Modern Motifs of Mexican Trend

aka "My best friend went to Mexico and all I got was this tiny sombrero"*

Yes stitchy friends, here's your erstwhile blogger managing a post...although I can't feel guilty because a) so many other great bloggers regularly share stitchy goodness and b) I still don't have a scanner.

Mexico is on my mind - literally:
...As my best friend recently returned from two weeks in Mexico and brought me back a wee present. Hope I'm not scaring you with my pic!

I haven't been to see all her photos yet, and for those of you without your own sombrero (because I know you're jealous) I present "fiesta motifs for colorful touches of Mexican gaiety". You know your breakfast nook wants it.

Apparently:
"Your needle will fly along the simple sitches of these motifs of Mexican flavor. Gay up your kitchen with Mexican-inspired dish towels and pot holders. Put a variety of these designs on curtains and table linen in the breakfast nook to add charm to informal meals. Delight the bride-to-be on your gift list with hand-made guest towels, refreshment napkins, luncheon sets or dresser scarfs reflecting in these designs the happy Fiesta spirit of our South-of-the-Border neighbors."

I'm keen to see if my friend's holiday snaps include women with baskets of fruit on their heads, giant cactii, boys eating bananas, and fighting cocks (actually sounding "gay-er" by the minute...oh dear! Come back readers...please...**) But this pattern assures me that these are common South of the Border capers.

Men wearing rugs will give you flowers:

Doves, cactii and maracas abound:

But the scariest thing in Mexico are the deadly attack parrots!

Watch your fruit girls.


*only kidding Nat, I do love my pressie.
**sorry, really I am.

Source: http://stitchybritches.blogspot.com/2010/04/modern-motifs-of-mexican-trend.html

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It's always summer in Provence

Time to shed the heavy coats and get a welcome respite from the northern winter in southern France.



Vergeze, a small village in the South of France

Source: http://microcosmic.blogspot.com/2007/11/it-always-summer-in-provence.html

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Music originality

A Different Song Every Time: The New Bronze Music Format “Musician Gwilym Gold and producer Lexxx have come up with the concept for a new music format called Bronze. Gold?s first solo single Flesh Freeze has been the first song available to download in this new format. According to the website, Bronze is: A new [...]

Source: http://www.richardbanks.com/trends/?p=15882

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EBW 2011 Spring Swap

EBW 2011 Spring Swap, originally uploaded by ambrosianbeads.

This year's Spring Swap was much more of a success for me. I've been feeling more creative and having a goal has been good to get me more motivated. This year, my "swappee" was Callie Mitchell aka Peregrine Beader on Etsy. We can request that the "swapper" make something using a stitch that we don't usually use, so she requested bead embroidery. That was perfect for me, because I wanted to use some metal bracelet blanks I had and try covering them with bead embroidery. Her colors were reds, browns and golds. I had enough beads in these colors to get started, so I measured out a piece of Lacy's stiff stuff to fit the metal blank with about 1/4" extra all around. Later I ran into trouble when the fabric started to pull up too much and came out too short to use the metal blank. Oh, well, I decided to abandon using that and after finishing the embroidery, I covered the back with a piece of tan suede. I stitched up a loop and added a button, and I had essentially the same style bracelet but with more flexibility. I got a message from Callie that she loves it...yay !

Shortly before the deadline of the EBW swap, I received a package in the mail from Charlene Abrams aka More than Somewhat on Etsy. I was thrilled to receive such a lovely necklace made in my favorite colors, midnight blues, purple, magenta and using RAW which is a stitch that I failed to master and can only appreciate. Also, this necklace matches a pair of earrings I made several years ago that have always felt lonely, now they make a nice set. Thanks, Charlene !!!
See the other swap creations

Source: http://ambrosianbeads.blogspot.com/2011/05/ebw-2011-spring-swap.html

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What They're Watching: First-Person Disaster Video

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube-trends/~3/LmOWYPp_8ig/what-theyre-watching-first-person.html

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Etsy Front Page Happy Dance !

front page my girl with dragon tatoo treasury july 2010, originally uploaded by crownrose gems.

