Crossing things off

The best thing about lists is crossing things off of them, don't you think?

I have finally started finishing the finishing touches on my art. I got two nearly finished, the embroideries are laced, but I need to figure out a better way to use the frames I have. And if I want to use the glass or not. Right now I am not sure. The frames also need to be repainted, but that will take a trip to a hardware store for some spray paint. I hope I'm on a roll. I need to show these to people. I'm ready to share them. And that is such an exciting feeling!

Here's what the ironing board looked like while I tried to match the pieces to their frames...
AH! Only TWO, only almost finished!? eeep! :) I need to get to the thrift stores this weekend and find more frames for sure!

In the mean time, here's a glimpse at my end of a collaboration I've happily found myself in, and man, have I snuggled in and gotten comfy with this project!

Yup, that's a giant ball o' yarn from a Cotswold fleece that was cleaned, carded, spun and is FINALLY being knit by yours truly. I am having so much fun with this! And it smell so good, I can't even tell you, it makes me think of spring and long for chilly nights all at the same time.

There's a busy weekend a head of me, whatever happens!

Threads and Oats

Yesterday I pulled my muslin out of it's container and slapped my new hoop on it and started tracing a sketch on it. Didn't like that one, turns out, the idea behind it is one that needs to get fleshed out and built upon more before I can start. More drawing, more tracing, more scratching of the head and lots more erasing. So instead I started this:


Will keep you updated, promise.

This is another week o' practice for S, so I decided to go to the grocery store and buy lunch stuffs, a girl can eat salads only so many days in one week. It was there, trying to decide what it was that I wanted to eat for lunch tomorrow that it hit me. I can make COOKIES! I haven't be able to for one reason or another ( a grosssssssssss nasty ass studio kitchen being one of them.) Happily I gathered my supplies, and these delights just popped out of my oven. They are, in the words of the little sister of my life, Ms.L., yummish! interesting note ( or not) this is the first food I've posted about. go figger


And to finish up, two finished projects:

Stole for mah momma

and a hemp market bag

Tiles are taking over my life

This cat button is a cross between my buttons and my tiles, I made holes in the side and back of the disk after absently carving this cat while on the phone one night. I liked it too much to put holes through the top, like a normal button. It now is sew to my curtain and I plan to surround it with more embroidery.

At the moment I am not only making my own tiles of various sizes and shapes and motifs, I am also the prime tile-layer down at the big house. This means I spend a few hours everyday laying down some lovely slate tiles and then later grouting them. It can get a little uncomfortable, but I can get in a great rhythm once I get going. It's nice to have something concrete to see at the end of the day. But more importantly, the tiles I am making!


I can't remember how exactly I got to them, but it had something to do with the buttons. Anyways, I roll out the slabs, smooth them down and then use a nifty cookie cutter like device to punch out squares of clay that I then carve into. Most of the designs are abstract, with heavy textures. On others I have been exploring bird motifs and seeing how far I can go with this whole bird fixation I seem to have developed since moving to Appomattox.

There have also been some sculptures out of said tile squares...



Since I started with the curtains, I suppose ending with some newer embellishments has a nice symmetry. The second bird is about seven inches above the first one, there will probably be more of those as time goes on...