14 April 2008

After a fairly stressful morning of paperwork and computer woes, I finally had all my obligations to Pendragon Costumes and East Wind Games met by about two o’clock and could get on with my day!

The plan had been to spend the day playing with Larry and Denise, including a visit to Allyson’s store in Dallas, Beading Dreams.  Allyson grew up in Milwaukee, went to college in Houston, moved back to Chicago, and finally decided she preferred life in the south!  So, she packed up her life yet again, including her passion for jewelry-making, and moved back to Houston.  She worked for quite a while for a bead store there, and when this lovely store in a great section of Dallas became available for sale, she pounced.  After jumping through all the appropriate hoops covered in red tape, she is the proud owner of Beading Dreams!  Her folks hadn’t seen it, yet, and somehow, despite only living twenty-five miles or so from it, I hadn’t either!  So, off we went!

I knew it would be fun.  But, I never dreamed I’d be so impressed!  The store is beautiful and chocked full of unique and wonderful bits of future jewelry, and finished art pieces as well.  And, as if the universe had aligned itself for her to make the best possible impression, she was swamped all afternoon, and running the store alone!  Her help had the day off, and despite constant interruptions from the telephone, and Larry (her daddy) and Denise and I, she was exemplary!  Every customer seemed thrilled to be there, and totally in love with Allyson!  But, then, who wouldn’t be?

My photo is of the store, with Allyson in the center, waiting on a customer, and her Dad and Denise on the left.  Neither photos, nor her website, can begin to do justice to the fabulous array of fun to be found there!

Kyle joined all of us for a delightfully upscale Tex Mex meal at Cantina Laredo, and then the goodbyes began.  Larry and Denise must leave on Tuesday.  <sigh>  Wisconsin is so bloody far away! 

~MB

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14 April 2008

After a fairly stressful morning of paperwork and computer woes, I finally had all my obligations to Pendragon Costumes and East Wind Games met by about two o’clock and could get on with my day!

The plan had been to spend the day playing with Larry and Denise, including a visit to Allyson’s store in Dallas, Beading Dreams.  Allyson grew up in Milwaukee, went to college in Houston, moved back to Chicago, and finally decided she preferred life in the south!  So, she packed up her life yet again, including her passion for jewelry-making, and moved back to Houston.  She worked for quite a while for a bead store there, and when this lovely store in a great section of Dallas became available for sale, she pounced.  After jumping through all the appropriate hoops covered in red tape, she is the proud owner of Beading Dreams!  Her folks hadn’t seen it, yet, and somehow, despite only living twenty-five miles or so from it, I hadn’t either!  So, off we went!

I knew it would be fun.  But, I never dreamed I’d be so impressed!  The store is beautiful and chocked full of unique and wonderful bits of future jewelry, and finished art pieces as well.  And, as if the universe had aligned itself for her to make the best possible impression, she was swamped all afternoon, and running the store alone!  Her help had the day off, and despite constant interruptions from the telephone, and Larry (her daddy) and Denise and I, she was exemplary!  Every customer seemed thrilled to be there, and totally in love with Allyson!  But, then, who wouldn’t be?

My photo is of the store, with Allyson in the center, waiting on a customer, and her Dad and Denise on the left.  Neither photos, nor her website, can begin to do justice to the fabulous array of fun to be found there!

Kyle joined all of us for a delightfully upscale Tex Mex meal at Cantina Laredo, and then the goodbyes began.  Larry and Denise must leave on Tuesday.  <sigh>  Wisconsin is so bloody far away! 

~MB

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13 April 2008

Sunday was a bit slower than Saturday, of course, but it was a decent enough day nonetheless.  The weather continues to be our ally, and the patrons continue to be happy.  Early in the day, I received a visit from the Brandon siblings, Lady Frances Brandon and Lord Henry Brandon, I believe.  I may be back to fix that!  But, the actors themselves, Brittney Boswell and Tommy Rodgers, are wonderful people and have become good friends.  They are both talented assets to the performing company of Scarborough Renaissance Festival. And, they look darned good wearing the ensembles I custom made for them.  They make me proud!

~MB

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12 April 2008

Another beautiful day in North Texas!  Another amazingly busy day at Scarborough Renaissance Festival!  We worked our butts off all day long, and finally completed our last sale at about 8:05 p.m.  The festival closes at seven!  And then, at 8:20, it still took us nearly twenty minutes just to travel the mile and a half to the freeway in bumper to bumper traffic!  Wa-hoo!!!

It was a fun day—we had special friends from out of town, at faire with us.  Larry and Denise, and George and Delaenya and her wonderful kids, Carly and Nick.  Allyson came to faire to play and spend time with her folks, and we even got to see Terrill and his son Kyle at faire on Saturday!  Marcus continues to be a godsend for East Wind Games, and our sales are up there, as well as at Pendragon Costumes.  We did dinner at the Catfish Plantation, known for its other-worldly residents, and a favourite haunt (no pun intended) of George’s when he visits.   Incidentally, I just checked out their website and it’s very nice.  And we all agreed that both food and service seem to have improved with the recent ownership change. 

