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:: April 15, 2008 Announcing True Up
I know I've been scarce. It's because I've been consumed with a new project, and today I'm finally ready for the reveal. I'm thrilled to announce True Up, a blog devoted solely to fabric. All fabric, all the time. Fabric love 24-7. I got the idea last year after I lamented that I couldn't go to the fall Quilt Market to get a sneak peek at all the newest fabric lines being released. Even if I could get the time off work and take the journey with baby in tow, they wouldn't let me in because I'm not a shop owner or manufacturer or press. But wait. Wasn't Dioramarama press? Kinda? I mean, I write about fabric a lot. I thought maybe they'd accept someone with a blog about nothing but fabric. Wait. A blog -- all about fabric?! Why doesn't such a thing exist? How great would that be? I already spent so much time looking around online for new and vintage fabrics, and dreaming about my own patterns, it seemed like a job perfectly suited for me. Even though the idea came from my desire to go to Quilt Market, the project quickly became far more than a means to that end. It feels like I'm finally answering my calling. So, after months of planning and mucking around in Wordpress (to which I have switched after being a Movable Type person since the beginning of blog-time), my all-fabric, all-the-time blog is ready for the light of day. Please take a look and let me know what you think. I don't know quite what the fate of Dioramarama will be in the midst of all this, but I plan to keep it going (at the slow pace you've come to expect!) for the time being. posted by in Dioramarama News :: Comments (9) :: link :: November 11, 2007 Mix Tape #2
My copy of Mixtape #2 arrived this week, and I'm in it! Thanks to Justine for picking me out as a blogger she digs and including me in her "four x four" piece (alongside Blair, Leslie, and Christina, nice company eh?). And thanks to all the Mixtape ladies for putting together a great little crafty zine! posted by in Dioramarama News :: link :: January 15, 2007 It's a Baby!
We had the 20-week ultrasound on Friday ... it's really a baby! And, it's a boy! With all its parts where they should be and everything. Now we can get serious thinking about names. And what a great conversation topic! You can talk to anyone at length about names. That is one of the unexpected joys about pregnancy, that and how freaking comfortable maternity pants are. (Everyone talks about the horrors of maternity clothes, but the pants. They're genius. Real pants from the ankles to the hips, sweatpants the rest of the way up! And nobody has to know ... ) But, names: My favorite book so far has been Beyond Jennifer, Jason, Madison, and Montana posted by in Dioramarama News :: Comments (46) :: link :: January 10, 2007 Can you read me?
Do you subscribe to Dioramarama through Bloglines or some other feed reader? If so, and you are reading this message through your service of choice, will you comment and let me know? Since I switched servers I'm not getting my own feed through Bloglines so I'm wondering if others are having the same problem. Every flavor of feed is published at both the new and old addresses, so I don't understand why there's a problem -- anyone smarter about this than I am? UPDATE: Thanks for all the replies! At least I know it's coming through for some people. posted by in Dioramarama News :: Comments (25) :: link :: December 31, 2006 Happy New Year
Happy New Year to you! I will be switching hosts sometime this week so the the site will be down for a short while. When I come back the blog will be published to www.dioramarama.com instead of www.dioramarama.com/kmel. So if you are industrious you can change your bookmarks etc. now. UPDATE: OK, done! The feed is published to both the old and new addresses, so no need to mess with that. I also can get mail at kmel at dioramarama.com OR kim at dioramarama.com now. posted by in Dioramarama News :: Comments (2) :: link :: December 4, 2006 All of a Sudden I Think I Understand the Whole Softies Thing
Now just where have I been? Pregnant-land, that's where! Yes, I'm ready to come out now to my internet friends (though everyone I met face-to-face knew soon after I peed on the stick -- I'm no good at secrets.) I am entering the second trimester of my first pregnancy, at the pushing-"advanced-maternal-age" of 34. I have been exhausted, queasy, thirsty, unmotivated, all the usual stuff. I'm waiting for that magical second-trimester moment when everyone says all those draggy feelings lift all suddenly and magically. Well, everyone except a 8-months-pregnant teacher I know, she said "don't believe those that say it gets better, they're full of lies." Other things people have said: "Get all the furniture you ever wanted for yourself NOW." (First thing my boss said after "congratulations") Me, to students: "I'm going to have a baby. What do you think I should name it?" So yeah, apart from being excited/terrified about having a daughter or son in my life in the next 6 months or so, I'm excited (and not terrified) about joining the ranks of you craft-bloggers with kids. I am sure to need all kinds of advice and guidance and cheerleading. I may even (gasp) make a stuffed toy one of these days. posted by in Dioramarama News :: Comments (60) :: link :: July 27, 2006 Thank You Thank You Thank You
Twenty-seven people donated about $270 to the dog cause -- THANKS! I'm really touched by everyone's generosity and well-wishes, and the fact that people from as far away as Canada, Norway, Italy, and Ireland were moved to help out a couple of Texan pups. The buttons will be going out over the next couple days. Things have been very crowded and hectic with the kitchen contents, tools, boxes, and cabinets (not to mention four dogs) spread over all available surfaces in the house. Back to regular crafting content soon. posted by in Dioramarama News :: Comments (4) :: link :: July 22, 2006 Help Dogs, Get Buttons!
