IF: Horizon

Just a really quick one for this week's IF. It's snowing again over here!

Antique Cowgirl Boot Lamp

My sweet friend got me this lamp for Christmas gift and it was a total surprise. I saw the lamp when we went to the antique mall a couple of weeks ago. I loved it but I had to put it back when I saw the price tag. Until last Friday, he gave me a big bag, as I opened it I saw this lamp! I couldn't believe he went back and got it for me. It's an antique bronze cowgirl boot design; I absolutely love the elaborate florals on the boot and how it tapers into a tiny foot... so cute! I outfitted it with a sage green Martha Stewart shade (which I might pimp up later, not sure yet) and I am going to put it in my office so I can see it everyday! Thanks, Robsie!

Little Elephant Doodle

Just a quick doodle of a character that pops up in my head...He will be back!

Cool website to check out:
Julie West

UNICO

No... not that underwear brand Unico, but the one movie that I watched over and over when I was little. I guess being alone at home during Christmas gives me a lot of time being nostalgic. On top of that, I was trying to come out with an idea for this week's Illustration Friday topic "Horizon". For some reason, this movie pops up in my head because I vaguely remember there is somthing about the end of the earth (as geographically) in this movie. I remember watching it when I was about 6 or 7 years old. Even though the story could be scary for little kids, I just absolutely love everything about it. You know, it's like that one favorite lost toy from your childhood and you wish you could find it again? That's how I feel. I was searching high and low on the internet (I don't even remember the name of the movie), and finally, by the magic of YouTube, somebody has posted the whole movie (and it's in Enlgish), divided by 1o clips; I was beyond excited when I saw it. The main character's name is Unico (a little Unicorn with special magic power). There are 2 movies made by Sanrio and the first one came out in 1981, but I prefer the second one "Unico in the Island of Magic", especially for the music. But to understand the characters, you might want to watch the first one "Fantastic Adventures of Unico" before you watch the second one. Here are some screenshots from the clips.




If you were like me, born in the mid 70s and grew up in Asia, you probably know about this movie; you might even be searching for it. But if you have never heard of it in your whole life, check it out if you have time. (As I said, it could be dark and scary for kids... I wasn't scared, however. I remember I even had aUnico pin on my book bag which I brought to school everyday.) Here I am posting the first clip out of 10... from there you can see the rest of it.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

Christmas is just around the corner and I want to share with you the two little trees in my office, as well as all the warm wishes from my friends at work! Thanks for visiting my blog and I really appreciate all your comments. I have made a lot of wonderful friends here; you all inspired me in so many ways and I am totally thankful for that. As the year draws to an end, I wish you all a safe and happy holiday and a wonderful brand new year to come... cheers!

Love you all! xoxoxo

Tagged: My Top 25 Favorite Movies

I was tagged almost 2 weeks ago by sweet and very talented Kelly to post about my top 25 favorite movies. I told Kelly that I am not an avid movie goer at all, and I go to the theater about twice a year, so I might have a hard time to come up with 25 movies. But actually, it was easier than I thought (as a matter of fact, I even had to eliminate a couple of movies from my list). I don't necessarily remember the stories in all these movies, but they are definitely the ones that pop in my head right away. So here they are, in alphabetical order:

After Life
Akira Kurosawa's Dreams
Amelie
Castle In The Sky
Chocolat
Cinema Paradiso
Fireworks
Frida
Grave of the Fireflies
Hero
Il Postino
Kiki's Delivery Service
Kikujiro
Love Actually
My Neighbor Totoro
Nacho Libre
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Princess Mononoke
Shall We Dance (Japanese Version)
Spirited Away
That's the Way I Like It
The Road Home
Under The Tuscan Sun
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Woman On Top

My Mom's New Flower Bag

My mom sent me a photo of this little bag she had just made. I think it is so cute and I'd love to share it with you. She is taking a applique/quilting class and this is the first product from that workshop. My mom was an art teacher in a middle school for 30 something years and has always been really good with her hands. She would learn a skill really well and then move on to the next thing. I remember since I was little, I would go with her to classes like flower arrangement, gift wrapping, clay flowers... etc. I only wish I could be half as crafty as my mom is... I can't wait to see what she will make next! (She also knitted me an amazing purple cardigan, without following any pattern, that I have to show you when I have a chance. I got so many praises from my co-workers whenever I wear it to work...)

