Crazy Quilt SpyGirl September Tour Dates: Indianapolis, Alexandria, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Rapid City, Wichita

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My Crazy Quilt sketchbook continues its journey around the country.
Ruth and I caught the Mobile Library when it stopped in LA earlier this month.

Find my sketchbook filed under Anne M Bray.

Here are the scheduled locations and dates for September.
Check the tour page for up to date information!

September 3- 4
Indianapolis, IN @ Indianapolis Art Center
September 3- 4 | 2:00 - 8:00pm

September 7- 8
Alexandria, VA @ Torpedo Factory Art Center
September 7- 8 | 12:00 - 6:00pm

September 18
Milwaukee, WI @ Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design
September 18 | 2:00 - 8:00pm

September 20
Minneapolis, MN @ Light Grey
September 20 | 2:00 - 8:00pm

September 23
Rapid City, SD @ Dahl Art Center/Rapid City Public Library
September 23 | 2:00 - 8:00pm

September 26-27
Wichita, KS @ Ulrich Museum
September 26 | 12:00 - 6:00pm
September 27 | 6:00 - 9:30pm

September 29
Santa Fe, NM @ Santa Fe Art Institue/SFUAD
September 29 |

52 Pick-me-up: 80's

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It's 80's week on 52 Pick-me-up. I seem to be stuck in Stripes week still -- I guess a vacation will do that!

Digital Catwalk: Val Does Stripes

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Val of Late Blooming Sparkle

52 Pick-me-up: Yikes! Stripes!

Stripes, how I love them! (Let me show you the ways!)

I've had this navy/white rayon stripe fabric for ages and decided it was time to transform it into a tunic, to have something new to wear on my latest trip. I wasn't sure which way to sew it up, or perhaps have it go both horizontal + vertical, so I sketched it and mocked up my options in Photoshop:

Keep an eye on my Instagram feed to see which version I sewed!
Guess what didn't happen! Do you have a favorite?

It's Stripe Week on 52 Pick-me-up. Did you pack something striped on your latest getaway? Do share!





Note: I'm currently on vacation. Through the magic of post scheduling, this will go live when I probably can't even get mobile service! Responses to your comments and link ups will be delayed.

The Disco Elevator

We spend tonight in Boston. 

We get a kick out of our hotel's elevator!

Party on!

Linking up with Patti's Visible Monday http://notdeadyetstyle.blogspot.com/

[can't link properly on my mobile grrrr]

52 Pick-me-up: Triple Play

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Your mission this week, if you choose to accept it:

Wear the same garment 3 ways during the week. Will anyone notice? - See more at: http://spygirl-amb.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_19.html#sthash.7FHKj5E7.dpuf

Wear the same garment 3 ways during the week. Will anyone notice?
Ha! Will anyone else try this?

The easy solution would be to deploy a black garment. Instead, I picked a bright printed dress!
My photos were all taken at the office.

I was especially happy with look #3.
Did any co-workers make remarks? No. They remained mute.

Note: You get extra time for this one -- TWO WEEKS!

Melanie does Tutti Frutti

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Melanie of Bag and a Beret

Cole + Parker Party Socks

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Here I am, all set to party.
Getting to the party was a whole different thing. I'll just say that the 91 Freeway is no cakewalk.

I'm wearing my new Cole + Parker socks, which were my "perk" for contributing to their IndieGogo campaign.

Here is a little bit about Cole + Parker, lifted from their website:
"While standing on the shoulders of Blake Mycoskie of Tom’s Shoes we had an epiphany and came up with a sustainable extension to the “1 for 1″ Business Model. We call this the “1 for Many” Business Model.
Sale proceeds [20%] are loaned through our partner Kiva to fund entrepreneurs in the developing world. Once a loan is payed back we use those funds to fund another entrepreneur thus creating a revolving loan effect. Micro finance has proven to help sustain communities in a dignified way. An amazing 99% of all loans through Kiva are repaid. Our goal is to support as many entrepreneurs around the world as possible." [source]

IndieGogo introduced me to Cole + Parker, and I'm glad they did! You know how I love crazy socks!

Sauntering on over to Patti's Visible Monday. Join me?