Some people have asked if they can help out with the two strays we took in earlier this month. I was touched and said that we could cover the cost of their spaying/neutering/vaccinations but I that I would start a little fund if anything else was wrong and they required further medical care. Turns out that they also needed de-fleaing, de-worming, and some mange-investigating. And now, the girl, who we have tentatively named Ginny, got sick yesterday -- very lethargic, and thick, gross saliva. We thought it was heat exhaustion, but she was getting worse this morning after spending last evening cuddled up with ice packs and sleeping all night in the AC. So it was back to the vet today, and he found that she was running some sort of infection, and that she may have eaten something toxic (we've racked our brains and looked around for evidence, but couldn't find anything chemical -- it could have also been plants, an insect, or a frog). After an IV and some shots, she's perking up some. She is a trooper, even at her lowest point she'd still wag her tail a bit every time she saw one of us. At this point we've spent a little over $650 on these guys! I don't want/need to recover all or even most of it, but a little help would be MUCH appreciated. I feel really weird about this, but since people asked and it has been a somewhat distressing amount of money, I wanted to provide to opportunity for contributions. So here it is!: For donations of $4 and up, I will send you one pinback button for every dollar (Paypal will ask for your shipping address). There will be a mix of my homemade 1" buttons made from vintage fabric and children's books, and even some old-school flair thrown in for good measure.
As soon as Ginny's spay-stiches come out (Monday) and she's back to normal, we'll start the adoption campaign full force. Big thanks to everyone so far for all the advice and general dog love! posted by in Dioramarama News :: Comments (10) :: link :: July 17, 2006 Bryankight.com
My husband's portfolio website is finally live and functional! It took me a long long time to make because my web designs skillz have gotten rusty over the past few years. posted by in Dioramarama News :: Comments (6) :: link :: June 27, 2006 Mystery Solved
The case of the missing comments has been solved. I had been getting a lot of spam earlier this month so I kicked my movable type spam filter sensitivity up just a little notch, then promptly forgot about it. I guess that was too much because it started grabbing EVERYTHING (even my own test comments). But wading into the Junk folder I discovered that Dioramarama has gotten over 1,000 (real) spams a day in the last week or so, and about 14,000 (!!??!) over the last month. Yeah, gotta make some changes -- even if those things don't make it to the light of day, it can't be good for the server. But finding all the lost comments there was like walking into a surprise party! Like I thought everyone forgot my birthday but TA-DA! Thanks everyone. I'll be going through the backlog and responding shortly. I hope you didn't think I was a bizznatch and not approving your comments. posted by in Dioramarama News :: Comments (3) :: link :: May 17, 2006 Anniversary
Today is the five-year anniversary of my first blog, The Excitement Machine. Please join me in raising your glass. Dioramarama is partially responsible for its state of disrepair, but hopefully I can be more prolific in both places this summer. Oh, yeah buddy, in one week I am free, having completed my first year of public school service and my internship period as a speech-language pathologist. I will soon add one more letter to the gobbeldygook that I get to put after my signature, and not only that, I get to make like a European and live the life of leisure for two and half months. Fancy lady! posted by in Dioramarama News :: Comments (12) :: link :: December 20, 2005 Catboy Revisited
Thank you so much, everyone, for the notes of sympathy. I hope I didn't inadvertently insult any cat-lady knitbloggers in my eulogy -- some of my favorite sites are by cat-lady knitbloggers! I think I'm just more of a dog-lady general-craft-blogger, is all. There was a genius episode of Home Movies in which the main character, Brendan, babysits his neighbor's cat, Alexandre. It escapes and ends up getting rabies, and they have to put it to sleep. The late great Mitch Hedberg is the voice of the Rastafarian cat funeral director. Here is the sound clip, which just says it all. (mp3, 1.2 MB) posted by in Dioramarama News :: Comments (1) :: link :: December 17, 2005 Catboy
Our sweet cat Catboy has died. He had heart failure of some kind on Thursday night. He wasn't old but he did have heart problems, so this wasn't unexpected, but still so horrible. I'm very upset this morning because I don't have enough pictures of him. In fact he crawled up on my yarn-covered table to wreak havoc while I was machine knitting a few nights ago - I called Bryan in and said "If I was one of those cat-lady knitbloggers I would take a picture of this." Why why why? Anyway. These are some good sleeping/cuddling pictures but they don't capture his real badass nature. He definitely lived fast and died young. He wrestled with dogs and people's limbs, loved the ladies (in his neutered way), went crazy with the fluttering sheets when you made the bed, ambushed birds and maybe even some squirrels, demanded early-morning feedings and outside-letting, and slept hard, usually on his back. If you said his name while he slept his tail would twitch. He was so good looking: white and gray with beautiful green eyes.
