Here's a poem I've written for her journal: The Queen of Hearts seen in the throes Of suffering from judicial woes, The victim of a thieving knave. Historically we’ve seen her rave And rant in her frustration On about decapitation. But there’s another side to know If you examine the Tarot. The heart’s the Cup of strong emotion Holding love to fill an ocean. The Queen of Cups shows open feelings Of a loving mother, family dealings. She can’t play poker. She has no guile. As she feels, face reveals - frown or smile. She holds a lotus in a giving gesture Honest feelings known not guessed. You’re Asked to take hard with the simple, A whole complex person under that wimple She is pictured wearing on the back Of the cards in the stack. Yes she sometimes seems too prickly To get close to very quickly. It’s worth any effort made to deal With the cranky words, to find the real Queenly virtues - her true beauty. And can she cook confections fruity! The Knave knew what was in those tarts....

Here are some shots of my contributions to the Queen of Hearts from the Coolaberration 2009 Round Robin. She holds a symbolic lotus. That's a Barbie sized chair I happened to have - a little too small for the Queen. I made her some striped pantaloons embellished with buttons. I doubt they will be seen in the end, but I was strongly called to give her some underwear. Now on to my journal...

Here are some pictures, taken by my husband, of my Barbie Redux doll, "Winged Victory". The exhibit starts August 7th with a reception in the evening. I'll be taking along some of my lovely ginger bread cake. There will be a Barbie look alike dress up contest and a treasure hunt. Her head still moves. I figure you could really screw with someone's mind - every time they look at the statue she's looking in a different direction. Heh, heh, heh.

Here's my Hoffman Challenge entry. Polymer clay head with bead eyes, fabric and batting over a wire armature, wooden base. Probably a bit too wobbly for the travelling exhibit. I have got to find a happy medium between the easily molded wire I am currently using and the 14 gauge thick as coat hanger wire I tried before that killed my hands (even using pliers and a clamp). Maybe just more internal reinforcement is needed. I called her "Journey". She has felt boots with attached charms, pantaloons, a dress, a sash of crocheted yarn with paper beads, a head dress and a coat embellished with padded, quilted, beaded shapes from the paisley fabric, yarn embroidery, beading and buttons. She wears bangles and rings, and pearl and chain necklace. She has gold tatoos on her face, and sports purple nail polish mixed by Jayn. Sooner or later she will come home, and I will probably make a crystal staff for her to hold, and perhaps a bag full of trinkets and poems.

Here's a photo of Jayn (in pale pink) from the Swap with her pink monster.

I enjoyed meeting Christine Haynes (pictured) and seeing the nice set up at the Urban Craft Center. Christine was able to give me exactly the information I was seeking about book proposals. I bought her book for the very nicely proportioned wrap dress pattern, as well as a couple of other dress patterns. The book seems very clear. Plus I won some "Project Runway" fat quarters. I now have a piece of fabric emblazoned with Tim Gunn's immortal phrase, "Make It Work". It was an enjoyable event, and I wish Christine every success. UCC has a nice selection of higher end fabrics, and home spun yarns. They are less heavy on scrapbooking supplies than some of the specialty crop shops that I have seen - but that is good. What they have is a lot of space, equipment, and a well stocked library for information. They run classes. The new fall schedule will be out in a few weeks for classes starting from September. The Swap-o-rama-rama was tremendous fun. I did nothing that ...

I've been working on the sample chapters for my book proposal. I chose two projects from four chapters, with I hope wide appeal. They break down to something for a man, something for a boy, something for a woman, something for a girl, a couple of things for the home, and a couple of things as gifts. A cross section of textile art projects from a variety of old clothes. Tomorrow I'm going to support another crafting writer at an event in Santa Monica . Christine Haynes has written the nice looking Chic and Simple Sewing , which includes a bunch of full size patterns. I'm looking forward to meeting her and seeing some the garments in person, and maybe picking her brains a bit about her book proposal and publishing journey. Then on Saturday is the next full Swap-O-Rama-Rama , as part of the Renegade Craft Fair in Los Angeles. I'm going to be doing fabric collage based stuff with remants - folded purse, patchwork for soft monsters, scarves, motifs. I'm planning on spen...