My only photo all day long, was of this fabric that a customer inquired about this afternoon.   We’ve used this fabric in the past, and discovered that it desperately needs to be flatlined to prevent unwanted explosions at seams under stress.  But, it’s gorgeous, and comes in many colours!

~MB

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11 April 2008

Happy Birthday, Mum!

Friday . . . and I’m not stressed!  I finished my sewing this morning at about 11 a.m.  That allowed me to go to brunch with George and Delaenya and her kids, and Larry and Denise and Allyson.  After that, I ran a whole ton of errands and was back at home packing my truck by 3 p.m.  I did a little more non-essential sewing, some house-cleaning, and even met with a customer to plan a sleeve order.  I shot this photo of her underskirt trim so I could match it when I build the sleeves.

I love that it’s Friday, and I’m relaxed and actually looking forward to the weekend.  I’ll happily take six more of these, please!

~MB

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10 April 2008

As I arranged these stomachers I stayed up ’til after four o’clock sewing and grommeting, I realized they reminded me of a pinwheel . . . the colourful childhood toy that spins with a gust of air.  I wanted them to look cool in a photo, and since they are a triangular sort of shape, a circular design seemed the easiest . . . not sure why the pinwheel concept got stuck in my head, but here you go.

I cut chemises all afternoon — did lots of computer and filing work — and was ready for a break when Kyle got home from work, and Larry and Denise and Ally arrived soon thereafter.  So, it was off too No Frills for an evening of very successful trivia-playing and some dinner.  I always knew that we would rock with Larry and Denise’s help . . . and we did!  On one game, we were number seven in the nation!  Woo hoo!

~MB 

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7 April 2008
Leaving Rob’s Billiards on this Monday evening, I was just entering my car when I noticed a veritable swarm of small bees all over this tree/bush/shrub. They eschewed the red berries on the tree/bush/shrub, but loved the white ones. I grabbed my camera and tried to take a bunch of shots, but the bees were extraordinarily camera shy. This is the only decent one I got:

Cheers.

~KR (Written on 10 April 2008)

Listening to:
My Heart Cries For You by Guy Mitchell
from 16 Most Requested Songs Of The 1950S, Vol. 1

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 80
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

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9 April 2008

Busy Hump Day.  Doctor’s appointment in the morning; other errands including banking, shopping, and picking up product from a new supplier!  Coolest-ever new backgammon sets!  East Wind Games will have beautiful new things to show our customers this weekend!

I did more housecleaning when I got home from all that, and finally came the arrival of our dear friends Larry and Denise!  We hugged and kissed and they greeted our dogs—very happy to see Larry ’cause Larry knows how to play!  Then, Larry disappeared.  And I realized, that although he hadn’t been in the house five minutes, he was on his way out to the workshop to see the amazing new outfit that Kelly had worked so hard on for the last five weeks!  Like a kid at the gate to Disneyland, he simply couldn’t wait!  I snapped this fun shot of he and Denise looking things over.  Unfortunately, I cannot post video;  the actual jumping up and down and clapping his hands with glee was priceless.

We enjoyed a delightful Tex Mex meal for dinner—Allyson came over from Dallas and Kyle got home just in time to join us.  Tomorrow, Allyson’s slave driver of a boss (she’s the self-employed owner of a bead store in Dallas called Beading Dreams) has given her the day off to play with her Dad.  So, I’ll be working on all the stuff I haven’t gotten done yet this week!

~MB

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8 April 2008

Tuesdays are better than Mondays!  I got lots of stuff done, although not the cutting and sewing I still need to do.  I excavated much of the guest room for our out of town loved ones who will be arriving tomorrow.  I did some pretty extreme organizing of stuff . . . we have so much stuff . . . <sigh>

Middle of the day, I decided I wasn’t going anywhere or doing anything interesting enough to photograph, and I snapped this shot of the trim on the giant bolster pillow I made a few years back.  I’d been furniture shopping with somebody . . . Ginger and her mom, I think.  And, I’d seen (what I then thought were) the exhorbitant prices of custom-made pillows.  I love making pillows, and I couldn’t even imagine charging the ninety and a hundred dollars I was seeing on little throw pillows!  Then, I saw the bolsters and the prices of $250 and up!  And that was at least six or seven years ago!  So, I promptly went home and made myself one out of scrap fabric!  Anyway, this is the end of my bolster pillow—pretty trims and pretty fabrics, up close.  There’s a lot of that in my world.

And by the way . . . if I include the “price” of my labour . . . $200-300 is a reasonable price for the darn thing!

~MB

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6 April 2008
Jordan takes a break from a demanding game of XTreme Bocce and lounges on the Blazing Sun bench in the afternoon sun.

Cheers.

~KR (Written on 9 April 2008)

Listening to:
Hope by diGBox
from Decompression & More

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/5
Focal Length: 18.6 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash fired, auto mode, red-eye reduction

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