Pattern ready to publish, and other news.

Naw, just kidding.  I don't have any other news.  But thanks to a friend nagging me (because she wants to make the pattern) I have finally gotten the Spring Wall Hanging pattern ready to go in my shop--with one exception.  I need to get a good photo of it, with good lighting, for the front cover.  Mary--I could use your photography skills at this point!  It's odd, maybe because the thing is so big and I'm used to small subjects. 

So Maybe I'll hang it outside with the golf course as the backdrop--before the day's wind kicks up.  (We can't even grill after around 9 am, because by then, the seasonal winds get going and you'll have a grease fire on your hands.)  I have a sort of double-tripod backdrop frame thing...maybe I'll use that.  But one way or another, I'll list it Monday in my Etsy store, and then get busy on Summer.  I've long finished the hanging, and I was smarter about the process of making pattern pages as I went along, but it's in no way ready to "print". 

And it's time to cut out the wool for the Autumn hanging, and get stitching on that.  Funny how working with wool (and hand quilting a small blanket on your lap) loses its appeal now that summer is on us, but maybe I'll live through it.  Ha! 

To be honest, it seems lately I've taken a break from all things shop-related.  I have played with crazy quilting--just things I want for my house--and I have totally ignored working on anything for sale or for the selling patterns.  My personal vacation?  Maybe so. 

But it is time to get back to it, and last weekend, the husband helped me a lot by lowering the surface of my work table about five inches.  When I designed it, I set it too high--all so I could get some premade shelf units under the edges!  But it was awful to sew on, even with an office chair raised all the way up.  Now it's perfect, and I have totally reorganized my room with the textile arts as the focus.  Of course paints are still out, and I can sculpt with very little preparation, but I have two sewing machines and a serger taking up the majority of the work table now. 

I don't have any good photos of projects I've been working on, so I will leave you with a few of The Tater Tot in his natural habitat.  Have a great weekend!

This is looking down the back of Barney, our big purple recliner.

He claimed a spot under the serger table.

Not sure if he's hailing a cab, or what.  He sleeps on the dog's bed-spot during the day.

Willie is never happy when Tater wants to share space.  And Tater remains oblivious.

A nap in the office basket while dad works.

I just realized, looking at these, that one would get the idea Tater is always sleeping.  He does sleep hard, and for long periods of time.  But several times a day (and night) and for hours each time, he goes crazy.  He does this impression of John Belushi, you know, the one in Animal House where Bluto jumps around spastic and wide eyed, like a Bluto-Ninja?  Yeah, that's Tater, ready for anything.

Help rebuild my reading list, please?

I need help, pretty please.

Will you blogger friends of mine post your blog address here in the comments--or email them to me, or facebook message them to me?  I changed my email address, and then had to do some finagling to be able to keep this blog.  But now I can't access the reading list I'd built up over the years.  Grrr!

Some of you are friends I do NOT want to lose contact with, and blogs are our primary way of keeping up with one another. 

Thank you.  Sometimes I wonder if technology is really my friend.  My mind knows it, but the rest of me doubts it. 

Early Summer and Simplifying

I am finally closing down the doll making.  After ten years, and who knows how many dolls, I am through. 

The creative urge will never go away, of course, so my work is changing more toward useful things, textile arts, or else y'all would find me posting from a padded cell.  (Do they allow computers in padded cells?  No?  Oh well.)  My reasons for leaving the doll phase of my art behind me are complex, but if I had to sum it up, I'd say a combination of a very weak doll market and a need to stop making things that collect dust and/or take up closet room. 

It seems the older I get, the less patience I have with things that are not functional.  Please don't get the idea that my home is in ANY way minimalist or sparse--I do still have a smallish collection of antique and art dolls, a million books, and more than enough tchotchkies and seasonal decorations.  But compared to a few years ago, my house is practically bare.  And getting simpler all the time. 

The point is, why make things to sell that I wouldn't buy?  I love the dolls my friends make, and I know I will miss the sculpting so much--seeing that little personality emerge like magic.  But I'll have to live that part vicariously, because right now I'm up to my ears in a world of rug hooking, needle punch, wool applique, and crazy quilting.  I'll publish patterns for the items I make for my home or for gifts I give to others, but with the exception of original small gifty type things (fancy pin cushions, reading glass cases, etc), I probably won't have much but patterns and supplies in my Etsy store. 

I'm finding my own way to the understanding of Mr. Thoreau's words: "Our life is frittered away by detail...simplify, simplify."  This process will take me a decade, but I've made a start. 

Am I equating doll-making with frittering my life away?  NO!  When I was caught in the passion of learning that art, the absolute zen of any particular aspect--from how to make a good hip joint to how to pain Izzy curls--I was building my life.  Building who I am.  But change is part of life, and I guess I've changed with it.  What challenges me now is to see if I can make the things I'd love to have in my home--rugs on my floors, hangings on the wall (that roll up small and tidy for next season), textures and colors with infinite stitching. 

There's a detail to fritter away one's life, eh?  Hand stitching?  Ha!  But it satisfies me the way the doll challenges used to, so I'll take my cue from it. 

Forgive the long philosophical post, please.  Here's the second in the Seasonal Wall Hanging series I'm working on.  This one is Summer.  Forgive the photo placement--Blogger has a big hiccup in its photo adding function that seems incurable. 

Have a fine Wednesday.