garage sales and kitten tails

strange, my banner seems to be malfunctioning!

anyway-this is the little kitten who has gone to a new home.i had an amazing day of garage saling yesterday. i got pretty much everything i needed. while the umbrella was not free, it is sassy, red, and has tassles on it! and the woman assured me it's machine washable. which is good, because some birds have used it as target practice from the looks of it. contemplating sewing an alternate cover for it, red is one of my favorite decorating colors, but it's not part of my company's color scheme at all.

it needs a base, and as is, stands just about 6.5 feet tall, which is JUST a bit too short if i'm wearing any kind of shoe at all. gonna have to engineer some kind of a stand. i'm thinking a PVC pole in the ground, with a pin that i can use to secure it about 1-1.5 feet off the ground. that should work, right?

i also bought a gianormous basil plant at the farmer's market with sara in the am, and some yardage at my friend angela's garage sale; lovely lime green linen on a bolt and some fun prints and mohair scraps. found a few sweaters, and at the thrift store, some wooden blocks and another stripey GAP sweater. those puppies are getting harder to find!

quick nap at my house in st. paul, then dinner with old friends at a place down in bloomington. one girl is 9 months preggers and was having contractions at dinner, which she assured us was completely normal, but she looked very, very uncomfortable! i hope this babe comes out soon, for her sake!

i am still house sitting at my parent's farm, which is idyllic in the morning. tons of birds and other wildlife. they have eaten all the food from the feeders, and i have some friends coming out this afternoon to see the birds in action, so i better get out there and fill them up.
and feed the real live cats that live here too.

after church with my gram, i hope to get started on another round of paper mache birds, using the wood blocks as bases. if only there were enough hours in the day............

out tha door

i made some new animals, posted them this AM on etsy, and one has sold already! wow! the lighter, smaller kitten up there, is going to live with a new family.

begonia the bunny here is one of my favorite animals ever. it's gonna be hard to give her up, but i hope she finds a happy home too!

i have a backyard-garage sale next weekend, and an outdoor fair the weekend after. i'm looking for a more creative solution than the regular 10x10 pop-up display tent. in my mind, a fabulous fringed umbrella just shows up at my door. for free. wouldn't that be nice?

denouement

webster's online sez;

Main Entry:

de·noue·ment

Variant(s):

also dé·noue·ment \ˌdā-ˌnü-ˈmäⁿ, dā-ˈnü-ˌ\

Function:

noun

Etymology:

French dénouement, literally, untying, from Middle French desnouement, from desnouer to untie, from Old French desnoer, from des- de- + noer to tie, from Latin nodare, from nodus knot

Date:

1705

1 : the final outcome of the main dramatic complication in a literary work
2 : the outcome of a complex sequence of events


i am feeling a strong sense of the ending of a chapter of my life. school is letting out, and after last week's hellish 12-16 hour days getting ready for the department banquet, i'm ready to kiss it good bye.

i'm being told there may not be a need for me to return in the fall, nor any job for me to do over the summer. as you can imagine, i'm a little upset by this. i have to job hunt again. and i really hate job hunting.

there was a faint notion of me buying a house, but without a steady job and insurance, that's not going to happen.

on the craft front, i'm doing reasonably well at sales in real life and online. i do need to devote more time to updating my website and this blog though. i STILL don't have internet access at home, which, for a blogger, is ridiculous.

i have several house sitting gigs over the next few weeks, and sales as well. if i'm going to make a 'go' at being an artist, it's now or never. i guess.

Next Show:1 week away!

Crafters in formal wear. It's what everyone's dying to see, I know. I may even break out one of the tiaras......

Wumplings!

(wumpkitten, $20)
got a nice note on etsy from ashley, and we've been communicating back and forth about a possible swap of animals. check out her awesome work!

spent the earlier part of the AM at barnes and noble with a stack of magazines. i love selvedge. i wish it wasn't $20 per issue. one of the articles was on dolls and other playthings. i'm gonna start making more art dolls, and making more display pieces rather than playable animals. i think that's a good direction to focus, as the really detailed uglings take a lot of time to make and i worry that they will get destroyed as playthings......

bit the bullet

i just went ahead and filed my taxes. i couldn't figure out deductions.
i'm gonna have to hire an accountant from now on. i just don't have a brain for biznass.

the show at the skool opens tomorrow, i will be so glad when it's open and i can focus on making my own art for a while. the play is HILARIOUS but i'm excited for a real audience. i'm sure they're getting sick of me being the only one laughing.

i've got a handmaidens show on may 4th, and another outdoor craft fair on the 31st of may and 1st of june. i'm going to make some concrete mosaic stepping stones and bug picks to go in the garden, along with the duckies to go in the house.

