Monthly Archives: October 2012

I’m back!

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Happy Halloween everyone! Maybe you didn’t even notice but my blog was offline since Saturday. My husband tells me it got hacked, but honestly, I’m not sure what that means though I am sure it’s bad. He had to do all kinds of computer voodoo to clean it up so he spent even more time updating things around here. Thanks Honey! How do you like the new look? There are still a few things that need to be fixed and some things I need to figure out but I wanted to get back online as soon as possible.

We survived Hurricane Sandy with minimal damage. We lost some roof shingles and got water in the attic. It is fixed now. The power was out for just long enough that it felt like a fun adventure. We were very lucky. A lot of my neighbors are still without power and I’m sure the adventure is getting very old. And the news from the New York area is both very distressing and I can’t tear myself away from it.

I have managed to pull myself away from the news reports long enough to finish one thing- a professorial fox, dressed for Autumn.

Let me know if you notice any blog problems that I might want to know about. I know the early posts (2004 and 2005) are a mess and will hopefully be back at some point. Thanks!

Visit to Salley!

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I went down to the Cape to see Salley and her amazing artwork!

I’ve seen enough of Salley’s artwork to know it would be worth the drive to see this piece in person- it was amazing! She blogged about the visit here.

We sat in her studio and chatted, we walked in the woods, we visited the show, we had lunch… and it was a perfect Autumn day. Salley’s studio is so beautiful- I always enjoy visiting and seeing what she is up to. Lots of work-in-progress!

Land of Nod!

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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!

 

Hey- That’s my jacket!

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Well it used to be anyway.

I finally admitted to myself that my nice old linen jacket was looking bedraggled and didn’t really fit right any more. And one of the buttons had broken. It was time to recycle it. I think it makes a pretty great little fox jacket!

I am imagining that the squarer eye shape looks a little like glasses.

I love the bunny fabric. I bought it in San Francisco this past summer.

Here is what is hiding in her school bag-

She has a little pocket hanky- a scrap from one of my Dad’s old shirts.

The dress closes with a snap in the back-

coming next-

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I pulled out my partially finished dolls and have them spread out on every surface of my studio right now. Dolls ahead!

Ladies on the desk-

Foxes and more ladies on the table-

Men on the ironing board-

and not quite sure what behind the sewing machine.

And, I have to confess, this isn’t even everything. I have other bins with partially started projects including dogs, kitties, lumberjacks, fish… time to get to work and find out who some of these characters are!

Honk

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I ended up at Honk last weekend. I’ve never been before. I knew it was going to happen, thought about going, figured I had way too much work I should be focusing on and forgot about it. But, I was out and about and decided to stop into a restaurant I’d want to try out and suddenly I was in the middle of it- Hurray for serendipity! I had no idea what I’d been missing!

Ben and I wandered around Davis Sq. for several hours on Saturday, watching a number of the bands perform. It was all so much sensory stimulation- I was exhausted! We returned for the parade on Sunday and this time I brought my camera.

All ages and all colors! Love the guy in plaid.

I am not sure I’ve ever seen so much hula hoop action in my life! This was just one of several groups.

Lots of politics mixed with music.

Even some really amazing embroidery!

I couldn’t get a good photo of this embroidery unfortunately-

Amazing art clothes-

Art instruments- can you see that that “thing” is made out of circular saw blades?

And amazing people- Definitely doll inspiration! I love her jacket and hair. She was beautiful.

I will try not to miss it again! We had so much fun and it was one of those events where I felt like I live in a wonderful place. Hurray for Honk!