He was particularly fond of my dad (as am I). Bryan made the drawing below for me during a rough patch in grad school last year (you can click to get to bigger sizes on Flickr).
posted by in Dioramarama News :: Comments (22) :: link :: June 9, 2005 Switcheroo
If you visited during the blackout, you know that I'm just back from a server switch. In the process I had to re-install Movable Type and make new templates from almost-scratch. Then the import process didn't work, and I had to re-enter all my old entries by hand. Which means I have to do the same thing with all the old comments -- NOOOOOOO! These are the perils of being hosted for free by a generous and kind friend. But it gave me the opportunity to clean things up and change things around. I tried to get rid of all the junky junk and go lean -- I hope you like it. posted by in Dioramarama News :: Comments (1) :: link :: May 25, 2005 Back!
Hey, I'm back! The thesis is finished, a job has been found, the ceremonies have ended, and the parade of family has come and gone. And Bryan and I went to New Orleans for the (kinda) honeymoon we never had.
I put the photos up at Flickr ... of particular interest to you crafters might be the shots of the UCM Museum (pictured above) in nearby Abita Springs, home of Abita beer. The UCM Museum is what I guess you'd call a folk art environment, created by Mr. John Preble, a really nice and interesting guy who we neglected to take a picture of. The site's "about us" page describes the place better than I can: "With the help of over 50,000 found and recycled objects, Preble created his own fantastic worlds: there's a Mardi Gras parade, a New Orleans jazz funeral, a rhythm and blues dance hall, a haunted Southern plantation, and much more! The museum was built with concrete, glass, wood, water, vision, and invention. Bring a sense of humor and an open mind." oh and ... "The UCM Museum is pronounced you-see-em-mu-se-um. For those who insist the UCM letters have meaning - go with "Unusual Collections and Mini-town."
On the making things front: I haven't been able to start anything, but I definitely need to finish the garden gnome that I started at the Austin Glitterati's Gnome Gnight a month or so ago:
I am also working on a couple of secret projects that will be gifts, so more on those later. I joined Back-Tack and sent out my materials after much consternation (maybe it was first-time swap jitters). I haven't received the stuff from my person yet, but I have heard from her and have been looking through the participants sites to figure out who it is (not much luck, but good discoveries along the way.) Otherwise, it's been all about acquisitions:
And I think that brings it all up to date. Now, who wants to do some swapping? posted by in Dioramarama News :: link :: April 8, 2005 Slow on the Uptake
Posting has been especially sparse and I just wanted to warn my reader that I don't expect it to pick up for another month or so. See, I have to buckle down and finish my master's thesis, which is due way too soon, and simultaneously I have to find a job. (And somehow, every time you have to write a cover letter and send out a resume, it sucks up most of the day.) When all this is over, I want a) to find out how one gets in on all the jealousy-inducing swaps that are going on between seemingly every craft or knitting weblogger except me, b) get a larger-scale vintage fabric mail swap going. Maybe I'll post in a fit of procrastination, but if not, see you in mid-May! posted by in Dioramarama News :: link :: August 25, 2004 Travel
I'm back from vacation in the mighty Pacific Northwest. I took detours to the sprawling and spectacular Fabric Depot in Portland and the small but dreamy Stitches in Seattle. Don't tell me if I missed any other major fabric stores; I don't want to know!
Nothing else craft-related about the trip, except that I was struck by how much the landscape looks like quilts from 35,000 feet. This is not my original idea, of course, but it took cruising altitude for it all to get inspired for my own projects. Oh, and I brought knitting AND embroidery needles in my carry-on luggage with no problem. But the planes were too cramped, not conducive to embroidering! posted by in Dioramarama News :: link :: January 15, 2004 Welcome
I think this site is about ready to see the light of the world. Welcome! Over the past year I've gotten deep into sewing (or more accurately, fabric collecting), and have recently picked up embroidery and resurrected my knitting skillz. I have more of a love-hate reationship with house and garden things: I'll get inspired and have a burst of activity, but there are long, neglectful stretches in between them. All of these diversions come with their share of informative and inspiring web resources, so I started this site in order to have a centralized place to organize and share the links. I've also been enjoying people's knitting and sewing weblogs (though there seem to be far fewer of the latter) and wanted to jump into the fray to share my own projects and ideas as well. Thanks for visiting. posted by in Dioramarama News :: link
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. Actually I have an older edition, pre-Madison and Montana. I like it because it has lots of themed lists and opinionated essays rather than just being a big dictionary. The authors point out the perils of weird spellings, and it made me rethink top-20 names, since kids usually love having a common name. It's hard ... we want a name that is not too popular, unique but not bizarre, etc. I used to love all the vintage-y grandma and grandpa names, but now they're everywhere. But then, you just have to find something a name that you love, screw everything else. We just want a name that is suitably awesome. If you're a parent, how did you choose your kids' names? Did it take you forever or did you know all along? 
