Portland Picnic

This past weekend was dominated by Hurricane Irene news, but Saturday in Maine was beautiful. A lot of friends from my Crafty Biz meet-up group were participating in the Portland Picnic so I headed up north for the day.

This photo booth had the coolest props ever! Look at those masks!

Here is Laura of Pansy Maiden, with her vegan bags.

Eling of Rhinofluff.

Danielle of The Merriweather Council-

Lisa of RedStaggerwing Designs-

Jen of Zooguu-

and Melissa of Pressbound-

I also saw Jennifer Judd-McGee of Swallowfield fame. It was a beautiful day, a fantastic selection of artwork, the crowds were out, and everyone was talking about the pending hurricane and enjoying the event. After a few hours, I left the park and walked to meet-up with my husband and son. I saw this weather vane along the way-

Before leaving town, we took Peter out for a great Mexican dinner at Zapoteca- Yum! Great day all around. We left Portland in the early evening and headed back to Boston. We hit the first rain right at the New Hampshire line and a steady downpour once we were back in Massachusetts. We had rain, we had wind, but where I live, we came out mostly unscathed. We are lucky and thankful.

This oak leaf was on the porch this morning. The thing is, I have no idea where there is an oak tree any where near us. Yes, it was windy!

it’s been a while

since I finished anything.

Finally!

I did some pattern tweaking. The shape of the head is slightly different,

and I made the hands bigger. Tiny changes.

There are not too many weeks until I need to send the work out to Chicago so I better get focused again and start finishing things. Renegade is coming fast!

slow motion

I feel like I am moving in slow motion. I’ve been working on a few things. Some of the poor tattooed men on the table  went down to Connecticut and back, several times, hoping to get some stuffing. But no. They are still as flat as I seem to be feeling.

I am working just as slowly through all the emails that backed up in the week of distraction. If you haven’t heard from me about something, you might want to try again. I may have lost track of your email.

I did have a birthday recently and bought myself a new toy… um, no, I mean important tool for my business.

An IPad! And I made my present a present! I tend to get a bit overwhelmed when confronted with a new electronic toy so I tip-toe around it for a while. But, hey, I know how to make a felt sleeve. We are bonding.

And, I’d love to hear about your favorite apps for crafty biz and for fun.

And lastly, thank you so much for all your kind words and condolences regarding my Dad. I added a link to his obit at the bottom of the post.

my dad

My Dad passed away yesterday (July 31, 2011). He’d lived a good long life. He was 96 years old and we were so lucky that even in mid-July, at a family wedding, he was able to enjoy meeting his first great-grandson. I am beginning to understand that there is a lot of processing to do when a parent dies, even when that parent has lived so long and it was the right time.

This photo of him is dated April 27, 1916-

There aren’t too many family photos with him because he, of course, was usually behind the camera.

I have a lot of good memories and photos of him with the grandkids.

And here he is, just a few weeks ago. (July 16. 2011). I’m glad we were able to have a happy day so recently.

I suspect that posting will be spotty for a bit. I was down in Connecticut for several days already, back for a few and then away again later this week. I need to plan for Renegade in Chicago in September but it might not be my priority.

-update- here is his obit.