Meet Our New Family Member - River

So here is the reason I haven't had to time to get anything done this week! Meet our newest member of the family ... our Boykin Spaniel called River. Isn't he the cutest thing you've ever seen. Well, we think he is. We got him at the Fauquier SPCA. For those who have never heard of a Boykin Spaniel they also call this kind of dog a Swamp Poodle or a LBD ... Little Brown Dog! ha He's a spunky little dog with a great personality. I tried to get some work done in my studio yesterday while he was taking a nap on the floor in the family room .... well so I thought. Out of the corner of my eye I all of a sudden saw a blue flash down the hall way so it was time for an inspection. Dear puppy River-dog had managed to take every blue pillow from the couches, piled them all on top of his toys and was trying to take a nap on top of his blue tower of goodies! I put them all back where they belonged and went back to what I was doing ... well at least I pretended I was trying to fool him .... aha which I did .... yep Mister River-dog sprung back into action and I figured by now blue must be his favorite color since he again went for all the blue pillows and left all the other ones that were not blue on the couches. But I managed to catch the pillow thief in action and showed him they didn't belong on the floor but on the couch and showed him what he could play with .... his toys and stuffed animal which is also very soft. So off I went back to work again until I saw a big brown flash slowly making it's way across the floor down the hallway ..... hmmmm what's puppy up to now? Better make another inspection. Well this time he decided to leave my blue pillows where they belong but he managed to drag the huge brown pillow from his crate, which is about 5 times bigger then he is you must know, and put it on top of all of his toys and was trying to get comfy to take his nap. Well since it's HIS pillow I let him be and off he went to puppy dreamland ..... ahhhhhhh, I could finally get some work done while he took a well deserved nap.

Here she is - Reading Girl is back

Well it's been awhile since I created a Reading Girl but here she is ... ready to find a new home. I'm actually very excited about being able to make my girls again here in the US. The product I use (Powertex a textile hardener from Belgium) is now being imported into the US, so yeahhhhhhh for me! This little girl is for sale in my Etsy store, $60.00 and $15.00 for shipping and handling ... unless you want to come and pick her up personally. Let me know what you think.

Mother and Baby

Here a couple pictures of one of the Mother and Baby figurines I've made in the past. I've started making a violin player for a client in Belgium and I hope to get it finished soon. I'm debating to put this artist business on the side for a while. I just feel like I'm burned out on making things for the market, things I know will sell. I realized I haven't been making any art pieces, or what I consider art I guess. My fingers are itching to create something different and special just to make myself feel better. I did just finish a vest I knitted for myself. I started it while we were in CA and was hoping to get it finished while driving from California to Virginia. But, unfortunately that didn't happen since I got busy doing other things. Kinda glad it's all done hopefully I can still wear it a couple of times before the temperatures are starting to rise again.

Baby Boy Blues

I finally finished a pair of blue baby boy shoes. I catch myself making girly ones since it's so much easier to make them look cute compared to the ones for the boys. But, I've come to the conclusion that if I make some good looking piece of felt I don't need much else to add to make them look pretty since the fabric will do the job all on it's own. So here they are.

Photos of the Apple Green Baby Shoes

A long day

Went to the FHS, was there from 7 till 3 and didn't sell much but got lots of nice compliments (thank you if you're one of the many nice ladies who I talked to today!). The Apple Green baby shoes found a new home. Even though green is definitely not one of my favorite colors I forced myself to make a pair of booties in that color and after I needle felted some dots on them with an aqua dyed fleece (which my 12 yr old dyed for me with food coloring) they ended up to be one of my favorite pair. Anyway, I'm happy they are off to keep some cute baby's feet nice and cozy. Since we didn't get a lot of buyers to show up I kept myself busy with knitting another gumnut beanie. Still have to put it together but that won't be for this evening. I'm still amazed how this crazy economy is affecting everybody. Talking to a couple of folks at the show today and hearing their stories about loosing a job and trying to make a living doing other things made me realize how sheltered we were living in the middle of Australia in Alice Springs. It's a very remote area but business (at least my business!) was booming compared to here in the US people want to buy my stuff but just don't have the money. Ok, this is just making me more depressed and sad so I better stop talking about it and get busy putting that gumnut beanie together, I just hope things will turn around for everybody and life will be good again.

Fauquier High School Craft Show

Oh my ... I was a bit in a panic earlier this week when I received an e-mail about the Fauquier HS Craft show. I had signed up for it and I must admit ... totally forgot about it! Needless to say I've been pretty busy the last couple of days getting everything ready. I haven't done a market since we left Alice Springs which was July 2008! Gosh I can't believe it's been that long. Anyway, I'm very excited and just about ready for the show which is this Saturday, the 21st of March from 8 till 3. I figure this will give me a practice run for starting the Farmers Market the end of this month and attending the Warrenton Spring Festival in May.

I've attached a couple of pictures of my Chime Girl I made and sold while living in Australia. I really need to get started on making these again .... if only I had more time.