It is a Mimi calendar!
It goes from September 2009-
to August 2010-
with lots of goodies in-between!
All you need to do is leave me a Happy Birthday greeting comment on this post before Wednesday night becomes Thursday, Eastern Standard Time. I will pick the winner on Thursday at some point by random number generator. I am happy to mail it anywhere.
This was one of the projects I did in my Photoshop class. Don’t worry, I’m keeping the one with all the mistakes.
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!
I think I use that title a lot.
I have been all over the place for the last week. I’ve had visitors to my studio from Portugal and New York. I started some new boy dolls but have put them aside. The Purl girl generated a ton of emails and comments which left me feeling sort of discombobulated- well, unable to focus at any rate. I think I am back on track now though- I’m working on some robots… haven’t been there for a while.
Survey results- That was so much fun- I will have to do more surveys! Tiny world was the clear winner. Which is great because the pattern is mostly done already! This week I plan (hope) to get the photos done.
And, I spent some time this weekend going through old photo albums. I needed to find some childhood photos for the handmade portrait project. It was a challenge to find any family photos of 5 little kids where everyone looked semi-human, the photo was in focus, and the light was decent. This one is obviously post-childhood, but I thought it was the cutest one I found-
1979- Childrens Museum in Boston
Ten years ago today, the studio building where I had worked for 11 1/2 years- the Kendall Center for the Arts, burned down. The fire has been one of those markers in my life- before the fire when I did pottery, and after the fire. Right after the fire was a very difficult time for me- no surprise. It happened right in the midst of my art midlife crisis. Losing my studio and community, my sketchbooks, photos and notebooks, changed where I even considered going next. I have thought a lot about how the loss propelled me into new directions in a way that might have never happened otherwise. You know- all those phoenix rising analogies. It was after the fire that I got onto the internet. That’s right- before mid-1999, I was a computer illiterate. And why did I get onto the internet? I wanted to replace the books I’d lost. And I found Ebay- which turned out to be the gateway drug to the wide world of the internet for me! Wow- and did that ever start me off on an interesting path.
So, this is one of those tales- bad things happen and you never know where you’ll be 10 years later. I know I have been lucky.
things I meant to do…
2/13 was my 5 year blog birthday- amazing. I meant to do a blog facelift- didn’t happen. I meant to do a give-away- didn’t happen. Hopefully both WILL happen in the next few weeks.
And I meant to wish everybody a very happy Valentines Day.
I seem to be doing more socializing then usual and going to too many meetings. It is hard for me to get into my work when there is so much other stuff going on. I have a pile of dolls started and have gotten bogged down, trying to get one finished. Hopefully I’ll have something to show very soon.
Today I had a meet-up with Tracey and Melissa. We had lunch and then went on a little photo walk. Fun! This fence always makes me think of Melissa- rust, swirls- and I felt like I had to show it to her. Just one of those crazy blog meet-ups when you know all kinds of odd tidbits about a person. Anyway, we all had fun taking some photos.
On Thursday morning (day 2) we headed out to Brooklyn again. This time we were going to visit Jen and Brian at their studio in Redhook. I can’t seem to stop myself from gushing… the area was incredible! So, lots of pictures-
look at the windows, and the shutters-
This wall- amazing-
Windows with great metal shutters-
Industrial views-
Windows from the inside-
Me talking- bla, bla… see the wall behind me and the window?
And back outside again- the Statue-
I just can’t get enough-
It was a great visit!
Day 1- we left Boston in a winter storm. It is becoming a habit.
We went on the BoltBus. It has wifi and that was great fun. I was very happy that I wasn’t the one driving in the terrible weather. We made it safely to the city and only a little bit later than scheduled.
The snow had turned to rain by the time we got to NY. We left our baggage at the hotel and went out again. First stop- Kinokuniya– the Japanese Bookstore. It is very close to where we were staying. I was hunting for some decorative package tape to liven up my Etsy packages. They have a great stationary department at Kinokuniya, but no luck with the tape. Lots of other very interesting things to look at though. Next was a walk through the Fashion District- always fun.
We stepped into a store full of magazines and because it was in the fashion district, I shouldn’t have been amazed when I realized that almost every one was fiber and fashion related. Wow! I picked up one magazine that looked interesting- embroidery in fashion- price $55- eek!
We were on our way to Brooklyn to see Disfarmer, Dan Hurlin’s newest puppet show. To add to the fun, we took a water taxi to get there. Everything in the city was wet (including us), shiny and beautiful (not us). I experimented with trying to get some night photos- I’ve been inspired by the city photos of my Boston Handmade friend Kerry. I love the way she captures the feeling of neighborhoods. Here are some of my wet city pics-
Waiting for the water taxi-
And then on the boat-
and outside the window- everything is jiggly because of the movement of the boat-
That is the Chrysler building above.
We made it to Brooklyn, had dinner, saw the show, made it back to the hotel… phew! What a day! That’s enough for now. I’ve been away from my studio for way too long and I’m hoping to get back into the swing of things today.
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.
Bear with me- I find this kind of analysis very helpful.
I finished 72 dolls this year-
and some cookies.
There were 23 tattooed men in various modes of fashion-
18 girl dolls-
11 babies
15 ladies-
2 gifts that inspired 24 more tiny world pincushions-
And the other stuff- I went to NYC, London, Portland, OR, and Chicago. I met Diane, Melissa, Jan and Susan in person. The paperbag swag project got finished after a long delay caused by 4 out of the 6 participants having babies- a pretty good excuse I’d say. I grew tomatoes! I did 4 shows. I was mentioned on Design Sponge by guest bloggers in January (Thanks Kath!) and then again in December (Thanks Camilla!). That was a little freaky. And, one of my dolls is Mr. April in the Whip Up calendar. All in all, it was another great year for my artwork and for my own crafty blogging universe.
Thank you so much to everyone who stopped by and visited and left comments or not in 2008. Happy, healthy and creative 2009 to all!
I got sucked into the giant vortex that is Christmas. Now I’m back- phew! I can not wait to get back to work.
Let’s see… since I was here last, we had 2 snowstorms that left us with 17 inches of snow and made driving very exciting, just when I was finally getting around to doing some Christmas shopping. Luckily we live within walking distance of most of the important places- like the grocery store.
The house was full of people and activities. It was great having Eleanor and Julian home. Actually getting Eleanor home was a bit exciting since she arrived in one of those aforementioned snowstorms. Lots of activity centered in the kitchen. The dishwasher was getting a great workout.
The day before Christmas, we went for a family soak in a hot tub in Inman Square. I am hoping it will become a new family tradition. It was wonderful.
Christmas Day was pretty quiet- everyone relaxing.
Then, down to Connecticut for an insanely full day of family and friend visiting. Yesterday, (12/27), Eleanor and Julian left- we miss them already.
Here is one of my handmade presents- a lap blanket, approximately 4 ft x 4 ft. and made out of cashmere knit samples that I got from Jen, one of my Boston Handmade friends. It is now with Julian in Portland, OR.
here is a lighter photo so you can see the details better-
I have at least one more project to show, but it is not finished yet… that is what happens to the loved ones who are at home- their gifts trickle in.