Thursday, December 28, 2006
On a break
Whew! It's been ages, I know, i know. Well, 8 days to be exact. I keep thinking that I'll sit down and blog, but I'm at home resting and hanging out with my family, generally trying to recharge. I'm working on a couple of projects that I'll post soon.
In the meantime, here is a special treat for you...my family's Christmas card. More like New Year's card. I know I'm an adult and should send out my own cards. (I'm so ashamed, I even bought them, and just never sent them out) But just to show off our collective hilariousity... I'm posting the pic below. 
Our collective hilariousity has kept me laughing for almost a week now. I can't tell you how many times I had to concentrate on not peeing my pants from laughing so hard. Wish there was a more polite way of saying it, but there's just not. I'm having a great time, and hope to be back soon!
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Your New Year's Resolution...
...should be to expand your artistic horizons and take my Floorcloth class! Looking for a last minute gift? Send your boyfriend/husband/girlfriend/grandma this link.
It's going to be a great class-- and you have 2 choices of times.
If you want, you can bring a glass of wine over from Rumours next door!
fLOORCLOTH wORKSHOP with Beth Howard (two-part workshop)
$50 + supplies
Two-Part Workshop
Workshop 1: January 15 & 22, 7-9 pm
Workshop 2: February 19 & 26, 7-9 pm
Floorcloths are hardworking canvas rugs which can be painted to match your style and your home's decor. In this class we'll make a floorcloth with acrylic paints using decorative painting techniques. We'll start with treating the canvas, go to designing and painting, with color analysis, and end with "homework" of finishing the floorcloth with Polyurethene and proudly displaying your artwork on the floors of your home!
Monday, December 18, 2006
How I spent my weekend
I spent most of the weekend wrapping presents. Not something I particularly enjoy. I mean, it all just gets thrown in the trash anyway, right? I must say, though, that this year they look particularly pretty. I bought some paper at Old Navy of all places for cheap and I'm pretty happy with my whole layout. I had a TON of presents to wrap. I think it's an all time record. I've spent at least 3 hours so far, and I haven't even done stocking stuffers yet! Confession: I did resort to some semi-tacky red and green paper for some of the presents--they were either too big, or I just wanted to hoard a little of my nice paper for use later. Mostly the second one there.
I also did a little flea-marketing. Not as much fun by yourself. I did purchase some excellent stocking stuffers which I can't show you here because those folks read this blog. 
Speaking of stockings--here's Jason's that i made this weekend. I busted out the ole' hot glue gun. It was wondering where I have been this holiday season. Aren't those little felt cut-outs adorable? ok, so maybe not my most interesting and profound craft project, but still. Not bad for $3.86 and 5 minutes with the free-motion foot on my machine.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
My other side
Besides being a crafter/seamstress, I'm also a designer. Mostly a designer, in fact. It's what I do everyday at work, it's half of what I went to school for. And I love type. I also love Hatch Show Print. I sometimes design wedding invites for my friends.
This is a save the date card in the Hatch Show Print style. I really love it. I wish I could actually print it on a letterpress, but alas, I do have SOME control when it comes to purchasing large heavy pieces of equipment for the purpose of yet another time-consuming hobby.
I really want to redesign my portfolio website,, and I intend to have a page for custom invitations.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
My favorite journal
This journal got me through many a boring night in the same old bar (which I miss dearly) with the standard crew--me and 6 guys sitting around drinking the best beer ever -- Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat. Well, mostly they drank, and I used this sketchbook to work on graphic design homework. I was the youngest by about 5 years, and they all had full time jobs at the local tv news station. I was a poor student, and had to be ready for critique at 8am.
And occasionally some of them would do a little sketch in it for me. This is my friend Scott-a guy with a truly great sense of humor, and amazing artistic talent.
I taped in pieces of my favorite sketchs from napkins and torn out magazine snippets too.
This is a map someone drew for me of the local trails around Columbia, Missouri. You wouldn't think it, but it is a great place to hike. Tons of really cool trails--literally 5 minutes from my apartment door.
In all my sketchbooks, I keep a running list of movies, books, music, and wine that I hear about and want to check out later. This is hilarious in hind sight to see the lists. Some humiliating music choices from the late 1990s, let me tell you.
And here is a prophetic note my friend Lou wrote for me. I was coming to Nashville for the first time to visit on of the guys, and she wrote out all the cool places to go. And even now that I live here, looking back, she was right! She wrote Hillsboro Village, Pangaea, Tootsie's, the Pancake Pantry, and the Bluebird.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
don't mind me
Hey folks--Just a funny little interlude here. These are pics of my boyfried. I'm using my blog as a photo download site for my aunt. I'll take these down soon enough, but for now, get a good belly laugh out of my super-silly boyfriend. When he took these on my computer's Photo Booth, I could hear him laughing in the other room for half an hour. He's actually quite handsome!
Have you seen this?
I can't remember now if I posted this before---probably back when I only had 2 people viewing the blog, and they were me, and me from my work computer. I call this quilt "farmland" it's a wall hanging quilt, made from all hand-dyed by me fabric. I used a lot of fusible web, and my new (at the time) sewing machine. It's pretty big--36x42 or so. I think I needed to get some farmy stuff out of my system. I live in the city now, surrounded by people and there very barky dogs and I never see farms any more, let alone on a daily basis. It used to be that everywhere I went I was surrounded by rows of corn or soybeans. Now, I wasn't a farm girl myself, no siree. I lived in town. Where there was a stoplight. A flashing stoplight. And a Quick Shop, and a Car wash. 
