Friday, June 17, 2011

Felting the days away!


The weather was good for the Flint Institute Of Art Summer Art Fair ... a bit cool, a smidge windy (felted fairies and witches try to 'fly' about when it's windy), but sunny and best of all .. no rain!
Got the booth assembled and put up on Friday night .. then Dave and I headed off about 7:30 the  next morning to finish positioning tables and arranging my items for best exposure.  Wait?  Did I say DAVE and I?  Dave was there .. I was the one moving things around!  Dave was wandering around and getting a good look at everything, and then wandering back into the booth to tell me the neat stuff he'd seen. 
  When the traffic in the booth slowed down and I suggested that I be the one to do some wandering around, this look of total terror would come over his face!  But finally, I did get to leave - just for a few minutes though - and when I got back, Dave would tell me, in this long suffering sort of way, that "I had to make change and everything" and that "as soon as you left, I had to sell 4 of the angel ornaments and one of the bowls AND I had to wrap them in tissue and everything"!  And then he'd wander off again.   LOL

    My friends Cathy and Laurie came to see me and brought a gift too!  They'd found one of those metal garden/lawn stakes that had a squirrel on it holding a nut (think nuts and bolts type of nut here .. it was really really cute) and, in honor of our squirrel experiences, presented it to both of us!  It's next to the 'cat pen' at home now!
    Sunday again had quite a bit of traffic in and out of the booth and a lot of giggles going on between me and Kathy.  We got there two hours before the show opened as they had an Artists Breakfast and Awards Presentation - 4 honorable mentions and 3 place winners.  They had one more honorable mention to name and they said   Debra   and my heart jolted   and then they said the last name and it wasn't mine.  Oh well, with that many artisans there, I really didn't expect to receive anything.  But then, last summer I didn't expect to win 2nd place in my first ever show either!  So after the Breakfast, we had time to wander and look at the other booths as they were being opened .
    5pm .. the show is over.  Kathy and I were tissue wrapping everything and boxing them up, waiting for Dave to arrive to take the tent down.  Finally everything is loaded in the van, so Kathy goes her merry way and Dave and I start in on un-assembling the tent.  Phase One:  got it lowered down.  Phase Two:  I remembered we had to get at opposite sides and move in toward each other.  Dave didn't remember that part.  So I zigged and he zagged (with a lot of muttering going on under his breath).  Then ... he kept pushing and  ... one of the struts in the roof snapped apart - right in half!  More muttering - this was apparently my fault, but I was calm cool and collected and ignored him.  We zigged and zagged a bit more ... SNAP another strut snaps in half!  Ok .. Dave's mad but I'm still calm, laughing actually .. what IS the matter with me?  This is so not Deb the Impatient!  
    The tent is now wrecked .. it cannot be used again.  So .. let's just push and pull and push some more to COMPACT it so we can at least get it into the van and get the heck outta there!  So push and pull and push some more we did!   
Now mind you, the other people that were taking their booths down were studiously avoiding eye contact with us. FINALLY, as we're picking up what was once a really nice tent and carrying it to the van, a few came over ... cautiously, mind you.  By then Dave was laughing too (I think he was really concerned about why I was laughing and decided to go with the flow).  One lady was concerned .. I told her it was OK as we were "Patrons Of Modern Art" and now had our own sculpture!  Another suggested that we just leave 'it' on the grounds of the Institute ... it may take them a month or two before they realize that this piece of 'art' wasn't really owned by the FIA!

 So .. now it sits in my spot in the driveway.  And I need to buy a new tent before the August show in Swartz Creek.  And Dave ...well  but the time we got home Dave realized that the entire problem was that he'd NOT put the tent poles in their final position down before we started our zigging and zagging (so it wasn't my fault after all!!!)!


Monday, June 6, 2011

I'm still here, honest I am .. really!

And I so apologize .. it's been 3 months since I've blogged here! I've been on Facebook, I've been on Twitter and I guess that much social media took me away from thoughts posted here. I'm sorry .. honest I am!

