Today's Table- Work in Progress

 Ok, so it's not really a table. . . more like a drying rack, and a counter, and the kitchen sink. Anyway, here's a peek at some of the silliness I've been up to over the past few days. Everything is all stained and drying. This is my favorite phase! The time after all the designing, sewing, stuffing, base painting, sawing, sanding, and staining is finished and everybody's waiting for their final details. This is when they come alive for me.

Staining is a messy process. I've got it pretty well contained though. This is this morning's aftermath--

Mr. Clean Magic Erasers are my very favorite cleaning supply.

Is it totally lame to have a favorite cleaning supply? Well, I do.

Thanks for letting me share my process and creations with you!
I'll be back later with some after pics.

Many-Eyed Monsters and Pretty Flowers

Aislinn, the Many-Eyed Monster. Here.

Painting lots of eyes, and wandering through 

wild-flower-filled mountain meadows.
 Life is good.

♥

Circus Kitty and Getting Zen

Just finished this little chunk of sweetness.

He's in the shop now if you wanna check him out.

I'm heading out of town for the weekend, gonna go get meditative and whatnot at Great Vow Zen Monastery. It's a 4-hour gorgeous drive, and College Boy is coming with. Yay! We'll be attending this workshop on transforming the inner-critic. Inner-critics can be such nags, and mine can get downright mean!

Last time I was there we had an unexpected snow storm. I suspect the views will be much different this time. It's wonderful to leave the real world for a bit, although coming back tends to feel a little... loud. 

Oregon Country Fair

Went to the Oregon Country Fair this past weekend.

It was a people-watcher's paradise!

Oregon is a strange place. I like it.

Skeletons with People Masks

Because we're all just skeletons with people masks.

Something-New Sunday

I keep thinking I have to have something really great to say to come back on here and post, but I've been pretty quiet as of late. So I'll just show you the latest, and hope that I'll be back really quick-like. Got lots more goodies in the works!

Here are Woodlyn and Forest, with and without their owl masks. They'll be joined in the shop over the next few days (hopefully) by some skelly friends, a BIG many-eyed monster, and a couple of mermaids.

In the meantime, here's a little tutorial for those of you out in Bloglandia that have artistic aspirations...

Finally. . . It's Something-New Sunday once again!

Hi everybody! I hope you're still out there. I'm feeling uber-creative once again, and very grateful for it. I've made a few pieces since I've last visited, but this is the first time in quite a while I have some new offerings.
First, the latest.

This one is the Mender of Broken Hearts. Stitched-up hearts are so much more interesting than their pristine counterparts, don't you think?

This silly one knows that life is just better with floppy ears.

And I made some little anthropomorphic clouds too.
Today I'm the white one, yesterday I was gray. Which one are you?

The whole lot of them are available right this minute over in my shop.

I'll be back later for more show-n-tell. I've been strapped to this computer all day, and the rain has momentarily stopped, so I'm off to see what sort of mischief I can get into before the sun goes down.

Thank you all for sticking around.

I promise I won't let so much time go by before visiting again.

♥

Where I'm At

Hello. . . is anybody still out there?

I've been taking some pics of my little wheelie house, and I thought you might like to see them.

These are obviously some of the NOW pics. If you'd like to see the THEN pics they're over on my Pinterest thingy. I'll be taking more NOWs as I get more done. And I'd really love to take some more taken-from-the-same-angle-so-as-to-better-see-the-comparison-type photos like this one. . .

I'm enjoying the process of making my little home mine, and looking forward to learning how to enjoy my own company.

Note to the wonderful people who donated to the Kickstarter campaign:

I've been working diligently on making all the rewards and got the first batch mailed out a few days ago, but I still have many many more to do. So if you're expecting something please don't worry, I haven't forgotten about you. (I've just had so much to figure out. Still have so much to figure out, but I'm getting there.)

Thank you all for being so patient with me!

The Woods

I purposefully lost myself in the woods this week.

This is where I went.

Sometimes you've just gotta get lost to find something new.

Today's Table and Thank You!

It feels really good to be working again!

A great big THANK YOU to everybody who has sent well wishes and hugs and cards and words of encouragement! I am truly overwhelmed by the goodness of it all. Overwhelmed in a good way, not in the what-the-hell-am-I-doing-I-can't-possibly-do-this sort of way that keeps rearing it's ugly head. It really means so much. I've read and re-read every word. Thank you, thank you , thank you!

Lulu and I are slowly settling in to a new routine. I got myself a little travel trailer that I'm well on my way to turning into a home of my own. I'm currently parked at my folks' house while I try to find my feet. I am so grateful for them! They live out in the country, and Lulu's loving the mole-chasing opportunities. I was feeling so down the other morning when Lulu came bounding over with a present for me, a dead mole that she quite proudly dropped at my feet. She looked up at me with such unconstrained exuberance that I just had to laugh. I know, poor mole, but it made me giggle nonetheless. I think country life suits us just fine.

Where I've Been

The past 5 weeks have been the hardest of my entire life, and I haven't exactly had a comfy life. I've been with Dylan for 22 years, since we were both 18 years old. He was my safety, my comfort. I trusted him implicitly and gave him my whole heart. I became "the Jo part of Dylan and Jo" and lost more and more of myself in the process. When he told me that he was leaving me, I thought I would die. I was genuinely surprised that my heart continued to beat.  I thought I couldn't live without him.

I was wrong. 

I now know that I am stronger than I ever could have imagined.  My heart has been well and truly broken, but with the help of a wonderful support system I'm stitching it back together bit by bit. I'm learning to comfort myself. My creativity has always been healing for me, and I'm leaning on it heavily to get me through this. I'm allowing/encouraging/pushing myself to take a new path. It's scary. It's rough and overgrown and full of thorns, and I'm certainly stumbling along (hell, I'm practically falling off cliffs), but I'm just gonna keep putting one foot in front of the other and trust that it's leading somewhere beautiful.

I didn't choose this. I'm deeply grieving the loss of my husband, of hopes and dreams of an imagined future together, but I'm also painting a new picture in my mind. I'm learning to embrace the possibility that my life can be whatever I make it. I'm choosing to make it wonderful.

Something-New Sunday

Here it is, Sunday again. I don't have anything new in the shop, in fact I'm closing the shop for a little bit while I sort some things out. But I did make something new this week. Here's my favorite, in all her skelly goodness. I think she turned out mighty fine (if I do say so myself).

Hope you're all having a less-challenging week than I am.
♥

Something-New Sunday

The owls have landed!

So I made this big group of owls, but they just seemed to be missing something. . . What could it be? What would make them happy and complete? Pumpkins! (The big one tried to perch on a pumpkin too, but he's too top-heavy so he got his very own moon instead.)

They're all in the shop now.

Snapshots from Tonight's Table

Owls, owls, owls!