Now on Etsy

Here are three pieces that have finally made the transition from Ebay to Etsy.

Little Sparks, 7 x 5.5"

Unseen Sea, 9 x 7"

Echo, 6 x 5.5"

I'll be adding a few more mini quilts in the next couple of weeks. Seems like a good time to trot out some recession-friendly artwork in time for the Holidays.

Made in China Made in China Made in China Mad in America

Today I did a little Christmas preview.

Our local garden center and gift shop had a Christmas open house today. They do a beautiful job of decorating trees and making every item look so appetizing. I picked up snowmen, Santas, ornaments, snow globes, and various doodads. Each had a label on the bottom that read Made in China. EVERY SINGLE ITEM. Oops, except for the item that was made in Thailand. It made me both angry and sad.

This summer, I purchased a few gifts from our fantastic arts festival. I do have many more gifts to purchase, however. I'm going to promise to do my best to purchase items that are handmade by artists that I actually know or can at least have contact with.

Do you have any favorite Etsy shops that you purchase from? Please let me know. I'm going to do a little more Etsy research and see if I can put a few more links up on my sidebar.



Thanks to Alicia, Nellie, Ellen, Lynn, Leslie and Robyn for your comments on my studio tour post. Just to let you know, the mess I began 15 minutes after I completed the video has turned into complete chaos. As usual. Three pieces started. Loads of reject piles, boxes of scraps, boxes of beads, piles of stamps, knots of threads, brushes, bottles, spools, etc, are everywhere. Aaaahhhhh, back to normal.

G Rated Movie

Well, here it is. Finally. A video of my CLEAN studio. I promised this months ago.

Back in April, I posted a video of my very untidy studio. The title of that post was
Horror Flick. A most frightening video. It should have been rated R. The new video definitely rates a "G".

And do you think that it remained that clean for long?

Here's a photo of it about a half-hour later.

More House Love

Big Brown Barn, 6 x 5.5"
For sale on Etsy

On Sundays, my daughter and I love to go look at open houses. Our town does not have the most attractive housing stock, so we were quite surprised to find three old homes full of character to explore today.

The realtors are starting to get to know us and no longer push us to give them our address and phone number. They know we are not interested in making a purchase. We're just there for fun.

We look in every closet. Inspect all basement nooks and crannies, no matter how scary looking. I'm starting to enjoy inspecting furnaces.

I mentally plant trees and shrubs. I pick a room to be my studio. I knock out walls and expand kitchens. I toss out ugly chandeliers and vinyl flooring. I lovingly retain beautiful woodwork and plaster.

Our favorite house today was in the midst of renovation. We found disused toilets in odd places -- the basement and closets. Strange. The hallways were wide. Windows were plentiful. The yard was a naked field waiting for greenery and blossoms. Each bathroom was halfway finished. One bath had the most beautiful mosaic tile floor that was original to the house. I got the impression it wasn't going to be there much longer. I debated writing a note to the new owner requesting the retention of the tiles.

I recall the house being for sale a few years ago. It sits amidst several fraternity houses. I'm sure the loud parties, vandalism, and frequent urination on the lawn by drunken party goers caused the last owners to vacate. It was a beautiful home, but it left me with the feeling that it was unloved. You can feel that in a house, I think. I definitely had that feeling when I first looked at our house. It felt cold and unloved. Sometimes it felt downright mean. I cried the first few nights we lived in our house. But it has been cared for and loved for 12 years and I think that anyone who enters can feel that.

Does your home feel loved?

House Love

Offering, 15 x 10", for sale on Etsy.

I love houses. I am obsessed with them. Always have been and probably always will be.

As a child, I used to draw layouts of houses. If I were somewhere and did not have a pencil or paper, I would find another way to do layouts. If I found a bag full of clothespins, a can full of pick-up-sticks, or a boxful of crayons, I would use them to create walls, windows, and doors.