So .. what's going on in my world.

I'm fighting the 'itchies'! Have hives right now from stress (I internalize too much and then I suffer!) - this coming week: working Monday and Tuesday and getting ordering done and a weeks worth of invoices paid; driving to Columbus Wednesday for TNNA Retail Council meetings on Thursday and staying till noon on Friday for class sessions assisting the TNNA Member Meeting; then hightailing it home to start getting my booth /displays set up before 6:30pm for the Art Fair beginning on Saturday is taking a bit of a toll on me.
So .. I was out in the 'cat pen' last weekend. We have this long wire enclosed dog run with dog house in it that the dogs never went in, but the cats love it out there where they can be outside AND safe. The grass was about 2' high due to all the rain and too much for a mower to tackle, so I was out there with hedge trimmer shears getting the grass cut.
Dave wanders out and says .. 'you do know there's poison ivy in there, don't you'? HUH? I'm in tee shirt, shorts and sandals and not wearing gloves! "Why haven't you been spraying it with killer stuffs?" "I didn't want the kitties to get in the poison". "What about them getting into the poison ivy and bringing it into the house with them?" "Oh they won't do that .. it's all around the doghouse and right where you're clipping and they don't go there". "WHAT!!!!!!!! We get second-hand poison ivy every year from the dog when he's in it .. we will from the cats too!" "But Deb, it looks so pretty around the doghouse .. like a little ivy covered cottage!"
Needless to say .. I have hives on my arms and a bit on my legs from nerves .. and poison ivy (not as terribly bad as it could be, but itchy icky bumps all the same) all over the backs of my hands and spreading up onto my arms. Between Eucerin lotion and Benedryl cream, I'm fully supporting the local Rite-Aid pharmacy! But I feel that a steroid shot is also in my very near future (like before I leave for Columbus!).

I've been needle felting like a crazed being getting new stuffs created for the upcoming Art Fair at the Flint Institute Of Art this coming Saturday and Sunday (June 11 and 12th). If you're in the Flint area http://www.flintarts.org/visit/directions.html , come by and say HI - I'd like to just see you and have the opportunity to chat. Dave will be assisting me in my booth on Saturday from 10am - 6pm (he was my only choice as helper!) and that should be interesting. This is so not his thing, and being 'forced' to talk to people he hasn't known since birth is going to be rough going for him .. but .. he IS agreeably helping me with that one day! Kathy will be working with me on Sunday from 11am till 5pm.
I've also applied for acceptance in another juried art show for the end of August .. wish me luck on getting into that one. So, if my fiber art is approved, I'll be needle felting more stuffs after June is over so that I'll have new items for that show too!

Still stitching away in my, um, spare time on Lizzie Kate's Halloween Rules, using buttons from Just Another Button Company in place of some of the 'stitched' designs. It will become a bell pull instead of a framed model for the shop. I'm about 1/2 way through now and it's looking great! Of course, that doesn't stop me from collecting other designs to put in my "hey I gotta stitch these" stash pile!

And I'm adding books all the time for reading on my Kindle AND adding books on tape (also for my Kindle) from Audible.com. I've been listening to quite a few while I needle felt. I can watch TV (for the most part) while I'm stitching, but watch while felting .. it puts my fingers at too great a risk! I've got "Water For Elephants" waiting for me to listen to while I drive to and from Columbus. Right now I'm re-reading "Changes" from The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher and hoping that the next edition in this series comes soon! Someone told me to check out books by Michael Baron .. anyone familiar with his stuff??
Kathy had given this link to me http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/ but I must confess I'd not checked it out yet. Think I just may do so a bit later today!! I'm trying to force myself to just kick back and take it easy today ... instead of trying to see what else I can felt in the few remaining moments before everything has to be packed up (today) for taking to the Flint Art Fair. overachiever? insane? that would be me!