Doll

Yesterday I went to the Antique and Vintage Textile Show in Sturbridge, MA. It is about an hour drive from my house and well worth it. There are some amazing things to see- it is like a museum but you can touch everything. Somehow I forgot to bring my camera- oops! If you want to go, there is another show in July and also September. May and September are the big shows, July is a lot quieter.

I had fun looking at amazing antique toile fabrics- the originals that most of what I use is reproduced from. I bought buttons. I hadn’t planned on focusing on that, but I never seem to know until I get there!

I am most excited about these-

I can’t wait to put them on a fox’s jacket!

Today was spent doing a lot of this and that. This morning I collected a pile of dolls and sewed on signature tags and wrote up and attached their hang tags. It is a boring job but it is good to get it out of the way.  I often leave it until the last minute before going to a show and that is only one of the many ways I can make myself crazy. Anyway, all done now.

We’ve got Spring! Actually, we seem to be getting near summer temps so these won’t last very long.

I am taking a class with Diane of Craftypod fame on how to run an online class. Now I have so many questions! Whenever I announce that I am going to run a class at my house, people pipe up and ask me to do an online class- that is why I am looking into the technicalities of it all.

Now that I am actually having to think about the specifics, I’d love some feedback. My confession is that I have only ever taken one online class and that was probably about 10 years ago. I can hardly even remember it!

What kind of class do people want? I can only really imagine (at this point) teaching the Tiny World Pattern. What would someone want to get out of an online class that would be so much better than just buying the pattern? Or should I be thinking of a completely different kind of class?

How long would a class like this go for? A week? When I teach it at my house, the class runs from 10 am to 4 pm and most people don’t finish. I know people probably don’t sit down for a whole day and go through an online class- or do they?

One of the fun things about having classes at my house is that I have all the materials and fun tools to play with. Are people going to feel comfortable collecting everything they need? Do most project-type classes have kits with the supplies?

On top of that, if you have taken craft project online classes, what do you like best about them? Why do they work for you? Should I go try out a few classes? If so, got any recommendations?

I’d love to hear your feedback! If I can get some ideas that will narrow things down, I might do a survey but at this point, I wouldn’t even know what questions to ask!

I made myself a new pincushion. I have to admit that I felt silly making it nice, just for me- to make a house, instead of just a blob or something on top. Reminder to self- do it nicely and right, for myself. Okay then.

The base is something I got from my parents’ house. I believe it is the bottom part of a hair receiver. There was clearly suppose to be a top lid of some sort and it was missing. I’ve had this in my studio for a number of years, knowing I would eventually get around to making it into a pincushion. Doesn’t it look like a little farm house with veggies growing in the garden?!

I like to put my needles in the top element and yes, I sort my pins by color. I am obsessive that way. I’m very opinionated about my pins too- I like colorful, thin, long (1 3/8″) glass-headed pins. Like these but in colors. Here is the new pincushion with the old one. That link goes to the original post when I made that one- in August 2004! It has gotten worn out and a bit floppy on it’s base.

Here is another photo with my hand for scale. It is pretty big and I realized the other photos didn’t convey that.

It’s that time of year. The studio needs to be cleaned and the Stuff needs reorganizing. I try to figure out what I am actually using and make it easily accessible. I also try to go through all the fabric regularly, getting rid of things I will probably never use. I call this turning the compost. It’s only kind of a joke. I now have three bags of fabric that I’ll be taking to my crafty meet-up next week. Give-away time!

Here are some in progress photos because it’ll be a while before everything settles into place again.

It all started with a large bookcase that needed to be moved out of another room. I always need more shelves so I took out the measuring tape to see if I could fit it into my studio. The reshuffle began! I moved the bureau towards the window (of course there was already something there- out into the hall that stuff went). The bookcase that was already in my room was emptied and moved across to it’s new place by the closet.

It is now filled with books, tea cups and cotton fabrics, mostly toiles and other tattooed people components.

The new (to my room), bigger bookshelf fits perfectly. I’m filling it back up with the books that were in the other bookcase plus other things of course.

Then I decided that I needed a new way to store all my other cotton fabrics. I have been using them a lot more this year and the bins under the table system was just not working. One trip to Ikea later and you can see my new drawers. Here is a better photo-

This is great! I can see all the fabric easily and there are enough baskets to put all kinds of goodies that have been in piles or in bins that I trip over every time I walked through the room.

The plastic drawer bins and the small wooden bookcase on top of the fabric drawers used to be where the bureau is now. Are you confused yet?

I have had this little set of metal drawers sitting on the floor for about 1 1/2 years and I now finally have a place for it. I filled it up with beads, charms, sewing notions I’ve collected for robots and papers for making tiny books.

There are lots of little problems that I haven’t quite figured out yet. An example is my thread rack- I like it where it is but I know it will slide right off at the worst possible moment so I need to figure out how to attach it to something. And then actually do it.

And some real life desk pictures. I started working on some tiny worlds. Then I moved on to something else. Yep, I just piled them up, as much out of the way as I could push them without bothering to put them away. Because I’ll get back to them any minute, right? Okay then.

And that poor tattooed lady. I have a ridiculous number of unfinished dolls in my studio right now. I should try to focus on finishing them up. Somehow it is sad to see them all waiting for me. If I just worked on finishing things I would probably be busy though February at least! It’s good though too- it is an easy way to start in again because a lot of the decisions are already made. So, time to get back to work!

My first finished project of the year- a special order made with a cup that the buyer sent me.

It is good to have a project with a deadline right after the Holidays. It forces me back into the studio.

Now I’ll add a little real life here. I said yes to this project right in the middle of the Holiday season- not something I’d usually do. That time of year should be spent running back and forth from the post office, mailing out all the finished artwork for someone’s special gift. Except that didn’t happen this year. The markets I did in December were fun but the sales didn’t add up to other years. And my Etsy shop was very slow and has been all fall. That has me wondering and rethinking what I’m doing here- hinted at in this post. This old life/art path is not smooth or straight, right? It is that time of year to look back and then forward- why am I doing this, what do I need to get out of it creatively and financially, what do I need to do so that going to the studio every morning is the best part of the day. Yes, it is January again, the time of year to figure this stuff out.

We had an amazing Columbus Day weekend. This is the beach at Swampscott MA. That is Boston in the distance on the right of the photo.

Okay, I’ve got some big news. Drum roll please!

I have signed a licensing contract with Land Of Nod so at this time next year, if all goes according to plan, there will be *something* in their catalog of my design. How fantastic is that! The exact nature of what I am working on with them is all hush hush for a while, but obviously, when the time is closer, I will be shouting it from the rooftops! I am excited and nervous about heading off in this new direction. Deep breath! This has been brewing since Renegade in Chicago. As I often repeat to myself, you never know what will happen (or who you will meet) when you leave the house. Hurray!

The weather has been beautiful. Here is a garden photo to end this post. Asters and seed pods of butterfly weed, alyssum in the background.

Now, back to the studio. The Holidays are right around the corner!

Two last ones for now.

This is the one I’d like to live in if I was to choose.

I always wanted to live in a yellow house.

I am putting these all into my Etsy shop. They should all be there by tomorrow.

a variety of tiny worlds but they all look summer-y to me.

The Lighthouse-

The perfect summer day-

And a little fairy house under the flowers.

I have 2 more to finish, sitting on my desk. I will be putting all these on Etsy sometime in the next few days.

I’m getting ahead of myself. I’m on to winter.

They are fall inspired.