pretty things

My latest etsy purchase

Back when I worked at a summer childrens' theater, we did a production of the Three Billy Goats Gruff. Because I had a friend (through my dad) who was from Romania, we had her translate the goats' dialogue in to Romanian. The troll spoke English. It has always been one of my favorite shows. It was silly, but so fun. The story has a happy ending where they all order vegetarian pizza. We built a huge bridge set piece that we could walk over. We spent a few minutes at the beginning of the show teaching the audience a bunch of the Romanian words (iarba is grass!) and they helped the troll figure out what was happening. I got to be the "Great Big Billy Goat", which if you know me is pretty comical all by itself.

So when I saw this "O Capra Mititika" (Little Billy Goat), I HAD to have him. He is crafted by Mark at MNSCeramics.etsy.com. ( I also have a verdegris colored rhinocerous by Mark and my sister has a pair of bears)

New!

Spent a little while in the "cupboard under the stairs" (aka enamel studio) working on some new designs. Sewing machine, mad scientist, trout and groovy vinyl.

worlds largest textile garage sale

Our big fundraiser at work is a ginormous garage sale. Tables piled 3 ft high with fabric and yarn and 1000's of tools, gizmos, ufo's patterns and more - all fabric related. It's like Brigadoon - we bring it all in and set it up one day and the next day it's gone. Sounds like fun, huh? So that's why it's been quiet around here. Because just after I got back from ID, then we jumped right in to garage sale mode. We had rotten weather for the drop-off days, but it still turned out great. I got myself a $5 dress form (named Dolores). I spent the weekend fixing her up with some duct tape and darts and now she matches my measurements. I also got a treasure trove of vintage fabric scraps. I am not a fan of little scraps. Never enough to do something with. But this was a bundle with a couple of larger pieces of vintage yardage and a bunch of scraps. Knowing that if I put them in to my fabric bin, I would never do anything with them, I did a little flurry of quilting on Saturday and transformed scraps in to doll quilts. I love them. I posted a few of them to my etsy shop (check them out!) I can just imagine something like this having been a greatly treasured possession when I was a little girl, and I hope someone else will too.

Teaching!

I have filled up my spring with teaching gigs! Come and see me in Idaho at the Sun Valley Center for the Arts teaching wet & dry felting, beginning shibori and hand embroidery plus a teens shibori class and a kids weaving class. Or you can come to my "Starting a Blog" or "Opening an etsy shop" at the Textile Center in March and April.

swaps

I got these two batts from loop.etsy.com - combinations of merino wool, alpaca, silk, tencel, bamboo, sparkle... I don't spin, so I traded my friend Jen her spinning talents for a couple of puppets that went to some little friends for Christmas. Just last night she presented me with my yarn!



Now I just have to decide what to knit!

Gifts from etsy

I gave all of my family an etsy shopping list this year for Christmas. Here are some of the great gifts they chose from my list.


tshirt from wenifnotnow.

yarn from Phoenix Fiberworks.

bracelet from loopityloopglam.

necklace from HardflowerStudios.


earrings from LeftHandOriginals.

New "Kids"

A little inspiration struck... Don't know if it was state fair or the goats I saw at the farmers market, but I needed to make this little goat. Isn't she cute? She is a variation on the puppet pattern and just shy of 9 inches tall. Her dress is reversible and will close in the back with a snap. I didn't do much detail on the dress because I had an issue with the snap-put-on-thingy. Piece of junk. I threw it away. I will look for a better one. So this dress has half a snap. Grumble. I am thinking to do little animals with a small wardrobe - reversible dress, coat, scarf. Maybe even list some extra clothes separately, like a fancy party dress, jeans & a t-shirt.
So here's my question... Is a goat too strange? I love goats. The 3 Billy Goats Gruff is one of my favorite stories. So I think they are great. What do you think?