Circo Blanco

I've got a whole batch of achromatic beasties in the works.

I'm afraid they've rather taken over the studio. Generalissima Meg (that's what she has been calling herself) has proven to be quite the rabble-rouser. She has declared herself high-commander-in-charge (her words) and has made propaganda posters and everything. She was met with some initial resistance, but being the only beastie with a mouth really helped her in the debates. Generally speaking, such minor mutinies stay pretty tame due to their born-yesterday lack of organizational skills. But this batch seems to be different somehow. There is definite evidence of parliamentary procedure.

I hesitate to properly attach some of the more vehement ones' limbs as I'm afraid arsenals might be established. Oh sure, what harm could they do wielding nothing but thimbles and embroidery needles?
Plenty! There have been unsuccessful coups before,
and the occasional Band-aid was needed, lemme tell you.

She's even got the Little Reds sounding the chorus,
"Circo Blanco!"

I don't know where she learned Spanish. sigh.

God help me when I've given mouths to the rest of them.

White

Ahhhh. . . the quiet of white on white. It was so much fun not using any colors that I wanna do a whole white batch now. We'll see if I can resist the lure of red.

My Favorite Color

I asked my kids what to blog about. They were less than helpful. We have an extra kid this week though. He suggested I answer the question, "What's your favorite color?" My favorite color? Do people really have favorite colors? I mean, when I want my butt to look smaller I love black. But it's not my favorite. Is black even a color, technically? Or is it white that's not a color? How about gray, is that a color? I'm not a big fan of really bright yellow, but when the gray days hang around too long, a splash of lemon yellow is just the ticket. I read somewhere that orange is the least favorite color of most people. I admit that orange is usually reserved for Autumn months around here. And then there's the issue of shades and hues. There are pinks I love and pinks I hate. Purple is the most subject to this shade discrimination, with Eggplant coming in near the top of the list, and Lavender scraping the bottom.

Actually, the cacophony of chromatic choices leaves me feeling a bit chaotic. That's why I tend to choose one (or two if I'm feeling particularly brave) colors a week and go from there.

Last week's colors were red and yellow (whoa, watch out!).

This week it's all about the white.

Too much excitement for me last week I suspect.

Do YOU have

a favorite color?

Charming Freaks of Nature

Dylan is threatening to post pictures of my studio if I don't clean it up. He is further threatening to compare those pictures with our super clean pics from Studio magazine. Don't do it, Dylan! Guess I'd better get to cleaning.

Speaking of Dylan, check out the mermaid twins he designed-

He even designed a little seahorsey friend for them.

I usually do all the designing around here, so I love it when Dylan gets on a kick. Like mine, not all of his designs are winners. Those end up in the reject pile. You can't succeed if you're afraid of failing though, and mistakes are wonderful teachers.

Even the youngest member of The Cart got in on the design action this past week. Here's a drawing that my sweet little guy did-

Dylan turned it into cloth and added fork feet. Then I smooshed on a mane and painted it up.

We're a very silly family.

You can see more these sweet

freaks of nature HERE and HERE.

Strawberry Tuesday

There must be the slightest scent of strawberries on the breeze,

because I've got strawberries on the brain.

.

Strawberry season is short-lived here in Oregon. Hood strawberries (arguably the BEST of the best) are only in season for about 2 weeks. If you've never had them, you don't know what you're missing and are therefore happier than me who only had them once 3 years ago and is haunted by their sweet memory. I'm still hoping to be able to get my hands on some here in the next couple of daze. Hey, there are worse vices.

.
In the meantime, I've comforted myself with less perishable strawberry representatives. Is it wrong that I want to bite this one's head off?

I did enjoy painting all those dotty little seeds. There's something soothing about so much repetition. I even painted her a strawberry-covered apron. More dots. (whee!)

Here's a strawberry-clad Widget, further evidencing my obsessive nature. Don't know what a Widget is? Well, I'm not exactly sure either, but this is a strawberry-loving one. I didn't paint all those seeds on this one. I stitched them. Still fun.

Edible or not, these be-berried babes make me giggle, and that's good too.

4 x 4

OK, here's the game-

In your picture files, go to the 4th album, then go to the 4th picture. Show & tell. Then go down 4 more albums, go to the 4th picture, and show & tell. Do this 4 times (if you can) to get a total of 4 pictures.

Ready, get set, go!

○ ○ ○

Here's a raspberry that I was using for reference.

This one is a Skatebird made by our friend Matt. It's very cool.

I have no idea where this one came from or how it found its way into my picture files. I'll blame a kid.

And finally, a wolf we did back in January.

○○○

Now it's YOUR turn!

Igor's Happy Day

I'll join Google in celebrating Igor Stravinsky on his birthday today.

Happy Birthday, Igor!

Hope you're in a place full of music.

According to Jimmy, Age 6. . .

"Bats are smart. They use radar!"

Hope you're all having

a little-bit-batty day.

*

Super Sunday

I spent the day finishing 4 new Cheater Quilt patterns (woohoo!). It's been brought to my attention that Cheater Quilt isn't necessarily the best name for them, but it has just kinda stuck. Maybe I'll do a poll or something trying to find a better name. Not today though.

