The New Love of My Life

I am in LOVE. Swoooon.  Birds singing, flowers bloomin’, a spring in my step and all that mushy shit.

I would like to introduce you to my (new to me) Yashica 124.

Yashica Mat 124 | Bittersweet Susie

I love twin reflex cameras, it could be my favorite style to shoot with – it certainly is a conversation piece. Most the time people say their fathers/grandfathers had one just like it! I love that – it’s always a nice memory for people. I need to be more brave about seizing that moment to take their portrait.

A few shots from this little beauty:

Record Store Day 2013 – Somewhere, Los Angeles CA

Cafe 50′s – Santa Monica, CA

Air Force One – Reagan Library

It is not without its quirks though. It completely CHOMPED a roll of film that I thought I was done with (user error in loading perhaps?) and it is not the FASTEST lens –  so low light situations are not easy.  Still…sigh…love.

Annette

1942 – 2013

Dearest Annette,

Thank You.  Thank you for being sunny, bright, sweet, dear, funny, and classy.  We will never forget you.

Some of my favorite Annette moments:

Thread Frenzy / WIP

I am not dead, it just FEELS like it.  With some form or another of SICK since Christmas I have not been up for much in the way of crafts or blogs (or leaving the house or work or cleaning or anything I should be doing).  I am getting BORED out of my mind and with this latest round of Bronchitis I have had JUST ABOUT ENOUGH! So out comes the thread and back into the abyss of stitch I go.

I made a rather LARGE order of DMC thread that I am now winding onto the never-ending bobbins of doom.  This is my organizational tool of choice.  I also make sure to put the number on there (cut and taped from the DMC packaging just as Mom taught me) and put into a plastic case.  I previously had them organized by number which is essential if you are making complicated patterns purchased by other people but since I am making my own the next step is going to be reorganizing them by color. It’s like reorganizing your record collection in different ways – I do that too!

See – I need ALL THE THREADS!

I have worked on my DERP piece FOREVER! I lose interest and then I put them away. There was something bothering me about the colors I picked. The top DERP didn’t work.  It was this light dirt teal and now that I see it stitched with the others I DID NOT LIKE IT. I, at the time, did not have a better option. Since I ordered almost EVERY COLOR DMC MAKES I have already spotted a more worthy candidate.

The 827 is a better match than the 3761 that I was using.  So now I get to RIP it out. This is a satisfying sadness, if that makes any sense. It also takes twice as long to rip out my work than it did for me to put it in.

I use a seam ripper, and I go slow to be sure not to grab and rip the cross stitch fabric underneath. Tear, shred, pull, rip.

Coming soon – finished piece and a pattern, maybe.  If you are lucky.