Doll

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.

When I am getting ready for a show or a trip, all kinds of random things get finished. And not just dolls. I think I make myself a new bag before many trips. And lately, it has been summer shirts.

The polka dots is a light weight linen. The plaid is a vintage cotton from my mom’s stash, probably from the late 60′s.

and earring-

The things is, I never think about my clothes, accessories or jewelry unless I am doing an event or packing my suitcase for a trip. And why should I? I work at home where my main consideration is comfort. And then, all of a sudden I start obsessing about what I’m going to wear!

I’ve started making shirts (and other clothes too) by making patterns from old ones that I like, that fit and have worn out. I cut them up and trace the pieces. These two shirts were made by tracing the pieces of 2 other shirts that are no longer wearable. The polka dot shirt is the fourth one I’ve made from one shirt that I really liked. I used the shirt directions in the book Sew U to help me with pattern piece placement and instructions for how to put them all back together. I make clothes this way because of my dissatisfaction with commercial patterns. I guess I must be of an age or body type that doesn’t match up with the patterns. And I don’t have the patience or knowledge to alter (or completely rework) them. When I try matching up my I-know-this-fits pattern pieces to commercial patterns that I have spent (wasted) money on, they seem to be quite different. Hmm… mystery!

I get requests for some indication of scale for my dolls. I find it is more difficult than you’d think. Having a person in the photo helps a lot.

I just don’t often have a photographable person around. Peter left yesterday to spend the summer working in Ithaca, NY. I hope we can visit him some time while he is there.

Here are all the foxes, waiting to get their labels.

Happy New Year, 2011!

I love reading the “hopes” from other years. Sometimes I do pretty well. And this year I succeeded in what I said was my biggest goal- connecting with people. So- WIN! And, Peter’s quilt got finished. Huge. As for the rest, not so much. But, really, my “hopes” are just that. The important thing for me to do is remain open to good opportunities, feed my curiosity and the fun factor and not get bogged down with any “should-do”s.

So, for 2011, I hope-

*warning* a lot of these are reruns ;) and illustrated with random photos that never got into any other posts this year.

-more patterns… I KNOW- I say it every year! Well, maybe this will be the year. And, honestly, I will never write a book until this process is a lot easier for me. But… this year I realized how much it means to me to see my designs spread themselves out around the world. I am not kidding when I say it gets me all choked up. It is like sending your kids out into the world and having people love them. So maybe, this is the year.

-I am keeping my eye out for another Photoshop class- hopefully at my local High School Community Ed classes since I could walk to that.

-always, always, always I need to work on clearing out. It is very hard for me but having art students to give stuff to is very helpful.

-my biggest hope for this year- something I don’t usually talk about on the blog. To end the year with less pain. Yes, the physical kind. I have had chronic back-ish pain for years and decided to do something about it last summer. Now, 4 physical therapists later and pages of suggested exercises, I am so much worse that pretty much every part of my life is affected. So, hmmph. I hope to read this a year from now and think- Oh Yeah- Remember that? I’d forgotten all about it!

One more thing from my 2010 list. I had been hoping to teach more, but it didn’t happen and realistically, probably isn’t going to. Among the reasons against it happening is that I am unwilling to fly anymore with the current security measures at airports. So there, now you know 2 things about me that might, for some people, be considered TMI.

-but I want to end this list with some real fantasy hopes! Read more for fun, actually look at those magazines I buy or subscribe to, draw more, try a new medium just for fun, and actually learn how my camera works. Spend more time in the garden, start some flowers from seed, go the the beach at least once this year, and figure out what I should do with the worm casting from my worm bin. Clearing out the basement, losing 20 pounds, and winning the lottery would be nice too but probably aren’t going to happen either! So, now time for me to go off and read what everyone else put on their list. Have a wonderful first day of 2011!

This is the disaster that is my studio on December 31, probably every single year! December is always crazy and it takes January to get everything back in order. Actually, I’ve already started. I can see the top of the ironing board and that was not true a few days ago.

One of the best parts of blogging (for me) is the written record of what has happened over the year. And, being able to go back to other end-of-the-year posts and think about where I was in my head. 2010 has been a good year in many ways. In my “real” life, things are better and more secure. Two of my kids have finished degrees and that is exciting. Over here in crafty blog land, I’ve moved forward in a quieter way then 2009. No big public wow events- like the Etsy Handmade portrait or my PurlSoho pattern.

Instead,  I think the most wonderful thing that has happened this year is my crafty biz meet-up. It has been a success and I am going to do a post just about that in the next few days. The other highlights have to be Sage- my wonderful intern of last summer.  And, Brooklyn Renegade- which is a show that all others will have to live up to!

Once again this year, I was lucky enough to travel and meet up with other crafters in far away places- in Minneapolis, I met up with Kristen, Erika, Susan and Hannah. In Paris, I met Catherine and Laure- and that was the highlight of my Paris trip! So, this year, the best was all about the people I connected with and I can’t think of anything better then that!

