Daisy Janie

card game for kids | SQUISH!

We love to play cards! Do you? Peanutman and I came up with a new game up whilst we lazed the evening away on the porch swing recently: SQUISH! Perfect, super-simple, luck of the draw game for kids, ages 6/7 and up. Definitely a kids' game b/c 'squish' is such a fun word, and kids love to say it.

 
picture 1 || example of what a player might be dealt. 

How to play SQUISH! (simpler version):

• Deal each player 4 cards. They should be held fan-style facing the player, in the order in which they were dealt. (picture 1)
• Each player takes turns drawing a card at a time from the deck and adding it to the lefthand side of their hand.
• Look for any cards that are sandwiched between 2 cards that are the same suit or 2 cards that are the same number; those cards in-between are 'squished' out and discarded facedown in a random pile off to the side while saying, "SQUISH!" (pictures 2 & 3)
• Play continues this way until all cards have been drawn from the deck.
• Winner is the player holding the fewest # of cards. If 2 players have the same # of cards, then total the face value of each card.

Alternate version (still simple just different):

• When a player discards their squish card(s), they place them face-up in a discard pile.
• The next player can take the top card that's been discarded and pair it up with another card in their hand to squish cards out. It must be added to the lefthand side, and it must be usable right away.

picture 2 || player drew an ace from the deck so the 10 & 8 are squished out, and the aces are moved next to one another.

picture 3 || player drew a queen, then a king of diamonds - so the queen is squished out b/c it's btw 2 cards with a matching suit. the ace of diamonds and the king of diamonds move next to one another.

big, big changes are afoot

No, silly, the changes aren't a 'foot' cuz this isn't a Monty Python skit - the big changes are coming...soon...any day now...they'll be here!

I think I'm ready. No, I'm not ready. At all. I lied.

I'm choosing denial and laughter as a defense mechanism - if I think about the big changes too much, I will cry for a long, long, time - ick!

The changes will bring relief and opportunity - but I have a lot to get ready between now and then, and I'd really rather not!

How are you this week?

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In other disconnected news:

• I sent some of my fabrics off to a photographer yesterday. Hopeful that the results will be splendid (or at least better than mine!)
• I think I may have found a thread count construction that will work for my wholesale organic cottons - 10,000 yard minimum! More on that soon...
• Loving the hydrangea. It refuses to grow taller year after year tho. Any tips?

family crest

My son represents the 10th generation of the Goodhand family (my maiden name) born in America since 1650. Christopher Goodhand emigrated to this country from Lincolnshire, England and settled on Kent Island, MD, on 100 acres of land granted from the King. One of my brothers has been researching our family lineage on & off for 10+ years, and all the descendants from 1650 to now have been filled in at this point (there are a few Marmadukes in there). Someone researching for him in England turned-up this family crest. Wish I knew what it meant - hope it isn't anything awful! 

The puzzle pieces my brother has gathered are so interesting to me - not always a bed of roses either! One point that amazes me is that, despite having been here for so long, my siblings & I are the first generation to go to college. Prosperity & social status lost during the Civil War left many generations impoverished as tenant farmers. My Dad joined the Air Force as the only way to make a better life for himself. Meanwhile, my husband's grandparents came to the U.S. from Italy when they were 18, and his father was the first gen to go to college! Sometimes, life boils down to the timing of opportunity and nothing more.

privet & boxwood

I discovered how much a pile of privet trimmings looks like my boxwood fabric design. I was happily raking the pile up when I noticed the delightful similarity. I immediately thought, "Blog!" and dashed off to get my you-know-what. Well, I guess Peanutman has observed my tendancies long enough to know what I'm all about - I heard him yell randomly to the world, "Momz is running to get her fancy camera to take pictures of a pile of leaves!" [in that sing-songy, here-she-goes-again kind of way]

*Momz: pronounced with long 'o' sound. I answer to that and Hey Mom.

book: color index

 

"color index" by Jim Krause. picked up at B&N after perusing it over several trips. Just couldn't resist it any longer. Excellent, simple breakdown of color, combinations, saturations, separations, cmyk, rgb...well you get the idea from the sample pages included here. tremendous reference if color is part of your job - or all of your job!

Author: http://www.jimkrausedesign.com/

$21.59 - 23.99 at Barnes & Noble

split second of fame via our front porch

Well, holy cow, we've been infinitesimally brushed by fame! Our porch's 'spot' in the commercial I mentioned last month is sooooooooo eensy-weensy & fast that it took me 3 playbacks to get a printscreen of it to share here. It's the very first second of the very first frame - and then - whoosh, it's gone! Made me think of when a snotty kid says, "Take a picture lady - it'll last longer!"

The entire 30-second spot can be seen here.

To think how many people this snippet employed is just craziness! I can't wrap my brain around for even the nanosecond our porch is on the screen! Seriously, these people are living their lives & sending kids to college on the income they earn from jobs like this! Whoa.

inspiration scans

These swatches are from skirts that I no longer wear. A year ago, they were stuffed in a drawer at my desk for 'inspiration.' Just re-discovered them - lotta good they did me in the drawer! I enjoy the patterns and color combos so I scanned them and stuck the printouts in an inspiration binder. Now I can take the skirts to Good Will.

How do you keep track of inspiration clips? I have way too much to keep on a board, and I actually don't enjoy looking at it all this stuff all time b/c I need a clean slate and no overt predispositions when I start creating a design. The binder idea is space-efficient, but then I forget to look at it entirely! Need a happy medium...

wishing...