Fellow Etsy Beadweaver, Crownrose Gems, posted this treasury a few days ago and today it spent a short time on the front page of Etsy.com ! My Venezia bracelet is part of the collection which is based on the popular Millenium trilogy by Swedish author, Stieg Larsson. I wouldn't have know about my front page appearance if it hadn't been for Statsy.com. I totally forgot about the fact that I linked it to my Facebook profile and besides generating an email to me, it automatically posted to Facebook ! Very handy indeed !

Source: http://ambrosianbeads.blogspot.com/2010/07/etsy-front-page-happy-dance.html

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Artists peform surgery on skull masks

A fractured skull sculpture, "Bro," by Specter Studios artist China Horrell. (Scott Beveridge photo)

By Scott Beveridge

PITTSBURGH ? One never knows what creativity will inspire when artists are given a fresh sheet of canvas on which to express their individuality.

It?s another thing altogether when they are handed the same 10 pale fractured skull masks and then asked to transform them into art for a gallery show in Pittsburgh. No doubt fake plasma will flow from at least one of the movie-prop quality masks produced locally at Specter Studios.

?There?s a little something here for everybody,? said Kim Lyons, marketing director for the artist factory.

She is wearing a black and white furry cape to greet visitors at the studio?s Friday opening reception for the mask modification show at ModernFormations gallery in the city?s scruffy Lawrenceville section.

?If you?re into the Halloween blood and guts, there is some of that,? Lyons said. ?If you want something romantic looking with roses, there is some of that, too.?

It?s difficult to get romantic over that skull, which has an embroidered rose across its forehead and stitched cobwebs over it jawbone. Titled ?Bitches get Stitches,? the work of Leigh Ferraro certainly stands out in the pack if that?s even possible because hers' is situated beside a skull buried in a freaky sculpture shaped like an ice cream cone.

The two-day show, Osteotomy: Mask Art by Specter Studios, is a ghoulish testament to the fine quality of the talent at this business, which strives to give local artists a place to sustain their crafts in Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh pediatrician Scott Tyson and his partner, Mark Marsen, purchased the struggling business in 2004. It has evolved into a factory at a former plumbing warehouse in the city?s Sharpsburg section with 17 full-time employees who also hand make masks of such creatures as zombies and frightening clowns. The best-selling item is a half-mask of the big bad wolf with a bloody red tongue appearing to lick its lips.

This is the second attempt by Specter Studios to promote the work of its employees at a fine art gallery, and another show is planned for October. The company is considering asking Pittsburgh artists it does not employ to take on the challenge to decorate a skull mask for the next show timed for the Halloween season, Lyons said.

?It?s amazing what you will get when you give 10 different artist the same palate and they come up with 10 so uniquely different pieces,? she said.

Surely she is speaking with that mask over there in mind, the one with glowing eyes, blood dripping from its ugly yellow tongue and bat wings sprouting from its ears.

"Transistus Fluvii" by Michael Passafiume, another artists at Specter Studios (Scott Beveridge photo)

(This show has its final run from 8 to 11 p.m. today at the gallery at 4919 Penn Ave.)

Source: http://scottbeveridge.blogspot.com/2011/03/artists-peform-surgery-on-skull-masks.html

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Easter wasn't Easter without beet eggs

Pennsylvania Dutch pickled beet egg. (Scott Beveridge photo)
By Scott Beveridge

An Easter never went by in our house without beet eggs in the refrigerator.

And the kids needed to act quick if they turned their attentions away from their chocolate and wanted to eat one of those hardboiled eggs marinated to a pink color in beet juice, beets and onions. The adults on mom?s side of the family always gobbled those eggs up as if there were no tomorrow.

I never knew any explanation for why my mother concocted them, or why her sisters and brothers were hooked on them, other than those eggs tasted great. It wasn?t until this Easter approached that I began to wonder about that tradition and also decided to make a batch of them at my house.

So I asked my mom?s sister, Bonnie, about them and also turned to the mighty Google for answers.

?Our mother always made them for Easter,? my aunt said.

