and now- 2010!

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I’m going to write some goals for 2010. Not “resolutions” which somehow seem about personal discipline, but more like hopes. I skipped doing a list of goals last January and find that I am disappointed- it is fun to reread what was on my mind a year ago.

room

Yeah, well… Every year at this time, I have the same goal. Get my studio back into work mode. Right now, bits of every Christmas project I worked on litter the studio. Not to mention bits of all the other work I did in November and December. Now is the time to find the floor again!

And, realistically, I need to start with a resolution after all. I promised Peter a quilt, on his birthday, last April. Got to get working on that.

Onto the goals!

-Write up more patterns to sell. Give more away- free tutorials and patterns. Or maybe just more giveaways.

-that ties in to improving my comfort level with Photoshop and InDesign.

-Get rid of stuff- I’ve been saying that since we cleared out my parents’ house 5 years ago now? Here is an example of the kind of thing I really should just throw away, but…

legs

I mean, how funny are they? Just the legs! These are from the edges of my Spoonflower fabric. Ideas anyone?

-Open a new Etsy shop to help with the clear out- supplies and vintage stuff.

-teach more classes. I’d love to do some travel teaching but am not so sure how to make that happen. For now, the dining room table teaching is working very well for me.

-do a major blog redesign. I have been thinking about that for a LONG time, but it is one of those things that is very easy to put off.

-get to a place where my studio feels like home again. That includes getting things more organized, going through the unopened boxes, finishing hanging art up. I want to do a photo/video open studio.

-And my biggest goal- Spend more real life social time with people who are trying to figure out this art/craft/internet business and life thing. Start a coffee shop meet-up to make that happen. I am so tired of trying to talk to people who have never heard of Etsy or read a blog. Too much explaining and no communicating- you know what I mean?

I might add some more to this list in the next few days. I am getting excited about this new year.

I bought myself one little present this Holiday season. A wise little owl to watch over my desk. I found him at Crystal‘s booth at the Bazaar Bizarre in December. I absolutely could not walk away from the table without him- it was funny really. I love him- Thanks, Crystal!

owl

HooT!  Happy New Year Everybody!

2009 dolls and tiny worlds too

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In 2009 I made 74 dolls- 2 more then in 2008. I made 26 girls-

girls

4 robots and 6 boys-

boys

I finished 12 babies-

babies

and 15 assorted grownups- including 7 tattooed ladies.

grownups

I went back to an old pattern to tweak it and write it up for publication- I ended up with 9 kitties and 2 bunnies.

animals

I made 37 tiny worlds.

worlds

and here is #37, because 37 doesn’t fit into a mosaic-

37

I taught 3 tiny world workshops and look forward to teaching again this year. I figured out 3 patterns- one available for free, and two for sale. I am planning that my next pattern will be the bunny. I’d like it have it available in time for people to make one for Easter- so mid- February at the latest. I moved my studio. I sent my youngest off to college. I am proud of all I’ve accomplished this year. Onward to 2010!

thinking about 2009

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window

I have been thinking for several days about how to approach my review-of-the-year posts. 2009 has been a very strange year. Over here in blogland, things have been mostly fantastic. But, the blog is sort of a Christmas letter version of my life. In my “real” life,  there have been challenges, anxiety, loss of some people I care about- my view of how my own future is likely to play out has changed dramatically this year. I am happy to see 2009 over. I have hopes for a new year- why does a new calendar year hold so much optimism? Anyway, here we focus on my artwork.

I started out 2009 thinking I would make it a year of challenges- every month I would identify something I’d like to accomplish but was difficult for me.

January- make a pattern. When PurlBee asked me in the fall of 2008 if I would make a pattern out of their felt, I said yes- my first challenge!  I worked on it in January and delivered it as part of a fun trip to NYC.

February- teach a class. I taught the tiny world class at the end of February- it was great fun.

March was suppose to be the month to get back to work on the studio room… well, I did get back to work on it for a while… but, got totally off track when I got a contacted by Etsy about doing the Handmade Portrait. After that, all my energy went into cleaning up the house and studio. Luckily I only had about a weeks notice- otherwise I would have made myself crazy! It was a while before I got back to work on the room again.

April was probably the last month I consciously thought about the challenges. I said yes to participating in this print show– yep, that was a challenge (and a distraction). And I got to work writing my first pattern for sale- the tiny world pattern. It felt doable after I saw what a great job PurlBee had done, writing up the directions and photographing the steps for my doll pattern. I used it as inspiration and a guide.

In May, I launched the pattern- it felt HUGE! Apparently I spent June making dolls. Funny thing about that!

July was when I took a class and the first steps into Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator. Talk about getting out of my comfort zone- that was 30 hours of stress. But, it turned out I absorbed more then I thought when I went back to it in November to work on another pattern. I also managed to get the studio room to a point where I could start the move-in process.

August- So busy! 1. All my kids were home for a few days! 2. I worked on settling into the new room, then figured that I really needed to get back to work and the mess would settle out in time… still working on that. 3. I taught another Tiny world class. 4. My camera broke. 5. And the Handmade Portrait came out. 6. Peter left for college and we became “empty-nesters”.

September was a trip to South Carolina and working to settle into the studio. October, another Tiny World class and some tattooed ladies. Also, I started working on a new pattern- a kitty. I got the pattern finished in November- and my head swelled up to the size of a pumpkin because I was so proud of myself for managing to get it done using Photoshop and InDesign- with a little help from Kerry! And December was, you know, December. Crazy month of selling and trying to fit in family and friend obligations.

