Category Archives: General

happiness is starting new projects

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?  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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

the rest of the pin cushions

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for now at least… I am away from the studio. In Ithaca, NY actually. I will be back home next week, frantically getting ready for the Boston Handmade Marketplace.

Another tiki-

view from the top-

And a streetscape-

I thought this angle was interesting-

And a tiny pond-

These pieces will be coming to the Boston Handmade Marketplace with me. If they don’t sell, they will be on Etsy sometime in the week after that.

tiny worlds

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well, I have been getting some things done… small projects that are taking much longer then they should because of all that other stuff. I am trying to make some smaller things to fill out my booth at the Marketplace.

Pin cushion worlds! This is the first time I’ve made any with the idea of selling them. Here are the first ones-

house 1-

house 2-

and Rapunzel’s tower-

Here is the back view- since that is what I always want to see-

I wanted to use the extremely flowery decoration on these tea cups as inspiration. I thought about houses with gardens. There are more in the works.

paperbag swag- the last page

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Remember the paperbag swag project? I finished a page way back in July of last year (2007) and then… nothing. The project went on a long vacation. Hopefully we are all back on track now. I am so happy to be finishing and I can’t wait to get my book back with all the artwork from everyone else! This is due in the mail on June 4. I spent the last month thinking about a design and the weekend actually putting it together.

My last page is for Kristin. I have enjoyed working on this page because I’ve met Kristin in person and so there feels like a real connection. Her theme is Journey.

Getting the color right in the photographs is a challenge. In the picture below, the blue is right and the green is wrong.

I am so impressed by people who embroider words- ack-hard! I did a mix of machine embroidery, hand embroidery and ribbon embroidery.

I did some little drawings that I was planning to incorporate into the piece but in the end, didn’t use them. I made a bookmark out of them. They are suppose to show home, family, art.

Here is a gluing it into the book photo. I always get nervous at this part- what if I totally mess it up!

And, the swag!

Some other links connected to this project-

Theresa most recent post about it. Kristen. Cathy. Amy. Ellia.