MY SEARS SCARF

I guess the normal progression is to start with Lion Brand yarn + move to something a lot nicer, like this, but that was not my path. I found several skeins of 1970's Sears brand acrylic yarn + fell in love with the colors. I chose mustard yellow + burnt orange + I'm knitting them together for a marbled (heathered?) look as a homage to the era of the yarn.

Damn Anthro for sending me catalogs with beautiful sweaters, now I have sweaters on the brain! Beautiful sweater projects are in the works at Vanillabean Knits + While Tangerine Dreams. Oh such knitting talent!

EXCUSE ME

I had to go to an all-day new employee orientation today + when I saw the awesome aqua blue tile in the bathroom I had to excuse myself so I could take pictures. During the breaks there were too many people + you tend to get weird looks if you take out a camera in a bathroom.

I couldn't resist taking photos of the paintings that lined the halls.
My friend said, good art, bad art, I guess it's still art.

WEATHER REPORT

Suddenly it's cold + rainy, my least favorite weather. Beautiful Fall days passed too quickly. It seems that Spring + Fall are always a blur, but long hot summers + cold winters linger.

I'm working on a second scarf, I actually wear my first one almost every day. My annual knitting group meets next weekend + after completing everything for the crafts shows I started this project early to keep my hands busy. Maybe this year I'll learn how to purl.

I think I'll put this book on my very short Christmas wish list. Now I have 3 things on my list.

All the journals + sketchbooks will be in my Etsy shop by tonight. I also have a few other items to include in the update.

BIG SATURDAY

trying to be a chameleon against Beth's wall

In the last month I've become one of THOSE PEOPLE~ now that I don't have to drive to Nashville everyday I really don't want to drive THAT FAR. Well, it's been a month since I've made to 30 mile drive + I called up Beth to see if she was in town + wanted to go for a quick trip to the flea market (I knew if she said yes it would have to be quick since she's preparing for her last show of the year).

We managed to rush through the flea market in 2 hours. I found exactly what I was looking for- fabric, 2 pieces are actually aprons. I also found a local soap maker, Alchemy of Sol + she told us that Whole Foods just picked up her soaps- yay for her!

A couple quick food errands + then a trip to My {old} Happy Place. This was the first time I had been without the constraint of an hour lunch break. On this trip I had the absolute most serendipitous thrift store find experience...I found a paper lamp made by my dear friend Claudia. How it got to the bottom of a box at The Goodwill Outlet I'll never know, but I am so extremely happy that I was the one that found it + now it's in my home. And to top it off, the light bulb still works.

an owl find for a friend who collects owls

Last week I watched Paris Je'Taime. It's so fantastic, 18 different 5 minute segments by 18 different directors.

GOES TO SHOW YOU NEVER CAN TELL, PREDICT, OR ANTICIPATE

For those of you who do crafts shows + for those of you who have done the same show more than once you have undoubtedly had this experience... you sell a lot of one thing one time, so you focus on the production of that item the second time, but hardly sell any. That was my experience during these last 2 studio tours. Last year I nearly sold out of my hand bound books, but not this year. At the Off the Beaten Path show it was cards! cards! cards! + at The Murfreesboro Studio Tour it was prints! prints! prints! I guess the way to prepare for a show is to focus on producing whatever it was you did not sell a lot of the previous time.

This brings me to the second purpose of this post, which is to announce that I'm updating my much neglected Etsy shop with 4 new handbound journals + 2 new sketch books, perfect gifts to start off the fast approaching new year!

HANDMADE COLLECTIONS

We have friends who have been selling at crafts shows for decades + I love being in their homes because they are full of wonderful handmade pieces they have collected over the years. We were eating dinner at one house + they had the most beautiful hand blown glasses, a trade with a glass blower set-up in the booth next to theirs at a show in Upstate New York...that type of scenario.

The home/ studio I spent last weekend at is exactly like that, I love their display in the photo above. Over time I would love to have a home filled with trades + purchases from craft shows I participate in.

And on that note, I am desperately in love with this original piece by Erin @ Yellow Canoe

This weekend is the Appalachian Center for Craft's Holiday Festival. It's my absolute favorite show to participate in because it is the last show I do for the year + it's in a gallery, so there is no set-up. I just had to deliver a box full of cards + they take care of everything.

SHRINKY DINKS, LENTIL LOAF + ALICE'S RESTAURANT

My boy + I cooked our first Thanksgiving dinner + for 8 people (with leftovers). Here's the story in a nutshell...our friends invited us for Thanksgiving dinner but they don't cook + don't have a single pot in their house, BUT they do have a beautiful house, suitable for hosting 8 people for Thanksgiving. We cooked a 99% vegan dinner at our house (while listening to Alice's Restaurant) + drove it around the corner for what turned out to be one of the best Thanksgivings I have ever had. Luckily there was too much food because the lentil loaf never cooked in the middle + was not served. After too much food we ended the evening making Shrinky Dinks. I forgot how exciting it is when they start to shrink.

