the other ones are here and here.
Category Archives: General
Grandma 3
and one more grandmother-
My favorite colors to play with-
I love making these viney flower designs.
And here is all three-
some Grandmas
Hey! I finished something today. 2 things actually- 2 Grandmas.
These are the baking cookies, carry a turkey in at Thanksgiving kind of Grandmas.
I had so much trouble with the faces. Usually the face is the most fun part for me, but this time I just wasn’t getting it right. I re-did them several times. Finally I got something I liked- a face that looks happy.
Here is Grandma #1-
I think the back of her dress is pretty-
Color inspiration-
And Grandma #2-
And the back of her dress. Fun with polka dots!
And here are the 2 friends, sitting on the stoop after a hard day of cooking delicious food-
Ahhhhh!
happiness is starting new projects
? That has got to be the reason for what has been going on in my studio this past week!
I am having a little problem with my focus. I started by cutting out three grandmas- a doll that has been waiting in line to be made for a long time-
but I needed to cut out some babies too, because I had *an idea*. (six babies) Actually, several design images floating around in my brain that really need to land on something soon-
So, I’m going along, working on the grandmas, and I get frustrated with the face (that is why it is not showing in the picture). Instead of moving over to the projects that I have already cut out, I start thinking about some gifts on my list. So, I cut out three tote bags-
hmmm. Now they are partially done too. Oh well, sooner or later I will have a finished project to show you- because I’ve got 12 of them going here!
garden update
remember the tomato plants I put into containers in May? Well, they are amazing! Better then I ever expected. They are growing like crazy-
The “containers” are holding up pretty well although one has a hole in the side. It is not causing any problems as of yet. The plants are covered with green tomatoes. And, this morning, I pick the first tomato off the cherry tomato plant-
You can ignore the dirty gardening hands…
In the front of the house, the flowers are looking great- crocosmia and poppies- perfect reds.
coreopsis “moonbeam” and a self-seeded lavender-
and the alliums in the garden-
and the ones I’ve been pulling out before they drop any MORE seeds!
back to the studio
I’m liking this fortune. Enough of the pretending that I am going to clean my house, organize my studio and weed the garden. Not working makes me crabby and anxious. So, back to my cool, dry (air-conditioned) oasis. Ahhhhh!
I need to get my hands back to wool. I’ve put the toile and tattoo men to the side for a while.
I’ve got poppies and Luna moths on my mind.
project report
My studio needs a major clean up and so does my house so it will be a few days before I will be showing any new work. Fortunately (?) I am way behind in posting about some other totally cool stuff. So, without further ado…
I participated in a round robin called the Paperbag Swag book project. (Here is a link to all the posts) It came to an end and I got my book back at the beginning of June. I made these mosaics using the photos that we posted in our flickr group. The first mosaic (click for flickr linkage) is of the pages that the other 5 participants made for my book-
We each had a theme for our book which we incorporated into the cover design. Mine was identity. I was thinking about it in terms of- where do I fit into the art world, the internet world, how do I view myself, how do others view me, how does my artwork help define who I am… It was so interesting to see how the other artists used the prompt.
Below are the pages that I made for the other books. (flickr links)
I loved this project. It gave me a reason and a place to experiment. I was very excited with some of the work I did, outside of my usual format. It most definitely sparked ideas that showed all over in my work.
I’m going to post more details another day- time to get back to all that other stuff- real life!
market report
The marketplace yesterday was wonderful! Here is the booth-
Things were very busy at the beginning. Loads of great energy. Lots of friends showed up. There were some quiet times but mostly busy and fun. And it got colder. But no rain- hurray!
I got to meet Melissa of Yummygoods– we’ve been hoping to meet up for a while now and it finally happened. Here is a photo of the both of us. And one where she is, um, checking out the merchandise… o-la-la!
More photos of the Market here.
When I was getting all my stuff ready, I printed up these stickers to close the flap on the card sleeves. I liked how the whole sheet looked-
Here is my new product- magnet sets. I tried them out at the market yesterday and people seemed to like them a lot. They will be in my Etsy shop soon.
And, now that the Marketplace is over… Etsy Update! I made this mosaic of what I will be listing on Etsy this week- Tuesday, July 1 at noon. (and the magnets above). Well, except for the sepia pirate, on the left, 3rd row down. He has gone off to live in Belgium.
b&w pirate
The Marketplace was great yeasterday, but I will do another post about that. This b&w pirate is the last doll I finished before the event.
oops- Ignore all that fuzz on the black hat- it’s gone now…
A back view of his head- can you see the earring? Just one of course.
I was very inspired by this drawing by Mariana Massarani.
trip report 1
I am back home and at work getting ready for the Boston Handmade Marketplace- and keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn’t rain on Saturday.
My trip report in several parts-
We drove down to Allentown, PA for a family event. I convinced my husband that adding a few more miles (hours) to the trip and 20 pounds of wool stuffing into the car would be a wonderful side trip…
So, actually, the first stop was the West Earl Woolen Mill in Ephrata, PA. This lovely woman told us that since last fall, the wool is Australian. It is “processed” (I think that means cleaned?) there and shipped to her for carding. At least I think that is what she was saying.
In Allentown I was very excited to see this green roof at a nature reserve we visited. It is beautiful!
Next, we drove up the Susquehanna River toward Ithaca, NY.
Along the way, I saw this- a bait vending machine. New to me!
In Ithaca, we relaxed, saw our daughter, walked along some waterfalls (here are photos from last year), and we ate at the Moosewood Restaurant.
I will post about rest of the trip tomorrow.
On other topics- I’ve been thrilled by some recent amazing internet community love- I discovered that I’d been mentioned in Small Magazine, but only when someone left me a comment and mentioned it! Isn’t this collage fantastic? I had a wonderful meet-up with Jan of Be*mused- I’ll write about that tomorrow. And, Claire’s note at the bottom of this post has me purring like a kitten. She was the first craft blogger that I found and she inspired me start my own blog… which opened up this whole amazing world to me!
Okay, back to work now.