○

Tomorrow, our eldest is off to play government with a bunch of other future leaders of America, and while she's gone we're giving away her room (mwah-ha-haa!). A friend is coming to stay with us for the week so we can get him started selling his art online. I'm sure I'll have to share some pictures of his really cool up-cylced street goods soon enough. In the meantime, we got pictures of Sunday evening's batch done early.

Here's a little sneak peek for ya-

Time's running out to get a hold of this week's goodies. ○○○ Hope everyone is having a surprisingly swell Sunday. ○○○

Sweet

I'm playing along with meet me at mikes.

Today's theme is sweet.

♥

I'm sweet on Dylan, that oh-so-silly man of mine.

Face-Bird Stencil

I thought I'd share the little anthropomorphic birdy

stencil that I made for the fabric swap.

Just print to the size you want, cover the image with clear packing tape, and cut out the black bits with an X-acto knife. Then take a barely-damp sponge, dip in paint, and pounce. I used acrylic paint, which will stay fast on fabric even after repeated washing.

. . .

Pink birdies could prance on pillowcases.

Blue birdies could bounce across baby blankets.

Great groups of green fine-feathered friends

could dance delightfully on cleverly created curtains.

Oh, the possibilities!

Swapity Swap Swap

Remember the fabric swap thingy from a few weeks ago?

Well here's an update for all of you who played along (and for anyone else who cares). I'm done! The last package of squares arrived today, all the way from The Netherlands. In all, I saw squares from Maine, Idaho, Florida, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Texas, North Carolina, Kansas, California, Utah, Leeuwarden in The Netherlands, Essex in England, and Ontario in Canada. Whew!

Here's a little peek at the newly-sorted stacks:

It was fun, and my overly organized tendencies helped quite a bit.

This is what I did-- As everyone's squares arrived I assigned them a letter (A-P) and I stuck a little piece of tape on all their squares with that letter on it. Then, when it came time to sort, I just went through the alphabet (skipping their original letter) to make sure everyone got new squares, peeling off the little bits of tape as I went along.

I added my squares last, on account of I wanted to do something a little different with them. I tried making a stamp, but I didn't like how it turned out. So in the end I just made a good old-fashioned stencil to add a little birdy friend.

Don't the little finished bundles look sweet all piled up together?

I've got them all packaged up now and ready to head to the post office. Thank you to all who participated! I hope everyone shares what they make with their squares.

Serious Silliness and a Strawberry Moon

The Cart is filled to the brim with glorious silliness

on this lovely almost-summer eve.

Things with wings flit about frivolously.

A fine-feathered friend guards a tiny treasure. And a flirty fairy is prone to flights of fancy. A merbaby swims with a starfishy friend.

Giggling gifts from the garden include a lemony lass. . .

a green-hatted gnome. . .

and a buttoned-up bloom.

A mischievous jester fails to frighten,

while his skinny sidekick attempts a jig.Moon-faced friends

have come down from the heavens to play along.

. . .

There's a Strawberry Moon tonight. Apparently, that's what it's called when a full moon falls right in the middle of strawberry season. Strawberry Moon-- how delightful! I'm listening to the night as I type this. A owl calls to another owl (I love that!) as frogs chirp and traffic whooshes quietly by. I can hear deer or elk tiptoeing along nibbling on wet foliage. Somewhere in the distance I can just hear the ocean sighing. Soft moth wings barely touch the window panes as those little things-with-wings try to get to the inside light.

Today was good.

Today is done.

Tomorrow is another one.

☺

I won!

Lookie what I won!

I won a pattern to make this awesome apron befitting a true domestic goddess.
Thanks Mixtape and Made By Miffy!

June Already?

It's 10:30 in the morning here on the beautiful Oregon Coast. The sun is shining it's heart out, the birds are singing their birdy songs, and Spring is giving way to Summer.

Silly Dilly, that night-owl husband of mine, is sleeping away, which is why I couldn't possibly wash all those very clangy dishes waiting for me. Oh the sacrifices one must make :) Instead I sit here typing quietly, planning out my day's events. I have many projects going on at once, all on different levels of completion. Baseball and visitors have put a dent in my schedule and I'm playing catch-up this week. Luckily, my schedule is quite bendy, and dents bounce out easily enough.

Today finds me drawing, stitching, and painting.

Here's a little peek at the goings-on:

Can you guess what

this week's color is?

Chalky Goodness

Firekites - AUTUMN STORY - chalk animation

from Lucinda Schreiber

Let Your Inner Child Come Out To Play

Is your inner child alive and well?

Mine is indeed alive,
although I don't know how well she is.

If the green plastic bunny barrette currently holding back my graying tresses is any indication, perhaps my own inner child is a little too awake. Truth be told, she's a bit of a banshee. She has an unconquerable sweet tooth I'm afraid, but Grown-up Me likes broccoli, so we're working on striking some sort of compromise.

My inner kid and I have a sort of running dialog. It's one of the side-effects (good or bad) that accompanies making silly stuff all day. Grown-up Me sets schedules and meets deadlines, but it was Little Me that insisted on bikinis for this week's batch of beasties.

Once they were complete however, we both agreed that the next proper course of action would be to make them fly around the room taking turns kissing Dylan.

And, of course, we both like polka-dots.

. . .

Children are endlessly creative, and inner children are no exception.

Have you let your Little Self out to play lately?