ARDIRI

Totoro Tote

The final product--machine sewn and hand-embroidered--Totoro "drawing" (embroidery), super-close-up:

Sewn on to this super, handy-dandy Trader Joe's grocery tote:

And for the backside, some pretty fabric to cover the logo:

I have to admit, after watching My Neighbor Totoro three times this week (once for each grade I teach, as a treat for the students during the last week of school), I am totally sick of the movie.

A Birthday Present for My Brother & His Dog

For my brother, Ronnie, who loves to cook (and makes exceptional Jam!)--Two embroidered kitchen towels:

And for his dog, Harriet, a car seat blanket (folded into a fourth of its size; made with super-practical machine washable/dryable Lion's Brand Thick and Quick Wool; approximate dimensions 22x22 inches):

And now, off to the mail they go!

Seriously Screwed-Up Sleep Schedule

What's with me?  Going to bed at 5 am and waking at 1pm...Oh, yeah, school's on break and that pretty much guarantees a screwed-up sleep schedule for me.  It all starts so innocently with a  night that I decide to stay up a little later to finish sewing something and ends with me finding myself up at 5 (sometimes 6!) in the morning finishing up a book or knitting away.  Ugh.  The worst part is trying to tame the night owl that continually rises up within me and refuses to return to a "normal" sleeping schedule--you know, the one that causes gridlock and lines at the bank.  Anyhoo, what's a girl to do?  I suppose I'll show pics of projects and talk a bit about books.

Knitting
Made four soap scrubbies for my stepfather's birthday.  He is one of the few people I am certain actually loves my knitted items to pieces--literally to pieces.  He used the last soapholders I gave him till they disintegrated.  So four knitted soap scrubbies are headed his way:

Embroidery

This is a gift headed along with other goodies to a knitting friend.  Hopefully she'll appreciate the love I put into embroidering my little "darling daschunds" and not pay too much attention to my not-so-skilled needlework:

And yesterday I bought a book chock-a-block full of embroidery transfers, Sublime Stitching.
I originally hit up the local Barnes and Noble intent to use my gift card on Amy  Butler's In Stitches, but the bookstore was completely sold out.  No biggie.  I had wanted Jenny Hart's Sublime Stitching for a while and was happy to find it.  Also happened upon Celine Dupay's Simple Sewing With a French Twist which has some really pretty pictures to inspire, but I don't know if I would really want to own it.

Reading

• Finished The Life of Pi by Yann Martel.  Enjoyable read--quite adventurous and exciting at times.  Worth the time spent reading.
• Currently contemplating finishing the other half of  Alan Lightman's Einstein's Dreams.  I really wanted to love this book as I have quite an intellectual crush on Einstein and wish I were smart enough in the correct parts of my brain to be a physicist, but alas no such luck.  As for the book, it just isn't doing "it" for me--whatever "it" might be.  Nevertheless, I may finish it since it is a quick read.  Or perhaps I'll finally finish Brian Greene's The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality instead?
• Oh, and the important, essential stuff--reading theorist's opinions on the novel (Angela Carter's  The Passion of New Eve) that functions as the main focus of my thesis.  I don't recommend Angela Carter to the faint of heart reader--her works are quite controversial, to say the least, and they can make for tough reading (especially The Infernal Desire Machines of Dr. Hoffman, which I've yet to read all the way through).

Meowsers
Zoe napping: