November fish 1 & 2

11:4:2 fish 1

11:4:2 fish 2

 

Two fish with some overlapping fabrics. The red in both fish is from a Hudson Bay blanket. The blue fish body is from an old Mexican rug, wool with a cotton warp.

Something else I’ve been meaning to post. My yellow dog was cover boy on the October Land Of Nod catalog!

10:25:lon2

and on the back too!

10:25:lon1

My 2013 line includes these 3 dogs and also 3 little mermaids. The mermaids are very small- on about 10″ tall. So cute! I hear they are going to have a pop-up store this year in the Boston area so hopefully I will be able to see them in person!

Land of Nod!

Today is the target day for the Land Of Nod Holiday catalogs to arrive in peoples’ homes- So now I can shout out the news!

A target date means that some people already have them and others not quite yet. Luckily I received a special delivery catalog so I’ve seen my dolls on paper and also at the website.

As you can see, they are producing a fox couple, a kitty couple and a bunny couple. The dolls are being made in India. At the top of the page is a sweet elephant designed by Hilary and on the left are some fantastic Cotton Monster creatures. I will confess that when I was in Chicago in September, I visited the Land Of Nod offices and the Cotton Monster hedgehogs were the ones I wanted to sneak into my bag and take home!

It is hard to understand the scale from these photos, but they are smaller than the ones I make and sell. Here is a photo I took (a YEAR ago!) when I was working on the prototypes-

In the course of the project, various bits and pieces changed because of child safety or problems with getting the right materials. The finished foxes have not got scarves, shawls, purses… but, if you wanted to, you could make your own, right?

There are also 4 babies- what I call swaddled babies and they are calling Bundle Babies (Love that name!) The Land Of Nod version has an awake side and an asleep side and is also smaller than my art pieces. Here is a photo of the prototypes (asleep side) they sent me for approval last Spring.

Here is a link to the catalog pages- lime, yellow, orange, red

If you click over to Wee Wonderfuls, you can read how Hilary went to a Land Of Nod store and was able to see a few things in person. She sent me this photo of the doll and also the tag- how exciting is that!

It has been a long process- more than a year. This introduction is just one more step in a journey that has been all new to me. I am now going to watch with curiosity, excitement, anticipation, how these babies make their way into the world!

 

a new adventure

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!