Doll

the bigger view-

If you go to this photo in my flickr stream, you can click on all sizes and look at it REALLY BIG!

Last Friday, my Boston Etsy street team- Boston Handmade, had a meet-up with Maria Thomas, the new CEO of Etsy.

Here is my photo of the event-

There are much better photos and a great recap here on the BH blog. It was so great to meet her- we all came away feeling that Etsy is heading in the right direction with a thoughtful and intellegent leader.

And there is more-

You know I love blogging. I’ve been doing it for 5 years now and it feeds something in me. There are lots of reasons to blog and lots of great things that come as a result… but I have to admit- presents in the mail can not be beat! What is better then getting an email saying “I found something I knew you would love” from someone you have never met in real life (see related story here!). This came in the mail for me last week-

Thanks Mary! You were right- I love it all!

There are various side benefits to scheduling a workshop/class at my house. It is like having your mother-in-law come to stay. The house gets cleaned up, projects get done. When I decided to do the workshop, I used it as an incentive to move forward on a stalled house project- the bedroom that will be my new studio some day. Yes, a room that actually has heat! Anyway, the room has been in limbo for … I’m too embarassed to tell you how many years. Various life events happened after I got started on it and then everytime I thought about getting back to work, I felt totally overwhelmed. Well, I have made great leaps forward.

It is not done, but it all seems doable at this point. Maybe I will be working in there by next winter. I am not going to go overboard with unrealistic expectations!

Cleaning up meant collecting things to go to the Salvation Army. You see, I have to restain myself from going- my rule is, I have to donate a bag if I want to go shopping. So, on Friday, as I was driving down to the meeting with Maria Thomas, I stopped by to drop off my bag and take a quick look.  ooo, all knits, 3 for $1. I spent $3 and came home with another load of cashmere, angora and wool. Yum!

I have so much to tell and now it seems like too much! I am so far behind so I will jump in and tell you about some fun stuff from the last week- in no particular order.

I will start with yesterday- the tiny world workshop. WE HAD SO MUCH FUN!!!

There were 7 “students”, plus me. Here we are, working at my dining room table-

further along-

and here are some of the tiny worlds, some not quite finished, at the end of the class-

Barbara-

Amy of Bumble Belly Designs. You can read her report and see more (better) photos here at her blog.

Brooke was very brave- she had no sewing experience but decided she wanted to give it a try- look how well she did!

Jen (her report) and Ginny (another blog report of our class)-

Becky’s- I only have a blurry picture of her adorable castle-

and Jane-

It was a great day. I will definitely do it again. Right now I am planning for August, since I had a request for then.

I will do another post with other blog-worthy news which includes- omg… a clean house!, house projects moving forward, a sale at my favorite thrift shop, and getting to meet the new CEO of Etsy- see you soon!