Winner!

Well, Miss Pamelabee--you're the winner of "Pets." Email me at the address on the right sidebar, and I'll send it along!

Unburdening: A Giveaway

I have a mile long checklist of things that need to happen around here before the Big Move (I sorted books yesterday! I cleaned out the craft closet this morning!); the Crowes head south on May 31st (or thereabouts), and while it has been common practice when we move to lug loads of questionable items, boxes full of random papers and things we don't really want or need (a 90s era hacky sack? a poster of Indiana Jones?), I'm determined to break that habit this time around.
Here's where you come in! I don't want to carry much--if any--inventory to North Carolina, though the shop will (barring unforeseen circumstances) survive the transition in good health. I suspect this means an unusual frequency and number of giveaways here on the blog. Hope you don't mind. For now, if you would like to have the piece in the top image, entitled "Pets" (from my 2010 series, most of which has already made its way into the world), just leave a comment on this post. I'll close 'em down on Friday at midnight and pick a winner, random-number style.

Things Are Going Springingly

What's happening Crowe-wise this week? Well, I put some blooms in the shop because they feel like spring to me despite their soft woolliness. (Did you know that's how you spell woolliness? It doesn't look right to me.) Maybe this juxtaposition of flowers and wool makes sense to me because I'm from Northern Maine, where in March and April you're likely to see bare knees paired with duck boots! We are a hardy and hopeful lot.
I finally finished this embroidery on canvas, with the word welcome. Boy, it was hard to commit. I think I'd like to take custom orders for, perhaps, first names (for kids' bedrooms?) or last names (for front halls?) done in this way. This kind of work is an absolute pleasure to me, despite its being time consuming.
And, for the second time, Mark and I survived the experience of our girl (who will turn thirteen two months from today--yikes!) attending a middle school dance. We had mistakenly believed homeschooling would save us from this exquisite pain. We were wrong. ;-) Up there's the bad, blurry photo (dances being scheduled for the evening time, of course, and me hating flash photography) of the fancy-lady hairdo I gave Miss A. for the evening. So easy--it's just two back-of-the-head-favoring braids tied in a knot (so tied two times), with the ends tucked and pinned. A friend of mine said Annabelle looked like she was ready for Downton Abbey, and Annabelle repied, "That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me." My girl's a sucker for a period drama--what can I say?

Sometimes, a Misfire

The little girl that ended up looking like this:

started out looking like this:
and that's okay! The process by which I arrive at the final draft of any custom hoop is always collaborative, and sometimes that collaboration involves revision. Lighter hair? Check. More delicate features? Check. Red rain boots? Oh, yes please.
All the animals made it through unchanged. And I have to say, I'm awfully pleased with that raccoon--he's my first!

Confessions of a Former Felt Waster?

Looking at some of these work-in-progress shots this morning, I realized that they signal a shift in my process; back when I began, folks often asked me how I arrive at the appliqué shapes that get stitched onto my hoop pictures, and I told the truth--I cut and cut, freehand, until I get the shape (bird, house, tree, girl) I like. That was true then anyway, but (to a large extent) it changed--for a couple of reasons, I think.
First of all, my desire for precision increased with my skill--that is, as I became a more confident sewist (I've never used that word before! It's cute! I stole it from my friend Meg!), my expectations for each project increased. I didn't anymore want something that sort of resembles a cat or a human face. Starting with a drawing certainly helps me get the detail I want.
And then there's the matter of felt wastage. I had to toss out (or put in the scraps drawer) many a beyond-wonky owl or shoe or oak leaf--and this stuff ain't cheap. And it comes from animals, which is a whole other ball of wax I won't trouble you (or myself) with today. Suffice it to say, I treat it as the precious resource it is, and pattern making helps with that, too.

This is not to say I never freewheel. I do. (The white tree shapes were cut willy nilly, for example.) Just less than before. I'm glad we cleared this up. Carry on.

Variation on a Theme

From tulips to ferns--now my mind is working overtime, thinking about what other kinds of gardens I could plant in front of pink houses.
Suggestions welcome. :-)

Tulips/Lit Papers/Chai--Oh, my!

Well--my tulip garden pink house hoop is finished, and it feels so fresh and hopeful, like bare knees on the street in mid February--a perhaps-too-early but still-so-welcome sign of spring.
And on the less-hopeful front, I now have absolutely no excuse not to grade intro to lit papers. I think I'm going to bribe myself with a chai latte.
How do you convince yourself to do tasks you'd rather avoid? I'd love to hear your tricks. A girl should probably drink only so much chai...