Fresh from the hoop--the finished front, ready to be trimmed into shape.
Beloved honeycomb/green fabric for the back, plus the essential gross grain ribbon.
The profile--I'm swooning a little over the combo of this pale robin's egg linen and that perfect grassy-green.
Ready to hang (or to ship to Courtney and her bird-loving, sweet-faced baby)!
When not apartment hunting or grading papers or, you know, filling my kid up with more genius, what do I do for fun, you ask? Well, lately I've split my leisure time between three activities, mainly. #1: Reading. You'd think a lady with a Ph.D. in literature would spend scads of time in this pursuit, but for months now, I've barely touched a book aside from the texts I've assigned to my online students. Impending summer always makes me want to read for pleasure. (Note: I have a bit of a John Irving fetish. Boarding schools? Bears on motorcycles? Circus performers? Yes, please.) #2: Watching episodes of Felicity on megavideo. (I can explain this slightly-embarrassing fixation in a word: Noel.) And, predictably, #3 is handwork. Up there, the good-old pink-house hoop--don't forget, you can make one, too. Link to the tute is on the right sidebar, as ever.
Soon there will be very little leisure--we've got a couple of promising leads, apartment-wise, and we'll need to start crating up our lives. In the interest of having less to move, I'm offering blog readers a 15% discount on anything ready to ship in the shop (which will close for a week on May 7th). This amounts to a small group of wall hangings--the three you see in a nice little row above, plus the little girl with her imaginary bear, and the mama and baby birds in a hoop--plus a couple of brooches, prints, and postcards. If you want me to adjust the price before you buy, just give me a holler; otherwise, I'll refund the difference to your paypal account lickedy-split.
This week, I had the opportunity to make a sign for a client's craft fair table--she's just opened an etsy shop, and I have a bit of a crush on her beaded earrings.
I was thinking this kind of sign would also be pretty cute in the entryway of one's home--and I'm toying with the idea of making one for our new (and yet-to-be-discovered) apartment that says "The Crowes' Nest." Too corny? Never mind--don't tell me. ;-)
Off to hang out with my parents, look at an apartment, and write a poem for my workshop, which is tonight. (Cramming in my thirties--when will it end?)
A sigh of relief--for a finished "By the Sea"--and, perhaps, a longing sigh, to spend such a day reading with a friend.
That's my first swan, folks! And here is my song for you: happy long weekend. May you rest and relish it.
The truth is, it's been a hard week in lots of ways--busy and a little bit sad--and we haven't made anything, except ourselves pretty.
And since I miss you all desperately, we'll just go ahead and share the pretty! Annabelle decided to try bangs. I'm not sure she's entirely convinced--she pats them down all day--but I think the look is decidedly retro-fab.
Then there's me, fully shorn, Mia Farrow-wise, for spring. It's awfully hard for me to take a picture of myself in the mirror. The angles don't make sense to me no matter how many times I try. But you get the idea, and at least you can see I am still ticking, if not sewing.
Once my rental hunt is over, which will have to be in the next few weeks, I have great plans for good things around here, maybe a wool-felt-flower brooch tutorial? Meanwhile, my head feels lighter, and that can't hurt.
Every once in a while, who doesn't need her mom to give her a kick in the pants, right? Mine called yesterday and said she thought I might be ill because I wasn't blogging regularly. (Thanks, Mom!) Well, I'm not sick, but I am a little bit swamped--it was recently midterm season in online-lit-course land, and I just finished grading the last one. Phew. Plus I'm trying to find a new place to live. Plus we're preparing for our free-to-us, upcoming Florida vacation. (Thanks, Mark's Mom!) We'll be spending Annabelle's 11th birthday in the Magic Kingdom!
All this amounts to not a whole lot of making, but partly thanks to that motherly kick, I've gotten started on a seaside scene for the good samaritan who bought my for-Haiti listing a while (okay, a long while) back. Meanwhile, Annabelle, who always thinks she can, crocheted a sweater, sans pattern, for Hazelnut. Doesn't she look pretty chic?
I've gotten some very good stuff by post recently--up there is the felt sent to me by A Child's Dream Come True. They're sponsoring the article I'm writing for Living Crafts (which I've discovered will actually run in the fall issue). So gorgeous.
And this wonderfulness? Oh, just my friend Meg's perfect book.
The applique goodness almost blows my mind! Look at that awesome pillow up there--and this camera bag? I'm trying to work up the courage to try and make it before I go on a photo-worthy vacation later this spring.
And this last bit? Just a pattern I wrote at dear Meg's invitation. I'm bragging a little. I know you won't mind.
My friend Jen came to town for a visit, and there's no Target where she lives, so... I ended up with new spring shoes, and if you know me, you know this is kind of a big deal: I didn't visit them first. (Strictly speaking, I generally "visit" objects I desire twice or three times before laying down the cash. If I leave the store and forget about them, so much the better.) I'm awfully glad they came home with me because they're making me inexplicably happy. Flowers on my feet. Tee hee.
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