March 14, 2013

Beware...



Today is Pi Day, so tomorrow, March 15, is one of the most fun days of the year. Why? Because it is the day on which one can go about wailing, "Beware the Ides of March!" You can even pretend to be stabbed and drop to the ground moaning and clutching your imaginary wounds. Don't forget to whisper huskily, "Et tu, Brute? Then fall Caesar" before you give your death gasp and shudder to a horrible stillness.

To celebrate the Ides of March, I made a Treasury. Why? Because in all horrible honesty, I will probably forget to do my Julius Caesar routine tomorrow and would probably scare The Precious if I did.

Check it out!


Beware the Ides of March Treaury

And beware...

Yes, I am aware that I am having too much fun with this.

March 12, 2013

I'm Tolkien About Batik

When I was a kid I often saw batik techniques in those old 60s and 70s craft books. The photos were always in black and white and the result was that I thought batik must be the most hideous fabric on earth. It wasn't until I finally saw some in real life that I found out how very very wrong I had been and fell in love. While I haven't tried making any myself, I have started building up a small stash to sew with.

However, I was completely unprepared for the images I saw when I found Carol Law Conklin's Etsy shop, Amity Farm Batik. Her batiks are more than the usual abstract squiggles and shapes: she has actually depicted scenes from the works of Tolkien, and done it so beautifully I believe Mr. Tolkien would have approved (and he was quite picky).

Just take a look for yourself!

Black Riders Descend

Tolkien Ent Tree Forest Lord of the Rings

Golden Eagle Gwaihir Flies Above Castle

To see more, visit her shop Amity Farm Batik and search for Lord of the Rings. But make sure you look at her non-Tolkien images as well--they are stunning!

March 10, 2013

Nerdy Quote of the Week


“A room without books is like a body without a soul.”
― Marcus Tullius Cicero



Obviously, I agree 100%. I also think that a house should have a room just for books if at all possible, and am so grateful that now we do. I have to admit, though, there is still a lot of work to be done. A lot of the books remain in boxes. There do not seem to be enough shelves for all of them. Worst of all, there are books that I know we own, but which I cannot find for the life of me.

So I have decided to make it a priority to get this room in order and make it easy to find every single book. To that end I spent several hours last night unpacking and shelving, organizing and culling.

The funny thing, though, is that I know that even when the library is completely functional, I will still end up with stacks of books everywhere else in the house. They will be piled next to my bed, on a chair in the kitchen, on top of my sewing desk, etc. And I really do not care. Books make the house look happy. Or maybe they just make me happy.

Either way, I am so blessed to live in a time when it is easy to possess large numbers of books so that my house can be full of soul.