Some Frou Frou Ideas

Here are a couple of ideas I have been toying with. I just took all of my glitzy junk rhinestone jewelry bits and placed them on the back of an old hand mirror and the top of a glass jewelry box. These two pieces are visual mish-mashes of sparkly kitsch. I haven't glued the jewelry bits in place yet - I'm still playing!

Whaddaya think?

College Life

Sorry for the bloggery hiatus. I think perhaps I've been recovering from the shell shock of moving cross country in the sweltering heat of early August to find a place to live close to campus and lately, settling into college life. Whew! What a transition! But a much needed one. I can't say I've fallen in love with Long Island yet, but I am adjusting to the rhythm of life meted out in semesters and the weekly workload expected of a first year grad student of dramaturgy.
After a summer of inactivity creative-wise, I've also managed to work on a few smallish projects this past month. I FINALLY finished the Sami bracelet kit Karin sent me from Sweden:

I had a cold last weekend and worked on a cross-stitch pattern of a medievallish gryphon I found on an Italian embroidery site - I'll post a picture of it later.

My Apologies

I have been away from this blog far too long. But at least I have been busy elsewhere; so many little projects begun and in varied stages of completion, including a cape








made of the most silky soft houndstooth with a silk charmeuse lining. I think I found the houndstooth suiting at Pacific Fabric last summer; the silk charmeuse was (let's all chime in together) A Find at Goodwill.










Last month or so I joined a Mini Cooper club and went on my first rally.


I was to go on another Mini event this weekend, which was held at Maryhill's Stonehenge on the Columbia Gorge, but last week I broke a toe and it is really painful trying to shift gears for more than a short trip at a time. So I missed out on the photo op here:







Sigh. I did finish my next pair of socks, a lovely soft bamboo wool blend in purple stripes They're a bit big, but my poor abused toe is quite happy and warm. I also dyed a couple of skeins of wool with Kool Aid and am waiting to knit it up and then felt it into some elf slippers...

My Hero...

I was perusing DudeCraft's blog just now and came across a photo of my beloved Hero robot...oh how I miss him! I received a Heathkit Hero Robot kit as a Christmas gift sometime in the mid-80's (Thanks, John! You always gave me the coolest stuff!) and set about putting him together immediately. I think it took me 3 or 4 days to get him finished to the point where he could roll down the hallway and sing "Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do..." My cats hated him with feline fury and swatted angrily every time he came within range.

I finally let him go one day in early 1999 when I took him to Goodwill's to drop him off with a couple of bags of old clothes. One of the attendants was so thrilled by the prospect of owning his very own robot I said to him "Oh hey, this guy is for you -I'm giving him to you, not Goodwill."
My final memory of Hero is looking back in the car mirror and seeing that excited kid clutching him as I drove away...Miss you, little guy...

Still Up to No Good, As Usual

My apologies if you are put out by my lack of blogging these past two months. I have been busy but unsettled, trying to figure out where my life is going to go next. I'm employed once again which is always good for the ego.
Recently I got crazy busy and knotted up several bracelets to put on Etsy but nary a one has sold yet. I'm not all that surprized; I think Etsy is besotted with jewelry already.
I finally got around to skeining up a big uhhh wad of single ply wool I bought off a guy from New Zealand. It took me three nights but I now have 24 skeins of lovely yarn to play with.

It took me another week to wash the skeins because they were lanolin sheep sweat stinky. But now they smell fresh as cheap shampoo!









I also knit a pair of plain old socks for myself. I like the southwest colors especially on dark dreary rainy winter days.











Two weeks ago I had the great good fortune to see the Firesign Theatre perform live at the Kirkland Performance Center. I am still absolutely smitten by those crazy guys after all these years.

And last week I was blown away by a broadcast of a live performance of "Nation" which was aired in a little theatre in Mount Vernon, about 40 miles north of Seattle.
The National Theatre in London has been broadcasting performances of some of their shows all over the world by satellite and the Lincoln Theatre in Mount Vernon is one of three venues in this area that participates in the live broadcasts.
So I have been out and about, making mischief and bon-vivanting around town.

Stuff Around the House

I don't have a whole lot to say right now, so I thought I'd just shoot some stuff around my house.
Narnian Lamps











Shoes I bought for $1.49!