The biggest challenge always seems to be how to make a reasonable living doing what I love. Because this is my job. I don’t mind working really hard but I don’t want to burn out. I am always looking for ways that I can generate income that doesn’t mean making more dolls- like the teaching, the patterns, cards, etc. We’ll see what 2010 brings.

Tomorrow I will be doing a wrap-up of the dolls and tiny worlds of 2009. I always love seeing everything all together. Happy New Years Eve!

handmade Christmas

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This years presents from me were almost entirely handmade by me. I confess that I bought one present for someone, but I did buy it on Etsy.

presents

I made 3 sets of napkins, 2 pairs of pot-holders, 8 cloth shopping bags, 3 flannel pillow cases.

Also, 3 hats from recycled sweaters.

hat

Napkins in progress-

napkin

And dish towels. I had a project near-fail here… I mean it wasn’t a complete failure, but I was disappointed in the outcome. These are the towels in progress- the bleach pen doing it’s thing.

dishtowels

I got inspired to try a bleach pen project from this post on Angry Chicken. My first experience was not a complete success. I used a nice soft linen fabric that had dye flaws in it already. That cut down on the stress factor, but I have to admit I was nervous. The fabric reacted very quickly to the bleach- the color was all gone in about 15 minutes- very different from what Amy described.  I need to note that I did a test on another piece of linen that did not react so quickly at all- much more like what was shown in the film clip. Anyway, I rinsed the dishtowels and napkins as I made them. When I was finished, I threw everything into the washing machine. They all came out with blue shadows where the fabric folded onto itself. Clearly the dye on this fabric was way too sensitive to the bleach. Oh well- they are usable. I just don’t like the blue with the green. I might try doing an over-dye experiment sometime, since I gave the napkins to Ben… so sort of to me!

Napkins-

napkins

Everyone else who gets presents will get cookies. I’ll be going down to Connecticut to do the cookie delivery on Tuesday. While I am there, I have plans to see this show about Mrs. Delany at the Yale Center for British Art.

checking in

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This seems to be the time of year where very little posting happens here- too many secret projects. I looked back through some other years and yep, pretty quiet around here.

But, there is a lot going on. I don’t like post without photos near the top so I’ll start with the wildlife adventures-

mouse

Yikes! Mouse in the house! Mango assumed that Santa made an early visit, just for him. Our neighbor says about mice- there is never just one… I am hoping it came in when I brought the plants in from the porch.

And, we have rearranged the living room and put up a bird feeder. This is my view as I work on the computer now-

bird

We got snow from the big East Coast storm although not as much as a lot of other places. The kiddos are trickling in for Christmas. Peter has been home for more then a week- sleeping mostly or at least when I am awake he’s sleeping. Julian came home last night, just after the snow stopped. Pick-ups at the airport in snowy weather are becoming a new Christmas tradition. Eleanor is due in on Wednesday. I guess we should assume that means we will be getting more snow then.

I’ve got lots of projects going- enough that I am making myself crazy and they will never get all finished. Hey, another Christmas tradition! I want to try out this bleach pen technique, inspired by this post at Angry Chicken. I had a heck of a time finding a bleach pen. Then I did some tests. Now I am super nervous about the actual project- Silly me!

I am doing some baking and major mess making in the kitchen. We got the tree on Saturday before the snow came. It is not decorated yet. I no longer do Christmas Tree- someone else can do that job. I can be very Grinch-y around Christmas. It is a very stressful time for a maker. Especially when you also have a family that expects to have a Christmas. I find myself screaming in my head to everyone in my vicinity – If you want a f…ing Christmas, help out a little around here!! I keep it to myself though. My problem. Breathe.

Very soon I am off to the Boston Handmade Downtown Gallery. I’ll be working there today- 11 to 3.

new bunny

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Here is one of the things that didn’t quite get finished in time for the show last weekend.

bunny

face

back

tail

I had him all ready to photograph with his blue vest and then decided he absolutely needed a bowtie. Yes, some of these dolls have very strong fashion preferences.

planning what comes next

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Here is a horrible photo of my booth in the midst of setting up-

booth

The show was wonderful. The South End is always fun- knowledgeable customers, incredibly nice fellow vendors. As always, I met great people and came home exhausted but also inspired. And, I have 9 fewer dolls then on Friday morning when I started packing up (sold at the market and on Etsy).

Today was spent unpacking the car, listing dolls on Etsy, packing and shipping, storing my show supplies, making a small dent in the mess I’d made preparing last week. I need to get to work on my Christmas presents. First I have to clear a path through the mess in the studio though. And bake some cookies. And finish a few more dolls that never quite got done for the show. Tomorrow I will start on all that.

More planning- another Tiny World class. I’ve had several requests. Anyone interested? We could do it the last Saturday of January (1/30) or the last Saturday of February (2/27). If I get at least 4 people interested in one or both, I will write it on my calendar.  Details about the class here.

Lastly, today is my Mom’s birthday. She is 93- amazing. I have been thinking of her all day. There is nothing much I can do to celebrate- she is not local to me and she no longer knows who I am so no phone call.

South End Holiday Market

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This is where I will be spending my weekend-

poster

Set up Friday night and then fun all day Saturday and Sunday- 10am to 6pm. I have one more doll I’d like to get finished- a bunny. I think I can do it. I’ve made some ornaments with my Spoonflower fabric and I will have them at the Market.

ornaments