Photo a Week Challenge: Footwear

Ah! Footwear!
Aside from my Fluevog obsession (subject of 3 A-Z Challenges – 2017, 2018, 2019), I MADE a pair of “basic” pumps from scratch in a workshop with Chris Francis at Otis College of Art and Design in June, 2017. It was a week of hard work!
(photos in reverse order)

To see the process, click here

Joining in with
Nancy Merrill Photography’s weekly challenge. Check out her post here.

[Later] I forgot to mention, these are THE most uncomfortable shoes. I knew, going in, the heels were not “my style”. But the shoes themselves? OMG. I probably used too much glue on them. The right shoe is still on the last (the form used to build the shoe, it’s turquiose in the photos). Where it shall remain, as a sculptural object!

Focus

Have you ever run out of storage space while taking pictures with your iPhone?

Dreamy Rothko-like images appear and freeze the camera.

Is it possible to deliberately take a photo like that on a smart phone?
Or are the devices too smart, assuming we always want things in focus.

photo by Severo

This post inspired by The Daily Post’s weekly Photo Challenge.
This week’s theme is Focus

A Good Match

Here I am, matching the kitchen floor:

Why am I on the floor taking selfies?

It’s all the fault of Colors of the Day, a fun Instagram/Facebook fashion challenge.
Every M-F, Mercedes posts a two swatch combo of colors or a color and a print  on Instagram (@COTDstyle) and in her Facebook COTD Style Group. The combos are chosen by her husband Andy or on Tuesdays by a special guest COTDstyle takeover (I had the honor on 2/7/17).

My outfit was inspired by the prompt:

I had just purchased the perfect 70’s poncho from Poshmark (an online resale site).

Here’s the whole look:

Is it a good match?

If you enjoyed reading about my sartorial antics, consider perusing SpyGirl, my fashion blog.
I mix and match with abandon there!

This post inspired by The Daily Post’s weekly Photo Challenge.
This week’s theme is A Good Match

Repurposed

This is a trick that I learned from Jean, who writes Dross Into Gold.
Repurpose your uncomfortable (ie too tight) or moth-eaten sweaters into cowls and armlettes!

Here’s how (the quick, non-sewing method for impatient people):
Lay your sweater on a flat surface and cut the arms and body crosswise at the underarm.

Voilà!
My next victim experiment will be on a cardigan. I’ll link to a photo if when it happens.

This post inspired by The Daily Post’s weekly Photo Challenge.
This week’s theme is Repurpose.

#June1-30Challenge Day 22: Fashion Dos

Day 22 Bill of Rights
June 22, 1944. U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt signed the “GI Bill of Rights” to provide broad benefits for veterans of the war.
We’ve heard of the “Voters’ Bill of Rights”, “Patients’ Bill of Rights”, and “The Bill of Rights” made up of the first ten amendments to the Constitution.
Today you get write your own Bill of Rights. What “Rights” do you want to award to yourself or your family?

Over-40 Fashion Bill of Rights

Dress for yourself.

“Age-appropriate” is a guideline for children.

Peer pressure is a thing of the past.

If it brings you joy, wear it.

Freedom from [insert fruit here] body shape dilemmas.

Flaunt your favorite parts!

Minimal, maximal, or in-between — your choice.

Rules? Who wrote them anyway?

Invisibility is for panty lines, not humans.

Leopard is a neutral.

Pao, Melanie, me in Vancouver, BC last July at the 40+ Blogger Meetup

Are you an over-40 blogger and fond of fashion?
I’ll be hosting a meetup in Santa Monica, CA — Dec 2 – 4.
More details over on SpyGirl, my Fashion Blog.

 

 

#June1-30Challenge Day 17: Haiku

Day 17 Seventeen Syllables
June 17, 1971.  The Okinawa Reversion Agreement was signed. This agreement between the United States and Japan returned control of Okinawa to Japan.
A Haiku is a traditional Japanese form of poetry. It is three lines: the first and third lines have five syllables each and the second line has seven syllables for a total of seventeen syllables. They are often about nature.
Write a Haiku. Please include a picture that illustrates your poem.

Fancy leopard bra
Midlife undercover treat
No longer useful

#June1-30Challenge Day 14:

Day 14 Fourteen Line Poem
June 14, 1578. Fourteen-year-old William Shakespeare wrote his first sonnet.
Actually, I made that up. Shakespeare really was 14 in 1578, and he did write sonnets. But no one knows when he wrote his first sonnet. Today may be the day you write your first sonnet, though.
Write a poem of at least fourteen lines. You may want to try writing a sonnet, but any fourteen line poem will do.