The Avon critters who took roost on the bathtub














Some ornaments I made for Christmas that I didn't get to put up because I had such a bad cold I didn't really have Christmas this year...

Hey! Book Giveaway Contest on My Other Blog!

Hello! Today is the first anniversary of my micro-macrame blog and I am giving away a copy of my book Micro-Macrame:30 Beaded Designs for Jewelry Using Crystals and Cords to the lucky winner who best describes what it is they like so much about micro-macrame...So click on this link to get over to the micro-macrame blog and leave your answer in the comments field there (not in the Annika's Atelier blog comments here). The winner will be announced this Friday, January 1, 2010! What a great way to start the new year!

Long Time No See...

Okay, okay, I have been gone a long long time. I've been quite busy with other things like: finding a new place to live, moving house, teaching classes, the Swine Flu, traveling to Oslo, Paris and Kiel annnnd sorting out my new place and looking for a job. I suppose you'd like to see pictures of at least some of these excuses. Like maybe Paris and Germany.

Obligatory Eifel Tower group shot. Tini, Clare and I weren't taking any of this seriously.







The Sacre Coeur in Montmartre. For some reason, I kept returing to this place, first with one group of friends, then again with another.








Hanging with Val at Versailles.












Dinner with friends old and new.







Tini's turkey, in Daenischenhagen in Deutschland. The poor bird barely fit in the oven. It was magificent, but that's not surprising, since Tini is an excellent cook.





Me learning to spin. It's all Tini's fault; she made me do it. Now I am addicted to spinning.







King Tut! Who knew we'd find the King Tut exhibition in Hamburg?

Lucky Find

Linda and I visited the local Goodwill this afternoon and she spotted a lovely costume for me.
It must have been either a stage costume or perhaps the original owner had lost weight and had to give it away. It is missing a few pearls and Swarovski rhinestone spacers at the neckline of the bodice which are pretty easy to replace. Also, I need to create some sort of chemise to cover the underarm area or continue to go au naturel and astound the neighbors. I donned the wig (which doesn't match period-wise) just to hide my own ragged haircut (world's worst haircut inflicted on me about a month ago which is growing out. Slowwwwwllllyyy.)
Anyhoo, the costume cost a whopping $60.00! Luckily, I already had a standard corset which works underneath.

Back from the Bead Bazaar

This past weekend I had a booth at the North West Bead Society's Annual Bead Bazaar, which was held in the Lynnwood Convention Center. I sold quite a lot of books and micro-macrame kits for making my infamous owl earrings and kitschy baroque bracelets. Both days I knotted kitschy baroque bracelets and answered questions about cords, crystal beads, the history of macrame, and where I found the gnarly wire tree on the display table where all the owls were perched.
Many people stopped by to gawk and talk about my jewelry because they hadn't ever seen macrame done on such a tiny scale before. It was great fun to be there in the midst of so many talented jewelry artists but today, I am exhausted!

Sand Animation

The following video is from Ukraine's Got Talent. Sand animation artist Kseniya Simonova won for her two pieces on that competition.




Her work is so powerful and heart-breaking.

Hairless Spud Update

I have been following the slowwww progress of Spud the hedgehog's recovery on the St. Tiggywinkle's Wildlife Hospital website. He came to them completely bald covered with scabs due to some undetermined skin disease, poor little critter. He was barely recognizable as a proper hedgehog.









But with regular warm baths which he seemed to enjoy readily, daily massages with aloe vera, good quality dog food and several bouts of medication Spud has improved to a point where he is regrowing his spines.
Yeah, baby! Catch his update here.

Burda, Burn Tests and Fancy Scribbles

Had a good rummage through the calligraphy pile last night and came up with a couple of samples of stuff I did a while back. This one was for the halls at work for Halloween last year. When I left Microsoft at the beginning of summer, it was still up in one of the halls.








This next piece is a test for a class I took a few years ago. The words came to me in a meditation so I duly scribed them in a sort of blackletter hand.













Now for something completely non sequitur:

I did a burn test on that steel blue/grey raw silk mix I'm making the Marci Tilton V8600 jacket out of and it definitely is part silk, but I'm not sure what else...rat hair? Bamboo shoots? Cotton candy? I dunno.









I have also been meaning to make something from this lovely Burda magazine from 1965. Details to follow in a later post.

