28 July 2011

Glorified Moo Moo




Well I thought I would get a little crafty today so I found an easy to make dress. Wow! In the past week I have made a purse/bag and a dress! Not one pillow either! I think I have finally gotten past the nervousness that comes with sewing...alas these are easy projects. I don't see myself making a ball gown anytime soon...but that sounds tempting..haaa. Still need to work on cutting straight (kindergarten?) and sewing seams straight. I was extra careful with this project and I think I did pretty good! What do you think?








It really is a glorified moo moo.. I made it a little big but I like it! I will try to make another one, that isn't so big and will be more like a tunic than a dress. It sure is comfy!

20 July 2011

Got Oats?



Lately I have had the itch to create. I like to have that feeling..I will go for a long time never doing anything crafty, but am so happy when it sparks back up. I have especially wanted to do something with the sewing machine..maybe something besides a pillow?! So I was looking on craftgawker.com and got a bit of inspiration. Now mind you, I have air conditioning going on in just one room in the house and that would be the bedroom. My sewing room (more like a sewing closet) doesn't have much of a breeze but I am thankful that I can stand the heat! Just don't come near me, I can literally call my sewing room a "sweat shop"!

Farmer has a plethora of burlap sacks in the barn so I grabbed one of them...I was very excited to see Lubbock, Texas on it! I made sure my college town would be visible. I washed it (pewwww weeee) and rummaged through the surplus of fabric on the shelves in the sewing room. It's like my own little store. I love the fact that I have everything at my disposal! This did not cost me a dime, just time! And I have lots of that right now!

I cut out all the fabric and figured out each step in the bedroom..and then headed to the sweat shop...errr...sewing room to do a little (a lot) of sewing. I am not very good so there were many times I had to tear the seams apart and start over. It took me a while to figure out how handbags work: Adding fabric to existing because I made it too short, I had to make the strap twice due to my inexprience, and...oh what a mess. It took me two days! I hope the next one will only take me half the time (or less!)




Looks like I'm ready to go feed Shotgun!





I also made some rosettes out of scrap fabric I found in my sewing wastebasket!
They were fun and easy to make too.

19 July 2011

Albany





On our day trip adventure we stopped in Albany. We had fallen in love with this picturesque town during our jaunts through West Texas. So clean with sculptures scattered here and there, dropping hints to the travelers passing through that this is not just an ordinary little town. This is a town with culture!

We visited the incredible art museum that is hosted in the old county jail. From Renoir to Alexander Caulder..this is a place to visit if you appreciate the arts. Who knew that such a small town could have this vast collection.

My favorite piece, though, was the original blue prints of the courthouse. The elevations, sections, and floor plans were beautiful and so simple. Line weight that is created by the artistic hand is what is truly lacking in our world of Auto Cad...it makes me want to draft again but ahhhh I would be without a job.

For more information check out the Old Jail Museum's website here. It isn't that far from Granbury (about a 2.5 hour drive).







Farmer in "jail" reminds me of the time we were in Germany...


17 July 2011

Stamford Inn



Farmer and I took a day trip to Albany and Stamford a couple of weekends ago. We have driven through both towns several times in the past and thought they were interesting towns that had a story to tell. So why not check them out in more detail? While we were driving into the 'metropolis' of Stamford, I spotted a large, dilapidated building a block off the main road. I told Farmer to take a RIGHT so I could snoop. This is what I found..








What the Stamford Inn looked like back in all its glory.












It was pretty eerie walking through the halls of a structure that had once hosted many guests and been part of many happy times. I could feel negative energy...was it the building itself? Sadden by the outcome of her once majestic body? I think I would be...or was there another story behind the layers of debris that littered the floor.



After leaving, I was thinking it through...what happened? What was the eeriness that I felt. Was it just the sight of despair? Probably...but then it clicked. I remember reading about a hotel that had caught fire and lives were lost...

The story is..

For many, many years Stamford was a town on the highway that connected Dallas or Houston to Lubbock, Amarrillo, and beyond. Elvis Presley performed here, twice. Will Rogers made his appearance at the annual rodeo. This city was a big deal back in the day... So, with all this hustle and bustle, build a comfortable and luxurious inn for the weary traveler to hang his hat. The original building was built in the early 1900s and became an icon for the town. However, tragedy struck on Christmas Eve 1921. A fire broke out in the building..everyone was saved except a mother and her two children and a man that had stayed behind to help the family. To this day, no one knows how the fire started.

Stamford was still going strong so they rebuilt. They decided to modernize and was inspired by the Spanish Revival (Texas Tech was just starting to come to life and the same design ideals were popping up around West Texas). The biggest concern was for the new building to be elegant but strong and fire proof. Concrete was fire proof right? Well it may have been fire proof but not I-20 proof. The new interstate stopped the heartbeat by pulling the plug on small towns' industries across the state-including Stamford. At one time communities could rely on themselves with hard working citizens and locally owned businesses. But once the interstate came into play it diverted travelers to stay at Best Westerns and eat at McDonalds.

The Inn held on as long as it could but eventually closed in the 70s and became a private club. Sadly, the last leg of her life resulted in what many historic hotels are now...she turned into a nursing home..hmmmm. Not only did the building sigh with depression of what it has become..but think of the building being used as the last chapter of a person's life. Not what the blueprints for her creation intended her to do.

What I found interesting is that both buildings, the colonial style inn with wrap-around porches and the spanish revival/mission inn both had similar porte cacheres. The entrance to comfort and luxury and the exit for new experiences. The porte cachere represents the beginning and the end of both buildings. Centrally located at the heart of the building with arched openings it reminds me of a portal hole...to where..I do not know.
But I can't help but think that this "portal" may have been the passage for the many lives that were lost. It was their entrance (or exit?) to the next level of existence. Heaven? Hell? The Unknown? Whatever it may be, I believe it symbolizes the passage to their new adventures beyond this world.

I know this is a much different post than the others but I thought it would be fun to exercise my brain and think about the symbols and the energy of this once vibrant building. It is beyond repair...plus who would visit? The town is as dusty as the parched cotton fields that lay on the outskirts of the town. 'Tis a shame but I suppose it is the chain of life.

You must Live and Die for others to be born to Live and Die.