TAXES!?!?!

OY! just got done filling out my turbotax (without business deductions) and it was shocking, sobering, and scar-i-fying.

yikes!

gotta buckle down and get a *real* job so i don't have to keep picking up all the independent contractor jobs that suck the taxes out in april. eeee!

early start

i woke up about 5, 5:30 this AM. after trying to get back to sleep, i gave up around 6 and started making a new robin. i got a lovely box of new sweater bits from a fellow crafter here in MN named julia, aka HAPPIFY
it's so nice to have new materials to work with-new colors and textures of sweaters. i've been thrifting for the latest show at school and i'm noticing that stores are putting away the winter gear. might have to explore using other materials in the duckies!

while sewing, i started watching the director's commentary on the illusionist, and quickly found out that while someone might be an interesting director or writer, it doesn't guarantee they'll be a good commentator on their own work. i had to stop watching it, he was just very dry and more like a narrator. now i own the prestige, and it's a movie i like much better, but i didn't spring for the special edition so i don't have chris nolan's commentary.

i guess you can't always get what you want.

so now i'm at the coffee shop, waiting for my friend to pick me up to go to the OTHER coffee shop, where my mosaic is located, so he can see it before he takes off for his family's farm.

work at 1. should be a fun day.

all in the timing

my younger self
would be shocked to see
the bouncing ball
that's become of me

wrapped in a blanket
dressing the same
introducing myself
with my middle name

friends at my locker
now living with toys
scattered at their feet
by their own girls and boys

dishes in the sink
clothes on the floor
i live on my own
but now have a door

the boys that i loved
are men now who move
away from here
with something to prove

i've befriended the ones
i thought i would marry
and the ones who were friends
hold a torch i'll never carry

alone in the same crowd
reaching out for a hold
coming up short
coming up cold

what would she tell me
this younger self
storing up memories
on a crumbling shelf

keep your eyes on the horizon
keep the shoes on your feet
i'll try to recognize you
if we ever do meet

it's time to get serious
and set down roots in this world
to start all over
grow up, little girl

you're getting too old
to be all alone
don't disappoint me
reflect the love that you're shown

hello CU!

Curious Oddities linked to Renata the Raven-hello to new readers!

Kat is also a fan of Steampunk! Whoo hoo!

In other news, I'm picking up a box of striped sweaters from a fan tomorrow, so look for new lovelies next week.

And mark your calendars for May 4th, the next Handmaidens show at the VFW in Uptown. Sweet!

awesome. that is all

from http://www.wolaver.org/animals/ . directed to it from icanhascheezburger

for keeps

sometimes i make something in the duckie uglings line that's just so darn cute, i can't bear to part with it. this is a problem when i'm trying to a. make money at this and b. downsize my apartment. but i always have a few favorite animals around to inspire and encourage me.


i'm not saying that it's easy to party with everything i make-their personalities start to come out and sometimes it's even hard to sew on them-they start to come alive and i worry that i'm hurting them. HA!


here are two recent animals that are just gonna be too hard to send off in the mail. often times these keepers end up going to family members or friends, so i can still visit them on occasion!

about a month ago, i made the cardinal. there's just something about his face or that magical lace, i just don't know.








kazi is named after my godmother's siamese cat, she had a sister named kama that i never remembered, but kazi lived to be like 23 or something. she was an awesome cat!

for now, these two are stayin' with me.

New Birdies

Just posted a bunch of the new birds I've been working on, over at my Etsy store.

I'm very proud of them! They are taking on a much more regular, recognizable look.

