Yup. It's been a while since I last blogged. I haven't been creating as much as I'd like in the realm of crochet and sewing, but here's what I have done in that area.
I made a gigantic U shaped monster for the Plush You show at Blue Bottle Gallery in Seattle. He's 25 inches high and I used extra thick yarn. He's super huggable!
I got another order for 9 more custom rocks in costumes and here they are: a cat, an octopus, a butterfly, 2 Perquacky cubes, a pom pom, a cowboys helmet, and a couple. They all presented a fair set of challenges and it was really fun to come up with solutions as to how they would work with the rock.
In other news, I am teaching a crochet class in Saint Paul, MN with Harding Community Education. It's a two week class, this week and next. We're making fingerless glovelets, the ones that are a pattern in my Etsy shop for only $2!
Yup. That's the word from the back of the last book in the Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles, the Wyrm King, the front of the Wild Rumpus and straight from the authors' mouths. I made my way over to the Wild Rumpus to share in the festivities.
If you ever get a chance to check out the Wild Rumpus in Minneapolis take it. If you live in the area and have never been, you should go. It's an amazing bookstore decorated with imagination and home to an interesting cross section of domesticated animals. Here the cats have decided to take over the front window. You can see an ear over the right shoulder of the orange one and then there is a gray one immediately to the right of the view.
Here's Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi. They met while she was writing an article for a gamer magazine and he was working for Dungeons and Dragons.
The new book was inspired by the mythical rat king, which is where rat tails get entwined by "stuff" and there is a mass of rats living in that interconnected state. The Wyrm King is a dragon version of this. Pretty neat, huh?
Tony draws throughout book tours. Maybe it keeps his skills sharp. He often draws when he signs, too.
Tony drew a river troll upon request and then they had a trivia question to see who one the drawing. He did the same thing with the following goblin.
Then Tony began to make fun of Holly's cats, Mr. Fizzy and Lily. Mr. Fizzy is supposedly an angry puffy gray thing while Lily is a hairless cat who Tony says looks like a lost sock.
Tony had to draw a little something for the Wild Rumpus and he drew up the signature Thimbletack Brownie/Boggart.
In addition to an all around fun evening, the Wild Rumpus celebrated its 17th birthday. They brought out the sign from their first birthday for the occasion and had a cake to boot!
In other fun news, I am having a pattern sale in my shop! All patterns including the set are only $2!
Here are some custom rocks in costume. A bear and a skunk this time.
And then our cats don't really like the ongoing construction of our living room. We've at least got the two new windows in, but now no drywall over the insulation.
Here's Jasper being determined to get behind the drywall.
And here's kitty licking condensation off the front window. He can be so strange some times.
I can't wait to put my living room back together. It's been in boxes for two months now waiting for the project to be done. Maybe next week?
So, many of you may not realize this, but I am a geek. I think I was a geek before I met my husband, but I have to say that my geekiness really blossomed after I met him. I mean this in a really good way. He is the reason I write, read and watch nerdy things. He makes me very happy.
I am writing a book that I am not really ready to talk much about but it's young adult fiction and I am almost ready to let other people read it. It's kind of scary and thrilling all at the same time to have people read your writing.
I picked up an advanced copy of NERDS by Michael Buckley the other day and it looks good so far. It comes out this September.
I am almost done with the plush guitar for Plushstock 2009 for the Plush Team's July/August challenge. I pretty much just have to string it and it's good to go.
My machine is a simple one. I actually got it over a year ago and used it once to make a monster bag. Now that I have started sewing dolls it is getting some more use.
Despite my lack of posts of late, I have been working on a variety of projects. I am continuing my alien bear project and now that the aliens are mostly put together I am crocheting unitards for them that will go under their bear costumes. The bear costumes will be of a brown fleece with a little more texture than their bodies.
I also have a show in November that I am creating a couple of pieces for. It is the Go Ask Alice show at the Art Santa Barbara gallery. I have decided so far to crochet the Jabberwocky. We'll see what else I decide to do. If you have any ideas or input, I'd love it!
The Plush Team challenge for July and August is Plushstock in honor of the 40th anniversary of Woodstock this year. I am making a guitar that has been sewn and has crochet embellishments. Pictures will come soon.
I am reading Candy Shop War by Brandon Mull. One cannot go wrong when mixing magic with candy, can they? Brandon also has the Fablehaven series. So far I have read the first two, but now there are four, so I have some catching up to do. I also recently started the Sisters Grimm Fairytale Detectives series by Michael Buckley.
Alright, I am off to put up a post on the Plush Team blog about dreaming plush and then I shall get back to sewing my guitar.
Poor little girl lost part of her arm during an alien bear fight. Too bad I don't have the alien bears done yet. Here's them in progress. At some point they'll look like bears.
Jasper is a silly cat. He likes to paw at the food bin to say it's time to be fed. Funny thing is that he already has food in his bowl. I think he likes get some extra attention by being annoying. Good thing he's cute.
I made a gigantic U shaped monster for the Plush You show at Blue Bottle Gallery in Seattle. He's 25 inches high and I used extra thick yarn. He's super huggable!
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