My sister and I could walk the 3/4 of a mile to school. We would stop at the park to have a little fist-fight over something like the fact that she insisted on walking exactly 2 steps ahead of me, and claimed it was because she just wanted to walk faster. (um, if she had just wanted to walk faster, she would have gotten further and further ahead, instead of staying 2 steps ahead of me for a half mile. Hello.) But now I don't think anyone walks to school. What a shame! When do they fight with their sisters?
Back to real life--This piece is going to be in the Untitled Artist Group show at lucky's garage on Friday night from 6-10. I had a hard time choosing what to put it, as you can only put in one piece. It was between putting in a painting that is ok, but not my true artistic statement, (but had a good chance of selling) or putting in something that I wanted people to associate with me. So in goes Farmland. And if it sells, great, but if not, at least it will have been shown. Good day!
Monday, December 11, 2006
Old school
This my friends is my very first quilt. You can see my little signature in the corner "EAH 1987" which makes me 7 years old. I remember my mom helping me sew it all together--all hand pieced!! Probably my first and last completely hand sewn quilt.
I also remember having major finisher's block. I didn't want to work on it--I wanted to start another one!! Mom of course made me finish this one first. Then I didn't quilt again for several years, when I made this jean quilt: 
Those are the pockets from some of my very favorite jeans. See the unicorn? Oh yeah. I know the 8 year old inside you is jealous. The 8 year old inside me is jealous fo sho. This quilt i remember even more. I loved the production work of cutting out all the jean squares. I did not love shoving all the denim into my mom's viking sewing machine. It wasn't called a "viking" for no reason. It was serious.
I can't seem to get moving on any crafty projects. I'm lacking large chunks of time, and for me, starting a project requires a block of time where I don't have to be somewhere at the end of it. Tonight I'm working late--until 11, and tomorrow I'm working dayside again, so it will be a while before I get much time at all. I saw a delightful patchwork bag somewhere online--can't remember where--don't you hate that? I should bookmark more diligently--and I really want to cut some big squares and piece them together for a large colorful quilt with some of my beautiful fabrics. I've been buying more fabric than I'm producing sellable pieces. This program just highlighted "sellable". Shut up! I think it's a word, and so I'm using it. Great. I'm already yelling and filled with rage.
Now for happier things--I'm off to meet my friend and sell her a very SELLABLE breadbox bag....from my etsy site.
Friday, December 08, 2006
My first sale!
My first sale on Etsy, that is. I posted my large denim and denyse schmidt purse online on Wed. night, and it sold in less than 24 hours! I've had stuff in my shop for a long time, but this is the first thing that sold. It just takes so long to get stuff online there! I think I need to get more RAM for my computer. Like soon. Photoshop goes uber slow.
I'm posting some more things this morning before I go to work. Go check it out! I'm going to make a post office run on Monday morning, so if you pay immediately, I'll ship it out then.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Stalling for time
I'm trying really hard to do my real job and my fun job all at once. 2 days this week I went in in the middle of the night. It was great because I left at noon each day. However, when I got home I just kind of sat on the couch like a lump. yesterday I watched my favorite Jane Austen: Sense & Sensibility. (love the scene at the end when Elinor starts uncontrollably crying in front of Edward.) Anyway, I've been kind of out of it.
I did attend an Untitled Artist Group meeting last night--and we're putting a show on Next Saturday at Lucky's Garage here in Nashville. There will be over 150 artists there showing work. And I dare say, it's pretty cool stuff, and pretty affordable. The last Untitled Show I went to was very crowded and exciting. All the pretty and popular people in Nashville were there.
I slept like the dead last night, though, and I'm rearing to go now. Well, to work. But I'm working on getting new stuff up on my etsy site. One item at a time, I keep telling myself.
I've been getting some great ornaments in the mail. I can't wait to see them all. I'll do a holiday photo shoot--really glamorous-style and post them then. For the meantime, go check out this Flickr group and see what everyone's been up to. There is some really quality stuff on there!
Stay tuned for the etsy update!
Monday, December 04, 2006
Signed, sealed, delivered
All ornaments are in the mail. I just love the mail. Today I went to the art deco post office in the basement of the Frist Center art museum It was a much more idyllic experience than the normal florescent lighting line at the Church street P.O. That is, until the woman wearing head-to-toe, stretch pants and all teal with a velour sweater (Not that there's anything WRONG with that) started getting louder and louder about the post office closing her mailbox, and it being right of the interstate, yada yada. Ruined my holiday-look-at-me-mailing-things-in-a-retro-way mood.
But as I was saying, I love the mail system. did you know you can mail almost anything? I once got a 24" red rubber ball in the mail from my good friend Carrie. She had written my address on it and decorated it with a sharpie, slapped a $2 stamp on it, and shipped it to me from Denver! I can't tell you how exciting it was to get that ball out of my apartment mailbox. The mail man had crammed it in there, which must have been really funny to see.
I'm feeling more holiday-ish. But for now I must go sleep. I'm going in to work at 1am tonight/tomorrow a.m. Ouch!
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Getting in the XMAS spirit
I seriously contemplated not putting up the decorations this year. I'm just tired. but I couldn't get into the holiday without the decorations. I forgot all about all the baubles I bought at Crate and Barrel last year after christmas. My sister almost killed me for taking her there. It was a mad house. But I got great clearance ornaments, darnit!
I've finished all my ornaments, and will photo them before they go into the already addressed envelopes and are shipped off to the far corners of the world. They were supposed to be done on Friday, but it just didn't happen. It's like I'm in school again, and waited till Sunday night to finish my homework.
Alright, alright. I'm busy, you're busy, we're all busy! Get over it! Ornaments tomorrow!