Eye: How I spent my summer vacation

Chillin' with one of my favorite writers in Baltimore, MD.

June came and went in a flash. I looked up today and it hit me that yes, we are now in July...so much so the 4th has passed and my 30th birthday is looming right around the corner. Criminy.

But not thinking of that today. Today, thinking of patching my poor old couch, starting a swimming regimen, and finally, FINALLY posting to my neglected blog.

Why has it been neglected so? Well, June began with me pulling my filmmaker hat off the shelf for my first-ever film festival screening, and then rapidly trading it for my traveling hat, as my husband and I took our first trip together to the East Coast.

Baltimore, MD, to be specific; five days in Baltimore and 24 hours in Washington, DC.

The Washington Monument, as seen from Constitution Gardens Lake.

I don't think I have words for the sheer wonder that was this trip. We stayed with a trio of our friends in Baltimore, who were generous enough to share their apartment space with us. So, aside from lots of sightseeing and feasting, there was lots of board games, Rock Band, laughing, and staying up too late talking on the balcony.

Blue crabs with Old Bay, ready to be devoured. Our hostess and her family treated us to a real Maryland crab dinner.

I'm still sorting through the 400+ photos I took on the trip, and I've begun posting them in a Baltimore/Washington DC Flickr set. So far, I'm through the first three days of the trip. Gotta get a move on...more to share soon!

The Capitol Building in the rain...the last stop on our 24-hour self-guided tour of the Mall.

Eye: My Zombies Invade San Francisco!

My short zombie-comedy -- Everything I Needed to Know About Zombies I Learned From the Movies -- is having its West Coast Premiere at San Francisco IndieFest's Another Hole in the Head Film Festival this June!

We're opening for feature film Reel Zombies on:

Saturday, June 6, 7:15 p.m.
Wednesday, June 10, 5:00 p.m.
Roxie Film Center, San Francisco

Buy tickets here!

Come for the short, stay for the feature. You'll laugh, you'll scream...you'll get to watch the director (me) pass out in the theater! Good times!

*****

Seriously, folks, I am so flippin' nervous/excited I don't know where to begin. This is not only our West Coast premiere, but the hometown screening. HoleHead is probably my favorite film festival ever, so to be included in this year's line-up is an extra-special treat. Join us! First person to come up at the screening and tell me they saw this on my blog gets a free DVD copy of my film!

Hand: My Idea of an "Easy" Embroidery Swap

Though I told myself I wasn't going to take part in another Craftster.org swap for a while, I couldn't resist when I saw the Embroider Me to Sleep Pillowcase Swap. I've never taken part in a straight-up stitchin' swap, and I'd never tried embroidering on pillowcases. So, naturally I had to do it!

It was designed to be a mellow, low-pressure swap. Just a pair of pillowcases, maybe an add-on, if you felt like it. Just some relaxing stitching.

Uh huh. This is me we're talking about. I can complicate anything. And I mean anything. Including what was supposed to be a mellow crafting swap.

My lovely swap partner, Melyssa_Marie, had a good list of things she loved, and would be fun to stitch. What stood out to me was her adoration of Dia de los Muertos sugar skulls. Since I'd been sitting on Sublime Stitching's "Dia de los Muertos" pattern set for nearly a year, I jumped at the chance to stitch up some festive calavera-themed pillowcases:



Six skulls and four flowers. A pair of eco-friendly bamboo pillowcases. Nine different colors of floss. 64 hand-sewn sequins. And 12 cheesy-ass episodes of Xena: The Warrior Princess. That's what went into this project.

Easy!





I was actually sad to send these away, I was so proud of them. But, the thing I forget in the heat of creating for a swap is that I get something in return...and I was not disappointed when I tore into my package from Melyssa_Marie:



She stitched me a pair of lovely custom-designed pillowcases inspired by -- wait for it -- the tissue paper flowers used to decorate Dia de los Muertos altars. What's that people say about great minds thinking alike?



I truly love the color composition and the clean simplicity of the lines. So unlike my own stitching style. They're made all the more awesome by Mel having designed them herself. I am very happy indeed.

So, now I return to my swapping hiatus. I have a big project that's been put on the backburner for the swap that I want to make some headway on, and a new cross stitch quote my fingers have been itchin' to stitch. I'm hoping for a creative, stress-free summer, and hopefully this'll be the ticket.

Hand: Lucky Cat Apron

Though my Dad's Steal Your Face got delayed in delivery by the car crash, oddly enough, the crash was the reason I was able to make this sweet little Lucky Cat apron for my sister-in-law.

You see, my sis-in-law also lives in SoCal. I'd bought the Sublime Stitching "I Heart Sushi" pattern months before her birthday in December, with the intent of stitching it up before we headed down for our Xmas/Yule/New Year's holiday. Alas, in all the holiday commotion, I'd run out of time to stitch up her gift. I ended up buying her some things -- handmade and cute, true -- but I was disappointed I wasn't going to get a chance to make her this apron for another year.

Then, the crash, and I suddenly found myself with a couple weeks of "free" time when I was pretty much trapped on a couch healing up. It was the perfect time to stitch, and actually kinda helped me normalize again. Stitching adorable Japanese food and Lucky Cats will do that to you, I suppose.



She loves sushi, and used to work in a Japanese restaurant in Santa Cruz. Also, she LOVES cats, so I thought this would be a good marriage of the two.



I was able to give it to her when I went to visit SoCal a couple weeks ago, and she adored it. Oddly enough...shortly after giving it to her, both she and her boyfriend had some very good luck come their way in the form of raises and new jobs. I'm not taking any credit for their success, but y'know... a Lucky Cat is a Lucky Cat!