My grandmother was Iva Dail Coughenour Hart, a native of Dunbar in Fayette County, Pa. She would store her eggs in a crock in the back of a kitchen cupboard, my aunt Bonnie explained. My grandmother?s eggs turned so dark in the beet liquor that even the yokes turned pink, my aunt said.

Meanwhile, web searches indicated the recipe is peculiar to Pennsylvania and particularly the Pennsylvania Dutch, early German immigrants to North America. They also introduced beets to the continent.

My mother?s tradition began to make sense because Iva?s family had claimed to be descendants of the Pennsylvania Dutch.

She and my mom, June Hart Beveridge, also were experts in using common sense approaches to raising their children.

Having a big jar of beet pickling juice in the kitchen made perfect sense. It created the ideal place to add shelf life to all of those colored eggs the children ignored beside the chocolate bunnies, jellybeans and Peeps in their Easter baskets.

The Harts also carried with them a bevy of superstitions that some might consider to have been silly.

?It was bad luck to rock an empty rocking chair,? my mom often said, repeating the phrase she heard from her mother.

It?s also annoying as hell when a brat sits there rocking an empty chair and ignores a parent's instruction to stop. But that kid might pause and think when a parent warns that such behavior will bring the curse of bad luck upon his heads.

Another often repeated superstition around our house involved bad luck for placing shoes or a hat on the kitchen table. Well it?s also unsanitary to set shoes that might have just stepped on dog poop where you also place your dinner plates.

The other day Aunt Bonnie revealed another one that her mother repeated.

?You wash your hair on Good Friday and you won?t have a headache all year,? she said.

I wondered if that wasn?t something immigrants came up with to inspire their natty-haired children to scrub themselves off good before church on Easter Sunday.

Back to the beet eggs, ?

Unfortunately mom did not leave behind her recipe for them when she died in May 2010.

The Internet revealed scores of recipes, and nearly each one is different from the other. She likely just opened a can of beets and tossed its contents into her Tupperware jug with some salt, sugar, onions and an equal part of vinegar.

Others take the time to boil fresh beets and add to the juice such ingredients as horseradish, cinnamon, pickling spices, brown sugar and apple cider vinegar.

Anyone who is familiar with my recipes on this blog would know that I often take the lazy man?s approach to the kitchen.

I found a jar of gourmet pickled beets at the local grocery store and mixed it with the following: a dozen hard-cooked eggs; one large, chopped white onion; a few cloves of garlic; two tablespoons of horseradish; 10 whole peppercorns; several sprinkles of ground sea salt; a cup of cold water; and one cup of apple cider. The beets were jarred by the Safie Specialty Foods Co., and they were excellent. Peeling the eggs was the most time consuming part of the project.

The eggs tasted just fine but I would have rather had those this Easter from my mom?s kitchen.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

Source: http://scottbeveridge.blogspot.com/2011/04/easter-wasnt-easter-without-beet-eggs.html

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Solstice Sun

Getting used to seasonal shifts in daylight hours has been one of the hardest things to adapt to since moving to Europe. Although I spent many years in New Zealand when I was young, I lived near the equator long enough to develop a preference for daylight hours of equal length all year round. Still, being dragged comatose around the countryside by the dog early every morning means I'm still guaranteed to get a small dose of sunshine every day.

Source: http://microcosmic.blogspot.com/2007/12/solstice-sun.html

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Freeform Brick Stitch Bracelet

Well, folks, here I am again at long last...and I'm patting myself on the back for finally finishing something new in beadweaving. I've been on a tatting kick and in another failed attempt to enter something in the latest EBW Challenge, I managed to create a new bracelet. However, I missed the deadline because I got sidetracked making a "Conantree" (Christmas tree decorated with CONAN on TBS themed decorations). I am happy though, that I did make something new. It's been a year and a half since my world fell out from under me and I lost my drive to bead. Slowly but surely, I'm working to gain it back...challenges and swaps are helping the process.

