swallowfield

she's making a list

• sufjan stevens songs for christmas box set pulled out and put on - check!
• halloween decorations taken down and rotten pumpkins scraped off the porch steps - check!
• pink wreath, soft trees and bottle brush trees taken out and dusted off, whilst humming - check!
• dining room table covered with glitter and scraps and projects - check!
• thinking almost everyone is getting a handmade something-something from me this year - check!
• saying hello to these guys again (made by my lovely + talented pal diane at ferdinand) - check!

what are you making for the holidays? lay it on me - what's your project or cookie recipe or idea?  i'd love to hear about it.

have a great day!

travels to south carolina and savannah

::important announcement to those of you on dialup (hi, mom!):  stop here so you don't get terribly annoyed with me, because this post is unabashedly picture-heavy.  i had so much lovely stuff to share i just had to make this a big old picture and link-laden extravaganza. (mom, i'll show it to you some other time. :)  ) thank you, carry on. ::

hi everyone! happy thanksgiving to you, if you celebrated it. i have loved seeing pictures of everyone's pretty tables and gatherings.

this year we went down to south carolina to see some of my family, and had a relaxed + yummy dinner and some wonderful adventures, including some time in savannah.

in savannah we walked a lot + enjoyed the incredible architecture and foliage everywhere, and we visited many places you recommended - thanks for the tips!  the first stop was back in the day bakery, which really does have the world's best cupcakes, plus delicious sandwiches on homemade, scrumptious bread. oh my. 

then on to @home vintage general (they also have a blog,) where liz demos, the owner, is as lovely as her shop - she graciously allowed me to snap some photos of her glittery + fantastic holiday display. i showed remarkable restraint and left with little besides several boxes of "sparkle christmas snow," gifts for my local, fellow holiday-loving pals.

the highlight for me was a trip to shop scad, the student store for savannah college of art + design. it was full of incredible stuff and i could have spent the entire day poking around. did you know scad has a distance e-learning masters program? i do, now! too bad it's way out of my budget at the moment.

in south carolina we poked, hiked, explored and gathered, and my intrepid offspring swam every day (usually while i was huddled in a fleece, drawing.)  we cooked a pretty amazing feast, too, which included my contributions of molly's tarte tatin and warm butternut squash and chickpea salad, both of which were delicious.

my dad's house borders a nature preserve, and there are many lovely places to see there.  i drew a bunch and  found lots of new inspirations. giant acorn tops! prickly things! giant pine cones! all so good.

we came home to brrrrrr temperatures of around 29 degrees, frozen leaves still to be raked and weeded from the gutters, two cats who were almost pathetically happy to see us,  and lots of etsy orders to be filled and packed up for the mail tomorrow. all's well. and there is much to be, well, thankful for.

bloom, pollinate

woolly goodness

happy sunday! i am happily playing around with lovely wool and making a couple more wreaths today, + with only a few wee hot glue burns to show for it. thanks so much for all of your nice comments about yesterday's project. 

making other things

sometimes i forget i know how to make things other than doodles on little scraps of paper. but since i got my list of swap partners for the holiday ornament swap, my brain has been spinning with non-drawn handmade possibilities. i have already scrapped quite a few of the ideas, plus remembered what it was i disliked so much about glue guns.  let me tell you: when martha stewart recommends always keeping a small container of ice water next to your workspace when you're hot glue-ing, that's pretty smart advice.  i ignored her sage wisdom and lived to regret it, or more accurately my fingers got rather scorched. i won't do that again.

anyway, i haven't quite nailed down my final ornament idea, but i did make this wreath for my dad and stepmom as a thanksgiving present today. i have quite a nice stash of rug hooking wool, all of it dyed great colors by an old friend - some overdyed old wool patterned shirts and other good stuff - so i used some scraps and made this:

it's embellished with smaller strips of wool and three buttons i made out from envelope security patterns. i like it alot, even if part of me wants to yell 'ahoy, matey!' and chuck it to a man overboard. {{and even if you can see quite plainly that i haven't washed my windows in, well, since i moved into this house.}}

letterpress + travel advice

Just a quickie today:

One of my favorite artists has listed all of her holiday goods for sale today. Take a quick peek if you love letterpressed things as I do: Maria of Port to Port Press does it so well - but hurry, because I suspect it will all be gone in a flash.

I have an upcoming trip to South Carolina and will be spending a bit of time in Savannah while I'm there. I would love some recommendations of things to do and to see off the beaten track in what I know to be an amazing city. If you care to share I'd appreciate it so much. Thank you in advance!

handmade for the holidays

I had the honor of being interviewed by Shari over at The Glass Doorknob as part of her holiday gift feature series. To say I was flattered would be putting it mildly - Shari is one of my favorite bloggers and I love her eye + the way she sees the world and shares it with us. My interview is up today if you're interested - I am in great company and am really looking forward to reading more of her interviews over the next few weeks.  (Scroll back a day at her blog to read about  Martha McQuade of UNIFORM Studio and Meg Werner from Mischievous Meg, two people who inspire me a lot. I was so happy to learn more about them.)  Thank you so much, Shari.

I spent a long day yesterday working on holiday cards. It's like that with my gocco and me - we've got a little thing going on the side. {{Just a few more - you know you want to!}}  I once joked that my headline should read, "Woman runs off with gocco printer - family left stunned, helpess." Yup, I like her. My cat, however, doesn't like me or the gocco printer anymore. See?

gocco-a-go-go, or better-late-than-never-holiday-stuff-making

it's beginning to feel a lot like... i'd better get my act together on making some stuff for the holidays. i got started today. i don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but i have lots more ideas up my sleeve.

and since i'm thinking about gocco printing, go and take a look at sarah parrott's lovely 2008 gocco calendar. she's one talented gal.

spied in november

we took a quick trip up north this weekend.
it was spare and quiet and still - but there were a few bits of color left here and there. 

a trip to the thrift/junk store inspired me with unexpected  patterns and forms everywhere.  i hope you enjoy them too. 

so good.

just a quick post this morning.  here are some things i've been looking at on flickr recently for new drawing inspiration (see here for credits):
isn't it all so lovely?

happy saturday. have fun.