oh technology...

why must it be so hard for me...??

i had a bit of a rough day trying to be a technological genius and get an email out to my mailing list. how difficult is it sending an email? apparently, it can be a real challenge!

for those of you who received some slightly odd messages from me today, please know that they were not what i intended. this is what my 'devon industry mail' update should have looked like. Pretty cute right? At least better than just a sprinkling of links and a copyright notice...i'm terribly sorry! i promise to get the kinks worked out...calling all I.T. people! :o)

i did post a new lovely wooly flora in my shop:it's actually more of a magenta than the deep purple it appears to be.

i'm also gearing up for much wool and felt goodness to come!! i have plans for new scarf designs as well as more flowers...and maybe some animals...? yes, i can't wait!

Perry with the pink nose

perry is the newest little lapdog plush around here...he is a ball of fluff! and his little pink embroidered nose is pretty darn cute i must add. i've been playing with different ideas for my soft sculpture pups and love the idea of adding more sewn details...hence the felt flower/bead on the rump. Perry is in my shop today...


phylo (my real life romping pup) got his little mitts on one of my felt beads yesterday and for some reason is using it like chewing gum. he's not actually trying to eat it, just chew it. it's hilarious to watch...like a little cow with its cud :o)

i'll be on etsy's showcase page tomorrow so i'm trying to finish up a handful of fun items to post...back to sewing & painting & felting!

sylvester the owl and friends

those of you i chatted with at Anno Domini's Street Mrkt this August might remember me sewing up these little guys :o)

the mini owl's name is sylvester, the fuzzy lapdog puppy is perry, and the little stuffed 'owlette' is one from a series of 18 owls that are printed with my gocco machine. they're each unique and have delicious smelling dried lavender inside. all at my shop...well, perry will be there later today or tomorrow but check it out anyway!



we're also just busily continuing with our new norm of cleaning/remodeling our house. it's SUCH a neat place - we adore it and are thankful for it, but it does need a fair share of work! somewhat frustrating for me because i would love to just jump in and paint some lovely scenery around the dining room, or paint a sky in the living room. but most of the walls & ceiling need attention before any painting can be done. they either need scraping and sanding plus repainting, removal of acoustic ceiling tile (yes, ugh!) and repairing of the drywall, or maybe even refloating with more plaster. then comes priming, then finally painting, then finally, oh maybe yes...murals and more murals :o)



so till then we are chipping away on what we can...sometimes literally - this past week we put a rug under our dining table - actually a 'flor' (carpet tiles - yes!). we love it and so do the animals. i think the colors make it cozy... the wall color will eventually be a sky blue (i'm over the 'goldfish tangerine' shade - yes, i painted it - after painting it a grayish purple). then the ceiling i'll paint with a night sky mural. and maybe eventually i'll paint woodland scenery between the molding going around the room - like you're looking through the woodwork to the environment beyond...it'll be wonderful and magical. so, lots of plans...not very much time!

more pics of our place...and many other things at my flickr page - look under set labeled 'haus'

cassandra the soft spoken elephant

the newest plushie animal in my shop! cassandra is a really adorable elephant and i've been enjoying her company in my studio over the last few days :o) she has soulful, kind eyes and stands on her own, using her trunk for balance as well. it was fun for me to sew up a new type of soft sculpture animal - adding more complicated sewing to my animal characters gives me all sorts of ideas...i see several future plush projects, including my little girl characters from my paintings. stay tuned for those! & check out my new pics at flickr - lots of our ongoing kitchen project and more photos from the garden.

In my shop today

I've been working on a few new art pieces like the one above called 'drizzly'. It's an ink drawing from my sketchbook that I've colored digitally. I love how these are coming out and will hopefully have more soon. In the meantime, check out the 3 new pieces including 'drizzly'...

This piece is pretty darn sweet...called 'spring humming'. I love girls and birds and flowers and polka dots - it's true.

To show you another view of things - this is how I package my prints; signed print on stiff backing board, within a clear sleeve (both board and sleeve are reusable). This print is wonderful in an 'alice in wonderland' kind of way - it's called 'le petit jardin'.

Also new in my shop are little owl plushies that have gorgeously scented lavender inside. I took a teeny owl sketch of mine and gocco printed my image onto different lovely fabrics like wools and velvets. I have 18 little owls for sale and that's it - the screen is no good for fabrics anymore. There are two in the shop right now but I will be listing the rest of them over the next few days. They are all different from each other and oh so cute & delicious smelling :o)

A pink velvet owl plushie, with lavender inside. Pick them up in my shop!

And thanks to all who came out to the 'Street Mrkt' hosted by Anno Domini Gallery!! It was really fun with amazing live music - who was that first band?? First Friday's of the month are really starting to be a happening time in San Jose, now with all the galleries lined up on S. 1st Street. Believe me, I get so excited when I see these kinds of things here...it makes me have hope for San Jose!

my little heartmelter

phylo is just so darned cute!!
he doesn't want to eat the tomato, just wonders why i'm not letting him have it :o)
check out more phylo & garden pics...

mmmm....4 early girl tomatoes all bunched together, each at different ripening stages...such a perfect palette of colors.

back from the homeland

A two year old macaw baby with a scarlet/green mommy and blue/gold daddy - he's a total rainbow.

okay...so i really got back over a week ago! :o) it's been a busy time - my parents have been here visiting and i've been catching up on all the loose ends...mural jobs & follow ups, new products for sales and for my etsy shop. and i caught a really dreadful cold...i still feel like i'm swimming under water - know that feeling? bahhh, can't wait till it's passed.

anyway, panama was so wonderful and i can't wait to go again. this trip was just me and my parents and brother. we went all over - el valle (a cool, mountainous area), the beaches (playa blanca), all over panama city, all over the canal zone (where i grew up), out to gamboa (where you can really feel at peace, and get great views of the ships in transit through the canal), and over to majagual (vera cruz) where my best friend lucy lives with her husband and 2 girls, plus 3 dogs and 2 cats! we saw lots of friends, lots of wildlife, took so many photos, swam in the ocean...ahhh. more pics at my flickr page.

mossy steps at the golden frog inn, el valle, panama

gorgeous canna bloom at the golden frog inn - just amazing gardens...

sleeping princess mountain

ship in transit through the canal - headed toward the miraflores locks, gamboa

birds flying over the beach...about to steal fish from the pelicans!

a beautiful day at the beach in panama

lookee what i found...i paddled the 'ocean to ocean cayuco race' in this boat - the 'high anxiety'. we won first place our second year - such good memories. what's the cayuco race? an arm marathon essentially - 51 miles of paddling with a 4 person crew over 3 days, from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean, just like a ship would do it.

Jessica the Hippo

2 tons of love