“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.”-Confucius
“Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers. It may not be difficult to store up in the mind a vast quantity of facts within a comparatively short time, but the ability to form judgments requires the severe discipline of hard work and the tempering heat of experience and maturity.”-Calvin Coolidge
“We should not judge people by their peak of excellence; but by the distance they have traveled from the point where they started.”-Henry Ward Beecher
“The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is a knowledge of our own ignorance.”-Benjamin Franklin
“Logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end.”- Leonard Nimoy
“Because characters are your creations, you are the one who ultimately gets to decide their fate.”-Alexandra Adornetto
“I suppose all fictional characters, especially in adventure or heroic fiction, at the end of the day are our dreams about ourselves. And sometimes they can be really revealing.”-Alan Moore
“One of the things that writing has taught me is that fiction has a life of its own. Fictional places are sometimes more real than the view from our bedroom window. Fictional people can sometimes become as close to us as our loved ones.”-Joanne Harris
“It is perhaps both a blessing and a curse that fictional worlds spring into my mind nearly fully formed and it takes quite a while to sift through everything to find the story.”-Erin Morgenstern
“I’m always depressed when a book ends, because those are my friends for however long the book takes to write. Since I spend so many hours with these fictional people, I sometimes see them more than my real friends. And then they’re gone, and we’ll never be together like that again.”-Seanan McGuire
“It’s easy to feel like you don’t have any control over yourself or your life or your body as a teen – everything is changing so fast, and a lot of it feels so outside of your power. I think that’s why a lot of teens form really strong attachments to fictional characters or celebrities, draw their own characters or write themselves into fan fiction.”-Noelle Stevenson
“Gamers even develop some unusual emotional “superpowers.” Perhaps the most surprising power has to do with dreaming. People who frequently play first-person games (which graphically show you the game world from the point of view of the hero, like Minecraft, Halo, and Portal) develop two rather amazing skills: They can halt nightmares in their tracks, controlling themselves in their dreams the way they control a character in a video game.”― Jane McGonigal, SuperBetter: A Revolutionary Approach to Getting Stronger, Happier, Braver and More Resilient–Powered by the Science of Games
“Sam felt a peacefulness come over him when he was playing Donkey Kong in his grandparents’ pizza parlor. When he could time the little Japanese Italian plumber’s jumps and ascend the staircases at the right pace, it felt as if the universe was capable of being ordered. It felt as if it were possible to achieve a perfect timing. It felt like synchronicity.”― Gabrielle Zevin, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
“Games were not just a diversion, I realized. Games could make you feel. If great literature could would its power through nothing but black squiggles on a page, how much more could be done with movement, sound, and color?”― Sid Meier, Sid Meier’s Memoir!: A Life in Computer Games
“The gun is mightier than the pen, was our true opinion, and the RPG is mightier still.”― Lydia Millet, Mermaids in Paradise
“By shifting your focus to the princess and treating your life’s challenges like video games, you can trick your brain and actually learn more and see more success.”-Mark Rober
I did some sewing, of course, for my Disney girl’s trip and thought I should share it! The first three are embroideries that I was playing around with with a possible intention to making something for the trip. They didn’t get made into anything, but they are Disney themed and pretty to look at. The first one is, of course, Cinderella’s Carriage.
The second one is the Beast’s rose. I accidently put part of the pink where the golden lines was supposed to go. I think it still looks good though.
This third one is Ariel, but the colors are slightly off from what I wanted them to be. I really liked the background fabric though and wanted to keep the colors matching that. I will maybe redo it. K said she liked it, so perhaps she will get something made it with. I hadn’t cut the extra threads yet in the picture.
I made this shirt for Disney bounding, which is where you dress up themed as a character without actually being dressed in a character costume. I went as Rapunzel, because, of course I did. 🙂 I braided my hair and put flowers all down my braid. The purple skort in the picture below has pockets and matched the purple in the shirt perfectly. I also had a sun necklace and a set of frying pan earrings. In the movie, which is where these images on the shirt are from, Rapunzel wields a frying pan several times to great effect. It was the day it rained so in the next picture, I have my cozy Disney hoodie I bought so I wouldn’t freeze. We kept saying we didn’t intend to bring the cold winter weather from home with us to Florida.
