New work!

Today is a cruddy rainy day. I have the day off. I was able to sleep in (and I definitely needed it, because I'm getting over a cold and I've been keeping myself up all night coughing) and generally just bummed around. It feels good.

 

I figure I'd finally post these three new beauties. I've been holding onto them for a bit and have just gotten around to taking their pictures. I have Common Foxglove (for those of you who remember that 'Eve' episode of The X-files, two of the Eve clones poison their father with this. I remember learning that Foxglove is also known as digitalis. It's definitely one of my earlier tv memories.)

I also have Hippeastrum. It's greek for Horseman's star, or knight's star. It's commonly known as the Amaryllis, but that seems to be a misnomer. If you buy an Amaryllis around Christmastime, chances are you've got yourself a Hippeastrum. No matter, it's a beautiful flower. Oh yeah, it's also poisonous. Well, the bulb is. 

And then I have Hellebore. I think I base most of my life off of television, because when I think of Hellebore, I think of an episode of Bones, The Devil in the Details. You know, the Christmas rose? It's also known as black hellebore. This one is also, you guessed it, poisonous!

I like poisonous things. I enjoyed making these. I got to experiment with different colors schemes and I think they all turned out really awesome.

W

Education never ends, Watson.

So I've been saying forever that I'm going to post pictures of things that I'm working on, and I'm not going to disappoint today. Please ignore how bad the pictures are, it's a crummy day outside and my kitchen is filled with smoke.

My driving rabbit and nautilus. You can see my two embroidery hoops, a 7 inch and a 4 inch. The 4 inch hoop is so tiny but I find it really easy to use.

Here is a close-up of my driving rabbit. I love his little paws.

And a close-up of the nautilus. He proved to be more difficult as I lost my reference drawing for a few days. I ended up filling in an entire section of his shell in black and when I found my sketch I had to undo it all. I haven't decided what to do next or what colors to use. I also have yet to read the book I wanted to read, but I guess that's acceptable, considering the debacle with the turkey today. Plus I finished a puzzle. A Norman Rockwell dual cover puzzle, no less. Having Wednesdays off is awesome.

W

boom boom boom...muffins

It's not that I'm crazy, so much, as it is that this quote is just too catchy, and I have it stuck in my head constantly. I haven't even watched that episode in weeks. I guess Shawn really would make catchy commercial jingles. So, job well done.
I've determined that most people have the ability to keep up a regular pace when blogging. I can't say the same. I finished reading a book this week, and I've started another. So at least I'm not completely slacking!  I finally finished reading Sarah Vowell's Unfamiliar Fishes. I love her books. I found out about her through my printmaking professor, who remarked once (after a particularly snarky comment by me) that I reminded him of her. We (and by we, I mean, my entire printmaking class) listened to an excerpt of her on NPR's This American Life. It was amazing. There I was, laughing OUT LOUD in class while she lamented over marching band. Meanwhile everyone else tried hard not to listen. They smirked at some parts, but mostly just didn't find it funny. Weirdos.

So I decided to learn more about her work. I've read Assassination Vacation and The Wordy Shipmates (thank you, public library!). During one of my staggeringly numerous trips to Borders in the past few weeks, I saw this one.

Here, a picture for you.
And it was a total 'yep'. It was interesting and informative and I laughed out loud way too much. I kept trying to explain the funny parts to my mom, who wasn't there, and you just had to be there, I guess. Whatever, it was good. She's definitely got a life-long reader in me.

My next challenge will be Great Sea Stories, which I could not find a picture of (at least, not the copy I have) but it is proving to be a good read. I still have several thousand squares to crochet, and I have yet to figure out what to do with my embroidery. I finished the rabbit and the nautilus, and am now going to venture into using color (with disastrous results, no doubt), but what do I do with them? Of course, once I can, I'll post a picture of them. They're cool.