the secret is

time.



these don't smell good, especially the longest one which has been sealed outside in a canning jar for a month. but oh... yes. elderberry and dahlia mordanted in a bath of wood ash. the top one has been sitting in cast iron.

tonight, i'm drinking spiced apple mead and watching a pot of water.

why i have too many things..

a baby quilt, another estate find by mum. i couldn't resist showing you. hope you're enjoying such sweetness & light wherever you are.

going for It.

just realized my bunny mitts were on etsy's front page on sept. 14..


and, i'm at 99 sales! it's auspicious, since lately i've decided to work on making my etsy business my full-time gig. i want to start thinking of my business as a real Thing and treating it like a job - a dream job, not one of those that i've enjoyed calling in, and quitting.. i don't want to turn into one of those adver-tweeters or anything, but i do want to make a living doing what i love..

it's hard for me to come at things head-on like this. i like to approach things sideways, and act as if they aren't really a big deal. it's safer and also part of my cancer nature. but i do want this, i really, really do.

etsy's holiday boot camp starts today. for some reason, i love their checklists. one of the steps is to share your goals for the season. so here's what i need to focus on right now:

*creating new yarns and making sure i have enough to carry me for a few months. i want to do a line of fall-winter yarns and also some holiday-ish yarns. i also have a few new ideas that i need to make time for..

*creating a business plan - i'm using the right-brain business plan book) that i found through the effervescent k-wow of while tangerine dreams. then once i'm clearer on that vision, i'll have a benchmark to evaluate everything i'm creating and putting out there in the world.

i'm telling you all these things to make them real to myself and to make me feel accountable. i also found a perfect boot camp buddy, Mystic Hills Ngaroma. she's a doll artist who lives on a sheep farm in new zealand! help keep me straight, y'all!

bunny modeling

henry is the handsomest rabbit ever to exist.





he came with me to the hotel today for a photo shoot (more pics here). he seemed to enjoy exploring the environs, and his supermodel status. he's gracing my new fall banner for petit bones. sexy beast!

woolgathering

wool·gath·er·ing   [wool-gath-er-ing]
noun
1. indulgence in idle fancies and in daydreaming; absentmindedness: His woolgathering was a handicap in school.
2. gathering of the tufts of wool shed by sheep and caught on bushes.

thank you, freedom


cassandra


emma


and flirta.


all gorgeous shetland sheep from rare find farm. and thanks to lynn, their sweet shepherd mama. this is the farm where my own sheepies came from, but my sheep are grey, brown and black, and i needed these pretty whites, creams and silver-greys. i especially love cassandra's fleece - she is a fawn katmoget ewe, which means she's marked like my georgie with a darker underside, but she's white on top and fawn underneath. GORjuss.

3. basking in clouds of comfort and safety
4. smelling the smell of distant rain, feeling the damp earth
5. bliss

cottoning

this is a small piece i've been thinking on for a while. i'm playing around with scraps right now and may start stitching this weekend. this isn't how i expected this creature to go... but as i was playing, i realized i've become a little freer, a little more adventurous with my piecing. and i thought i was just listening to jude and nothing was taking hold... but when i was working i could feel her influence, giving me permission to cut a little here, try a little something ... so good to be shifting and working differently! thank you, jude in my head!

i've been drawn to old cotton batting pulled from quilt scraps as applique.. i think these pieces are flattened enough that they'll be secure after they are stitched. i've also been carding them into fiber and spinning them. those bits are just so soft and comforting, and they haven't seen the light in such a long time.

i've been thinking a lot about the difference - if there is one - between being an artist and an artisan. i have called myself a fiber artist for the last while, and that was partly aspirational. i also love everything conjured by the word artisan. i just don't like the sound of 'fiber artisan' and i never hear it used. i'm wondering too if maybe these terms have different meanings or inflections when it comes to fiber work. i think a friend told me that artisan in french has a different connotation, something like 'worker' - you-hoo - did i remember that right?

i'm also inspired by the recuperation of the word "craft" but i tend not to use it, especially locally, since i think it can still play into those old boundaries between art & craft... some people still take it as "just" craft. i applied for an "emerging artists" grant yesterday and i had to check the "craft" category. they had painting, sculpture, photography, dance, some other categories... and craft. strange that they lumped all fiber work into that. i'm still vaguely annoyed by it. i think that since they were describing everything in terms of medium, it should have been "fiber" or "textile".

the more i think about all this, the more ambivalent i feel about calling myself an artist... because i'm fine with doing work just because i like it, or because i want to. it doesn't have to Mean. although sometimes it does. it is important to me to be good at what i do though, to be or become technically proficient at it. so what does that make me?

HH

it's been pretty cool setting up and working in the studio again. seeing bits i forgot i love... it's certainly a change, and i hate change. i miss the sounds of the dogs and roosters. but there's all this space, and and light, and patti smith, and... some moments i feel elated, others teary. it's working.

one of my favorite things

someone unknown to me cross-stitched twelve eagles and quilted them. eleven eagles face one way, and the bottom left one is the mirror image. the quilt needs some tlc. it has many small tears and some staining. but overall it's quite strong, and lovely.

i love india's post today.

always something to stitch

wondering what to work on, and then looked down..




starting a bit today, and more tomorrow, i'm moving my studio back to the hotel... i haven't been working there this summer for lots of reasons - there was a storm that blew off the roof, then there was the heat, then sarah hosted a show. slowly all my projects moved home. but now there's more space, and we have a new plan to expand and inhabit the whole space, just the two of us.

i'll miss the gentleness and comfort of working at home, but i was happier when i was at the hotel. less isolated. more productive, more creative. more able to find what i'm looking for and be inspired by materials (and protect them from moths and mice). and the kitty-energy, it's completely different from the dog love at home. the new environment will enable a different sort of continuing... i'm excited to get set up and unearth my stash, and see everything again with new eyes.

a new heirloom

a yard sale find.






at first i thought it was knitted, but now i think it's crochet. anyone recognize the stitch? and then at first i thought the colourwork was intarsia, but all the designs are actually cross-stitched on top! so much work, P.S.D. i'll mend the holes, and be a good caretaker in this lifetime.