PNWA Summer Conference

No sight of that wicked canny feline Super Bob, but I just got back from the PNWA Writers Conference where Were-Dolphins and Bionic Shrimp made an appearance, at least in the minds of a few writers who attended wayyy too many Urban Fantasy, Sci Fi and Steampunk-oriented workshops.
There was a book signing one evening, and like most book signings practically no one came due to the late hour in which it was held - after a dinner banquet with Joe Finder as the guest speaker. Most of the conference attendees headed straight home after the dinner and who can blame them? They were tired after a long day of sitting in on talks about the publishing world. When I finally found the table where my pile of books had been heaped up in a corner I saw that my name card had been hastily slapped together - they had scratched a very wiggly Annika deGroot in Sharpie on the back of one of Terry Brooks' printed name cards. So I told fellow authors that I was Terry's alter ego (hey - we both have white hair and write about elves...) May be next year they'll hold the booksigning party before the banquet in that hour+ lull between the last workshop and the start of the banquet. One hour is plenty time to saunter over to your favorite author's table, strike up a conversation and get a book ot two signed.

Aspen Choker Tutorial

The tutorial for the Aspen Choker featured on the cover of Micro-Macramé: 30 Beaded Designs for Jewelry Using Crystals and Cords is now available online. It features a supply list, step-by-step instructions and lots of color photographs to help you learn how to create this modular choker. Let me know what you think of this lesson; I am actively seeking feedback!

Super Bob

Last Monday at around 7 p.m. I heard a crash on my front porch so I went out to investigate and there was Super Bob the local bobcat. Lest you think he's quite the cutie, be aware that he is three times larger than my biggest house cat, Gato












(Oh, I didn't name Gato Gato, which I think is a dumb name for a cat; he came to me with that monicker thanks to his previous owner who wanted him put down because she had to move. I call him "Otto" and sometimes "Gelato" and yet other times "Gateau" because he does look a bit like a cake to me...}
Anyhoo, Super Bob is a menace to suburbia. He had just treed my cat Jynx and was about to climb up that tree to get her when I chased him off with a broom. Yes, bobcats will eat domestic cats, the little cannibals!
The very next day I called the state wildlife folks and they referred me to a trapper in Snohomish - don't worry - the trap he brought out is a catch and release trap and that's exactly what will happen to Super Bob - he'll be caught and released out in the true wild somewhere far far away. Having seen Super Bob up close and in person, I think the trap is a tad too tiny for his giant hulking frame. So the trapper has ordered a bigger cage from Minnesota. In the meantime, Zena, the neighbor's-dog-who-thinks-she-lives-at-my-house rolled the trap over and ate all the sardines that were meant for Super Bob. So the trapper moved the cage to a different locale and staked it to the ground.

Chirimen Hoard

The chirimen from Fabric Tales in Japan arrived the other day. For poly chirimen it is very very nice! I couldn't help myself - I had to get some chirimen piping, bias tape and extra fabric for perhaps another Hong Kong vest or Joplin Pullover...

Now all I have to do is create a pattern by doing a rub off of the chirimen jacket and grading it up to my size.

Flying Fox Bat Babies Video

I am a big fan of Bat Conservation and Merlin Tuttle.
The name of the video sounds like they're into eating baby bats, but it's just a bad title, so ignore it. This is really a short video of how a dedicated group of folks Down Under are caring for baby flying foxes. The flying fox is a fruit bat found in Australia, Indonesia and that part of the tropical world.

Lacemakers of Puget Sound

Last week I went down to Kent to attend a meeting of the Lacemakers of Puget Sound. Lacemakers of Puget Sound is a charter chapter of the International Old Lacers. Amazing work and amazing ladies! There were some ladies working on tatted pieces, but I was blown away by the intricacy of the bobbin laces being produced and how many fancy bobbins everyone owned!

Here are several yards of delicate black silk bobbin lace in creation.



Another lady was working on a two-color piece; you can see the pattern she's using on the right side of the photo.


Here is a lovely lady with a handmade lace neckpiece.

Author! Author!

Bead&Button Magazine has published a short review of my Micro-Macrame book in their August 2009 edition.










Me so happy! To quote their esteemed reviewer, "Under the influence of a handful of talented fiber artists such as Annika deGroot, macrame has come a long way since the '60s..."

Ahhh, I used to dream of being a talented fiber artist and now I am one!