Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Lessons learned

I entered the artisans showcase at Uprising. I am still alive to tell the tale. Lessons learned...
  • Don't wear the day before what you wish to showcase the next day.
  • Don't wear your best stuff, display it.
  • Don't sit next to people displaying better work then you, sit next to the blacksmith or pottery.
  • It is a good idea to empty the pavilion when it attempts to become airborne. The Uprising staff is so smart!

It was a good event. I found a lovely gold gown for Gwyn at the consignment booth and some very nice glass bottles that I plan to use to display cordials at the next showcase. The kids have new toys for their castle box and I didn't get sunburned until the ride home.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Unfinished projects

I have been working hard on a goal I set for myself this year. The finishing of unfinished projects. Yes the dreaded UFO.... I have accomplished a lot I feel and even have pictures to share. I have finished a lot of hand sewing, finished a brown kirtle I have been ignoring for over a year which involved 40+ handbound eyelets, and threw away a few things that were just not worth finishing. I have a pillow I have been working for something like 5 years off and on and I am so close to finishing it that I went a bought the appropriate pillow form yesterday. I have pictures of the embroidery......but I can't seem to upload them. I will edit this post after I figure out what the problem is. The design is a DMC kit titled "Butterfly" and I modified the border using a blackwork design published in the Linn Skinners book "100 blackwork charts".

In other news, we have been fostering a couple of dogs and I have to say it is much more relaxing then fostering kittens. We usually get a big batch of orphaned or abandoned kittens to nurse and love every spring. Its like taking care of a dozen babies with round the clock feedings and potty training all thrown together. But this year we got a couple of phone calls from folks hit in the economic crunch and no longer able to care for their animals. We have never fostered dogs but knew the owners personally. So we have a pit bull terrier named Sadie and a toy poodle named Teddy. Sadie will be going home after her owners are able to buy a house. Teddy is waiting for his momma to get better and hopefully leave the nursing home she moved to. They are both sweet dogs and have only reinforced my insistance that we need a fenced in yard. They have gone camping with us and hiking with us and on family picnics, and I love them.