Happy Halloween!

My Son the Political Cartoon.

Daily Chuck

I will be posting three new pairs of gloves on Thursday night in my Etsy shop. I am knitting as fast as I can and I think three pairs every two weeks is about all I can do and I am still getting requests for custom fingerless gloves thanks to Dooce. She posts pictures of her two adorable dogs every day in the Daily Chuck section. It is so much fun to scroll through all the past pics. This one was fairly recent. It really makes me smile.

Sebold's Originals

I am aching to make some more sock animals. I really like the feel of the angora socks I can buy at Marshall's and I love hand sewing by the fire. But what I really like is knitting a little turtleneck sweater for the animal. I also wish I could knit more people sweaters, but the gloves keep my kneedles very very busy. I have one sock zebra left in my shop but he does not have a sweater. Maybe I should make one for him... but look at these adorable softies (above) I found in Sebold's Originals Etsy Shop. They are felted wool, (not sock), animals, and I love the sculptural quality of them. They remind me of the softies I bought from Jeff Vincent at the Secondstories tent at the South Wedge Market this summer. All right, they are nothing like Jeff's creatures. Jeff's creatures have so much more personality. You can see lots of his creations here. He uses a lot of recycled thrift shop fabrics. I wish I had the avante garde spin that Jeff's little guys have, but I make much more conventional sock animals, like this bunny.

I really want something like this. It is from Schubladen Furntiure and it costs 370 euros. I have no idea how much that is but I think it is a lot. Misha, if you read this - I hope you think about making these with your wonderful drawer slides. I'll even find the drawers for you!

Pictures

Inside -our kitchen counter
Outside on Wednesday - rainy day
Outside on Thursday.

Anne Havens

I wrote about Anne last week in the pink post. She is having an exhibit of new work at Studio 354. If you are in Rochester, come and see. No one is ever disappointed in Anne's work. She is a true avant-garde artist and both on the edge and in the deep as a thinker.

knitting

I have joined the Rochester Knitting Guild. The Guild meets every second Monday. It is very inspiring to see all the beautiful projects that other members are creating. They also have a pattern and book library and I was able to borrow a book that allowed me to finish a sweater that has been awaiting finishing for a number of years. I will hopefully wear it tomorrow and get a picture of it. I washed and blocked it on Sunday but it was still not dry as of last night. I have another sweater begun that I really love and I should be working on that, but I really desire to make a capelet for those cold nights when I don't want to have to change into a turtlneck. Obviously, I always keep making fingerless gloves, but I like to have a larger personal project on the side for when I need, no want, to do something for myself. I cannot decide on the colors though...I love greys and greens, but I am feeling like a warm amber and raspberry would help brighton a cold day.

Indie Market

Just one week left to apply for a table at the second storie} indie market!

Second Storie puts on such amazing art shows. They treat the vendors like royalty. They will be celebrating on Saturday evening with a favorite local band, hosting a meet and greet brunch for vendors on Sunday morning and hosting a craftivism table to make mittens for those in need.

If you make art - come and sell it at this market!
If you buy art - come and shop!

Saturday, November 29th, 11 am to 6 pm
Sunday, November 30th, 11 am to 4 pm
visual studies workshop auditorium, 31 Prince Street in Rochester, near the Memorial Art Gallery.

treasury times two million!

Dooce bought my fingerless gloves and posted them on her blog!! I have been told this is one of the most special, wonderful blogs out  there. It could not have come at a worst time as I am pretty much out of stock. I will be posting more as soon as possible (obviously). I guess I will be staying up all night  posting everything I have and then knitting like crazy. Thank you Heather B. Armstrong!

Treasury times two

I got a treasury and I got in a treasury - yeah for me! Alibi chose my favorite little painting/collage to show off.

politics

I have my opinions about this election, but I keep them to myself. I feel each and everyone of us has a reason to believe what we believe and it is not my responsibility to change ony one's mind.... But I do enjoy hearing others opinions. That said, if you have not already seen it - check out this amazing blog. margaretandhelen.wordpress.com

Pink

Thinking of pink...My Friend Anne Havens made this amazing book titled Pink: A Day in the Life. You can see all the pages at The Refrigerator. Interestingly enough, there will be an Anne Havens hanging aside the new curtains. I'll photgraph the room when it is ready.

Anna Marie Horner

This is the fabric I ordered for the Family Room curtains. I have always wanted to have a splash of pink somewhere in the house and I really hope this works. I think it will look cheery and vintage, yet modern and stylish. It will take up almost an entire wall and be a major focal point as one walks in the front door. We have a wonderful vintage couch in that room that I made a red slip cover for and there is a stone fire place and stone floor. I am quite nervous ordering fabric online - I hope it is all I believe it will be.

