Category Archives: nature

Halloween sale

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I am having a 20% off sale of everything in my Etsy shop, starting now and ending at midnight, 10/31 wherever. Just write “blog” in a buyers message, or send me a convo with that information and I will refund 20% of the selling price (not shipping).

Okay, now that you are back, let me explain. When the market was canceled 2 weeks ago, I was left with a vague feeling of letdown. And, a pile of dolls with nowhere to go. There is no greater disincentive for me to get to work then having many finished dolls looking at me. I’ve got to get those guys moving out and get the energy going into new work. So, I thought I’d give this a try!

It’s not as if I am not working. I am just not finishing anything.

desk

I am working away on the pattern- tweaking, testing. Today I worked on photographing the steps. Mostly done with the kitty part.

kitties

Next, the clothes.

And some more tattooed ladies-

boobjob

and now for some nature photos because Hey! It’s autumn and everything is very pretty right now!

feet

leaves

view

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frontdoor

We had to pull all the pots off the front porch when we had a few nights with frosts. That always seems to happen right before the brugmansia is about to bloom. Now it is in the enclosed part of the porch, looking beautiful and giving off a most exotic fragrance. When we open the front door, it perfumes the house!

the last few days

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Fall! The last things blooming in my garden- chrysanthemums and dahlias. I love how all the blossoms on the mums are facing in one direction.

flowers1

flowers2

Walk in the neighborhood. It is surprising what you see when the leaves start to go.

walk1

walk2

walk3

And my class on Saturday- so much fun! There were 5 of us all together.

house1

house2

house3

This is the Haunted house!

house4

And here is the table with all the felt and wool-

table

The market on Sunday was canceled- we were having a nor’easter here in Boston- wind, rain, cold… I was not sorry to miss standing under a tent from 7am to after 4pm. And then it snowed! It was the right call. Still, I’m left feeling a little deflated- all the anticipation and hope that comes as I prepare for a show. The next show I am scheduled to do is the South End Holiday Fair– Dec. 12 and 13.

walk in the woods

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I will be doing a tiny world class on Saturday, October 17. There is room if you are interested. Info here.

Yesterday was a perfect fall day. Blue sky and sunny. The air was cool and crisp and there was a prediction of gray and rain on the horizon. We walked in the woods.

woods

trunk

Hen of the woods-

chicken

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

other goings on

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I had breakfast with Lilla this morning. It is such fun to spend an hour or two with someone who speaks the same language- you know, art and the internet and all. No explaining. We blabbed about our families, then moved on to show-and-tell. First me-

Then Lilla- she had all kinds of goodies from the artists she represents-

A wonderful way to start the day!

I’ve got plans for my long weekend. No, I will not be relaxing in a beach chair. I will be planting my tomatoes, making containers this way again. I might experiment with some wool sweaters- the cotton started to disintegrate very quickly although that didn’t actually cause any problems. I will be planting the following varieties- one plant of each- noted for my records.

-Carbon

-Bush Goliath

-La Roma

-Nepal

-Taxi

-Washington Cherry

And, I am hoping to make some major progress on my studio/former bedroom project. As of today, all the walls and baseboards are primed. The windows are close to being ready to prime… as you’ve probably noticed, I get overly obsessed with details and it makes getting a project like this finished practically impossible.

Lastly, in the best of all possible worlds, I will make myself some summer clothes. A skirt, shirt, jumper? We’ll see. I’ve got the fabric… that is the easy part!

a crazy kind of week

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let me see. We had loads of snow- that was last Sunday. I love it when it snows like this- it looks like cotton balls in the azalea bush.

The snow made for lots of icicles on every house-

There was the wonderful day of the inauguration. I loved watching it on TV and then a neighbor had a celebratory tea- such fun. The day took a turn though- a bit before 5 I got a call that my son had cut his hand at work and the rest of the evening was spent doing the adrenaline mom thing. Table saw + finger= bad combination. It really wasn’t bad but I totally freaked. My husband took him to the ER. I am such a wimp. I couldn’t even bear to hear him describe what happened. So now I will probably always remember that as part of Obama’s inauguration.

And, what else? I have been working very hard on a project that you’ll know about in a few weeks- so that is boring to blog about. I am planning to do a class on tiny worlds but have been too busy with that other project to post the info. I will try to do that tomorrow. And, lastly, I am going to New York City (and Brooklyn) next week- Wed. 1/28 to Saturday. Got any great ideas for what I should do or see?  I am planning to go to this embroidery show. And, if anyone is interested, I am always up for a meet-up.

oh, oh, oh… a very exciting week!

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I have had a very exciting week. Lots of great stuff going on that resulted in me not spending enough time in the studio. Although that was more about me being distracted as opposed to being out and about.

You know Craft Magazine? Hee hee- I’m in it!

This is what it actually looks like when I open it-

hence the action shot above. Diane and Rachael did an amazing job on the article- I am so proud to be part of it.

Another exciting thing… I got a request for some hi-res images for a project (one more exciting thing that I will tell you about when there is more information) and that made me realize how totally inadequate my camera is for many fun things I’d like to do. I spent tons of time on Amazon, looking at many, many cameras. I went from thinking I’d buy this one (Canon A590IS) for $115 plus or minus to knowing I NEEDED this one (Canon G10) for $500. How does this happen?! I went down to Harvard Square this morning to see if I could find a copy of Craft Magazine. While I was there, I thought I’d go to a camera store and see if they had a G10 in stock that I could touch. Well, sure enough, they not only had it, it was on sale. I’ve got a new Baby! I’m just doing my part to help with the US economic crisis- hee!

a third exciting thing- new threads-

Yesterday I spent more hours then I thought possible picking out beautiful threads. These are danish flower cotton and I also got crewel embroidery wool. I am so grateful to receive such bounty. When I am given a gift like this, I feel it is my duty to make something beautiful from it- my way of saying thank you. This was my haul 2 years ago. I have enjoyed my bounty every time I have opened my drawer full of color!

There is other stuff too… not ready to be posted about though.  So many distractions! I will leave you with a flower photo taken with my new camera.

frost

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Yesterday was spent in the garden because frost was predicted for last night.

I picked all the tomatoes- maybe some will ripen before they rot. I brought in all the flower pots and houseplants that had been out all summer. The porch is now a jungle! And I cut flowers. This is pretty much the only time of year when I bring flowers into the house. In general I like them better in the garden. But, for a while, I will enjoy my bounty. Aren’t those (slightly out of focus) dahlias amazing!

Here is a link to some amazing dolls and other wool work- PezziUnici