It is busy time here. First of all, I am excited about getting a doll making gathering organized. I am searching for a good venue in my local area- Arlington, Cambridge or Boston. If anyone knows of a good place, I’d love to hear about it. The specifications are- room for about 12 people, work tables, decent light, plugs for sewing machines, clean, and not too expensive. Accessible by public transportation would be a plus.

I have started listing the baby postcard originals in my Etsy shop. It will be happening in dribs and drabs over the next few days.

I went on a garden trip with a dear friend this week. We went to Snug Harbor, on Staten Island NY to see the blooming tree peonies. It was a perfect day.

I love how the flowers are protected from too much sun- parasols.

Hopefully something will get done this week, although it will be another hectic one. #1 son is coming home from college in St. Paul tomorrow. On Thursday we are off to NY for daughter’s college graduation- yippee!

So, I have this idea that it would be fun to get together with a group of people over the summer and make my dolls together. I’m thinking it would be one day, a Saturday probably, although it doesn’t have to be. I would bring some of my patterns, my tools and some bins of wool. People could bring their own supplies too. The participants would chip in to pay for the venue and what ever of my supplies each person uses. That would keep the cost very low. Possible sites would be on Cape Cod, Northboro MA, or somewhere in the Arlington/Cambridge area.

The reason I want to do this is so I can consider the whole teaching thing. I’d like to figure out what people are interested in, how to approach talking about it all- just to help myself feel more comfortable about teaching. I figure if I don’t charge anything, we can all keep our expectations low and have fun!

Who might be interested? Be specific about time over the summer and also place. I’d be happy to have teenagers participating. You can leave a comment or email me at mimik(at)pobox(dot)com.

The Etsy event on Friday was night was really fun. It ended up feeling more like a party then a buying event, but that was great! I really enjoyed being at Jessica’s studio and getting all my stuff together, seeing everyone elses’ artwork on display- great!

Here is Betsy on one side of me. Sorry I don’t have a better picture of her work. You can see our promo bags in the lower left corner. There was stuff left over, so if you order anything from me right now, you’ll be getting some of the promos in your package.

On the other side was Holly– see her amazing photos!

Here is my display- geesh, the one picture that was out of focus!

And here is the work of our generous host, Jessica! These little mini-quilt type pieces were my favorites.

In the front part of the studio we had Elizabeth and her amazing fabric creations- most made with Amy Butler fabrics- so beautiful!

Betsy– so sophisticated polymer jewelry-

Sorry, Angela and Amy– I didn’t get any decent photos of your set ups. I’ve been enjoying Angela’s blog since I discovered it, so you can go check out her work there (love the new owl note cards!) and at her Etsy shop. My husband and son came down with me, helped me carry stuff- Thank you Thank you!- manned the door and then walked around the neighborhood to enjoy the other open studios and gallery events. We all had a great time.