I am diving into the pile of unfinished projects. This lady has been watching over my desk for several months. Unfortunately she wasn’t seeing much since she had no eyes or any other face parts.

I tried something new with her hair and I’m happy with the result-

I sewed a separate piece in a sort of crescent moon shape and then sewed it onto the back of her head.

Body details-

I am hoping to focus on all the UFOs (unfinished objects) this month. That means it will be a month of a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Sounds like fun! Who knows what I will discover and where I’ll end up.

Thanks so much for all the suggestions for more listening. So much goodness! Also, I am going to spend some time thinking about and working on expanding the patterns for my little girl doll. This is a good time of year for me to do that. I’ve already started a list of things I’d like to make for her. Thanks for the encouragement!

First though, a photo-

I had a little job to do that involved revisiting the Purl Girl pattern and making 3, similar to the ones on the original post. They’ve been sent off and we’ll see where they go. It made me wonder if I should revisit and expand this pattern- you know, a whole wardrobe, different hair-dos and some accessories. What do you think?

I work best when the talk-y part of my brain is engaged with narrative. I talked about it here. I used to listen to NPR talk shows, many many years ago, but at some point discovered audio books at my library.  The selection of audiobooks was limited and they were all on the same shelf so I was discovering all kinds of topics that I’d never have picked up in book form. Then, some time around 2007, I discovered podcasts. There seemed to be a bloom of them in the art/craft field. I loved listening to the interviews of other artists, doing essentially the same thing as me. I can remember feeling (and maybe even saying out loud to my IPod!)- that is just like me, that is how I do it too, that is what I think too! Then, sometime a year or two ago, the shows just dried up. I can’t complain- people were making them because they enjoyed it and then they moved on to other things. Or they needed to make some money. I miss the interviews so much. Last summer I actually went back to the beginning of CraftyPod and re-listened to all the shows. It was like visiting old friends and it made me wonder what many of those people are doing now.

CraftyPod is trying out paid subscriptions for her new shows. Diane is still working out the kinks in the system but let me say, I am thrilled that the podcasts are back. I jumped at the chance to subscribe and I hope lots of other people will too- for purely selfish reasons. I want my Podcasts!!! There are lots of fantastic interviews still available for free. It is like a history of the internet craft movement. And yes, she interviewed me way back in 2007!

There are other podcasts I listen to and enjoy, most somehow affiliated with public radio. Here is my list of favorites, all of which are available through ITunes-

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn- this used to be Sound of Young America, which I loved. He has changed the name and the format slightly and I’m not 100% convinced that I’m liking it. This is an interview artists show- the fun thing for me is that most of the artists are people I have never heard of- comedians, musicians, film directors. Jesse Thorn does very intelligent interviews and it is fantastic hearing smart people talk about their creative work.

Cast On- this is a knitting show. I don’t knit anymore. I know, weird. But I like listening to Brenda’s take on things, life in Wales and the music she chooses.

Craft Sanity- this is one of the podcasts that used to be very active with lots of great interviews but has slowed down to a trickle. If you haven’t heard them, there is many hours of great listening here.

Radio Lab- I have learned some amazing things from this show- the kind of information that I spend months thinking about. Things that change the way I view the world. I love it when I see there is a new show.

Science Friday- what can I say. I love it. And the videos on the website are always amazing!

Story Corps- short bits of people lives.

The Memory Palace- these are short and not posted very often but are gems when they appear.

This American Life- of course.

Wait, Wait… Don’t Tell Me- um, yeah and I follow them on Twitter too.

Are there more that you’d recommend? I’d love to hear about some new ones!

I still spend most of my studio time listening to audiobooks. I am lucky to have access to a very large library network and can get all kinds of great books. I just finished Bill Bryson’s At Home (13 cds!) which I really enjoyed. I am way too cheap to buy from a place like Audible.com. I just don’t get the whole idea that you spend $15 and you have nothing you can pass along to someone else. Also, at the rate I go through the books, I’d be broke in no time. So thank goodness for the library!

I know I would have wanted one like it when I was little.

This fox is definitely not dressed for camouflage. I love the bright colors in this plaid. I tried to pick up some of them in the sweater and her purse.

This is the last fox for now. I will continue to work on my goal of finishing up the mountain of partially finished dolls in my studio. I’m not sure what it’ll be next…

I am so pleased with myself. I was able to use the jacket pattern I made for the fox in madras with just a few tweaks, and make a jacket for this fellow. And it worked perfectly- Hurray for spending the time to figure out how to do it right!

I believe he is studying entomology.

I did it! I wrangled the dratted bleeding madras into a jacket for this dapper fellow.  If you follow me on twitter, you might have seen that I had a bit of a plaid jacket meltdown. First it was the plaid- it always seems, when I am cutting out the project, that working with plaid is going to make everything much easier- after all, a grid is part of the design. But in reality, all the littlest mistakes are glaringly obvious.

