Filed under: Sewing | Tags: etsy, hand made, photography, purse, school photos, sewing
I am SO happy to have time to work again! I’ve scurried around my basement studio space furiously trying to clean in up in order to be more productive. It’s better…I’ve got sort of an “organized hoarder” set up. I keep fantasizing about living in a more “minimal” way, but then all of the things that I like to do are the OPPOSITE of minimal: sewing, knitting, drawing, painting, ice hockey. Why can’t I be more cerebral? Oh well.
Is it time for lunch yet?
I recently finished making a cute bag:
The entire purpose of making this bag is to sell it. Unfortunately, I kind of want to keep it. SIGH. This is a problem that I have often. The inside:
See! I even made a little pocket inside with a fabric label on it!!!
I love the little wood bead zipper pulls. How can I possibly sell this? On that note, I’ve started trying to cobble together an Etsy store. It’s a lot of work!!!! I’ll let you know if I ever get it up and running. How much should I sell this bag for? $1K? $2K? Just kidding…sigh. If you say $20, I shall give you a good whack with a knitting needle. It’s HAND MADE…for goodness sake. You can’t get that at Old Navy! Hmm. Maybe they have cooler stuff at Old Navy? Oh well.
Remember that silk chiffon top that I mentioned in a previous post? I finished that too! It nearly killed me. I vow NEVER EVER to work with that fabric again. It’s worse than silk charmeuse…it’s like trying to sew cotton candy. Here it is:
Sorry about it being wrinkly. I wore it, but couldn’t be bothered to iron it for the photo. I love it! It was a royal pain to make, though…
Don’t you like the cool layering effect? No? Too bad! If anyone has any helpful sewing tips for chiffon, besides finding someone more skilled to do it for me, please let me know.
Does anyone out there in cyberspace have an Etsy store? Or, do you shop on Etsy? If so, what do you think of these product photos? Are they nice, or shoddy? I still haven’t found an available super model to photograph with these items. I realize that deficiency may result in fewer sales. I don’t really want to put MYSELF in the photos, as that will GUARANTEE lower sales. Hmm. Seriously…photo feedback appreciated.
Speaking of photos…my son is having his school photo taken on Monday. I have to select the background that they will use. I have a choice of: corpse grey, two choices of electric blue, electric purple, smouldering ember orange, and sooty emerald green. Not great. I still can’t figure out which is the least hideous. Why can’t the kids stand in front of a leafy bush, or something natural?
Which would you pick? Ech. I’m worried about choosing the blue, as my son has a lot of blue shirts. His photo would end up looking like a floating head if his shirt matched the background…also not good. Maybe the gray??? I wonder if they can photoshop in a smile, as my son tends to scowl at cameras? That might cost extra. He also needs a haircut, but photoshopping in that will probably cost more than the haircut.
We seriously need to find a new place to get his hair cut. The place we go is SO SLOW, and it pains me to even contemplate taking him for a haircut. We ALWAYS have to wait somewhere between 1-2 hours until it’s our turn. Haven’t they heard of APPOINTMENTS??? Why can’t I schedule a time to be there so that I don’t have to try to entertain a six year old for two hours in a barber shop? Nightmare. They do a good haircut, though.
Okay, I’m off to try to do something remotely useful. I’m not sure what that is yet, but I’m sure that it will come to me. If you know of any places to get a good kid’s haircut THAT TAKES APPOINTMENTS near Arlington MA, let me know. And, no, a Flowbee is not an acceptable alternative.
Filed under: Drawing, Fleeting thoughts... | Tags: art, artist, drawing, hand made, Pencil, potato chips, quilting, sewing
My son gets angry every time I buy Cheez-its, because I eat the whole box myself. (Gross, I know.) Maybe they have MSG in them? (Grosser.) They’re VERY addictive.
I have recently discovered a new snack food to eat excessively:
I know. Grossest. Try them! They’re not bad. I still think that salt & vinegar are more tasty, but I had to try these. I remember in Spain that they had some Lay’s chips that were flavored like a ham sandwich. Now, THAT’S gross. (BTW that bag isn’t empty…YET.)
I recently finished another crafty project…a quilted purse!