MURFREESBORO STUDIO TOUR

Another year of studio tours has come + gone + I always am so excited that I was a part of it all. I love doing this show because it's in my community + I get to meet so many people I live among.

I had the best exchange with one woman, stay with me on this story because it's really quite serendipitous. She came by specifically to meet me because a friend of hers had seen this post + told her about it because the old grocery store (+ one of my dream studio spaces) belonged to her Grandfather (or was it Great-grandfather?). She knew I lived in her neighborhood + in talking to her, it turns out we only live a block away from each other AND she is the niece of a woman I went through all my book arts + letterpress courses with. I was quite excited to talk with her + get an update on my college friend + now I know one more person in my neighborhood!

So back to the show- I love studio tours because it's so nice to be in a studio/home setting with a kitchen, coffee pot + a nice bathroom, no tent set-up in a park or fear of rain. As Beth pointed out, it also establishes you with other artists. Everyone I have met through Book Babes + the TACA craft fairs has been doing shows for years + for most, this is their profession. I cannot tell you how fortunate I feel to have met all these amazing artists because I have learned so much about the business + reality side of turning your craft into your job.

I am still playing with my display because I think there are some things that just don't work. Last year's set-up seemed to work out so much better. I was just hoping to get away from the big, heavy glass cubes. I'm questioning my new display with the clips because people seem reluctant to touch + help themselves, so if I'm not right there to help them, they may walk away. I like to watch how people interact with displays + I think this one missed the mark, so next time I'll go back to the one that worked best.

Overall the show was a great success. When I got home + tallied up the figures, I did better than I had thought + was invited back next year.

Congratulations to Trudi @ Double Happiness who had a very successful show + a very amazing both display + to Beth @ stitch.rip.repeat, who also had a very successful show this weekend. AND a HUGE Congratulations to Amy @ Papa Studios on her first crafts show! I had no clue that this weekend was going to be so jam packed with shows!

QUITE A FIND

After the first day of the studio tour (a full report to follow after the weekend has ended) I decided to unwind at a local thrift shop + look for sweaters (it's cold!). No luck in the sweater dept. but did find something pretty great~ this hand crafted silver bangle for (hold your breath)...99 cents. It was among a bunch of cheap crappy bracelets + I felt like Indiana Jones finding The Holy Grail in The Last Crusade.

And there are many beautiful sweaters in the new Anthropologie catalog, but The Measuring Gaggle is my favorite item.

SETTING-UP

Here I am, off to set-up for this weekend's studio tour + revealing the real reason I bought Ruby- to transport everything to craft shows. I have a good friend who does a lot of shows + rents a van each time.

More photos of the actual show to come later. Here is another article on the tour (can I just say that I'm always happy when my name is spelled correctly).

I've not updated my Etsy shop lately because the majority of my merchandise has been tied up in craft shows. After this weekend I'll have a shop update.

Cheers to everyone!

p.s. I have not forgotten to get clothes together for tomorrow.

LAST MINUTE TO-DO LIST

I had one of those showing-up-to-the-SATs-naked dreams last night about this weekend's studio tour. No matter how prepared I think I am, there is always a last minute to-do list before a show, most importantly...go to the bank for change.

JEWELERY

I find that I'm not wearing my vintage jewelery lately. I'm mostly wearing my earrings from Susan + Ambika, my ring from Rob + Lean, and my felted flower necklace from Breanna. I enjoy these pieces because I know about the people who made them.

WHERE HAVE YOU GONE WHIT STILLMAN?

While working in the studio I love listening to the director commentary on movies I've seen a zillion times. Currently I have Metropolitan in the DVD player.

So much to do, so I'm taking Leya's cue + making this a photo post week. Above is a photo of my boy's boots neatly lined up.

BREAKFAST WITH NOT-DENNIS

Every morning I eat my cereal with some guy who vaguely resembles Dennis Quaid in Bonnie Raitt's Thing Called Love video.

The local free newspaper wrote a nice article on next weekend's studio tour. This area is so rich in traditional crafts, it's really quite amazing to think about what surrounds us.

NA-NA-NA-NA-NA

You say it's your birthday

Today is my boy's birthday. Because he works on Sundays, we celebrated last night at a local restaurant with some friends, a few beers + cheesecake. Today I'm making him roasted squash soup for dinner. Am I the only one who would rather eat the decorative fall squashes?