I've always loved stories of haunted houses. Souls that refuse to leave their homes have always fascinated me. I love houses full of life and I love abandoned ones also. Forget new ones. For me, the older the better.

Houses are vessels for our lives. They hold the good and the bad. They fill up with love, anger, birth, and death. We've all read stories of the houses of widowed women that are completely filled with garbage and newspapers. Tragically, we read about houses that are repositories of bodies and bones. Most of us work to fill up our homes with happiness.

My house quilts all seem to have a little bit of darkness in them. I think that is true of all of our houses. No matter how cheerful I work to make my little house quilts, they never turn out as happy as I wish. My subconscious wins in the end.

I would love to know about my readers' houses. What is your favorite, or, if you wish, least favorite house memory?

74% of You Can't Complain

(mounting soapbox)

It's nice to finally be home and catch up on Facebook and blogs. It just gets out of hand if I don't do it each day (about 10 times each day).

Yesterday, from 6:15 am to 9:15 pm was spent working at the polls in my precinct. I helped to set up the machines, assisted voters, ate lots of snacks, drank lots of coffee, spread on loads of hand sanitizer, and tallied up votes all day long. And, frankly, it was quite a lot of fun. I love seeing who my neighbors are, finding out where they live, and learning to which political party they are affiliated. I also get to find out their ages. A definite perk. I do earn a bit (a small bit) of money from this and I sure appreciate that before the holidays. However, I would still do it if I earned nothing. I do feel like a small, but important, cog in the workings of democracy.

This morning I read the paper to see if my chosen candidates won. Many did. I don't feel I have too much to complain about. But if I did have cause to complain, well, I feel I have earned the right to complain. I voted. I learned that in my neck of the woods (Centre County, PA), that only 26% of registered voters actually showed up at the polls. I know that there are often reasonable excuses for not showing up. Life happens.

I am impressed at those who vote no matter what. We have a large population of elderly in my neighborhood. So many came in yesterday relying on canes, wheelchairs, and the arms of friends and relatives. Those who know that they can't make it ever again vote absentee. A man showed up in the afternoon, voted, and then asked if we could send out a ballot to a relative that was in the hospital. We couldn't. Yet, near closing time, the recently released woman came in to vote. I think that if her candidates were not elected, then she can complain all she wants.

Twenty-six percent of Centre County residents can complain today if they wish. Seventy-four percent will have to live with the cards they have been dealt for the next two, or four, or six years.

And remember, if you're not happy with the candidates running, you can always write in for Mickey Mouse or Michael Jackson or Mother Teresa. At the end of the evening, I'll just have to write each and every one of those write-in names down in quadruplicate and curse your ballot under my breath.

It's your right. Don't treat it like a burden.

(dismounting soapbox)

I Already Miss October

Successful Workers, 7 x 6"

Daylight Savings, 7 x 6"

I finally got into the October spirit yesterday morning. I took the dog for his morning walk; something my husband usually does. I enjoyed crunching through the leaves in the morning silence (the students were still sleeping). We later went to a local farm and purchased a couple of pumpkins which were carved after lunch. The afternoon rain stopped. At 5 o'clock we went to a little party, met some new families and had a fantastic time trick-or-treating. We then stopped at another little party, met some neighbors we had only seen in passing before, had some red wine and ate some delicious, home-made pumpkin pie. All in all, a good Halloween.

So I finally fell in love with autumn. A little bit too late this year. Yesterday's breezes removed most of the remaining leaves from the trees. The darkness while we cruised for candy mostly hid the branches still down from the winter storm. There will be a ray or two of sun today. I will look at the remaining leaves shining in the sun. Then it will all be over. The trees will be bare. Snow will no doubt start to fall (again) soon.

On the bright side, though, Target will put their Halloween items on sale today, and will briskly trot out the Christmas items.

The two pieces shown above were pictured in progress a few days ago. Here they are in their finished glory. They are both for sale on Etsy.