Gina, Goddess of Fruit

It's fruit week here at SpyGirl HQ.
Meet Gina, who worked the Two Point Oh 4th Picnic last month wearing a fun fruit headpiece:

Gina blogs at G McFinch

Have you worn any fruit on your head this week? Do share!

Digital Catwalk: Vix Is the 70s

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Vix of Vintage Vixen

52 Pick-me-up : Tutti Frutti

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This week's 52 Pick-me-up directive is: Fruit salad: peach/orange/lemon/lime

As you can see, I went for the citrus fruits:

Choose any fruits! Go bananas!
Extra credit for actual fruit motifs deployed in your outfit.
New or old, any post is fine for the linkup below.

A Little House Cleaning 1) Blogger plus Disqus plus Google+ 2) The Referrer Bots

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We interrupt our usual Tuesday programming to bring you this public service announcement:
Google+ and Disqus don't play nice! 

I found this out the hard way. It wasn't until this morning, after a day of locked comments, that I found this on the
Google+ Comments FAQ page:
"What happens to my existing comments when I enable Google+ Comments?
If you use Blogger’s commenting platform, existing Blogger comments will stay on your blog, and you’ll continue to have the option to delete or mark them as spam. If you use a third-party commenting system, your comments might not be retained when you enable Google+ Comments." [my italics]

Gee, thanks for letting me know when I originally checked the box, G+. Yeah, I really want to lose all my comments for the last year.

I know you'd much rather see our 70's Pick-me-up girl, Vix,
vs reading my rants about things.
She'll bloom in full color on Thursday, I promise!

My other words of warning concern unusual spikes in your page views due to referrer shenanigans. Have you noticed that a random post has become wildly popular? It's flattering, yes, until you look at your stats and see that the views come from some strange sounding URL that you've never heard of. DON"T CLICK ON IT -- no matter how tempting! Sometimes these URLs will link to porn sites (eep!) or worse, contain malware which can infect who knows what in your blog or system.

My latest tormentor is r-e-f-e-r-e-r (dot) com. They have invaded ALL my blogs.
Here are some screenshots from my On the EDGE blog, where the spikes are very obvious:

note: this blog was started 1/7/13, Blogger starts the stats from the date I first started blogging

I did a Google search yesterday and from an Etsy discussion, found this link for an informative Zioli post. In a short video, Matt Cutts from Google explains what exactly is going on. The most important take-away from all this is: DON'T CLICK on anything suspicious!

+Arash Mazinani +Heather Fonseca and I will be discussing Google+ in a Google Hangout next Sunday at 10am PDT.
Are any of you Google+ mavens out there? Maybe you'd like to join us?

Almost Famous -- On Tour with The Smithereens

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The Smithereens had a weekend tour of California -- San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Juan Capistrano.
I tagged along for part of it.

Groupie in the Green Room

Sound check in the Great American Music Hall

The Great American Music Hall was originally a bordello -- a very large bordello!
The interior has been nicely restored in all its Victorian splendor.

Outside the Green Room with JK

The meet and greet after the show

The next day was a 6am Lobby Call for our flight to LA.

Fans get Pat's autograph at LAX

I opted out of an instore appearance at Guitar Center and just went to the gig in Pershing Square.

Linking up with Patti's Visible Monday. Click on over to see everyone!

Ladies of the Canyon -- Gypsy Junkies

If I were going to a music festival and wanted to look cool, I'd grab something from Gypsy Junkies (oh yeah, and if I weighed what I did in my twenties - haha). I was just a little bit too young to go to Woodstock. I was even a little too young to get into the R-rated original film, released in 1970, but that didn't stop Shawn and me from lying about our birth dates to get in. I wanted to be a hippie so badly!
Anyway, Gypsy Junkies will fulfill any sartorial hippie fantasies you might be harboring. Some of these items that I sketched back in April don't seem to be in the ASOS Marketplace LAFC Le Shoppe. [Actually, NONE are there now! The listings expired!] If you've worked up a serious jones for one of these crazy tops, check Gypsy Junkies' website, maybe you can locate the items there.

sketch here

sketch here