It was pretty labor intensive. I’m going to figure out a way to get small elves to work on these while I sleep at night. I’m also going to ask the elves to clean the house, since they’re already up. I’m thinking of opening up an Etsy store. Any thoughts? Suggestions? Words of wisdom? Are elves hard to find? They can’t be THAT hard to find, as everyone else’s house is much neater than mine, so they must be using elves.
Please don’t have them take me away and put me in a padded cell. While that might be good for napping, I’m sure that they wouldn’t give me any Cheez-its.
My son is always creating fearsome drawings:
He’s 24.
Just kidding. He’s six. I love the “v” shaped mono-brow that all of the faces have. I’m hoping that this truly is supposed to be a monster, and not just me on Monday morning. I haven’t gotten my eyebrows done in ages, so I have a sinking suspicion that this is actually me. At least my legs look skinny.
I’ve gotten a bit of “press” as a result of being in New American Paintings. I got to be the “artist of the day” for March 1 on this website.
C’mon people! I need votes! I only have 28 votes so far. You aren’t allowed to vote if you don’t give me a perfect score. Okay, just kidding. Make it at least NEAR perfect. It makes me feel better about my imperfections, like my “housekeeping blindness” ailment. Very troubling.
I also got some press in the latest issue of Artscope magazine.
Right now, this series of drawings is still up in Dedham at the Mother Brook Arts and Community Center. Can someone pick up a copy of this for me? I live in the ‘burbs, and I only know of one local place that has this journal. Otherwise, I’ll have to schlep into Boston to get some. Sigh. Just going to Stop and Shop seems like a major hassle…don’t make me drive 30 minutes to get into Boston. I’ll have to locate my “good” pair of mom jeans for that excursion.
I’ve recently starting ice skating on a regular basis. I skated a lot as a kid (not gracefully, mind you) as we lived near a small pond. I forgot how fun it is! I hate exercising, so this is pretty much the only way to get me to move around a bit, other than telling me that a fresh box of Cheez-its are in the next room. I’m even starting to dabble with ice hockey. I’m pretty terrible, though…so patience is key. Not falling on my face is generally important too. I think that the years of playing field hockey is actually doing me a disservice. I keep forgetting that I’m standing on two, skinny blades on a sheet of ice. Hmm.
Speaking of ice, my hands are frozen into two claws. I’m typing this in our unheated basement. I’m going to stop now, thaw out my hands by sticking them in my husband’s leftover coffee, and then probably finish the bag of pickle potato chips.
THEN, I’ll move onto the box of Cheez-its…
Filed under: Fleeting thoughts..., printmaking, Sewing | Tags: Charlie Brown, Chicago, Christmas, Christmas tree, crafts, hand made, Holidays, ornaments, Real tree, Shopping, Tree
Hello all! I’ve been asked to try to provide progress images of what I’m up to. Here’s a serigraph (screen print), that is in progress:
Here some images of my holiday cards…relief print:
And here is something in progress…tree ornaments! This is a good segue to my next topic: tree debate!
Okay. When I was growing up, our family would sometimes get a real tree at Christmas time…and sometimes not. When we didn’t get a real tree, we used my mom’s FABULOUS silver aluminum tree. I believe that she and a girlfriend bought the tree when they had a tiny apartment in Chicago. Anyway, I loved that tree. Much to my horror, she threw it out one year WITHOUT ASKING ME FIRST. I know…get a life. Whatever. So, I’ve wanted one of those trees for ages. I got a vintage one from ebay last year, and I was SO excited. I think that my mom’s tree was better.., but this one is pretty cool. Okay, so the debate is: the rest of my family is not fond of the idea of a fake tree, never mind a silver one. So, I’m posting photos to get more opinions. Am I crazy, or is this thing kind of cool? Be honest. The first photo is just the plain tree…bare bones:
I know…it has a sort of Charlie Brown sparseness to it. But wait! What if I add some lights?
What if I go crazy, and add some PINK lights? (as we had in my childhood…should explain a lot about me)
I know. My husband is NOT going to go for this. But whyyyyyyyy??? Isn’t it COOL? No? Hmm…okay, I also made some silly, pillow ornaments for the tree. You may hate these as well, but give me your opinions on them:
And now, in the silver tree:
So, what do you think? Creepy? Cute? Blah? Yucky?
I like them! I know. Mies van der Rohe would throw up.
My son, inspecting the tree:
slightly wonky 