M O R E . . .

Wishing very hard on every star, padittle, dandelion fluffer, bridge, railroad track and strangers' birthday candles for more peeks of sun and fewer drops of rain. Just for a little balance - I'm teetering on the edge of my own nerves...

What are you wishing upon and for these days?

L E S S . . .

wrap-up to forge on

Peanutman brought this pastel artwork home last week, and I was transfixed by his color choices, blending, details - oh, I swooned. It's really big - makes an impact! Certainly a bright spot amidst all the cloudy, cold, rainy freaking days we've had. (Looks like a dahlia to me, but I'm not sure.)

Last day of school was last Tuesday - hard to believe it's been a week already. We had some family events/obligations this past weekend, and our weight-loss competition our gym wrapped-up* on Sat, too. With all of that jazz out of the way, I feel like I can finally be free to forge into summer with my personal and work-related agendas. It's always interesting to me how these things take on a stress-life of their own, even when you're not the principal player. Sometimes I operate at such a steady, low-level of anxiety - and I'm so used to it - that I don't even notice until I'm free...and the knots and stiffness in my neck suddenly dissipate. I really look forward to working when I don't have to segment my brain - I am so NOT a multi-tasker. So, summer, look out - my schedule's cleared a bit and here I come - I have big plans for you little lady!

How about you? Is summer officially here for you? Plans?

*We won the competition 165 lbs to the other team's measly 89 lbs. We did the work, making sacrifices and commitments along the way - but I have to give a lot of credit to my husband, who was our team captain. We started a group blog on livestrong.com, and he would post every morning with something factual or inspirational for us to ponder and discuss. Worked like a charm. One of my friends & readers was the MVP on our team - and she kicked a$$! Way to go Melissa!!

15 and going strong

Here's to 15 years (+8 extra) of the very best love & laughter a girl could ask for! Wondrous and unexpected - the kind life's all about!

artsyville giveaway on scoutie girl

Remember my mini, mini kitchen art makeover? Ha - of course you don't! Nonetheless, two of the cheerful, fun prints are from Aimee Dolich of artsyville. Aaaaand, she's offering 3 of them in a givaway on Scoutie Girl! Thanks Aimee!!

Why dontcha go over and enter - ends 6.13.09.

proportion in context

[image from chaval brasil's flickr photostream] 

The context of the phrase from yesterday's t-shirt is coffee!

I don't drink fancy blends or fully caffeinated versions, but I absolutely must have a grounds-to-coffee ratio that is greater than what is recommended on the packaging. I don't like coffee that is thin and looks like tea - spare me. I like coffee to be opaque and rich with body - like I'm biting into it rather than drinking it. Sugar & milk are added just so, too.

My mom claims my coffee is so strong it comes to me when I whistle for it. I wish! And I'll whistle for the teeth whitener whilst I'm at it! (DH uses straight baking soda to brush after his morning cuppa - his teeth are gleaming!)  

Are you persnickety about your coffee? What's your preference?

I think Nichole from threebysea mentioned cream+sugar in her comment on that post. Others included PB&J, salt & vinegar chips, boobs & hips, butts, and baking. Good chuckles!

out of context

Phrases and words and scenarios out of context make my day! In college, I was relentless with imaginative stories that started with the intro, "What if.....?" And you know how it is when you hear a quote or part of a sentence, and you crack up at the idea of it standing by itself and taking on a whole new meaning?! Love that! It's quite common in our house for someone to bellow, "T-shirt!" from another room - and it throws me into fits of laughter.

Any ideas what this out of context phrase is about?

Or, better yet, name something in YOUR life that this phrase would fit to a tee (ha, get it - fit to a tee....) OK, for real. Just curious what you come up with. I'll tell you what benign thing it actually applies to tomorrow..... 

caution: man at work

Man oh man oh man, do I love these images (and that man)! The dramatic contrast of hues and his silhouette against that magnificent blue sky feels so "paul bunyan" to me - or sort of like a caricature of a titan of industry from the 20s/30s art deco style. I know it's a stretch, but that's what first struck me when I saw him up there. Love it.

The answer to your question: "he's painting the tin roof over our front porch." Desperately needed it.

We scraped, chipped and sanded until we were numb from head-to-toe. Sitting on a slope like this for hours at a time and scooting around on your backside from one section to the next gives new meaning to the word wedgie!! Oy!

The rust was pretty, but not so much that keeping it would have added shabby-chic value to the house. Glad it's done. Now onto the next project: painting garage doors.

press | sew hip magazine

Jolly good press for Daisy Janie fabrics in the current issue of Sew Hip magazine out of the UK! I was invited to be part of their "featured designer" series, which entails a quirky Q & A feature in this issue and a full-scale spread/interview about my work and designs in the next issue. My feature will be on the heels of Heather Bailey's - no pressure a'tall love, none whatsoever. [fist pump, woo hoo!]

If you'd like to see a readable version of this Q & A, click here.

Do you subscribe to sewing magazines? Which ones?

An elephantine* thank you to my friend Michelle of Cicada Studio & Cloud9 Fabrics for scanning these pages for me AND for whipping out an extra letter "i" to correct the bungled spelling of my last name in the layout. (Oh, it was so bittersweet to see my name in lights and then see the misspelling as big as day. The corrected version is pictured here.)

*this word is just for you, Cicada (thesaurus look-up for 'huge' and one of your faves!)