Jane Austen

Have you ever had a blog convo all to yourself? Maybe lying in bed trying to sleep, and its a good convo. And you think, 'when I get up I'm so blogging this.' But you wake up and all you can muster is a 'hi, I'm here. Not much to say...' It's like those dreams you never remember. You swear they were fabulous dreams/stories if only you could remember, but you've lost them forever to the black abyss. Yeah, that's kind of like my day today.

So, I watched the Jane Austen Book Club last night. The characters are so intriquing. You want to see more about their lives. Kind of like the characters in Jane Austen's books. Was Elizabeth happy after marrying Mr. Darcy? We'll never know. Although there are a few books that propose what might/could have been.

Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife (a little racy) by Linda Berdoll

A Novel of Fitzwilliam Darcy Gentlemen (there is a trilogy) by Pamela Aidan

I see that Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife also has another book to it as well:
Darcy & Elizabeth: Nights and Days at Pemberley

My good friend Kersten read 'Takes a Wife' and says they manage to make it OUT of the bedroom the 2nd half of the book so it might be worth the read. If you read it let me know.

The movie was comfortable feeling. I would love friends who you do things with often, share your lives with, who come running when your dog dies. I have a few friends like this, local friends who even babysat my dog while I had surgery. Now that's saying something, since she is a new puppy and not housetrained! lol I loved all the intimate details of the scenes. Sylvia's red front door (always wanted one), Jocelyn's lovely front porch. Made me wish for the days of lemonade sipping, book reading, visiting with neighbors and family on the porch. Days I'm never known but in my head. I need to get me one of those porches!

Most of all, the movie made me hungry to read/re-read the Jane Austen books. I've read maybe 1 or 2, but I was embarrassed when (I think it was) Bernadette said she talks about Jane Austen and people say 'Oh, I love Jane Austen. The movies are great.' That's me. I've watched the movies. It's high time I read the books. I'm starting with Emma. Anyone want to join me?

(Couple more pins that can be found in my Etsy store. Forgot to take a pic of the giveaway one. Will post in next post.)

Week of Etsy Listings

I just discovered this cool animated thing to stream pics. Let's see if it works! It's showing pics of all the things I've listed on Etsy this week. Take a look!

School Art, Sewing & FREE Brooch

School, originally uploaded by Collage Contessa.

I've had fun this weekend, have you? My artroom is almost clean (yes, don't be shocked!) And let me tell you, I hate mornings but when the pup pup got up bright and early this morning. I decided to stay up. It was so nice with everyone in bed. I made the school piece you see up there. It's a 9x12" canvas. Listed in Etsy. I also shocked my family by baking a Coffee cake. It's the 2nd thing I've baked this week and apparently I haven't realized how much I DON'T cook around here. DD said I was a cooking maniac with 2 items made this week (also made Pear Upsidedown Cake) and DH got all huffy (in jest) that I was encroaching on his territory. He said if I didn't get out of his kitchen, he was going to go in my artroom and make ATCs. I better bake more. lol

This afternoon I was pulling fabric out for a wallet I want to make for myself, and I found this scrap piece of a 1920's quilt that I have. Gosh, its gorgeous! I decided to make a couple pins to add to my totebag as well as some for the Etsy store. Do you like? Pretty vintage buttons are from grandma's button box.

Making another brooch right now. I'll post it later. Want it? Comment and tell me something you're working on (with a link), or something you like about my Etsy store. I'll draw a winner next week sometime!

Have fun arting!