IF: Backwards

Maybe Puppy and Kitty want different gifts this Christmas?

Mini Red Sweater Ornament

I know, I know... you've seen a lot of snow and ice in my recent blogs, but that's all we have right now. We just had another snow storm yesterday (thank God most of the ice from the previous storm had melted already), and I stayed in all day and finished half of the rib scarf. On top of that I tried to make a mini sweater ornament... it is not perfect but it's my first sweater attempt (even though it's tiny). I may try to make more of it later, but right now I need to head over to the yarn shop before they close to get more grey yarn for the rest of the rib scarf!

Fisherman's Rib Scarf

I started another scarf while staying at my friend's home last night
due to my power outage. This one is gonna be less fancy since it's a
man scarf. But still, there is a little twist: even though the pattern
might looks like the good old rib stitch, it's actually something
called "fisherman's rib". The texture is thicker and fluffier (that
makes it a good pattern for sweater too), and I just think it looks
better than the regular rib stitch. It's really easy but I can already
tell that it will take me a long time to fnish because I have to
alternate between knit and purl stitches.

If you like to knit one for yourself, here is the pattern:

* Cast on an even number of stitches; I did 24
* 1st row: Knit till the end
* 2nd + all following rows: Purl 1, (K1b, P1) repeat till the last stitch, then P1
* Continue until the desired length, then cast off in rib

Note:
K1b means knit 1 into the stitch below. Place the point of your right
hand needle into the stitch below the next stitch in the left hand
needle, then knit in the usual way.

IF: Little Things

The icy branch in the garden is the favorite napping nook for the snow baby.

(The photo was taken in my yard yesterday. We have been having an ice storm and everything is coated with a thick layer of ice.)

Look what I've finished!

The honeycomb scarf is done over the past weekend since I stayed in and didn't go anywhere. It's super warm and I've been wearing it everyday.

I lost my power...

Yesterday while I was in the middle of writing my blog and trying to post some photos to show you the weather, my power got cut off. First I heard this crumbling noise (I think some tree branch must had fallen onto the power lines), and as soon as it happened, the power was out! I took yesterday off because of the yucky icy weather and naively thought I would get some work done at home... of course that didn't happen without the electricity. I didn't know how long would it be before the power was restored, so I quickly packed my stuff while there was still day light just in case I needed to stay over at my friend's for days. Until 4 PM the power was still out, and it was getting darker and colder in my house, so I had to head over to my friend Donna's. I ended up staying there for the night. We had pizza, knitted and watched TV... my power eventually came back sometime in the middle of the night, but I had to toss almost everything from my refrigerator!!!! Sniff sniff...

Here is a photo of the view from my house. Ice is everywhere. It's actually really pretty but at the same time really dangerous.

Where did my time go?

I just can't believe it's been a week since my last post! Time passes too fast! I have so much work and had to bring work home everyday (whether I really work on them after getting home is another story, but it makes me feel better that I bring them home with me), plus the weather has been really cold over here. No kidding, wait for my next post; I will show you pictures! When it's cold like this, I just automatically go into the hibernation mode. But I did work on my stuff and here is a photo of my messy studio table to prove it! I have not had time to do the IF entry yet, but I will try to come up with something within today or tomorrow. I just don't want to miss it!

IF: Excess

One thing about having excess amount of hair is that birds can build their nest in it...

What's cooking right now...

...is a new scarf that I started this evening. It's getting real chilly over here and I just can't deny the urge that I want to knit again. It's such a natural thing to do in the winter, to curl up on the couch, watch TV and knit! Since this is a pretty straight forward scarf so I didn't really follow any pattern except the honeycomb part, but even that is still pretty repetitive. I thought posting it in its beginning stage would motivate me to carry on and finish it. I will post it again when I am done! : )

Little Wire+Button Tree

My dear friend and I were lucky enough to find two more of these small wire trees (the same style that appeared in my earlier post) in the local antique shop for just $11 each. I made these little wooden buttons for him to decorate his tree. I had to do it in a real hurry yesterday afternoon since my band had a gig last night and my friend needed to catch an early flight this morning. But I got it done and thought they turned out alright, until I put them on the tree and then realized that all I could see was the backside since they are not rounded as traditional ornaments!!! Ahhhhh... so I added punched-outs from my old book and that helped. I hope his co-workers would be jealous of his new tree! Heehee... I know it might be too girly for a man, but come on, it's hand-made. It's the thought that counts! : )