Happy New Years Eve! I can’t wait to see what 2011 will bring- it is always interesting!

well, actually, I only have one more handmade gift to post. The other ones I gave were this owl and lots of homemade cookies.

Yoga mat bag-

drawstring closure, pocket, non-adjustable strap. I looked at some free tutorials on-line and then made it. Very easy.

Big snow in the forecast so our trip to Connecticut is canceled- which is why I am relaxing on the sofa and writing this post right now! Also, daughter is here for 2 extra days because of canceled flights! And, this is the year that I received some homemade gifts from my family. Eleanor gave us some of her homemade preserves-  peach salsa and also some pear pickles which we had with our ham last night- wow and Yum!

Honestly, I am not sure why it has taken so long to sink in, but YIKES! I need to get some serious work done for my holiday season sales. It is probably noticing that the calendar now says November that did it. So, I am going to put aside any thoughts of finishing up a pattern for the owl or anything else right now. I’m sorry to disappoint, but I just haven’t been able to concentrate on it. And now it is November. I will go back to it when things settle down- probably in January.

I am putting together a fantasy trip in my head. Go to San Francisco next summer for the Renegade Craft Market and maybe teach a class while I am out there. Wouldn’t that be fun? Hmm, how can I make that happen? I am open to any ideas. My SIL lives in Santa Cruz and visiting there would be part of this fantasy.

I am suffering a tea cup shortage; especially ones suitable for snow scenes. You just can’t put a snow scene in a flowered cup. I’m going to have to go out hunting. And toile for my tattooed people. Finding the right fabric is a real challenge. The challenges and hardships of my art- yup!

And, btw, I should be getting those latest tiny worlds up on Etsy this weekend.

I arrived in Chicago on Thursday afternoon and my daughter and I went to a taping of Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me. It was really funny and I always love seeing the side of things that doesn’t show in the finished product. Like the retakes. And the snarky off-tape remarks.

Here we are- Eleanor showed me how to take the standard Facebook photo… hmm, how tired do I look?

On Friday, we had a car and spent the day doing errands. One errand was to stop in at the Renegade Handmade shop to give them some paper work. What a fantastic shop! I saw artwork by some of my favorite artists- Kate Savage of feltidermy fame, who also stopped by my booth on Saturday. Great to meet you in person Kate!  Cotton Monster, and paper puppets by Pin Pals.  I was very tempted by this one and probably would have bought it if I had been there on Monday instead of Friday- wasn’t thinking too clearly at the time!

Look at all the beautiful Renegade Market posters-

I had a chance to check out the Hoot! show, although it wasn’t completely set up yet when I was there. I was very impressed by all the entries that I saw and very happy to be included in the group. It is a great show- go see it  if you have a chance.

And, there was a wine company doing their marketing at Renegade Market on Saturday. They had some guys dressed up for the part. I made these 2 fellows pose for me.

Love the Stripes!

It has been a crazy busy week. All kinds of things going on.

Today is the last day to enter the birthday giveaway. If you want to join in the fun, add your comment to the birthday post.

5 weeks until Renegade Chicago- Yikes! I am feeling the push. It is actually less then 5 weeks because I have to send out the work beforehand. This is my first travel-by-plane show. It will be interesting to see how it all goes. I am thinking a lot about the booth and how to set it up with the minimum of props.

I am going to be teaching in October. I will be doing a Tiny World class at my house on Saturday, Oct. 30. More info here. Email me if you’d like to join the fun. It looks like I will also be teaching a Fresh Fish class- more details on that coming soon.

And now a technical question- I KNOW that Bloglines is lame and all the cool kids are over on Google Reader, but, I started on Bloglines and moving everything seems like a big chore. I subscribe to several feeds for my own blog so that I can see how they look and when the new posts get published. About a month ago, one of my Doll feeds showed up with an exclamation point next to it. That one feed has stopped working- and of course, that is the feed with the most subscribers. Arg! I figured it would fix itself, but not so far. I checked out several other blogs in my list that also had the exclamation point- Yikes! Some of them hadn’t been working for many months! Does anybody know haw to fix this? It is making me sad.

Now, back to regularly scheduled programming… it turns out that mid-summer is a great time for thrifting after all. Well, this year it is anyway. I went to my favorite places on two Wednesdays in a row. I now have enough gorgeous wooliness to get me through the fall and beyond. I shouldn’t go back until January at the soonest. Right, shouldn’t, shouldn’t, shouldn’t.

And lastly, I am actually going to be participating in a few shows * in galleries*  this fall. WooHoo! More news on that soon, once I have some links for you.

The months ahead are beginning to look very busy. Full steam ahead!

and I’m celebrating with a giveaway!

It is a celebratory bunting- at least 10 ft… maybe closer to 12. Not sure.  All wool scrap circles.  Anyway, what better giveaway for a birthday then a party decoration? Just leave a happy birthday greeting in the comments on THIS post. The giveaway will close at midnight edt on Friday, Aug. 6. I will pick one winner on Saturday by random number generator. I am happy to send it out anywhere so don’t hold back if you are international. Jump in and help me have a wonderful birthday!