, cloudy no sun, no light no colour... As this Thomas Hood poem so eloquently reminds us Two years ago we were in the middle of a November storm that dumped snow and ice on everything.  Three years ago the snow started the day after Halloween and it stayed until Mid April.  Needless to say, I'm taking full advantage of a mild and sunny November.

I think one reason I have been feeling blah and not quite in the pink, aside from swine flu, is that I ma not getting quite enough fresh air and exercise.  I'm not a fitness fanatic and I don't spend hours on a gym, but I do like to get out for nice long heart pumping, sweat inducing walks.  If I get home and i need a shower, then I've had a good cardio-walk.  I haven't had enough of these lately and I think I'm a little out of shape.  So more walking, less dressmaker's butt!

I've often expressed a fascination with fractals.  I've tried to imagine how to "fractalize" fashion designs, with particular attention to how they add drape and fullness to a design.  I've also mentioned that if offered a choice between regular cauliflower and fractal cauliflower, I willing fork over more money for the opportunity to ponder the infinite scope of the Mandelbrot equation while eating my dinner.  And it impresses the hell out of the guy at the market, who actually looked up "Mandelbrot" and "fractal" on google.  This guy had taken the Mandelbrot into the third dimension with 3-D "mandelbulbs" mandelcrusts" and "mandel-gateau"  Needless to say, one of the first forms generated was the cauliflower.

I have a whole bunch of new screensavers and wallpapers.  There's Ice cream from Neptune, Carmelized Hazelnut swirl,  I think this guy has a sweet tooth!  Or he was hungry when making these.  These 3-D Mandelbrot's are all the rage over on The Fractal Forum. Yes, I check it out on occasion!  I do more than look at shoes, clothes and sewing patterns!

If you really want your mind blown by fractals hen check out this: http://www.archive.org/details/NebulabrotRotation  and if you want to download something even more mind blowing look at this:  http://www.phidelity.com/blog/artwork/rena-jones-open-me-slowly-video/  The MP4 takes a while open (don't bother unless you have a broadband connection, it will take a day to open)  but it's worth the wait.  Truly mind blowing fractals.

Tonight is the Leonids Meteor shower.  (Here is the news: The weather's fine but there may be a meteor shower) It will be going from about 11:00 PM to about 4:00 AM.  i thin I will duck out for a while before bed to see a few meteors, I don't want to go out a three in the morning, I'm usually sleeping then.  Those are always cool.  Many years ago we went out to one, a Perseid shower.  If you looked low towards the eastern horizon you could see them rising, it was like a spray of little sparkles coming from a central point at the horizon.  it was quite cool. Here's a news story about the shower.

So onto less scientific things: Project Runway Season 6. Okay. Let's talk about it.  Sure. Um. What to say?  Seriously, this has been quite the lacklustre season.  Slowly the creme of the crop has risen to the top, and the pretenders have fallen away.  Did they plan for three hot chicks to make it to the finale?  Or did it just happen that way?  I think Carol Hannah is my favourite, with Althea a close second.  I just saw the Michael Kors episode and I have to say that for a location as inspirational as Santa Fe, he sure made a horrible whatever it was!  I would have made a long and flowing dress made of a print with sunset and desert rose colours with some sandy brown faded denim accents, lots of top stitching, and I would have included tons of copper jeans rivets.  That would have been western and modern, perfect for hanging out on the porch of the Dude Ranch! 

Also in the realm of fashion: In spite of my utter contempt for The Hills, I have been watching the spin off The City.  At first i though Erin was being a bitch to Olivia, now I see her point.  I can imagine she's ticked off she has to give up half her job to some un-reality show queen and hold her hand because she's to stupid to know how to actually perform the duties of a fashion intern.  As for Whitney, she's also showing a big case of the Stupids.  She went to a fashion buyer with DRAWINGS!  No completed garments, just DRAWINGS!  She's got learn how to sew, which she has been told several times.  Even her boss told her that! If she does learn to sew she must start with sewing Roxy's mouth shut. Now.  It's true that her boss hates happy people, however Whitney and Roxy don't help their cause.  Again, i get the feeling Kelly is upset that she too is holding the hands of two spoiled rich un-reality show stars when she could have hired people with a real hunger for the job.   Far more interesting than the spoiled losers on The Hills, although Spencer at the doctor, researching vasectomies was utterly hilarious.