In Praise of Scarves

Scarves how I love thee, in so many ways!
Pink, green, and purple elephant square, souvenir of my youth.
Mom’s Hermes keepsake, Paris 195?
Fiorucci dot, staple of my Otis student years.
Hand dyed, hand loomed ikat, you have a mate in Providence.
3.1 Phillip Lim BOOM! Bigger than imagined, now a tunic.
Oaxaca rebozo, the señora wrapped my cabeza traditional style.
Gold and wine paisley, from Kim, from India.
Hand painted silk from Mercedes — I miss you, girl.
Dotted Maiwa, I hear the siren call of Vancouver, BC.
Mod dot by Bill Blass, best go-to graphic square.
Moschino Olive Oyl, smaller than I dreamed, big ideas planned.
Bella’s striped rainbow, gone missing all winter, recently found.
Scarves, you always fit, no matter what my size.

(Note: first two scarves are missing from the photo — couldn’t locate)

#June1-30Challenge Day 10: 10 Top Posts

Day 10 A Toast to Ten Bloggers
June 10, 1935. Dr. Robert Smith (Dr. Bob) takes his last drink and Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in Akron, Ohio, by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob.
Although Bill and Dr. Bob quit drinking alcohol, we can still raise a toast to those who have done a great job!
Share a link to ten blogs you enjoy. Tell us why you think they deserve a toast! You may want to try viewing those blogs in your browser and using the “Press This” feature.
[I cannot limit myself to 10. Here is my “Blog Love” list from SpyGirl, my Fashion Blog].
I WILL give two shoutouts: to Kathleen, who is hosting this challenge, and Tami, who turned me on to it.
Alternative: Share links to the top ten posts on your blog from last year according to your stats. Include an excerpt from each. Or share your favorite ten posts since starting your blog.

My ten most popular posts on Instagram for the last month.

According to the Likemeter App —  not sure of the time frame.

Here are links to each:
33 Me and birthday cake 6/3
29 #commutehome Downtown LA, waterlogue 4/14 [April??]
28 Mr Lou (bliss) 6/4
28 Duck 6/3
27 #selfiesketch Birthday Suit 6/3
25 Freesia waterlogue 3/26 [really? March?]
25 Mr Lou 4/17
24 Mr Lou (asleep) 5/28
23 Pantones 4/26
23 Birthday cake 6/3

I’m sure I have older posts that have snagged more <3s
[Later, after looking for the images]
Yes, the metrics are bad.
Sigh — can’t trust that app!

Here are my real Top Ten for the last month, found manually on Instagram
(which I should have done in the first place).

Analysis: the Likemeter metrics don’t include video.
Even so, three images from June-May were overlooked. Why?
Links:
51 Dancing Bergamot 5/21
37 Fluevogs 5/15
36 Lunch break 5/31
33 Me and birthday cake 6/3
30 Bergamot 5/21
28 Mr Lou (bliss) 6/4
28 Duck 6/3
27 #selfiesketch Birthday Suit 6/3
27 #selfiesketch 6/1
27 #dailytruck 6/1

#June1-30Challenge Day 9: Whole 9 Yards

Day 9 Go the Whole Nine Yards
June 9, 1834. William Carey died. He is considered the Father of Modern Missions. He spent forty-one years as a Christian missionary to India without ever taking a furlough. Being a missionary in India in the early nineteenth century was not easy!
To go the whole nine yards means “to continue doing something dangerous or difficult until it is finished”. William Carey went the whole nine yards.
When have you gone the whole nine yards? Write about it.
Or write a story of someone in a dangerous or difficult situation and how they go the whole nine yards.

The Red Coat

I designed, draped, and sewed this coat my senior year at Otis College of Art and Design.
It was for a project mentored by David Hayes.
The hem is NINE YARDS long!
If I remember correctly, I did hand sewing at least three times on that hem, maybe four.
(Basting hem tape to coat, stitching coat fabric to hem tape, stitching lining hem to coat).

Here is a link to a tiny video of me twirling in it.

And here is my design illustration from 2/1987:

Obtaining my BFA at Otis was one of the most difficult things I’ve done.
No regrets.

 

#June1-30Challenge Day 7: 7 Days Off

Day 7: Seven Days Off
June 7, 1982. Priscilla Presley opened Graceland to the public.
Many Elvis fans have taken vacations to Memphis just so they can tour Graceland.
[I stood outside the gates December 81 and toured it in 1995]
Where would you like to visit on your next vacation? What would you do with seven days off? What is your idea of a perfect week-long vacation?
Alternatively, write about a vacation you took in the past.

I am taking a 7 day vacation in a couple of weeks.
Here is what I have planned so far:
1) Arrive Boston from LAX. Take bus to Providence. Stay with Patucci and Mark.
2) See Todd Oldham exhibition at the RISD Museum

3) Catch ferry to Hamptons, see The Smithereens in Amagansett, overnight in Newark.
4) Into NYC to see Manus x Machina at the Met, then Amtrak to Utica to Mom’s
5) Family stuff
6) Ditto
7) Depart Syracuse to LAX