I saw a freeform brick design somewhere and thought I would give it a try. My attempt was supposed to reflect the lyrics to the "Sounds of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel, which was the December theme for the Etsy Beadweavers's challenge. I chose a line from the second verse:

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone,
'Neath the halo of a street lamp,
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

....and created my design using various greys with a "stab" of neon pink. Freeform brick really suits my design style, much moreso than peyote, however, like all freeform, it has a mind of its own, thus adding to the unknown time frame for completion. I followed my own rule for freeform, though, which is: never "unbead" anything...in other words, whatever you have already stitched must stay, you have to use it. Keeps you thinking about creative ways to cure something you don't like about your beadwork. This bracelet is going into the next Potomac Fiber Arts Gallery show next week. If it doesn't sell there, I'm listing in my Etsy shop in January.

Source: http://ambrosianbeads.blogspot.com/2010/12/freeform-brick-stitch-bracelet.html

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Foolish in April

I'm a sucker for a cheap gimmick.
For anyone that doesn't speak a lick of French, it's a play on 'chateauneuf'
Cat On Egg

If you don't know anything about wine either, then there's nothing I can do for you really... ;)

Source: http://microcosmic.blogspot.com/2008/04/foolish-in-april.html

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Aunt Martha's vegie melodrama

aunt marthas vegies, originally uploaded by drewzel.

I scanned this one, because I saw it blogged the other week with a different cover, I'll find the link and add it in here. Update : - it was Claudia's blog, the patterns are here.

Source: http://stitchybritches.blogspot.com/2008/08/aunt-martha-vegie-melodrama.html

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Police sometimes hide what's inside on days like this

Clairton police Officer Ben Salvio passes a flame to California Borough police Officer Tracy Potemra-Hudak tonight at a prayer vigil in Clairton for one of its patrolmen, James Kusak Jr., who has been hospitalized in critical condition with gunshot wounds he suffered in the line of duty Monday. Kusak, 39, worked with the Washington County Drug Task Force and formerly served as a police officer in Cecil and Peters townships. (Beveridge photo)

By Scott Beveridge

CLAIRTON, Pa. ? Police officers on their difficult days sometimes don't have much to say.

Others use laughter in the face of crisis to "hide what is inside," a police chaplain said tonight, while hundreds of cops gathered to pray for a Clairton, Pa., patrolman, who suffered critical injuries in a shooting Monday in the line of duty.

"These times are tough," added Clairton Police Chief Robert Hoffman, at the candlelight vigil in a local park to hope for the recovery of officer James Kuzak Jr.

Kuzak, 39, was shot three times while responding to a home invasion probably linked to drugs after his having been on the job part time there for less than a month.

One shot struck Kuzak, of Bethel Park, in the left armpit and below the protected area of his bulletproof vest. The bullet traveled through a lung, severed his spinal cord and lodged in muscle, most-likely leaving him paralyzed below the waist, his friend said tonight. Another bullet caught him in the right hand and remained in his elbow. The third grazed him after striking his police radio. The loss of blood has resulted in Kuzak undergoing blood transfusions and a call for blood drives to meet his needs at UPMC Mercy Hospital, Pittsburgh. Police have two suspects in custody.

"(Kuzak's) road to recovery will be long and difficult," Hoffman said. "The men of the Clairton Police Department will be there beside him. He is truly a cop's cop."

Clairton is an especially tough place to work for police officers. Its air reeks of pollution from U.S. Steel coke production in a mill town whose downtown is in shambles and has been known over the years to also be frequented by prostitutes. Shootings have become almost as common as the smoke that billows from the mill stacks.

Meanwhile, the old stone park lodge near where the vigil was held is run down as elected officials there deal with a shrinking tax base.

Yet police officers from throughout southwestern Pennsylvania packed the nearby pavilion to show their support for Kuzak and his family. A half-dozen or more police canines howled and barked as people offered prayers for the officer, who cared for cadaver dogs.

Kuzak's mother, Bev, could barely speak through her tears as she thanked the law enforcement community for its support of her family while her son battles his injuries.

"In my heart, he's nothing but a special man. I'm sorry, sorry," she said, before losing her words. 

