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Tuesday, August 28, 2007

I need a few weeks.....

Well. There have been a LOT of changes here recently. I am going to be leaving Boston and moving home to Maine. It's just too hard to make it in Boston as a single mom, and I need a nice safe place to be whole again. I promise as soon as I arrive (should be the 15th, I will hook my computer up first thing and get a good blog post in. What Maine holds for me..... lots and lots and lots of crafting. I'll be living with the most crafty lady I know (my mom) and seeing the second most crafty lady I know (my sister) on a very regular basis. So... you'll hear from me soon with lots of updates and photos and good stuff.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Craft area reorganization...

Well. Due to a completely out of the blue break-up, my craft area will no longer be the messiest in the country for a little while at least. I have to move EVERYTHING from the living room, where it currently lives, into the walk-in pantry, which will be the new home of my craftiness. (I will be renting the living room out, once it is converted into a bedroom) So, I spent most of yesterday hauling everything out. Now I have to organize it so it doesn't just sit in piles. I actually like the new space, my table fits perfectly in there and there is good natural light. There's enough room for craft stuff and plates, dishes, etc. I'll get pictures up soon... I seem to have misplaced my camera in yesterday's moving. *sigh* I've been thinking of putting up peg-board to hang stuff on. Like it is used here. That would work well, I think.
I could also just get rid of stuff for once!!!
Well, pictures will be coming soon. I also got a ton of Japanese craft books that I ordered before I knew I was going to be dumped and broke. At least I have something to while away the days with now! I need to get some pictures up... I hope tonight, we'll see if I can get my computer hooked up again.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Whew!

Well, I am done with Bazaars for the summer. I *think* I have recovered. I am absolutely exhausted. I took 3 days off from everything to sleep and rest. Didn't get much done in the whole craft arena, but did manage to sand matte my Blythe doll, and get some new eyeshadow on her. I need to repaint her lips now and buff her a bit, but she looks a LOT better.

I will, since I have no real craft news to report, give you a link to one of my favorite blogs run by one of the nicest people I have talked to via email lately. Lava Means Love. By all means, do visit.

I also got a great zine in the mail from a mail art friends Serendipity. Just out of the blue, and very exciting. It is packed with fun stuff, mail art calls, and ramblings. Her website is here. She also has the most amazing mail art zine called Postal Press, which after a bit of a hiatus is in the planning stages for the next round! I'm excited.... Check it out.

That's it for now....

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Oooh! Check this out!

My sister just called me and told me about this site. It's great. Apparently this woman is crocheting or knitting everything in an old lady's house. The site is in Dutch, but the pictures are just great.
http://www.annereijse.nl/index-vries.html

Fabric yumminess....




So... we had one of our Bazaars this weekend. I good a bit of fabric from one of my favorite vendors. Her business is called Mombasa Moose, and she works with Fair Trade crafts co-operatives all over Eastern Africa. One of the many wonderful things she carries is fabric from Tanzania... 100% Tanzanian cotton, and hand batiked. Gorgeous. Here are some pictures. She'll have a website soon, which I will link as soon as it is up!




Here are some pictures of what I purchased. Mostly I just got enough to start making some clothes for Blythe.

Blythe is here!

Yippee. That made my day. She is just an Ashton Drake Gallery doll, but I want a good practice doll for customization, and I need a model for the clothes that I intend to make. I'm just calling her Dollie right now. No name really. My daughter is intrigued and horrified.
Here's a picture of her, begging me to make her new clothes from the lovely fabric I got this weekend.
I need to sand matte her and fix her makeup too. And eventually, new eye chips. The list goes on and on. But first... a new outfit.
Without further ado.... here she is....

Chaos

It's been an incredibly crazy week, but here is what you can expect posted, hopefully tonight!

* a review of this book.












* an update on my super fantastic fabric purchases this weekend, from Caroline of Mombasa Moose with pictures. I wish I'd had more $$$ as the fabric was drool worthy!

So stay tuned!!!

Also, I am so sad that no one has left comments. So... I will do a drawing. The first 3 people to leave a comment will get something handmade by me! Make sure you email me you address too, or contact info. I'm not sure what the gifts will be... probably something in the felt food variety. I just found a GREAT pattern to make cute felt cupcakes. Yummers.

More later.....

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Another Donut... last one, I promise. : )




This is my first donut. I won't post any more unless there is an an extremely exceptional one. This is not the donut blog. I can't write much today because I am in the throes of a Bazaar inspired nervous breakdown. More after this weekend, I guess. *sigh*

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Oy. What a day....

Busy, busy day at work. My full time job is working at an indigenous rights organization. I help organize indigenous arts, crafts, music and cultural festivals. They are really fun, like being in a circus really. But exhausting. We are in the midst of three weekends in a row. So, Friday through Sunday I work the festivals, Monday I collapse and sleep until 3pm usually, and the rest of the week is full of tying up loose ends from the prior festival and preparing for the next one.

Our next 2 will will in Portland, ME and Provincetown, MA. Here's the link to the info, just in case anyone reads this. Bazaars!!! I am most excited about this coming one, because my favorite vendor, Caroline, will be there. She works with a number of fair trade cooperatives in various countries in Africa and has fabric that is out of this world! I am going to get some and put pictures in this blog. Probably on Monday! She does a fabric of the month club too.... I really might sign up. It's great batik fabric that is hand made. She used to be a fashion designer and has a really great eye for pattern/design.

I have to restrain myself from shopping too much, because there are so many neat things there. I did get a great necklace at the last Bazaar, made by the San in Botswana of eggshell beads. I got that from an organization called Women's Work, and they sell lots of great jewelry.

I really need to find my camera.

Anyway, today at work was chaos entering new members and sending out our magazine. Then we had lunch with the members of a band called Indige Femme. Tash and Elena are Navajo and Maori/Samoan and they do great, really powerful folky music. It was a great lunch and they are great women.

OK. I need to relax now, because I have another full day ahead of me for the next four days. I mght get a post in tomorrow.