obi oh my.

I made a big bunch of clothing tags today. Just me, my rubber stamps and the iron. It was dizzifying. Other than that I fussed around feeling like a big loser and stomping my feet. I'm cranky.

Oh but I also took pictures of the new kimono-inspired jacket I just finished.

I have obi fever. I made a black one with gold stitching for a friend for the holidays, then a black and brown one for etsy, then this one. I've been wanting to mix gray with gold for a while and was happy I had enough fabric to churn this out. This obi is reversible - here's a picture with the gold side out. It has free-form gray stitching - click on it for better details:

this is not a product placement ...

... but I did just spend a few moments gazing longingly into my thread drawer. Ahhh, thread. When I was a neurotic non-artist I couldn't really enjoy having tools and supplies because they caused me more agony. I wasn't using them, or I wasn't using them the right way, or they sat in the corner mocking me, blah blah blah. Now I'm a neurotic artist and it's a joy to have things that serve me well. No added crap.

Today I've got 3 out of 4 discs of John Coltrane's Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings loaded into the cd player. Ok I admit it, I can't find the fourth one. But I'm still sure I'll have something sewn when the first three are done.

"The women who have led the craft movement don’t want to work for the Man."

One of my favorite lines from the article about etsy in the 12/16/07 New York Times Magazine:

"The women who have led the craft movement don’t want to work for the Man."

happy, warm.

I'm happy for more than one reason today. I stepped up to the plate, resisted flashing my tattoos, and got picked for jury duty. I figured I could sew plenty in the evenings but when I got home last night I was fairly brain dead. Getting all hepped up preparing to pass judgment on another human then being asked to sit and sit and sit in various rooms for hours is really not an energizing experience.

Back I went this morning, where after a mere hour and a half in the juror's room, we were called into the courtroom and released. Apparently we looked so tough - even without tattoos - that they accepted a plea.

The other reason I'm happy is my new head warmer. My friend Beth of Big Geek Knit Blog made it for me. When you aren't patient enough to knit it's important to befriend those who are. It's keeping me toasty and warm. Sometimes I cheat and wear it around my neck.

Now I can get back to my sewing machines and post some new stuff on etsy. I have a few sculpted layering shirt-things ready and I'm just finishing up a dress. Hurray for warm happy and productive.

friendly empire building

I just got secretlentil.com up and running. Right now it just sends you to etsy, flickr or here, but it's a start. It was nice to just jump onto Dreamweaver and whip it up - even that simple design would have been like pulling teeth a few years ago. 

Or maybe like growing new ones. Hurray for a learning curve.