mmm.... coffee.....

i'm dropping hints, candy for candy-coated tongue

i don't know what i'm going to do with these little guys, but i can't stop cutting them out!  i keep carrying them around with me to show people (they're best when they are all together, like some kind of weird family) i think i'm going to make them like the drawings - there will be species, similar ones, but they'll all be a bit different...  these two little guys came to work with me the other day & cavorted among the boxes:


i didn't get around to posting this on friday & i feel like there are several posts all waiting to be, um, posted.  i'll try to get them all up this week.  hey, this weekend is Art Beat in Somerville, you wouldn't know since i'm completely unprepared!  if you live around Boston you should stop by & see what i bring with me...

fish are jumping & the cotton is high

this is the coming together of several different & somewhat connected things...  i finally want to make creatures again!  i was a bit burnt out after making so many last year, but i've been thinking about them a lot, trying to decide what to do.  there were these weird drawings i used to make that i called "drippy bears," i drew tons of them, all different creatures, all drippy & weird with one big eye & one little eye.  i have a pile gorgeous wool felt in such lovely colors that i've been itching to make things out of, like the jabberwocky creatures only of my own design.  i was poking around the interspace & checked in on Moopy & Me and her stuffed animals reminded me of my drippy creatures.  i wanted to submit them to Morphe II, but i missed the deadline.  oh well, i'm still excited about them, i've been staying up really late sewing.  i made a two-headed bunny & a big fat mouse yesterday that still need stuffing.  do you like their anatomical hearts?  they may not be very clever, but they have a lot of love to give!

behold my hand crafted purity!

i'm updating from home on the sad little laptop so who knows how the html will turn out, i apologize in advance for any weird coding.  i stayed home sick today after an exhausting weekend of what has been confirmed as a stomach virus that is running around Brown & RISD.  i'm going to quietly spend my day sewing in my studio, pretending to be prepared for all my upcoming events.  i'm going to philly wednesday & thursday for a workshop that i'm pretty excited about, but the timing is quite ridiculous.  saturday we'll be at Craftland & sunday is the bizarre bazaar Boston so come visit & buy something!  here is a little photo essay to show you what i've been up to & how utterly not ready i am...  wish me luck & hope to see you.... somewhere!

 

like t' hear it, here it go

 

finally!  here are the first bunch of pictures from renegade last weekend (was it really only last weekend?)  this is our little tent set-up with our lime green sign that attracted people to our table - especially coffee drinkers!  they'd walk up to me & ask "are you the coffee drinker?"   
one of our neighbors was the Amazing Talking Paintings & they were amazing & talked & some were rather suspicious...  on the right is heidi of mypapercrane & her husband with all her yummy stuff: i ran up to her pile of hand-spun yarn & just hugged it because it was so wonderful!  i love her cute pink hair, too!

my sister lee took us to Patsy's for real NYC pizza, note the life-sized portrait of Frank Sinatra behind her.  it was the most delicious thin crust pizza & we ate 2 whole pies of it!  kristen was telling a story in the picture on the right, but i don't remember what it was about...

 

a little photo of teresa enjoying some coffee from the corner store before attempting to navigate the BQE for the second time.  after the sale ended on sunday my brother-in-law jo insisted we go out to a german beer garden with him so here jo is with his giant glass of beer & plates sausages!  (there was also potatoes, but mostly sausages)

i hope that is enough for now, i'll post more when i get teresa's pictures & still to come are the photos of the awesome trades i brought home...

hansel, he's so hot right now

okay, like mypapercrane, here's a photo of all i've got - i am so not ready for next weekend!  i have no new quilts & those large blue ones never sell.  there will be many more creatures sewn in the next few days, but i don't have any skull or kitty pouches made.  where did the time go?  i ordered some cheap business cards, at least i won't have to worry about that, but i need to make more tags.  i'm finally getting more excited than nervous about renegade, teresa & i are going to set up our tent & tables this weekend to see how it looks & make a little banner to hang across the top.  i've taken next week off from work so i won't have to leave my studio for days!  i'd better make sure i've got enough coffee & snacks...