And in the midst of my funk yesterday I managed to hang the curtain rod, but this is as far as I got with the actual curtain making.

DRY, STUFFY + PUFFY (but not sick!)

Heaters are on everywhere I go + I have really bad reactions to forced heat, so I'm not feeling so great. Unfortunately I'll miss today's Book Babes meeting because I'm literally dry, stuffy + my face is puffy. I told everyone this was the MUST ATTEND meeting because our founder is teaching a Keith Smith binding- poop.

The studio tour is one week away so I'll spend my weekend preparing.

This is also birthday week- 6 friends + family members, including my mom, my boy + my friend, Heather.

AND I am glad to hear that I am not the only one plagued by earworms or that I stand alone with my love of 70's light rock hits. I have a good friend (one of the 6 birthday people) whom I have an on-going earworm war with- I can get her EVERY TIME with the la-la-la-la-la part of Minnie Riperton's Loving You + she has this really obnoxious way of singing the Johnny Carson theme song.

STUDIO TOUR PREP

My boy says his favorite part of a project is the preparation
~my desk yesterday~

~my desk today~
Producing work in multiples is a huge show preparation benefit.

Every now + then my boy pops in + offers his 2 cents about my posts. I mentioned that I was obsessing over the XM radio, but what he wants me to tell you is that I'm obsessing over the 70's channel. They are playing all my perpetual earworms + tons of songs I had forgotten about or have not heard in a zillion years, but somehow remember all the words. Who would have (could have) guessed that I knew all the words to Seals & Crofts' I'll Play For You? Certainly not me!
Highlight of the day: Dolly Parton's Here You Come Again.

There, have I completely expressed my absolute love for light rock hits of the 70's? If you still doubt me...this is my ringtone.

DID I MENTION...

that one of the perks of my new job is that I don't have to go into the office until 11:00 on Mondays? This morning I can stop lurking + actually comment. As for Flickr...

My boy got an XM radio + a 1 yr subscription for his birthday- I'm completely obsessing over it!

~LATER~

I found this via Amanda Jean + love the idea! OK, I don't sew, but I'm taking it to mean Studio Friday + what you do is take a photo of your studio as-is, no cleaning for the camera.
I may not do it on a Friday, but again, I'm leaving it up to my own interpretation. Fun!

6 HR DINNER + A SHOP UPDATE

After yesterday's day of cleaning, we went out with some friends for what amounted to a 6-hour dinner at 2 restaurants. We pretty much laughed for 6 hours straight.


And then there is Sunday- my boy works every Sunday, so it's my big LALA dex work day. For today's task I emptied out every drawer + box in my studio + the result is a BIG Studio clean out/ Super Sale in my Etsy shop.

In addition I added a postcard sampler with my 4 newest postcards (pictured above) + there will be a 5th surprise postcard included with each sale.

RUBY* AT WORK

(alternate title: my incredibly exciting *cough*cough* weekend)

What my incredibly exiting weekend consists of is cleaning + more purging. We don't have one of those closets that we hide everything in, instead we had an armoire, which we just sold. We are also not settled into the house we moved into in March, but I'm really not stressing over it. Little by little it's coming along. So the above is my morning...after drinking a pot of coffee + helping my boy sort through boxes, I'm off to the recycling + Goodwill drop-off centers.

During the morning sort-through we found a package of blank Shrinky Dinks from a ski trip we took about 10 years ago- I brought them to amuse my boy's then 12-yr-old niece + since we'll see her at Thanksgiving, I'll bring them to amuse her once again. Maybe we can slip them in the oven with the turkey.

More purging + an Etsy shop update tomorrow.

* My dear friend Beth named my car Ruby- when she saw it for the first time she said "there's Ruby!" + it stuck.

HI! HOW IS YOUR WEEK GOING?

After a show I take a few days off + avoid the wreck that is my studio. Preparing for last weekend's show was compounded with starting the new/ old job, which gave me more time in my day. This week I'm figuring out my new groove.

I worked with a woman who would tell the funniest stories that ended with..."and that's how THEY get ya!" The THEY in my story is Paper Source. Moss + free shipping over $100.00...that's how THEY got me! Incidentally, moss is really good...now to figure out a complementary design.

Susan- I absolutely adore you! Thank you for another surprise gift.

And then there was Halloween. It might surprise everyone (but Heather) to learn that I don't dress up, but a few houses in my neighborhood really go all out. I actually love the explosion of color + patterns between me + the scary clown robot- it's almost scarier than his face.

But this was my favorite! It reminds me of The Residents.

3 of these days were spent with Metallica's version of Whiskey in a Jar stuck in my head. Last week it was Tanya Tucker's Delta Dawn. Where does this stuff come from?

I'm curious, is anyone else plagued by earworms?