Source: http://scottbeveridge.blogspot.com/2011/04/police-sometimes-hide-whats-inside-on.html

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Aunt Martha's vegie melodrama

aunt marthas vegies, originally uploaded by drewzel.

I scanned this one, because I saw it blogged the other week with a different cover, I'll find the link and add it in here. Update : - it was Claudia's blog, the patterns are here.

Source: http://stitchybritches.blogspot.com/2008/08/aunt-martha-vegie-melodrama.html

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Tatted Earrings with Beads

Tatted Earrings with Beads, originally uploaded by ambrosianbeads.

Needle tatting seems to have taken over my beading life, especially since I'm getting a clue as to how to design. Here are some earrings I made recently. I'm working on a video tutorial and learning how to use Windows Movie Maker in the process. Hope to post that soon.

Source: http://ambrosianbeads.blogspot.com/2010/07/tatted-earrings-with-beads.html

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Woo-hoo ! I'm in the COCO MoCA

Conan Necklace, originally uploaded by ambrosianbeads.

My beaded Conan pendant got selected for the online gallery of artwork depicting Conan O'Brien and his various images and logos. Last summer I made a peyote stitched pendant (started off as a bracelet, but I procrastinated) and I wore it to the Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television tour that Conan did while he was off the air. Team Coco started a Flickr group for people's artwork (they totally stole that idea from me, I started my group first !) and selected different works in all media. There is a Facebook LIKE this page button for my piece, but the link is wrong. If you click it, you end up LIKING somebody else's piece ! Grrrr !

Source: http://ambrosianbeads.blogspot.com/2011/04/conan-necklace.html

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Happy New Year!

Source: http://microcosmic.blogspot.com/2008/01/happy-new-year.html

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Popular Movie Trailer Marriage Proposals

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube-trends/~3/UknVrpiXFmQ/popular-movie-trailer-marriage.html

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A Handmade Day

Leather bindings. Hazelnut coffee. Watching puppies nap. Painting anything that will sit still with gesso.

Source: http://howtomakeart.blogspot.com/2011/01/handmade-day.html

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Give me the fruit off the vine

 
The fruit smootie, which I have named the purple slurple

By Scott Beveridge

The like-new fruit smoothie maker came my way 10 months ago in a small inheritance.

I had purchased the white plastic blender nearly as many years ago for my mom when she was first diagnosed with cancer, thinking adding more fruit in her diet would boost her immune system.

She might have used it once, and then left it on her counter to fool me into assuming it had become a useful appliance in her kitchen. She twice beat cancer, though, before dying of complicating factors from the disease and after, instead, choosing green tea as her elixir of life.

Then the smoothie machine sat atop my clothes dryer waiting for me to decide whether to put it to good use or donate it to a charity thrift shop.

The wait ended Friday at the start of a long weekend away from the newsroom. I decided to ingest fruit smoothies as, either a detox, or a road to improving my diet as I approach my mid-50s. A vegetarian diet is not an option because I would need rehab to break my habit of eating an occasional bacon cheeseburger, or deep counseling over a compulsion to toast marshmallows made with seaweed rather than animal hooves gelatin.

I turn to Google to find recipes for the healthiest smoothie recipes only to find many using yogurt as a base. That stuff literally makes me gag, as does tomato juice, no matter how much I want to like those things.

A number of other smoothie detox drinks call raw granola, oatmeal, wheat germ or flaxseed, roughage that sounds better suited for horse feed than a refreshing morning fruit cocktail.

So I decide to concoct the following recipe:

1 lime, peeled

1 large naval orange, peeled

1 unpeeled apple cut into quarters, seeds removed

Small handfuls of frozen blackberries and blueberries

1 banana, peeled

� cup of Ocean Spray 100 percent cranberry juice

2 tablespoons of confectioner sugar, for good measure

OK. The results. The first glass went down smooth, while the second took a bit of coaxing. Sure. I did feel an energy boost, but not one similar to those crash and burn highs derived from drinking a pot of coffee. On the third day I concluded I?d rather eat fruit the way it comes off the tree, bush or vine. The remaining blueberries and blackberries will taste great atop scoops of Ben and Jerry?s French vanilla ice cream.

