Sunday Sundry 7-22-12

The Good, the Bad, and the Owie

Good:  Look what came in the mail yesterday!  Cynthia of Home Matters 1st made me a shirt!  It is cute, cute, cute!  

She did such wonderful embroidery with the little owls and their sewing accessories.  Aren't they adorable?

The shirt color is one of my favorites, and it fits perfectly!  

Never mind my weird expression.  I was yammering at my husband giving him tips on how to take a decent picture, to let the camera auto focus before mashing down on the button (impatient much?), stand on the same level so he's not looking up at me like the Statue of Liberty (he didn't listen), and don't snap the picture with my eyes closed or mouth open (to which he responded, "Well, shut up then.")  Hmph!

But back to the shirt - I LOVE IT!  Thank you so much, Cynthia, for your thoughtfulness, time and talent, and generosity!!

Bad:  Well, it's not that bad but just to keep it real, I thought I'd tell you a thrifting tale that didn't pan out the way I expected—a thrifting fail.

In other words, not every pick is a winner.

Stopped at the St. Vinny's yesterday and found they were having a 50 percent off store-wide sale.  I actually didn't find much, but I did spy an interesting piece of framed art that appealed to me, first of all, in its colors and, secondly, in its primitive/folk aesthetic.  It looked, from this side of the glass in the frame, to be an original signed watercolor by someone named "Doris," which was all of the signature I could read because the mat seemed to be covering up the rest of it.  Being that it was priced higher than just about every other piece of framed art, I was obviously not the only one thinking along those lines.

It had some condition issues, but I dunno...my mind started churning up all those Antiques Roadshow stories where some lowly piece of folk art found in a dilapidated barn somewhere fetched megabucks.  I don't usually let my imagination run wild, but it looked like a signed original watercolor, and did I mention 50 percent off?

Well, you can probably guess where this is going.  Yep, took it home, out of the frame, only to find that it was a print, maybe from a magazine, not an original.  It had been glued (the never-going-to-come-apart kind of glued) onto foam core board, and the colors had badly faded to boot.

I do still like the subject of the piece and found out a little about the artist, full name Doris Lee.  I'm sure the lesson learned and knowledge gained is worth at least what I paid for the piece, but it's sure not the find I can retire on.  Dream on!

The print is going in the garbage and I'll keep the glass frame to reuse.  I do still like the colors, faded as they are, so I'll keep the photo of it for inspiration.  Seems like they might work well together in a quilt.

Owie:  Do you say "owie" or "ouchy"?  It was early morning when I banged my left toe on something hard and immobile, so I bit my tongue rather than say anything.  I just winced and tried to walk it off, thinking that'll be another bruise.  Mind you, it doesn't take much.  I bruise like a banana.

As the day has worn on, it has gotten worse.  I sit here with ice on my left next-to-pinkie toe and am pretty sure I broke it.  It hurts like a (mother- or son-, you fill in the blank) and is swollen and turning colors.  I don't think there is much one can do for a broken toe, according to Dr. Google, except ice and stay off it.  Oh, and whine to the internets.  Check, check, and check.

By this time next week, (in addition to my toe feeling better) I hope to be done working on the project for my dad and ready to make some noise in the sewing room again.  It's been nothing but *crickets* in there.