ruby crowned kinglette

feeling better

getting things done - as opposed to not getting things done - feels pretty good.

more for the holiday show this saturday from 11 to 5... if you are in seattle and want to stop by, send me an email or comment and i will get you some directions. 

i tried.....

but my computer conspired against me... so here are three.

three, to make up for the days i have missed.

this was my lunch on thursday.... garbanzo beans like molly says on top of sauted swiss chard... pretty good really.

i woke up and looked outside while still lying in bed and all i could see was a golden glow... so i whipped on some clothes and went outside to take some pictures... exactly what you would expect at 7:30am on a saturday morning... right?

and look! some goodies for the holiday season.  i have a little show with some gals this weekend and am furiously (kind of) getting ready.  these will be a few of the items that i will have. hopefully. as i mentioned before, december has kind of come up on me without me even realizing it was fall, let alone the holiday season.

who else is tired of the popcorn?

first.... although the popcorn is great, it is far past time to post about something else.
second.... yes, i am still a blogger.
third.... i am also still a crafter; a sporadic one at the moment, but still one nonetheless.
fourth.... i am also a farmer. well, i will be next spring.  right now i am just a digger, forker, turner, composter and mulcher.

several weeks ago i went to visit my friend debbie and took my deer head and ears with me.  i bought the form from a taxidermy company in the hopes it would provide me with a model that i could scale down and make deers of fabric.  well, it didn't work so well and everyone went berserk over deer mounts and then tired of them... i felt a bit behind the curve on that so i just let it go... until august.  i was visiting for a couple of days and it was so nice.  we spent the mornings eating a nice breakfast and then went into the neighboring woods to forage. for lichen. lots of lichen.

and then came back to sit in the sun, enjoy the wildlife and the view and the searing, burning joy of a hot glue gun.

so this is my contribution to the deer mount community... where i finally decided i have room to put it is not the most ideal location for photography.  none of the photos are great, but i have to say it is something that really is so much greater in person...  all the different textures of lichen is just spectacular.  and the branches as antlers.... also super great. 

i love it, and as mentioned above? almost couldn't find room for it in my house.  it isn't small. from the bottom of the chest to the top of the head is about 36 inches and then maybe 48 inches from antler to antler.  it didn't look so big when i was making it outside, or testing it on debbie's walls.  but getting it into the car wasn't a breeze, not hard either, but not a breeze.  it was when i got it into my house that i thought... yikes.  but i wasn't going to give up either because he is too wonderful to not have keeping an eye on me.

so then... other crafting later. and the farming?  that too will be a post for another day.  i worked so hard getting the 'land' prepped i can hardly function... so more too come on the farming front as well.

hope you are enjoying the fall season (or spring for you southern hemispherians).  i am, tons.

sharing my secrets

a collaboration is still motoring right along over here....  although, we do seem to be taking it a tiny bit easy this summer.  i am a little behind, but not so much i am full of any kind of guilt... oh, no. not at all.

i am not doing nothing....

over here i have a couple things....  and lots of things in my head, always lots of things in my head....

it was june first yesterday

and june first is the first day of 'a collaboration'.

alice and i received our first word yesterday.  we also developed a web site for the whole shootin' match. well, really alice did all the work while i just kept needling her with suggestions. we will continue our conversation about the project over there.  just like you could do last week, you will be able to see for yourselves how many expletives creep into my communications, how many errors in grammar go undetected and how funny we can be... hopefully.  oh, and you will be able to see our work as it progresses through the year as well.

i hope you will all enjoy this little adventure as much as we already have.

how a collaboration is born....

alice was in a funk, i was uninspired and i was also a little bit jealous of the exchanges she was participating in with others {read: not me}.   so i did something about it...

alice!!!

how about this... thought of it while in the shower.

once a week we have a word or idea we have to interpret in our own way.... but.

it has to be done during our lunch hours, while at work.
it might take only one, or all five, hours a week.
and, it has to be 6" by 6".
in fabric or felt.
and embroidery floss.
and anything we might find in our lunch room... or desk, or wherever we eat lunch.

ok, so there is a reason i like this too... it will give your new fellow employees a reason to approach you and you a reason to tell them how freaking wonderful you are....

what do you think of this one?

-s

 

Stephanie,

I totally love this idea, especially the part where I have to reveal myself to my co-workers.  You are an evil genius.  But ... I don't take a lunch.

...I love the size and material constraints.  6" x 6" is super portable, as are needle, floss, fabric, and felt.  I was thinking that it would be interesting if we only stitched half our block and the other person stitched the other half (or just filled part of it ... not necessarily splitting the block along a straight line). 

