While She Naps

"Birds of a Feather"

My show at Young Blood Gallery in Atlanta with the amazing David Hale opens next week on Saturday night, March 7. 

I will be there and if you are in the area, I hope you will, too.  I'd love to meet you.  I have made 17 original soft sculpture birds for this show, my most cohesive collection yet.  All of them will be for sale through the gallery. More information to follow next week.  I will also have cards featuring photos of eight of the birds for sale on my Etsy shop beginning the Thursday before the opening.  

As the time draws nearer I'm getting more and more excited and nervous.  This is certainly the biggest exhibition of my soft sculptures as of yet and David's paintings are so incredible (check out this one!).  And the icing on the cake is a trip all by myself to Atlanta.  An airplane ride free of lollipops and coloring books.  Car trips with no car seats to buckle.  And the freedom to come and go as I please.  This will be longest I have been alone in nearly five years. 

Lila

I couldn't resist making another.  This is Lila and she is a little sweetheart.  Her dress is a piece of vintage fabric from my rarely opened box of purple fabrics.  And it is adorned with two vintage garter buttons.  She is up in my shop now.  

Roxanne and I took part in a kid's ATC swap and her cards are all finished and ready to mail.  What an awesome vacation week project.  Our five swap partners are scattered all over the country and we found their cities on our map.  We looked at their names and guessed what each of them would like and then she made little collages for each of them from bits of origami paper, old maps, and pages from an old natural history encyclopedia.  Lots of glitter glue was applied, of course, and now they are ready to mail. 

little lark

I made another little lark, this one for the shop.  I hope you'll check it out.

My mom is visiting this week and we are on school vacation so not a ton of sewing going on.  But fun projects are in the works for next week.  Looking forward to seeing you then.

little lark

A little spring lark for a special project.

Zoe - a cloth doll

Last night I couldn't resist the urge to  make a doll. Meet Zoe.

I first drew up the pattern for this doll nearly two years ago and I always liked her. What a fun project! I love picking fabrics and embellishments for dolls. The choices are nearly endless.

Zoe's dress is a lovely green vintage fabric with two little white vintage flower buttons.

Her hair is deep purple wool felt with a wool felt flower.  And her ballet shoes are wool felt, too, with little satin bows. I sewed her shoes to her feet so that they won't get lost during playtime.

Yeah!  Making this doll was so much fun for me. Zoe is up in my shop now if your are interested.  Have a great day.

for Lisa

Today I finished an owl I made for Lisa. 

About a month ago Lisa took more than 300 amazing photos of my birds and I made this owl for her as a way of saying thank you.  I hope she likes it.

Besides being a incredible photographer, Lisa now has her own Etsy shop where she sells the jewelry and mobiles she makes.  Hooray for creative friends.

woodpecker

With spring on my mind I made a little woodpecker. 

She is affixed to a little wooden plank. I drilled three small holes at the top, as though she has already begun her work.

She is now listed in my shop.  There are lots of birds available, and many with new lower prices.  I hope you'll have a quick visit.

Meanwhile it is 19 degrees here today. Not very spring-like at all.

My friend, Beth, came over yesterday with her new baby, David.  He is six weeks old. I got to hold him and carry him around and oh my gosh, I love little babies. They smell so good. And their needs are so simple. 

a pea chick

Let's see. This bird started out as something else entirely (this is often the case with me).  I saw a little prop in a photo in a catalog a few days ago (was it Urban Outfitters?  Anthro.?  I can't remember now).  A little quail-like bird with no feet.  I clipped it out and then dug up a ceramic bird I've had around forever. They look similar.  I made a little sketch.

Then I made the bird and it looked nice, but it needed a crest, and some eyelashes.  And then, all of the sudden, it was a chick for the peacock (pea hen, it seems). 

She seems fairly happy with her new, unexpected baby.