I made the purple skort by combining two separate patterns. I used my favorite skort pattern and then added pockets from a gathered skort pattern I had. It turned out super cute, although I made have to redo the waist as it is a little loose.
I made this rocket shirt on a whim and was excited to wear it to Epcot. It’s very comfy and cute! I liked getting to wear something science themed there. I also was excited to wear something I made on the day we went to the Festival of the Arts! It seemed like it fit with the theme as well. Both the Rapunzel tee and the rocket tee are from Peek a boo Patterns, but I think they may have retired the pattern, as I can’t find it on their website to purchase any more.
I also made another skort that was accidently reminiscent of Jasmine or Merida. It was a darker teal with gold dots on it. I liked it and it was made out of athletic material (as was the purple) so it kept me nice and cool. I don’t have a good picture of it, unfortunately. It’s super cute though! It’s a little gathered, so it looks like I’m wearing a cute gathered skirt, but it’s got the shorts and the pockets too.
It was fun to have an almost completely handmade wardrobe to wear on the trip and I think I’m getting my sewing mojo back. I hope you enjoyed hearing about them!
“I read somewhere once that souls were like flowers,’ said Priscilla. ‘Then your soul is a golden narcissus,’ said Anne, ‘and Diana’s is like a red, red rose. Jane’s is an apple blossom, pink and wholesome and sweet.’ ‘And your own is a white violet, with purple streaks in its heart,’ finished Priscilla.” ― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Avonlea
“I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine.” ― William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
“I’m talking about the language of flowers. It’s from the Victorian era, like your name. If a man gave a young lady a bouquet of flowers, she would race home and try to decode it like a secret message. Red roses mean love; yellow roses infidelity. So a man would have to choose his flowers carefully.” ― Vanessa Diffenbaugh, The Language of Flowers
“When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower.” ― Alexander Den Heijer
I have a fascinating exhibit to show you today from our out East Trip. You may get sick of seeing things from out there eventually, but I hope not! The trip was a bright spot in a really awful time of change in our lives. (I was in the process of managing a difficult time at work.) I haven’t felt like much myself for a while, but am slowly getting back there, so have a back log to catch you up on.
Today’s post is about the Blaschka’s Glass Flowers that are part of the permanent collection in the Harvard Natural History Museum. The website is here for more info or for a virtual tour. https://hmnh.harvard.edu/glass-flowers
Made from glass as teaching aids, the flowers were made by a Czech father and son team- Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, over 50 years from 1886-1936. They produced 4,300 glass models representing 780 plant species. They created special processes to capture the textures, looks, and parts of a plant. There were a lot more models than I could take pictures of and some of them did have a glare from the lights, so I was only able to grab a few pictures, but I wanted to share them with you.
The Blascka’s were frustrated with the lack of teaching materials for botanists and others trying to learn about the natural world and so decided they were going to make their own. If you saw some of these just out in the wild, you would honestly think they were real flowers. They were incredibly detailed.
I’m always in awe of what artisans can do and this exhibit was no exception. The craftsmanship and care that was taken with these plant artifacts is stunning. Part of the exhibit also included information about what it takes to be a conservator for exhibits like these, restoration, and other neat behind the scenes things. The exhibit went through a renovation in 2016 and it looks gorgeous. If you get the chance, I would highly recommend the Harvard set of museums. If you buy a ticket to the Natural History Museum, you get admission to four other smaller museums for the day as well. It’s definitely worth the price! I’ll leave you with one last picture to enjoy as inspiration for your trip.
These are all from the National Quilt and Sewing Expo. I always take a million pictures, but there’s so many cool quilts! These were all Art Deco style!
