Net absence

Hi, it's me! My son, Eben, arrived safely last week from the UK and we travelled back down to Osa with him on Wednesday. When we arrived home, I discovered that the cable on my Mac is bust. Actually, there was smoke coming out of it when I plugged it in. Typical! We were at an Apple store the day before we travelled home, and now we're a million miles from civilization. We have to head back to San Jose next week, so I'll buy a new cable then. In the meantime, I am borrowing Reinaldo's Macbook (which I hate!) and don't want to download my recent images to his computer, so I'll have to wait until mine is back on it's feet again (the images in this post are his!)

Nilo's first time catching a juvenile Jesus Christ (Basilisk) lizard that was in the house earlier this week. He was just thrilled!

Although they have no teeth, these critters have hardened jaws and will give you a decent nip! I once saw an adult Basilisk attack a hunting dog!

I've been super busy, this week I had a surprise meeting, and all kinds of big things have been happening in our small lives.

How about you?

I have alot of catching up to do on emails and blog posts, etc. But just dropped in to say hello and I hope everyone is well.

P. S. Thanks for your recent comments. You can contact me at: cvbainbridge@gmail.com

Photoshopping and the False Tile

Nilo has been off school for the past couple of days. He's had a throat infection. While he's been home, he's been drawing and drawing and coloring in, and it's been great fun! I've also been working on my design ideas. But since I can't show you any of that just now, I'm going to be posting his stuff instead, which is, in anycase, pretty inspiring stuff I believe. But then, I would ;}

First of all some Photoshop drawings. Please note that I have his permission to publish his work here, so long as I credit him and use his titles.























"Dangerous Love" by Nilo Francisco Aguilar Bainbridge.























"Watch out in the sea (the 3 urchins)" by Nilo Francisco Aguilar Bainbridge.

Now for some fibre tip work...


















"The False Tile" by Nilo Francisco Aguilar Bainbridge.

I think I'm going to commission him to stencil the kitchen wall :)

I have a friend coming over in the morning. She just lives in town but I haven't seen her for nearly a year, because we're both always so busy.

Because I've been otherwise occupied, and because our power was off all day today, I am behind on reading everybody else's posts. But I will catch up!!!

P.S. For those of you who speak - or at least understand - Spanish, here's a short Channel 11 report, which aired last week, featuring Reinaldo commenting on the gorgeous endemic plant Osa pulchra (Rubiaceae - the coffee family)

Packages

Reinaldo just come home from town with two packages for me.

One from my friend Angela, who used to live here in Osa, but who has now embarked upon a different journey, and is studying to be a vet in Winsconsin. And she's going to be a great vet! She sends me alum, soda ash, urea, and Yogi teas. Better not confuse them! Thanks Angela. This is going to be very helpful in the course of the next few weeks.

P.S. Good job we didn't get pulled aside for suspected traffiking... this being Latin America and all ;}


















A package to dye for from Angela Braun ;]

The second package comes from our blog friend Suzanna Klein. A lovely selection of patchworking cloths, threads, buttons, a tape measure, quilting needles, one of her gorgeous embroidered bees which you can see more of here, one of her own lovely cards and a couple of pieces of her shibori. She is learning online from shibori goddess Glennis Dolce. Thank you so much for your generosity, Suzanna. These are lovely gifts and will be greatly enjoyed. I'm amazed just how quickly this arrived!


















Sewing supplies donated to A Common Thread from Suzanna Klein.

Now here's a thing...

I've been up for a few hours and am doing stuff, but it's still fairly early here and I haven't checked anybody's new posts yet. I just wanted to show you this, which I came across when checking through Nilo's workbooks last night. He is doing the senses right now (tedious stuff, as he knew this like five years ago!) and the teacher had written Draw two things that would make a sound. And he's drawn one. And it's divine. And here it is.
















Any ideas?... Answers on the back of a post card! ;]

Peek-a-boo

Thanks to everyone who left a comment on yesterday's post. I'm curious to discover if any of you know of a way to get blogger to allow me to respond to a comment, directly following the comment itself. Or is that too advanced for blogger? That's a problem, no?

If you haven't already been over to Jude Hill's this morning, Go there next! She has some fabulous images posted today! I really love this. Guess it's one of those times when, without knowing how or why, ideas collide in the ether. Why do I say that?... Here's a peek at the start of one of my new lines for the B&H autumn/winter collection, which will be available in September. Or... maybe late August to you *:9























A touch of South America... Sorry folks, but this is all you're getting right now ;}

Check out Sandi Manning's "Gorgeous Girls" here! Go Sandi!!! Beautiful sisters... beautiful stitches! You weren't a finalist.. but you're still a winner! :)

Blossom

I'm back home. I've been busy all morning on an idea for the Autumn/Winter collection. It's a secret. All I can tell you is that I have fallen in love with cotton jersey! We're going to go with traditional fashion seasons, at least to start with, and we're going to jump forward, because it's going to take us several months to make a small collection saleable by September. It's also going to take a while to figure out how to incorporate my ideas about how to get local women involved in textiles.

Nilo and I had fun in San Isidro over the weekend. Shopping for fabrics and thread...























Here's a snapshot of one of the best thrift bins in Costa Rica! I should point out that teh lady in teh yellow shirt on the left is actually in the bin. I always find something in here. This time, I found a whole bunch of different cotton based fabrics, which will be great for dying when Megan arrives. We have treated ourselves to a Color Collection dye kit from Earthues.


















Nilo loves digging in the Lycra bins. There's always a tonne of ghastly printed fabrics in there! Great fro making lizards and stuff :)


Shopping for Bionicles...























Nilo, in our hotel room, wearing his latest creation.

Window shopping...























A cute little dress with a pretty embroidered motif (probably machine embroidered!).

And it's a lovely time of year. And nothing beats Cherry blossom... except for Tababuia rosea (Bignoniaceae) that is! A native tree that leaves me speechless!

Leaving my island

I am leaving my island shortly, heading north to a... town! I'll probably be back at the weekend. Do you need anything?

I just wanted to share with you, before I go, something that Eliza has just said to me.
She says;
"Cada cabeza es un mundo."
- literally translated -
"Every head is a world."

I've never heard that expression before,
but I really like it!
Have a great day :)