The next event on my schedule is Crafty Bastards in Washington DC. There are lots of terrific vendors and super nice crafty people so it will be a great time! You can get tickets ahead of time here.
I’ve got a lots of new pieces in progress- assorted piles of foxes, tattooed ladies and lumberjacks, all in various states of completion. Hopefully I will have some finished pieces to show in the next few days.
So much going on and nothing getting finished- yet.
I posted here about first steps of tattooed people and fish, moving along with the foxes. That is still happening.
A week ago I spent a day dyeing.
I started out with some prints that I over-dye for hair.
Then ALL those tattooed bodies.
It was many pots worth. I was very tired by the end of the day. Then, next day I ironed them all and put them back in their bin. Soon I will start cutting out all the rest of their pieces.
I sewed faces on 9 foxes-
and started in on the clothes-
But I got a bit distracted trying to choose fabrics for dresses. I ended up spending a morning sorting through all my fabric drawers, pulling things out that called to me and in another pile, to get rid of.
Then, somehow, not really sure how this happens, I started sewing the fish mentioned in that link above. And now, 2 1/2 days later, all 29 are sewed up and waiting to be finished.
They will trickle out a few at a time over this year.
And lastly, Sweet Paul was in town last week and had a signing for his new book- so fun to meet up in my neck of the woods!
Of course I bought my very own copy of his new book- Sweet Paul Eat and Make: Charming Recipes and Kitchen Crafts You Will Love and had it signed. I need an occasion to make the World’s Best Cake! Anyway, I’m keeping very busy and soon lots of finished pieces will start to appear!
My etsy shop is bare and I am trying to get my inventory back up before show season. I’ve started working on many, many new pieces. Step one, cut out the parts. With the tattooed dolls this means the pieces that need to be dyed- the “skin” parts.
I cut and cut and kept cutting. I now have a LOT of bodies, ready for the next step- dyeing.
After I have these all dyed, then I cut out all the other pieces. Then construction starts.
Next I pulled out all my bins of wool and my fish pattern-
and now there are 29 fish cut out and ready to move forward.
And I am moving forward on foxes, already sewn. I’m stuffing them and next come the faces.
And I’m sewing up some pugs. Yep, I’m all over the place. That’s why nothing is getting finished but things are moving forward all over the place. Hopefully something will get done this week.
But not so quiet in my actual life. Since my last post, I finished my prototypes for West Elm and sent them off. Fingers crossed that all proceeds smoothly from here! Then I started prepping for a class that I taught at Gather Here over the weekend. I was having a hard time staying focused on that task and did a lot of cleaning, sorting, picking through, inventory-ing before I’d have to give myself a stern talking to and get back on track. It’s a January kind of activity. Anyway, the class was terrific!
Everyone worked hard and made some wonderful worlds.
And on Saturday night, I started a quilt. Because, you know, it’s January!
I booked a trip to Chicago in February- Hurray! Now to look into all the fun stuff since it will not be a working trip…. hmm- how does one do that?
Step by step. These photos are from my phone- sorry about the bad focus on some.
17 fish- all the pieces cut out and piled.
Step 2- 10 are sewed up and ready to be turned. 7 are bagged and put into the fish bin for later.
Step 3- turned right-side out.
Step 4- stuffed and finished!
And there will be more fish tomorrow!
I will be in San Francisco again this summer for the Renegade Craft Market on July 27 and 28. I am thinking about teaching a Tiny World class while I’m there. It would be either before (Thurs 7/25 or Fri 7/26) or after the show (Tues 7/30). Is anyone interested?
Details- it is a 6 hour workshop, 8 people max, cost will be approx. $75. I am trying to gauge interest before I buy my plane tickets.
And, don’t forget I will be at the Art Retreat just a few weeks later. I’m filling up my teaching schedule!
Oh man, what a week. After teaching last week-end, I had plans to get things finished up this week. That hasn’t happened.
We are having Spring and here is the proof- my always blooming on Patriots’ Day daffodils.
Once the news of the bombing in Boston was everywhere, I found it almost impossible to pry myself away from the computer. Finally by Tuesday evening I was able to settle down enough to spend some time in the studio. But all week has been about obsessively checking Twitter and all the news streams. Today has been very strange. The town where I live is not “locked down”, but most of the surrounding towns are. The streets, the sidewalks and the sky are all eerily quiet unless a really loud helicopter flies overhead. Public transportation is cancelled so no bus noise on Mass Ave. And so so much crazy news and no real news at all. I tore myself away from the computer at midday and went out to the garden and turned the compost pile- phew! It was a relief to be out in the sun and doing something physical.
So, here is the studio today.
You know I got about 90% done on 3 lumberjacks (last post) and then I got distracted by the idea of making more of this model of lumberjack. I’d cut out and dyed fabric for 3 more “Big Men” tattooed lumberjacks last fall, but never cut out the rest of their necessary pieces. I did that. And sewed them up and stuffed them. And then thought I’d like to make the thinner guy as a tattooed lumberjack. I’ve got 5 mostly cut out now, 2 sewed, 1 stuffed. And one more thing- I want to cut out some big men lumberjacks, no tattoos. Yes, I have been distracted.
Piles and piles of wool, stuffing, pattern pieces, misc. other fabric piled up over every surface. The studio is not exactly in the state that would lead my brain to calm relaxation. Oh well, that really isn’t my way.
In other news, I am going to be off for a little vacation, leaving mid next week and gone for a week. I’ll be deactivating most of my Etsy shop on Tuesday but thankfully I can still sell my patterns because Etsy has just rolled out instant downloads for pdf patterns- Hurray! If I get any of the fellows finished, I’ll post them before I leave. Otherwise it might be quiet around here for a while.
Fingers crossed that everything will be feeling back to normal soon.
This was my last week in Instagram.
Fish are being sewed and stockpiled.
I’m working on Lumberjacks but haven’t managed to finish up any. I keep cutting out new ideas.
And over the weekend, I taught a Tiny World Class at Gather Here. Here is setting up-
Midway through the class shown above. And we finished up with 5 adorable tiny houses!
I’m not very good at getting in-focus photos with my phone, but much better at getting any photos at all!
I am working away at pattern-making and it is using up all my words. So, no blogging and no tweeting and no facebook.
This is the “basic baby”. I’m working on some embellished versions.
And the dog.
So many steps to think about. And lastly the fox but no pictures yet. Pattern making is very difficult- I used to think just for me but after being on twitter with other people who do this, I know it is hard for everyone. I am stressed out by the technical end of putting it all together because everything I’ve used before (old photoshop and indesign) will not work on my new computer. If I upgrade (expensive for something I rarely use) there will be the re-learning how to use it. All that is swirling in my head as I work on the directions, the photos and the diagrams. I will get it all worked out but in the mean time I will make myself crazy. Now, back to work!
I pulled out my partially finished dolls and have them spread out on every surface of my studio right now. Dolls ahead!
Ladies on the desk-
Foxes and more ladies on the table-
Men on the ironing board-
and not quite sure what behind the sewing machine.
And, I have to confess, this isn’t even everything. I have other bins with partially started projects including dogs, kitties, lumberjacks, fish… time to get to work and find out who some of these characters are!