Des Moines Sculpture Garden

I don't have much to post today, so I thought I'd share some more pictures from the sculpture park that we took yesterday.

The top photo is looking up into the letter sculputer. I admit as a graphic designer I have a font/letters fetish, but I really think this a great piece of art. The bottom photo is a compilation of 20 photos taken 360 degrees from the hill in the center of the park. Windows Live put them all together to creat this panorama. It's so tiny on here, it really doesn't do it justice, but it's really amazing. If you click on the picture, it should bring up a larger version, which is better but still not big enough. To give you an idea, the actual panorma is 75 inches wide!

And then it all went down hill

In Iowa the high temp for the year and the low temp for the year are always over 100 degrees different. We experience bitter cold, below 0 temps, sometimes for weeks at a time. We have sweltering, humid summers that make your hair impossible to tame. We also have beautiful, sunny 75 degree days. But those are almost never in November, especially not the second week of November. Today was one of those rare, picture perfect days.

We filled enormous travel mugs with tea, packed up the camera and headed to the Des Moines sculpture garden. It was fairly busy with Iowans making sure one of the last nice days before 5 months of winter was enjoyed outside. Here are some pictures I took of the sculptures:

My favorite one is the first one. I like that the spider looks like it might start crushing downtown at any minute.

After spending a couple of hours roaming around the park, we went to the East Village just to wander and see if any shops were open. We went into Found Things, a funky little antique store. They have so much stuff in there that I think you could spend weeks and still not see everything. I bought metal printing press letters to spell our last name, a brass "T" stencil and a couple of old photos.

There was an entire book shelf full of albums of old pictures. They were labeled things like "Hats" (all the photos had people wearing hats in them) and "Automobiles" with photos of cars, people and cars, and everything to do with cars since the beginning of cars. The individual photos were for sale. I've never seen a store go about it quite like that, but I really loved it.

After the East Village we went to the capital complex. The capitol itself is an interesting building (I'm afraid it has lost some of its interest for me since I have meetings there on a regular basis now). I like to stand on the steps and turn my back to the building. That's the more interesting view for me. You can see down Locust street across most of downtown.

I took 2 pictures, then it all went down hill. The camera died. With no camera and the need for a bathroom, we decided to head home. Then it all went down hill so fast I think we fell off the hill all together.

As I was driving to the freeway, we go stopped by a red light. I looked down at the dash and watched the engine temperature gauge go from a normal 150 degrees into the red danger area at 280 degrees. Houston, we have a problem. I didn't panic but I was thinking that the engine was actually on fire. I pulled over before the on-ramp and, upon under the hood inspection, we found the serpentine belt shredded and off track. Yippy. To make a long story short, $75 for the tow truck, we annoyed a friend by having her pick us up (thank you Meredith!), $600+ for the repairs because when the belt shredded, it took out another belt and a pump and we needed two new tires (we already knew that part.) Awesome. Thankfully, the beginning of the day was so fun and put me in such a good mood, that not even a broken down car and pricey bill got me down. Thank you Mother Nature for the beautiful day.

I also made two more totes since we got home. They match and remind me of the "Red Hat" ladies. Both are already sold. I do have enough fabric to make one more to list in my shop, so let me know if you're interested.

3 down, 21 to go

Top: 2nd tote from Annamoa fabric (front & back)

Bottom: 3rd tote from Annamoa fabric (front & back) 

I finished three totes this morning (and early afternoon) and it feels good to get a start on all the custom orders I have piled up. These two bags are made from Ikea fabric and its the last I have - not 1 square inch left. One has already been purchased and the other is spoken for. I hope to be able to get more of this fabric, so if you're interested, you might not be completely out of luck.

The third tote I finished today is an XXL bag made from a fabric called Leaves in porch blue.  It will be listed in my shop shortly, but again, is already spoken for. IFor every three custom, pre-purchased bags I made through the holiday season, I am going to try and make one that isn't already spoken for, otherwise there will be nothing left in my shop. Check back soon and hopefully I'll have photos of a tote you might actually be able to purchase!

Don't try this at home

Due to the wild popularity of this bag in my Etsy shop (it was the first one I sold and have sold 2 more that aren't even made) I am desperately trying to get my hands on more of the fabric. It sells at Ikea for $8/yard. I haven't found it being resold online for any cheaper than $18/yard. It is so frustrating that Ikea doesn't sell fabric online. My friend is headed to Minneapolis for the weekend and I sent her with a printed fabric wishlist and a wad of cash. I am so hoping she can get more of this Annamoa fabric. There are two new versions of the fabric I asked her to get too. What do you think? Which is your favorite of the three?

I also wanted to let you know, in case anyone was considering trying it, ironing your finger is a bad idea. Ironing your finger when your iron is set to the highest setting for thick canvas is an even worse idea. It hurts. I brings tears to your eyes and makes you say nonsensical words and hop around in circles. Please take my word on this, don't try it at home. Ouch!

Christmas presents

I'm down to eight choices for totes left in my shop and with 20 custom orders due by early December, I may not have any more readymade totes to list before Christmas.

The last couple things I have bought on Etsy are Christmas presents for people who read this blog. I am really happy with the items and super excited to give them as gifts, but I can't show them to you just yet, which makes this post boring. Sorry. Remember to buy handmade and/or local for Christmas this year.

I thought I was prepared

I was wrong. I had 18 totes ready for sale when I launched the new shop on Friday. In the last 24 hours, I have sold 8 and received 14 custom orders! Word is spreading around my office building and I heard there are more people coming to my office to see them. I feel like a street vender, peddling my wares from under my desk! Good thing I didn't have any plans for the weekend yet. I better take my reading glasses home from my office.

Body Shop Nutriganics

A while ago, I won the entire new Body Shop Nutriganics skin care line from Fabulous Fun Finds (thanks, Heather!) I have been using the line for close to a week and I am loving it! The Foaming Face Wash is my favorite and smells really good. Yesterday I did the Smoothing Face Mask and it made my face so soft! The line is more expensive than the products I was using, but I think I might switch - at least to the face wash.