My fab gift from Kathy, and some ridiculous coconuts

I wanted to show off this gift from Kathy Obrenski!! She gave it to me at the Chicago show, and wouldn't you know.....it's a tiered display of Halloween cookies!!! YAY!!!! Each piece is so lovingly made and so delicate- I love it!!!! Thank you, Kathy!!

The coconut heads are more weirdness from me ;-).

Kathy's blog: http://weelittlewest.blogspot.com/

Drunken squid

These guys are doing what the big guy above is doing: getting blasted! I am in the mood to make a very freaky aquarium...puffers, drunken squid, maybe some of my oysters with eyeballs?? All submerged in a watery wonderland :-D!!

The march of the puffers

It's a puffer explosion!! Before I bring in my fairly NEW Toshiba laptop in for servicing (ie, hard drive replacement!), I thought I'd do one more quick post. Luckily, I have another laptop to use while my other one gets sent away. I've been on a puffer fish run, which kicked off when Martha Puff(er) asked for baskets of them for her voodoo shack. Now, look at what she has unleashed!!! They're taking over the planet!! vBut really, I love making them because they're goofy looking!

Kathy and Tim.....and me, looking like some weird interloper!

Kathy and Tim are adorable, but mom said I looked like a spy, haha!!!! The other video Lance shot was of 1/144 moving train sets.

More of the show, and getting tattooed...twice

Gifts for my sister and walking to a restaurant

This is still in that hallway. I spot some cute little flower pots and decide to get one for my sister (who asked me to bring something back for her. When she wants something, she just asks, no beating around the bush, haha!!). I ended up getting her several things- the flower pot, a tiny skeleton, a 1:144 wooden table and chairs, and a mouse, made by Kathi Kuti. The other video was shot on our way to a Greek Restaurant, which was very yummy, thanks to Lance's mad Yelping skills ;-).

Kathy and Tim Obrenski...and another video

I met Kathy (aka weelittlewest) and Tim Obrenski at the show!! Tim spotted me walking down a hallway and we immediately went outside to smoke, lol!!! He is quite a character :-D!! Inside, I met Kathy at her beautiful table and feasted my eyes on all her little marvels. I NEVER would have guessed that she had a stroke!! She looked fantastic and she had more energy than me and Lance combined!!!! Amazing...

I don't know what happened to the sound in that last video, but here's another. It's just me buying some fat quarters ;-)

Chicago!!

Hi guys!!! I had a BLAST in Chicago!! I haven't posted sooner because I'm in overdrive again, trying to catch up with the miniature making!! Also, methinks I have a touch of jetlag because I'm keeping very screwy hours...up till 4 am, waking at 8/9ish (for me, WAY too little sleep!).

This was definitely one of the best trips ever, but every day, I was torn between wanting to soak up everything at the Bishop show, and wanting to go into the city. We managed to do both, but I would have loved an extra couple days! I took iphone pics at the show (not nearly as many as I should have, but I was too busy ogling all the goodies), but Lance, good lad, caught all the video. I think the videos give you a much better feel for the show, so I'm going to attempt to post them here. Just bear with me, because I'm going to do some editing to get them down to size. This may take awhile :-/.

As I already knew, there was so much to take in, so I KNOW I missed quite a bit!! But the folks I met there were FANTASTIC!!!! So much talent, and so warm and friendly...much like the people in Chicago who we encountered. I've even told Lance several times that  Chicagoans are some of THE nicest people I've ever come across in any city, seriously!! He wholeheartedly agreed.

So, this is the first video, when we first walked in, pretty much. There were already tables in the hallway, and we hadn't even entered any of the rooms yet. You can see how much I was freezing my non-exisitent ass off by my clothing choices, btw. Jeans (which I never wear in Hawaii, seriously), a jacket, a sweater vest over a shirt, a coat over that, a scarf, a hat, and heavy boots. I look like a lumberjack crossed with Woody Allen. Here are pics of me and Lance as well (no coat- it went from freezing to pretty warm that day).

Ok, I'm having some problems uploading the video right now, but I'll keep trying. It'll show up, damnit!!

Nicolas of bewilderandpine on etsy....I had to have it!!!

So, I cruised to the front page of etsy, as I am wont to do, and saw what looked like a wee structure (I get VERY excited when I see tiny, tiny things ;-)). When I clicked through, I discovered an avalanche of talent!! What I saw was part of an entire set of buildings in HO, ie, tiny, train scale size!! Call me crazy, but I've always wanted to shrink myself down and live in a model train world. The artist, Nicolas, had a penchant for model trains as a child, and made a series named The Hermitage, French Country Sanctuary. I HAD to have the entire set, plus the tiny monks!! He turned out to be one cool cat, by the way, and immediately set aside everything I wanted, so it will be MINE!!!

But wait, there's more!! He and his wife have THREE more shops on etsy, and they are all phenomenal!!
Thank you, Nicolas, for making me one happy girl ;-)!

Below is the sanctuary, plus other stellar examples of his work.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/bewilderandpine

http://www.etsy.com/shop/bonjourpoupette

http://www.etsy.com/shop/myantarctica

Tom Turkey

I ate turkey the other night so I decided to make one, plain and unadorned! This guy has thunder thighs. My mom likes to make a full Thanksgiving feast, but we have Thanksgiving about a dozen times a year!! She can't just make the turkey- it has to include the stuffing, the mashed potatoes, the yams...yep, the works. I come from a very food obsessed family ;-).