I managed to get all the plaid matched up but my first jacket ended up being a total failure. Here is a confession- most of the time I have no clue what I am doing. I start in and assume I will be able to figure it out. When I’d gotten to the point of having spent many hours trying to get it right, I realized that I needed to step back, take a deep breath, whine a little and do some other project for an evening. Next day I pulled out a human-size jacket, all my basic sewing books and a few books that have doll-size patterns for jackets. I spent the morning trying to get it all figured out and drawing up a new pattern.

In the afternoon, I started over. This time it worked out better.

This fellow looks very familiar to me. I am sure I have met his human counterpart on several occasions.

Here is a sneak peak at the vest lining.

My 1960′s fashion fox couple-

These 2 will be heading out to Indiana for a show at Vincennes University. The show is being organized and curated by Nichol Brinkman of Pink Cheeks Studios.

Her dress is one of my favorite Liberty cotton prints.

I was just going to put a bow at her ear but then changed my mind and gave her a pill box hat.

Finally, I can start my flickr set of dolls 2012!

I’m taking apart some old shorts- isn’t this label amazing?!

These were from my parents. I thought I remembered my mom wearing them in the 60′s but the label makes me wonder if I am remembering wrong.

And, speaking of memories. My brother scanned a ton of old photos after my Dad died last summer. When I look at these, all I could think is- real life in the 50′s and 60′s was a lot different than tv or the movies.

Yep, pajamas on the line. My sister and I wore them later with the feet cut off. (mid-50′s)

Galoshes and snow pants. And a kite? I have no idea! (late 50′s)

Cotton bathing suits and not knit cotton either! (late 50′s)

And, VERY matchy-matchy! Not to mention, petticoats. (late 50′s)

Playsuits and pixie haircuts.(early 60′s)

Happy, productive and creative weekend everybody!

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!

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.

I’ve been trying to figure out a good way to post my thoughts on the year and my family suggested a top 10 list- great idea!

So, here are 10 happenings that defined my year- these aren’t all good things, btw. They are in a sort of chronological order.

-Crafty Biz Meet-up Group- this monthly meet-up continues to be one of the great things in my life and we have now been going for 2 years! This is an open group with no requirements. Anyone who gets excited talking about market reports, credit card companies, electronics for small business and all that other micro-biz stuff is welcome. We meet on the second Wednesday of each month at 10am in Arlington, MA (usually). Contact me if you’d like to join us.

-Words With Friends- yes, I’m addicted.

-After Renegade Brooklyn, I got contacted by a very cool store that you have most certainly heard of that starts with A and ends with e about making some pieces (a whole lot in my terms) for their website. It soon became clear to me that this would not be a good match and I had to back out. Sometimes you have to say no. And sometimes that helps give a clearer idea of what is the right thing to do.

-My Dad died. That threw me more than I expected.

-I got an IPad. I like it more than I expected.

-Renegade in Chicago- was totally amazing! Paula Poundstone, Red-Eye, Mary Engelbright, yeah, Amazing!

-The Shelburne Museum in Vermont- I went twice!

-Land of Nod- signed a licensing contract. Hopefully I will have products in their catalog next fall!

-Had my work ripped off. It was very upsetting but then everything worked out and it renewed my faith that there are good and helpful people in the world. Thank you everyone who supported me. It did make a difference.

-Luvable & Hugable show- not only was I thrilled to be asked to be in their 5th anniversary show, I actually made it to New York to see it!

I read over my list of hopes from a year ago and can honestly say, yes, more of that. Always, I should make more patterns, use up what I have, explore new designs, teach some classes. This year I hope to go to the West Coast Renegade Show in San Francisco and maybe LA. I want to finish up the many partially started dolls that are all over my studio. They have been waiting a long time for my attention! And maybe answer those emails that have been waiting for the last month or so ( sorry if I owe you a reply). Keep myself open to new things because I never know what is around the corner. On the other hand, don’t let myself get overwhelmed- there was a little too much of that this year.

The pictures are from the 4 wonderful days when all the kids were home and we were all relaxing. Eleanor made us the oil lamp from a clementine peel at the top of the page. Below is a typical scene when we are all together-

One of the computers was missing for the group photo though. Some homemade wrapping paper was made-

My studio is getting it’s yearly post-Christmas clean-up and makeover. I’m excited about the reshuffle. I’ll post some photos when the dust settles.

On to the new! A HUGE Thank You to everyone who visits my blog, reads my words, leaves me encouraging comment, and buys my artwork. I feel blessed to be part of the online craft community. It has made my world a better place. I wish you all a Happy and Prosperous 2012!