... might need two weeks per block, though.

...How should we pick the words?  Maybe they should be related to the subject of time, work, play, crafting, creating, stress, balance, etc.?

...Do you have any idea how much I would love a pillow we hand embroider together?  I can barely imagine it.  It would be the pillow I grab when I want to cry myself to sleep.  It would be the pillow I grab when I'm going to sit on the couch and watch a good movie with a glass of wine.  It would be the pillow I whisper my secrets to.  It would be my favoritest pillow.

xo,

Alice

 

alice

oh my god... i love you...

i was thinking of combining our efforts on the piece too so i would totally be excited to do that...  and, frankly, i don't care where it gets done but i do like the evil genius angle.  so, since this will be an on-going effort you will have time to lure them in... and me too, i haven't don't any crafting at the work place yet.

now, i remembered after emailing you that i have a shit-ton of linen in almost 4x4 squares...   you could have yourself a queen size quilt for your bed if you want... but, let's start smaller, shall we?  colors are good, but limited.  and, i know you are allergic to wool, and me (in kind of a snotty way) to acrylic.... and two weeks per block... perfectly fine.  i was also thinking about that and although i like the idea of one a week i think it would kill us. this way we still have our 52, and that is certainly enough for a gallery show....

...i was wondering if we shouldn't have a third party pick the words for us....?  maybe andrew?  ...he might pick some goodies for us. think he would be interested?

and... the idea of you whispering to our pillow is the sweetest thing in the world....  so i am going to have to make it good.

love,

-s

 

Stephanie,

I would *love* to use your linen bits.  Limited fabric colors are a-ok with me...

...How sweet of you to think of Andrew.  I'll ask him.  It seems like the kind of fun challenge he'd enjoy.

Gallery.  Wouldn't that be grand?  Not too much pressure ...

xo,

Alice

 

alice!!!!
excellent!!!

ok, after dancing with the stars (!) is over, i am going to root through the bag and get a package together to send to you....
brb... my show is on...

ok.... back

...i will send some of what i think will work together best and then we can use whatever we want in each square, whatever color we want... at the end, they will all coordinate but there won't be a designated color for each square so it will be a bit random... and then of course the color floss we use is WIDE OPEN...

...and, then as far as andrew goes... i am game if he wants to.  and he can be as abstract as he wants to be, the more esoteric the better - i think we are up for that, don't you???

so fun!

-s

 

...I was thinking we should do a limited number of collaborative squares....Also, although we'll get our word on a certain day every other week, can we be a little fluid about end times...

honk shew (that's the sound of a Merlino snoring, in case you didn't know),

Alice

 

alice

oh my god... fluid.  i am shit at deadlines.

...give a little 'hey there' tap to the snorer...

-s

 

stephanie,

yay for fluid deadlines!!

...andrew has already started the list of words.  i told him to avoid concrete things like "bunny" and "sunshine" and focus on more esoteric and conceptual words.  after I told him he couldn't tell me the words up front, he wouldn't even discuss examples with me.  he just pulled out his notebook and started thinking. :)...

xo,

alice

ps.  suddenly 2007 stinks much less

 

first, i am going to assume you mean 2008....

and, i am so excited for andrew to be so secretive... that is excellent...

-s

 

s -

...um, yes, i guess it *is* 2008 ... there is no hope for poor 2007 ... oh well

...don't let the bitches get you down.

xo,

alice

the fabrics will be in the mail to alice tomorrow... you can see what we are up to here, but don't hurry, we are not up to anything yet.

the questioning pig{lette}

she is wondering who stole all my time???

who?

crafting has commenced...

it's finally paid for itself.... or, at least it would have if it was charging

this garland is made of thank you notes, still in production... i have several more garlands strung between doorways. suzy and i have begun making her wedding invites, and all the goodies that go with them.  we have drunk two bottles of wine and had thai food the first night, boca burgers and margaritas the second.  we are not done, and have had only two misprints and one broken glass so far... damn fine record i think.

she bought the paper from paper source and we are using inks and supplies from think ink... the gal that owns the business is local and super great and real nice too.  i would like to think that i will be doing more gocco, and therefore more business with her... you should too. both.

this here is what the rest of the living area looks like... a nesting ground for printed pieces of white paper.  that little gocco'd bird in the back? it is a piece by evan b harris, something i bought almost as soon as i began blogging, could have been before, can't quite remember. but i have to say, that one day i hope to produce a gocco'd something as great as that... i mean, besides the art itself? what in the world could be better than a gocco'd bird, in a dress? sewing???  nothing, that's what.