Me and My Shadow

Or more like Us and Our Shadows.  We are back from a long episode of hellish gallbladder troubles, sniffles and colds, a couple little hopes and dreams that were squashed and some other stuff.  Now we are back and happily awaiting Summer.  We are having the most awesome warm weather right now so we are all feeling a bit antsy.  It's good!  Hopefully, we'll put that energy into our volcano project, our kite project, and our other adventures that are in the planning stages.  Off I go to sew up some wallets to fund all of this madness!

What's New

Edolie's drawings are starting to show figures, this one is of her, Ciaran, and Me as princesses.  I made the dresses:)

My ever growing air plant collection.  I started with one and now have a whole window full!

So, school has started, Ciaran is pretty happy in first grade.  He loves to read, he loves his teacher, and his two new buddies.  He even loves the class pet, a tarantula named Nell.  That makes my heart happy.  Ed and I are enjoying our time at home in the mornings and out and about.  She is now my super fun shopping, errand running companion.  When we are at home she is pretty content just drawing, painting, or playing with play dough.  We do take breaks for tea parties and fashion shows though, and occasionally a walk out to visit her scarecrow friend on the bottoms.  Other than family life, I am working my butt off to get some leathery stuff made for my shop and hopefully a couple of shows for the holidays.  I am also trying my hand at needle felting, and sewing some new clothes for myself.  I found a stash of fabric I've had for years and I am intent on using it up!  Also,  I need new clothes since it seems that one crazy effect of a bad gallbladder is some weight loss!  Not sure about the health of having a super restricted diet, but it feels good to be a couple of pounds lighter.  I don't really have my nice glass of beer or cider in the evening anymore so I've kind of gone haywire with my projects.  I can't say I'm at all unhappy about it though.  Feels nice to be creative, it really helps in every aspect of my life and I can't complain at all.  The only thing that's hard is that I just plain don't have enough room to work and keep this place tidy, I'm just a messy square I guess:)  I am off to cut out the last few wallets before gluing, sewing, etc. commence!  Wish me luck!

Feeling Kind of Icky........

So after being sick last week, enough so that I sent myself to the ER, I am now back to work for the most part.  It turns out that after years(and I do mean years) of horrid stomach problems, my gallbladder has been trying to break up with me all this time.  Now, it's made itself well known and I'm on my way to getting it all taken care of.  Crossing my fingers here:)

 I have some glorious stuff to finish up including a pretty awesome cuff(my first copper/brass/leather concoction), and some large pouch-y/wallet-y kinds of things.  I am taking it easy since I really still feel pretty gross, and, with Ciaran out of school now, I am finding that my free time for my work is minimal once again.  This is mostly good because it forces me to get out of the house and to really utilize the early mornings and evenings for my work.  The trouble is that right now, I am ready for bed at 8 or so.  Hopefully, everything will work out so I can continue to work without taking too much of a break.  It feels so good to be productive!

I'm also pretty excited to be a part of a project called Humboldt Art Abandonment.  I will be making pieces to "abandon" in various parts of Humboldt County and beyond.  I have wanted to do something like this for years and this is the perfect opportunity.  So, if your out and about and find something leathery or metal-like, it might be a little something from me to you:)