So long smoothie maker, and your labor intense route to a healthy diet.

Source: http://scottbeveridge.blogspot.com/2011/03/give-me-fruit-off-vine.html

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Vintage embroidery - Mexico

Vintage embroidery- Mexico, originally uploaded by Vintage LOVE.

How wonderful is this? I found this pic on Vintage Love's Flickr.

I must apologise for the lack of posts of late, having to take down all the Vogart ones knocked the wind out of my sails, so to speak, but I'll be back soon with some cute patterns!

Source: http://stitchybritches.blogspot.com/2008/09/vintage-embroidery-mexico.html

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YouTube Parody of Dominique Strauss Kahn to the tune of "Dominique" by the Singing Nun

It's time for some light entertainment heading into Memorial Day weekend. Please consider this YouTube Parody of Dominique Strauss-Kahn to the tune of "Dominique" by the Singing Nun.



Link if the above video does not play: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24a-Qb327ok

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
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Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MishsGlobalEconomicTrendAnalysis/~3/5E0sARsA_zI/youtube-parody-of-dominique-strauss.html

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Top Rising Search: 'Macho Man Randy Savage'

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube-trends/~3/80dXpd5rFDo/top-rising-search-macho-man-randy.html

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Barbershop singers

Members of the Mon Valley Chordsmen, a barbershop chorus south of Pittsburgh, perform "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," an historic African-American spiritual. The chorus is shown at Rehoboth Presbyterian Church in Rostraver Township, Pa. Stay with it until the end to catch the "Elvis moment."

Source: http://scottbeveridge.blogspot.com/2011/05/barbershop-singers.html

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A touch of Vietnam in Pittsburgh

A bowl of tasty sate soup with peanut sauce special served at Tram's Kitchen in Pittsburgh (Scott Beveridge photo)

By Scott Beveridge

PITTSBURGH ? The host of an established Vietnamese restaurant in Pittsburgh is known for rushing his customers to a seat in his tiny storefront business that, from the outside, almost resembles a steelworkers' bar.

The sign in Vietnamese above the door to Tram's Kitchen in the city's Bloomfield section holds the first clue that Iron City does not flow from the taps here and is served with pickled egg appetizers.

The doors give way to long and narrow walls painted robins egg blue and lined with black lacquer artwork featuring mother of pearl designs of butterflies and fish.

Within seconds of being seated the greeter hands me a menu and quickly recommends the spicy sate soup. I order spring rolls and follow his lead, ordering the sate, even though I had come here with pho on my mind.

Pho is a broth soup featuring chicken, beef or shrimp and served widely across Vietnam, where it is considered the national dish. It's typically better stewed with American meat, which, thanks to hormones and antibiotics, is more plump and juicy than the scrawny chicken and beef found in Southeast Asia.

I was unaware of sate, and more familiar with satay, or skewers of beef and chicken served in a golden brown hot sauce at Thai restaurants. But it's apparently the same flavoring used at Tram's, which is probably the closest thing to an authentic Vietnamese restaurant in southwestern Pennsylvania.

The wait was brief for the food in this restaurant with two rows of tables covered with green and white plastic tablecloths. A small television screams an unrecognizable game show from the counter beside the cash drawer. Then only thing missing from the place is an ancestral altar, something that can be found in nearly every house and business in Vietnam. The altars are where everyone places offerings of fruit and incense to honor their deceased parents and grandparents.

Tram's spring rolls have sticky, not fried, rice wrappers. They are plump and delicious, too, and likely healthier than those served dripping in grease. This raw version is what sets Vietnamese rolls apart from the others. Mine are perfectly filled with pork, shrimp, rice and lemon grass and cost just $1.95 apiece.

I could have eaten a half dozen of them dipped in peanut sauce tinged with red hot pepper jelly. However, it was imperative to save room for that fantastic large bowl of soup, which brought the check to $12.95.

Tram's spring rolls with peanut sauce and red hot pepper sauce. (Beveridge photo)

Source: http://scottbeveridge.blogspot.com/2011/03/touch-of-vietnam-in-pittsburgh.html

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