Our Bedroom

We moved into this 60's house over four years ago. It has zero personality. No wood work, literally no window sills. But I am beginning to love it. I am looking forward to making the family room curtains this weekend with some amazing Anna Marie Horner fabric. After watching Leanne win Project Runway I am desperate for some pattern! Here is a picture of our bedroom. It has this gorgeous vintage wallpaper that is in excellent condition. (We stripped the wall paper of of every other room in the house). I almost love our bedroom, as it is close to perfect. We found these vintage table lamps ten years ago and they were born for this room. The curtains were original to the house and they are a lovely raw silk. I found those amazing pillow cases at Target this August. I just need the perfect (affordable) rug and I will be happy.

new work (sort of)

Back on September 20th I posted some paintings of birds I had completed. I was so thrilled to sell the one with the gears at the Public Market's Artist Row. I really want to paint more paintings in a similar vein to these, but here they are reworked in photoshop for cards to sell at the next show - (The Indie Market at VSW, Thanksgiving Weekend!)

Jack-o-lanterns

Treasury

I got a treasury on Etsy this morning and I have to say it is quite beautiful. It is inspired by my fellow Etsy blogger artists so check it out! I do not have screen shot on my old computer - but you can get to it the old fashioned way -click the word treasury and it will take you to it. Here is a sampling of the work exhibited...

October

We went to Power's Market today. It was extremely crowded but beautiful. We bought the best pumpkins ever - I will show off our jack-o-laterns when they are completed tomorrow! 

Free

Register for a free handbag!
Handbag Planet (high fashion hand bags with out the high price) is giving away fee handbags! You can pick from a number of beautiful bags. I picked this one.

Elizabeth Lyons

Elizabeth Lyons, founder of More Fire Glass in Rochester is a wonderful artist and teacher. She gives a great deal of her energy to offering high school students opportunities to work in glass and she makes the most beautiful objects I have ever seen. I was paging through the November issue of Metropolitan Home Magazine last night, sitting on the couch by the fire, and I see this gorgeous green vessle and I think to myself that that looks alot like Elizabeth's work and I read on to find out that it is Elizabeth's work! I was lucky enough to get one of her magnolia tea light holders a the sale at More Fire on October 3rd along with alot of beautiful beads. I am hoping to put a few pieces together this weekend. I just love the tealight. My Mom got a bunch of Elizabeth's bird vases at one of last year's sales that I also love and hope to acquire from her.

sick as a dog

Where did that phrase come from? Dogs are never sick. This is an early Bill Wegman titled Stormy Night 1972.

leaves

Sunday

Part of a Tree

No Tree

Sunday I hardly left my bed. The whole family has had a very bad cold (seeming like the flu really) for over two weeks. It comes and goes and it came bad on Sunday for me. Worse yet our neighbor across the street was having a very large willow tree cut down. The chain saw made it very difficult for me to rest, let alone fight off the headache I had. It is almost 6:00 and they still don't have it completely down...

I managed to get just a little bit done on Saturday. I finished a handful of green bottle glass earrings. I also went shopping with my daughter and I bought the most wonderful winter coat. The cat pictured is Nemo, we have had him since he was a kitten. He is almost 9 years old (I think - I am going to check the photo album on that one). I felt bad that I have showed off the dog (April) and one of the rats (Peanut). So I am trying to be even about my representation of family pets on the blog. I'll have to get some nice pictures of the other rat and the snake (which reminds me, the snake needs to be fed).

oh boy!

I found this photo by Diane Arbus while searching for images of hand grenades. Isn't it just wonderful?

sara dankert

Sara Dankert is an awsome artist and teacher. I am lucky enough to own this drawing. We saw it at RoCo and then my husband went and surprised me with it as a Christmas present! I am in love with this other one too! Maybe it will become a tradition and I can get this to hang over the couch!

start where you are

I keep wondering where to put my time, what is most worth making with the little time I have. I am determined to work on paintings, and I am always knitting, but I also like to throw something else into the mix. Lately my favorite thing to do is wool felting. I like the quiet washing and sqeezing of the wool, and I think it is theraputic for my hand. Rachael Hetzel has been seen wearing a felted beads necklace that I made for her and she is getting lots of compliments on it; I have also heard from many people that they have seen her wearing it and that they love it. I have two similar to it for sale in my Etsy shop and I am hoping to make more fo the next show I am doing which is Second Storie's Indie Shop on Thanksgiving weekend. But these necklaces are unique labor intensive peices, so get one if you want it, I don't see myself making too many. mark your calendars now
saturday november 29th 11-6
sunday november 30th 11-4
at visual studies workshop