Frosty Santas

We have had some pretty cold weather here and Jack Frost has visited! I took photos of our windows and did a little photoshop magic and put my favorites from my santa collection in front of the windows. Enjoy!

Give Away Day

This is just a quick post to let you know that today is Sew Mama Sew's big giveaway day. Go to their site and you will find three lists of blogs that are hosting giveaways. The list categories are; Sewing and Knitting Supplies, Handcrafted Items and Supplies and Handcrafted Items. I have participated in this before but this year I am just going to spend my time checking out blogs and maybe sign up for a few giveaways. Have fun!

House of Yum

If I had any little ones to buy holiday gifts for the fabulous felt food at House of Yum would be tops on my list. My friend Beth White and her friend Danielle Miller have come up with amazingly creative felt play food. Their moniker is "Feed your childs imagination!" In addition to feeding the imagination the food also might get your child to try some different items on their real plate! I'm not going to say much more because the images of the tasty treats say what words can't describe. Go to their blog and order up some tasty shrimp lo mein, tea and cookies, pizza, bacon and eggs and fortune cookies.

New Work

This is the newest-old piece I have been working on. The four large panels were made several years ago and I didn't know exactly what to do with them. I had them pinned together to form a sort of pyramid that stood (kind of) and I was thinking they might make a sculpture or doll skirt. When I came upon them a few weeks ago I wanted to reconfigure the pieces so you could see them all at once. I took them apart and instantly was filled with ideas of where to take them. I made a central piece that echoes the stars and points on the bigger pieces. I seem to always incorporate leaf images so made the skinny strips with leaves. I'm now working on smaller pointed pieces to go between the long and large pieces. They will have birds and shisha mirrors. All of this is hand stitched which I realize is a bit insane...but there it is. This is a piece about personal symbolism, birds, leaves, hands, spirals hearts and eyes often show up in my work and have meaning for me. So, now I have to go and thread a needle and get some more stitching done!

Tabula Rosa

About a year and a half ago I was asked to join an art doll round robin along with 8 other women from all over the U.S and several from Canada. I happily joined but a month into the process I realized I would have a difficult time continuing. Most of my supplies and materials were in storage and working space was at a minimum so with sincere apologies I asked that my doll be sent back. Well, these wonderful, giving and creative women said they were going to keep her and work on her even in my absence. What returned to me a few weeks ago was amazing. Tabula Rosa, the name I had given her, and her journal are works of art. I am so grateful for the kindness, caring, time and creativity these women put into this piece. The pictures only give you a glimpse of the good energy Tabby brought back to me! Thanks again everyone!

Little Birdies

I made this little bird for a friend and it turned out so well I made one for myself. Then I had to get some things made for a local holiday art show so I turned out ten more! I've been bird crazy! The main body is made of silk dupioni and the breast and tail feathers is made of a silk stripe. The wings are embroidered and the crest on her head is beaded.

While this one is made of silk, I have made them in felt, cotton and just about anything else that isn't stretchy. I made this pattern up in two sizes, this one is the tiny one which is about three inches long and the larger is about five. I'd really like to post this so you could go to a link and download the pattern, however, I'm not sure exactly how to do that. So, two things here...if you want the pattern, just leave a comment with your e-mail address and I'll send it to you as an attachment. The second thing, if you know how I could put it on here as a link, please let me know how it's done!

Finding Balance

As you may have noticed my blog posts have been in short supply of late and I was, at first, thinking the title of this post would be "To Blog or Not To Blog?" but to rewrite Hamlet a bit, that is not the question. I have been realizing that in a lot of areas of my life I either go all out or I quit.

Then I started going to the local Y and adding regular exercise into my life and I really wanted to commit. With a membership you can get several sessions with a trainer and I thought it would be a good idea to help me get past that time when I want to quit. When I started to get overwhelmed with exercise cutting into my studio time, Seth, the trainer, a very wise young man, made me come up with alternative ways to think and act. Maybe only go three or four days a week, go on alternative days and times, don't stay as long, etc. Then he grilled me on thinking differently about my eating habits and it has actually worked.

So what does that have to do with blogging? When I first started blogging it was for fun, a friend talked me into it and I really enjoyed reading comments from new and old friends. Then I decided to really try to get new readers and blog everyday. It took over my day, which meant less studio time and so true to my habits, I set it aside. So, back to my Hamlet quote. The question "To blog or not to blog?" is answered by balance. I will be blogging a few times a week, not daily and not leaving three or four weeks between posts, at least that is my goal. I will try to read and comment on others blogs as often as I can and am inspired to. I really need to exercise, create, cook, do laundry and manage my life and I want to do it in a balanced happy way. It only took me 52 years to figure this out, but better late than never!

The image at the top is another little garland I made, some crocheted fall leaves. Just so you know, I have been creating!