We got new speakers yesterday.  They aren't as high wattage as I would have liked, but they sounded better than the expensive high wattage speakers.  Our set up is quite cramped compact and we don't need all that power.  I'm looking forward to hearing the OMD/Liverpool Philharmonic concert preview in real surround sound, not on little headphones. 

Posted by lincatz at 12:00 PM EST

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Not a lot to say today.  It's been one of those weeks where I would like to declare it a write off and try again next week.  Not anything serious, just a combination of stupid little things that made me feel like crap all week.  The only good thing is that today I feel fine.  So the week has bee 80% crap rather than 100% crap.

I did remember how to properly insert clear elastic into the coverstitched neckline of a stretch top.  Yay!  Now i can wear it with the jeans and skirt that i made... the ones with the mushrooms on them.  it's made with a stretch lace that has a real 1974 colour scheme, brown rust, how about a swatch?

That's the lace at the top, at the bottom is some bamboo rayon knit, some ribbon festooned with coils and beads that make a pleasant jingle, and some sequined lace.

And that's to top I made.  The bamboo knit is under the lace right up to the sweetheart lines just above the boobs. The original had nothing in the back, just the lace and it was bit too much. The original also had elbow length sleeves that looked either a bit too long or a bit too short. I like the retro yet modern look of this piece.

Project Runway season one winner Jay McCarrol now has fabric available on his website: http://www.jaymccarroll.com/category-s/21.htm?ref=ts  His stuff is all quite retro-cool, whimsical, and unique.  Because this entry is titled "the FungusAmungus, I need to mention that his woodland friends collection with the mushrooms is available. 

A depressingly common story: Family in hospital due to mushroom poisoning.  without reading the article I will make a few un-psychic predictions: The shroom in question is an amanita.  They are from a country where foraging is common.  They mistook the amanita for an edible species common in their home area.  they weren't aware that there are toxic shroom the superficially resembles their prized delicacy.  To the article....

Yup, oh yeah, of course, and no surprise.  The first rule that all mushroom books drill into the heads of North American collectors is "Learn to recognize the tell-tale characteristics of the Amanita family before you eat a single mushroom"  Surprisingly, once you become informed and learn what makes an amanita an amanita, it becomes easy to recognize them, and easy to tell an amanita from an agaricus, a russala, or a hygrophorus.  It's like being able to tell the difference between spinach, lettuce and cabbage and know that these three aren't poison ivy.  All green, all plants, but all are unique.

I never ever risk eating anything I am not sure about or anything that someone's grandma in Europe or china or japan ate everyday and lived to 119 years old.  There are many toxic north american natives that look superficially like wild treats from elsewhere.  Since most people don't travel with a microscope or take spore prints, they fall victim to mushroom poisons that vary from stomach upsets to liver failure.

There is one big error in the article, They say they ate "death caps" and identify them as Amanita phalloides,  yet further down they describe the appearance of a Amanita Virosa/bisporga, the two commonly called "destroying angel."  which is it?  the white one or the green one?  Death Caps are quite green, while the angels are white and can appear green or brown depending on age, decay or lighting.

I know all about mushrooms.  MYcology is better than YOURcology!

One last thing, courtesy of The Fail Blog:

see more Epic Fails

These, people, are what we in the fashion world call "jorts" And that's all for today.  I must be feeling tons better, I have the urge to go do laundry! Must Fight Urge!

Posted by lincatz at 11:03 AM EST

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