Category Archives: General

and now- 2010!

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I’m going to write some goals for 2010. Not “resolutions” which somehow seem about personal discipline, but more like hopes. I skipped doing a list of goals last January and find that I am disappointed- it is fun to reread what was on my mind a year ago.

room

Yeah, well… Every year at this time, I have the same goal. Get my studio back into work mode. Right now, bits of every Christmas project I worked on litter the studio. Not to mention bits of all the other work I did in November and December. Now is the time to find the floor again!

And, realistically, I need to start with a resolution after all. I promised Peter a quilt, on his birthday, last April. Got to get working on that.

Onto the goals!

-Write up more patterns to sell. Give more away- free tutorials and patterns. Or maybe just more giveaways.

-that ties in to improving my comfort level with Photoshop and InDesign.

-Get rid of stuff- I’ve been saying that since we cleared out my parents’ house 5 years ago now? Here is an example of the kind of thing I really should just throw away, but…

legs

I mean, how funny are they? Just the legs! These are from the edges of my Spoonflower fabric. Ideas anyone?

-Open a new Etsy shop to help with the clear out- supplies and vintage stuff.

-teach more classes. I’d love to do some travel teaching but am not so sure how to make that happen. For now, the dining room table teaching is working very well for me.

-do a major blog redesign. I have been thinking about that for a LONG time, but it is one of those things that is very easy to put off.

-get to a place where my studio feels like home again. That includes getting things more organized, going through the unopened boxes, finishing hanging art up. I want to do a photo/video open studio.

-And my biggest goal- Spend more real life social time with people who are trying to figure out this art/craft/internet business and life thing. Start a coffee shop meet-up to make that happen. I am so tired of trying to talk to people who have never heard of Etsy or read a blog. Too much explaining and no communicating- you know what I mean?

I might add some more to this list in the next few days. I am getting excited about this new year.

I bought myself one little present this Holiday season. A wise little owl to watch over my desk. I found him at Crystal‘s booth at the Bazaar Bizarre in December. I absolutely could not walk away from the table without him- it was funny really. I love him- Thanks, Crystal!

owl

HooT!  Happy New Year Everybody!

planning what comes next

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Here is a horrible photo of my booth in the midst of setting up-

booth

The show was wonderful. The South End is always fun- knowledgeable customers, incredibly nice fellow vendors. As always, I met great people and came home exhausted but also inspired. And, I have 9 fewer dolls then on Friday morning when I started packing up (sold at the market and on Etsy).

Today was spent unpacking the car, listing dolls on Etsy, packing and shipping, storing my show supplies, making a small dent in the mess I’d made preparing last week. I need to get to work on my Christmas presents. First I have to clear a path through the mess in the studio though. And bake some cookies. And finish a few more dolls that never quite got done for the show. Tomorrow I will start on all that.

More planning- another Tiny World class. I’ve had several requests. Anyone interested? We could do it the last Saturday of January (1/30) or the last Saturday of February (2/27). If I get at least 4 people interested in one or both, I will write it on my calendar.  Details about the class here.

Lastly, today is my Mom’s birthday. She is 93- amazing. I have been thinking of her all day. There is nothing much I can do to celebrate- she is not local to me and she no longer knows who I am so no phone call.

Thanks!

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Thanks to everyone who jumped in on my Halloween sale! It was great fun and got me feeling excited about starting into the Holiday season.

And here are some strange postcards for this November 1, All Saints Day-

dod

I found them in a desk drawer when I was clearing stuff out of my parents’ house. I think my Dad probably bought these postcards in Mexico, in the early 60’s.

And one more thing-  here is a link to a bat graph- obviously I should have put that up yesterday!

etsy update and vintage fabrics

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I am going to be listing the three tattooed ladies on Etsy around 3pm (ET) this afternoon. Yesterday I cut out 6 more. I’m having fun with these ladies!

