While She Naps

Sukkot

What a lovely holiday.  Our Sukkah went up in just about three hours this year, with only minimal frustration and cursing.  Each year it looks a bit nicer inside.  We had a warm little party today with lots of toddlers running around making felt etrogs and playing in the sandbox and grown-ups drinking homemade chai, eating pumpkin pie and ginger molasses cookies and spiced almonds.  Like I said, such a good holiday to celebrate. 

Here is Roxanne showing some etrog love.  If you're going to buy a $40 piece of citrus you really ought to cradle it, you know?

 

My family never built a Sukkah as a child, but now, in adulthood, both my brother and I have built them on our patios and porches.  The act of building it together as a family, with the kids collecting pine needles and acorns and trying to climb the ladder, and with mom and dad alternately cooperating and arguing over how to get the frame stable and where the screw should go is a kind of celebration in and of itself. 

"Sky (Nest of Thread XII)"

"Sky (Nest of Thread XII)
8" x 10" mixed media soft sculpture and collage

I finished this piece last night. It looks really nice paired with "Perforated (Nest of Thread XI)" and "Ill Meet You There". A bit of a series, really.  These are for one of two spring shows I'm beginning to get ready for.  I'll post more about them in the coming weeks. 

This weekend I will be spending some time packaging a box of free-standing birds as well as a few bird collages that will be for sale soon at Feel Design in Beacon, NY. 

I am also getting ready for our Sukkah party on Sunday.  The booth is built and it looks pretty snazzy this year.  I have lots of baking and a bit more decorating to do.

"Perforated (Nest of Thread XI)"

"Perforated (Nest of Thread XI)"
9" x 12"
mixed media collage and soft sculpture

Lots of random and interesting bits of things in here: a receipt from Charlie's high school trip to Russia, one of my myriad of vintage patches, bits of an encyclopedia for children, bingo chips (I do love bingo chips).

The beautiful red fabric on this bird was a gift from my sister, Rachel, who happened to see it at Ikea and think of me. 

And those vintage button cards?  I have a whole wonderful bag full of them sent to me by Nava, a woman who reads my blog and thought I might like to have the cards from her grandmother's vintage buttons.  Thanks, Nava!

This piece is a bit bigger than its predecessors and I kind of like this size. It gives me a little more room to maneuver, without being overwhelming.

Tomorrow is Yom Kippur and then we begin to build the Sukkah.  The Sukkah party is next Sunday and the invitations have already gone out, so the pressure is on to get this hut constructed. And decorated. I had an epiphany at shul tonight that Martha Stewart magazine should do a spread on a decorated Sukkah (I know, not such a religious epiphany).  Don't you think, though? I'd love to see that.

Volume: On and Off the Wall - another juried show!

I was excited this evening to learn that two of my pieces have been accepted into a juried show, "Volume: On and Off the Wall," at Lynn Arts in Lynn, MA.    Hooray for juried shows in industrial and mill towns in metro Boston! The judge for this show was Kelley Bennett, the Massachusetts Cultural Council Exhibits Curator.  All the work will be mixed media objects or images.  These are the two pieces I will be showing

It's kind of funny to have the same two pieces on exhibit again (they were both in the Ode to Cornell show), but funny in a good way, I guess.

The opening is this Saturday from 2-4 pm and the show will be up through Friday, October 19.  There will also be a closing party on the 19th from 6-8 pm. I'm excited for the closing because Charlie promises we can swing by our most favorite BBQ joint, Uncle Pete's, which moved from East Boston to Revere (near Lynn) a while ago and we have yet to get over there.  I think this is the perfect excuse.   

"Big Responsibility"

"Big Responsibility"
mixed media soft sculpture
(found wood, vintage thread, wire, floral tape, polyfill, bed sheet, muslin, acrylic paint)

I found a wooden shelf-style spice rack at the dump and took a few pieces of it apart to make the base of this piece. I used an awesome thrifted bed sheet for the underwings on the parent birds.  It is white with black horoscopes typed all over it.   I think this pair has a big job ahead of them.  Look at all those eggs. Making the little baby bird in the nest made me very happy.

For the first time in what feels like a very long time I had uninterrupted time to work today. It was so nice. I'm so glad we are back into fall and a structured schedule.  I think the kids are, too.

I hope yours is a sweet one

The brisket is cooked.  The challahs are baked (and impressively tall this year!).

The centerpiece is finished.

The table is set, and I think the honey cake is going to a be an especially good one this year.

Wishing you a L'Shanah Tova, a sweet and happy new year!

and the winner is...

...Sarah, whose blog is Sassy Pricsilla.  Sarah, please email me your address and your package will go out early this week.  Thank you so much for playing, everyone, and thanks again for all of your kind and supportive words.

I'm busy working on a million things today. Roxanne's second year of nursery school starts tomorrow.  My Wellesley College babysitters are back in their dorm rooms.  Rosh Hashanah is on Thursday. Invitations for  our Sukkah party are going out tomorrow. It looks like fall is arriving!

a little giveaway

A few weeks ago a copy of Softies arrived on my doorstep from Penguin Publishing Australia.  It is such a beautiful book and I was totally thrilled to contribute two of my patterns - an owl pattern and my lizard - to be published in it.   The photography is amazing as is the list of contributers. Besides my patterns, you'll find patterns by Carly, Sandra, Myra, Fiona, and many more awesome soft toy artists. 

A few days  ago I opened a second package sent from Penguin and found two more copies of the book.  I surely don't need three copies so I would like to give one away.  I think you'll have a lot of fun with this book.  The instructions and diagrams are really clear and the projects are very appealing.  The book is only published in Australia right now so it is not the easiest thing to find if you don't live there. 

If you'd like my extra copy, plus a little package of fabric and buttons and trim, leave me a comment below.  I will turn off comments on Sunday morning and then draw a name to determine the winner.  Thank you to everyone who visits and reads my journal. Your support and encouragement mean the world to me.

***Thanks everyone!  I will announce a winner soon!***

 
 

for Plush You III

These three pieces are off to Plush You once I get to the post office today. The show opens October 12 and my work will be at Schmancy.

Last year I sent flapper dolls  - it is so interesting for me to think about how my work has changed a year hence. I'm proud and happy with both last year's submission and this year's, but they are certainly different.

I'm getting ready to do a little blog giveaway.  Check back here for some goodies in a little while.

flight path

"Flight Path"
mixed media soft sculpture and collage
8" x 10"

I found blue wooden dice at the recycling center at the Children's Museum in Boston.  I'm actually not such a big fan of the Children's Museum due to the crowds, but I am always a big fan of the recycling center. 

And I picked up a nice old student atlas at the Wellesley dump recently along with a college astronomy textbook.

I am satisfied with the composition of this piece.

Here is a detail of the matchbox and the crisscrossing threads.

We are finally getting ready to purchase some permanent shelving for the studio corner of our bedroom. A big pile of my paper ephemera ended up in the trashcan on the curb this week before Charlie ran out in his pajamas to rescue it.  I think that pushed us over the edge.  Hopefully we'll get over to Modhaus some time in the next few weeks to search for a mid-century bureau or credenza that I can fill with fabric and paper and other bits and then rest finished pieces on top of.