I was watching a lot of Cirque du Soleil DVDs as I worked on them, can you tell?

catching up

chicago was lovely, as always. my sister is blissfully happy, and in lurve with a gentle, amazing man. lucky!

yesterday was an awesome day. stayed home from work and made birds all day. then at night, i got to go to the BON JOVI concert, thanks to jason. man, i couldn't ask for a better best friend!

spring has arrived in MN. the thorn trees outside my building at work are full of chirping birdies. as i walk by them, i do a little trick i taught myself when i used to frequent pet stores, wishing i could own a chickadee of my own.

i 'click' at them with my tongue. back of the mouth, curl up the lip. know what i mean?

anyway. i click at them for maybe 3 or 4 seconds, and they INSTANTLY quiet down. i'm sure i'm swearing at them in their language, who knows. anyway. instantly the cacophony dies down, and they are silent. then in about 8 seconds, it's started up again. it's magical. it never fails to make me smile, that for a few minutes anyway, i'm speaking the language of the birds.

i'll try to get video of it so you can see what i mean.

bye bye birdie

This little Eggling is on his way to a new home! Two more remain, and I hope to add a few more when I get back from Chicago next week.
I'm taking the others (that didn't photograph well, but were super cute) to a store/gallery that might pick up some Duckies too. Exciting! And then on Friday, I leave for the Windy City!

arching my spine

once i had finally made up my mind to be a teacher, the universe started offering me other alternatives.

things that had probably always been floating around, but now, that i had chosen another path, they have landed at my feet and started to peck at my toes.

more people seem to be interested in my animals and art, which is absolutely amazing. and due to the bad economy, more storefronts than ever are vacant. i have to remind myself, they are vacant for a reason-and that starting my own store is probably not the best idea.

but sitting at B&N with my friend andrea, planning her wedding flowers, made me realize how much i truly do love art, design, and construction. how can i give that up?

i'm having second, third, and fourth thoughts about choosing to teach. high school. english.

and i'm stuck between hair lengths right now. this photo was taken like a month and a half ago-my hair is now past my chin. i hate this two-month period or so where i have to decide. should it stay or should it go?

New Egglings!

Just made some mini-birds and put them in plastic Easter eggs...I'm calling them Duckie Egglings of course!

Check my etsy site for more info!

DONE!!!

The mural has been done for like a week and apparently nothing has fallen off of it. whew!

Go check it out!

it is (almost) finished

The mural at the coffee shop is *almost* done. If you want to visit it, it's in the almost-finished Dunn Brothers Coffee shop at Oak and Washington on the U of M campus. If you look in the windows, you get a great view of it! You can see images of the install here

I have to go back later today and grout the seam lines and the new corner pieces I glued on yesterday, after it was up. It's so amazing to see it UP on the wall, and how great the colors look with the paint and other finishes that Nikki chose.

The guys that helped me out, Kelly and T-man, were amazing. They ground down the edges to make them straight, and were very patient with me and the piece. I wouldn't have been able to do it without them! However, I did learn that I probably didn't need to leave open edges-in a lot of cases we just drilled right through a grouted open spot. But how was I to know? They also gave me lots of advice on my *next* mural. Anyone need one? HA!

Today I have about a billion errands to run for my show tomorrow. This is the final week for costumes and props for the latest show at the skool, which is going to require me making about 600 fake pieces of mail. And Friday, I leave for Florida with my family! Yippeeeeeeee!

in a strange place

have spent the bulk of the day at the coffee shop, wrestling with microsoft's latest evil version of WORD. i hate, hate, hate it. give me the old familiar version! PLEASE!?!?!?!

but i finally got the maps for the handmaidens show finished. yayy!

my sleep cycles have been screwed up majorly. staying up way too late or getting up way too early. the dude who lives above me has been watching movies or basketball games until 2-3 in the morning. and being a good minnesotan, i am too shy to go up there and ask him to please keep it down.

yesterday i slept maybe 4 hours? i woke up about 4:30 AM and started to read 'a thousand splendid suns', which i finished last night, around 3 AM. it was really good, very touching, and it convinced me in a strange way, that i want to go back to school to become an english teacher.

so yes, the strong interest inventory i took 2 years ago, and tim's consistent insistence were right, it is my destiny.

i've signed a lease for another 6 months at my apartment, but they don't allow students to live there, so depending on the program i choose, i may or may not be able to stay.

my thinking now is that i should rent the cheapest living space possible, and have a separate studio space.

oy.