Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Olympic Dreams (Vote for Me?)

When I was in elementary school, I became mildly obsessed with figure skating. Katarina Vitt skated a Robin Hood-themed program that burned itself into my 11-year old brain, and led to months of my friend Melissa and I wearing pantyhose over our sneakers during indoor recess and "skating" on the basketball court. But then, I went to a friends birthday party at the ice skating rink, and the dream died a cold, cruel death. I have weak ankles and devastatingly poor gross motor skills, and spent most of the party pulling myself along the wall. Another girl, who was tall and blonde and already a basketball star, was declared "a natural" and by the end of the day was skating backwards effortlessly. I decided to stick to violin and drawing.

That said, I never dreamed of being an Olympian. It was clear that athletic greatness was never in the cards, but it was a DELIGHTFUL surprise to be informed yesterday that the Overdue Book Calendar has been shortlisted in RikRak Studio's 2011 Handmade Olympics. It is in the "handmade goodie with an innovative design" category, and was put on the shortlist by Jaime Derringer, founder & editor of design milk, which just gives me warm fuzzies. Anyway, The Handmade Olympics is a pretty cool contest, so check it out, and if you wouldn't mind, maybe give me a vote? The prizes are really pretty sweet!
In other "making" news, I have listed a bunch more Vintage Sheet Shoppers in ye olde etsy- I love making these because they combine my love of vintage fabrics with the added bonus of recycling and avoiding using more plastic or paper bags, plus they are SUPER SOFT and fun to sew. Please note my ridiculous bag-holding-self-portraits, in which I look seriously into the distance while doing various silly things with my grandma-hands. While taking these yesterday, I couldn't resist incorporating one other prop that is frequently found in the craft room, so please enjoy these Baxter Spencer Hunt product photos as well. And, PSA of the day, from my accountant to me to you- get one of those little mileage tracking books and be DILIGENT about tracking your business mileage, it can TOTALLY make a difference when doing your taxes. Now, if you could only deduct the time spent in line at the post office...

15 comments:

Lisa said...

That is a very large cat.

(voted)

raych said...

Baxter excels at staring into middle distance.

Susan C. said...

Those Baxter photos just about killed me.

Off to vote.

Unknown said...

Baxter sure is a big boy!

I am going to check out the olympics now. Good Luck!

Vicki said...

Congrats on the Handmade Olympics! I will go vote. (I had a project in it last year, btw.)

Love all the self portraits.

rachel said...

Oh my, Baxter is eNORmous! What a treat to see him in a less dignified pose than usual. But still fabulously gorgeous, even gorgeouser than those tote bags.

Jessica said...

your haircut is growing in very nicely.. i think i want it.

Unknown said...

Congrats on the Olympics thing. I'll go vote.

Btw, these pictures are SO good of you! Always a beauty, but wow. So photogenic! For real, my friend.

katie s. said...

you are awesome and your hair is cute!

Shea said...

Pantyhose over sneakers. Love it. Too bad they don't have a Hilarious Visual category in the Olympics, because that would be a shoe in to win. :)

Sew Pretty Fabric NZ said...

LOL that was so funny, I was scrolling through your blog looking at all these amazing bags, the up popped your cat!

Love your blog! Can't wait to go have a snoop around!

Viva young sewers!!!

C. Jaeger said...

I was thrilled to read the House and Home section of the Sunday paper this morning!!!! It was awesome to see you and Jacquie. I have to go sew NOW!

Unknown said...

Not to be creepy or anything, but the more I read your blog, the more I'm like, "holy cow... is Lauren really my twin or something?" So, this post... I so loved Katarina Witt and so wanted some of those tan skates. Also, your cat is huge. My cat is huge, very similarly colored, and also hangs out in my sewing room.

Metro Mari said...

Love the bags! The cat picture made me crack up!! Thanks for sharing!

gossypia said...

Baxter I wish I could give you a hug - you are awesome.