I didn’t want to post just that announcement- so boring and no pictures. So here are some photos of a few favorite vintage fabrics in my collection- I know, I probably should have ironed them…

fabric1

What is that cloth called with the texture of little squares? Waffle weave? This (above) is a remnant with a small amount of this very cute border and a lot more of the square dots.

Below is a silky fabric- maybe rayon? I’ve never tried testing it. It is an unfinished dress as far as I can tell. From someones wip pile.

fabric2

And this little piece is a real favorite- I keep it hanging in my studio. I can imagine a tablecloth, but much more fun would be a little girls’ puffy skirt.

fabric3

I hope to post more fabric photos, every once in a while. I’ve got some great ones! They have come to me from 3 places- my mom’s stash, my doll club, and from a friend who bought a house that had an attic full of a former seamstress’s collection. She had a sale where you could fill a bag for $10. So many treasures!

October plans

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BH2-1

I will be at the South End Open Market on October 18 with my pals of Boston Handmade.

On Oct. 17, I am doing a Tiny World class- yes, there is still space available- info here.

I am working on a new pattern-

kitty

Kitties! I am working on a pattern for this kitty that will include clothes to make it either a girl or boy kitty. I find this pattern writing thing to be very difficult, in case you are hearing some screams coming from my window.

kittyface

Here are some of the original kitties I made.

getting serious about October

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We had a great time on our quick trip to Portland for family weekend at MECA. Friday was a perfect fall day. We drove up the coast and did some beach watching and walking.

beach1

beach2

They have great rocks in Maine.

We stopped in Wells at Camp Wool. Thank you to the kind person who clued me in about this place via my comments. Unfortunately, no website yet.

campwool1

There was lots of beautiful wool, although I am glad I had been to Dorr first. There was lots of beautiful colors and textures here, but not the basic skin colors that I went up to Dorr Mill Store for.

campwool2

campwool3

Yes, I managed to find some goodies to spend some money on. The lady here told me about another store- Wool and Goods in Rollinsford, NH. Another expedition! I am going to put a list together (in the next few days) of places to buy wool fabrics in New England. If you know of places, let me know and I will add them.

Portland is a great town- amazingly good food and resaturant scene- even made it into the NYT! I look forward to spending more time there in the next 4 years.

Tomorrow- what is ahead this month.

prizes! and some other doings.

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woohoo! I won Crystal’s giveaway and my prize arrived in the mail today!

prize

love this little detail-

prizedetail

Crystal is my good friend and fellow member of Boston Handmade. Thanks Crystal! This sweet little pair will live in my studio and keep me company while I work.

Several people asked me about the dyes I use. Firstly let me say that I am no dyeing expert. I am pretty bad at it and almost always end up with splotchy fabric… well unless that is what I want. Then I get a solid color. I know this going into the project so I try not to be too focused on a perfect result. I use Cushing dyes– an acid dye for wool.

Other stuff I’ve been doing.

It was a sad day today- after listening to Science Friday and watching the video, I knew that my tomatoes were infected with late blight. I pulled them all up today. Ah well, I got a pretty good crop and will look forward to next year.

Over the weekend, I redid the faces on two dolls- ones that many commenters said looked sad. At the time (last month), I couldn’t really see it. Now, with fresh eyes, I decided I needed to change them.

oldface2

Old Face

newface2

New Face

oldface1

Old Face

face

New Face

Tiny World Pin cushion giveaway

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and another thing!

Check it out! To celebrate the Handmade Portrait, I’ll be giving away this tiny world- all the details are here.

Well, okay, I will put them here too-

Embed the Handmade Portrait video on your blog and email the link to your post to mimi.kirchner.giveaway@gmail.com by 5 p.m. ET, Friday, September 4, 2009. I will pick one lucky person using a random number generator.

If you don’t know how to embed a video on your blog, no worries, it’s simple. Here’s how:

-Click the symbol that looks like a sideways V on the video player at the top of the Storque post.
-Copy the embed code from the “embed” tab.
-Paste the embed code into the html of your own blog post.
-Send the link to your blog post to me at the giveaway gmail address above!