 

steak with peaches?

more more more!  i put up more photos of the creatures i'm bringing to renegade in, ohmygod, less than 2 weeks!  if only it would rain i think i could get a lot more sewn.  some of these guys still need eyes, the last little bit & the most annoying.  i started making a little quilty thing, but it was too hot to use the iron, instead i'm going to try to cut out more creatures while watching Hell's Kitchen...  enjoy the pics!

 

he's only got one look

i don't use black very often in my creatures, but this gorgeous asian print with the gold & purple needed a subtle background.  i reeeally like this one!  can you tell by all the pictures i took?  they all click open to bigger windows...

i was going to get so much done today, but then teresa & i wandered off to the fabric store (i was forced to buy some kona cottons in electric colors.)  there was a funny older woman there who was facinated by my latest haircut (i think it's awesome when people ask to touch it.)  then i visited my landlady to see how the new skylights look (amazing!) and to complain about the carpenter ants.  the ants must be a fun side-effect of the new roof construction & are of course only found in my studio!  then i got really pissed off at what's been happening to teresa over on lj & gave myself a migraine.  my across-the-street neighbor has a puppy that sounds like someone stepping on a squeaky-toy & that is only making things worse.

$32.99 later

here is a little peek at what i'm working on for renegade.  i've decided to cut out as many as i can this week & bring them with me to my parents'.  will security question a suitcase full of pinned things?  (i am so suspicious looking with my little shaved head & expired ID.)  then i can sew on my mom's machine for a day & be trimming & turning & stuffing while hanging out with the relatives!  my mom called to ask if i needed to go to the fabric store in savannah...  need, well, no, but... 

  i bought more pins at the craft store with teresa & persephassa so i wouldn't have to stop cutting.  they were cheap glass-head pins, but oh so wonderful!  they are super super long & sharp with lovely lime green & turquoise heads - i should go back & buy more.  alright i need to get back to work, art came by earlier to bring me some doe ears from Key West & invite me to lunch with his niece.  i might go walk around with them later, hey teresa, i might see you at old navy!

here is the only photo i've been able to get of the wonderful, but skittish cardinal that is the reason i fill the birdfeeder!  he manages to see me whenever i hold up my camera near the window.

i was feeling bad that i didn't do anything for the month of softies, but i couldn't decide what to do.  i'm definitely inspired by this month: the recycled monster, i've been eyeing my bag of old stuffed animals that hasn't made it's way to the salvation army...
  i'm sorry there aren't any pictures in this post, but i am at the bookstore working (only 2 more weeks!) but i did upload a new photo album of what happened late saturday night.  it didn't really rain as much as they predicted, instead there were strong winds & a 3-story tall piece of the neighbor's tree fell against our house!  it hit the back porches, the pictures i took in the night show the view off my porch & of the tree leaning against the house.  my housemates moved their cars to safety & pushed the tree off to the side.  no one was hurt & i don't think much got damaged except for some pots & planks.  i didn't get much sleep after that, though.  sunday was a two-cup-of-coffee day with a trip to the fabric store.  then i stayed up till 3am knitting a little green cotton scarf which is definitely not on my to-do list!

plays well with others

would you believe me if i told you i just got back from going out for drinks with some friends from the bookstore?  me neither.  my roommate & i had a day of staying in because of the rain, eating kielbasa & perogies which i'm probably misspelling...  delicious, though.  i was up late thursday night making this box which holds 4x6" photos for neighborSusan to give as a wedding gift.  i hope whomever receives the box thinks it as lovely as i do.  it's covered in japanese silk bookcloth & lined with paper from florence.  i've had a yard of that iridescent purple asahi bookcloth for, hmm, 5 years?  it's just so gorgeous i've only nibbled at it. 
  i'm going to try to see through the haze of rum & cokes to cut out more strange creatures (that's what i was doing before being called upon to go outside)  i've spread out my selection of fabrics across the living room floor & have a lot of work ahead. (okay, so i live 3 blocks from the bar)  luckily i will be fueled by these amazing easter candies that i bought soley based on the packaging...