meet me under the roses (lovebird series #3)

"Meet me under the roses" was the note that was left, it had been spelled out with small twigs on the ground down below her nest...so that when she awoke and looked down there it was. She knew which roses he meant, she knew he would be there waiting for her....he knew she would be there too.

This painting will go in the shop this week

snapshots of eugene #8

It has been raining and raining and raining for the last week which means the leaves are all almost gone from the trees.
The street sweepers come this week and take all the leaves away. I will miss their colors.

life is filling up

Hey fellow bloggers..thanks for all the encouragement on my job search I got one! I started this last weekend I had to be the dishwasher for the weekend shift at a very busy little restaurant...the test they make you take to see if you have the right the stuff:) I admit I was not sure if my 44 year old self was up to it, but it showed me that it is still alive and kicking and can handle a super busy dishwashing shift...crazy, crazy  days:).....but this week it has shifted pace a bit and I am cooking in their kitchen....so I have been busy, busy , busy!  I will be listing some more ceramic tags and hopefully finish up some new sewing projects this week. 
I leave you today with two photos, they both seemed to say beautiful abundance to me.

an etsy treasury (Soar and Fly and Be)

Yes! another treasury put together by Robin Soar and fly and Be.  Robin by the way has another shop Well of Creations worth checking out! 
Enjoy her finds, I am loving what she found.

etsy treasury (beautiful marvelous loveliness before you)

When one of my items gets featured in an etsy treasury I feel it is important to post who was behind the making of the treasury...give them back a shout out if you will.......trust me I have put one of these treasuries together before so I know the time and energy they take.


This lovely treasury beautiful marvelous loveliness before you was put together by Robin the shopkeeper/artist of My Creative Peace she is sewing and crocheting making her very own creative designs.
Thank you Robin! 
I am crazy about her picks

snapshots of eugene #7

1) Walking down my alleys and stopping for coffee.

2) Taking time out to throw a penny in the wishing fountain downtown

3)The sun making things softly glow at the end of the day

adding more love to my shop

ceramic heart gift tags

love it is that simple postcard sets

company's coming ( an etsy treasury)

I love this treasury put together by Woolbridge by It is feels so cozy and inviting, perfect for this raining cold day we are having here. Check out their store Woolbridge they are creating wonderful knitted items. I am so happy they featured my vintage kitchen towel:)

ceramics

I have been hand building with clay for the last month and finally everything was fired. For those of you that work with clay you know the excitement that takes place as the kiln is being opened...a lot like Christmas....I had some things not work out which is always disappointing because the process of making something with clay is long, there are a lot of steps until the final piece is ready. But the things that did work out have me grinning. First one to go in my shop today is a decorative plate with a sweet little bird family.  A mother with her two little ones on a walk together...these little ones are characters the kind that make you smile and laugh.

* this is in my shop today

Adding my first little sculpture too! 

How does your garden grow? What do you chose to add and nurture in your garden? Her choice was an easy one to make, children, a home, flowers, and a small bird that loves to rest on her shoulder. With each season something new happens within her garden....yes, having a full garden was an easy choice.

sewing

This week I am hitting the pavement again looking for work. In the middle of applying, the time of day when you don't dare be out asking for work (rush hour) I am coming home and sewing....sewing is my zen place, yes even when I curse because I have made a mistake and have to pull out the seam ripper and undo my mistake....sewing is where I find myself slowing down, listening to the machine, watching the magic of the needle, evenly stepping on the pedal....sewing makes me feel good...gives me the instant "Yes I did it!" feeling, which is needed when I go out to place after place looking for work hearing the "We are not hiring right now". 
I love sewing..."Then why don't you marry it!" as my kids would say...I think I will. Yes, I think I will do just that.

photos for my shop

I am loving the fact that the weather is nice enough still to go out and take photos for the shop. I stumbled upon this fence with all these buoys hanging on it. Perfect backdrop for a funky vintage apron I added to the shop....or is it? Not sure, it is a bit out there, but I wanted to give this apron some new life.... I wonder what the original maker would think of their apron being displayed like this....I hope they would like it....wow it was probably made 50 years ago....amazing huh...did the original owner wear converse too?:)

*this apron is in the shop

eugene snapshots #6

I remember when I was a teenager my parents had some friends visit and we took them on a walk and they kept saying "In Eugene you are walking through one big garden." I remember sort-of rolling my eyes, thinking foreigners (I was a grumpy teen after-all:) I get it now.


1. sidewalks of Eugene

2. I love that each house others something different for the passerby

3. wooden fences next to the last of this season's offerings

love bird series (2)

Finished my second love bird painting this morning.... if I was your lovebird you could always reach me.....Not sure what is going to show up on the canvas when I start but I felt these words were just right. Then the ladders showed up, connecting the big bird to it's little lovebird.....who is the little guy to the left in the white oval you might ask...that is a bird that needs to break out of its own shell, climb up or down a ladder...take a chance.

 you + me

*this painting will go in the shop this weekend

Witchmountain etsy artist/shopkeeper interview (3)

An etsy artist/shopkeeper interview with the very gifted Kim Tillyer, owner of Witchmountain.

Kim: Hi, I'm Kim Tillyer and I'm writing this in a freezing (until the stove gets going) cottage on the North York Moors in North Yorkshire,England. Witchmountain is the name of my Etsy shop and also my blog which I started writing in 2008. I searched high and low for a photo that summed me up... this was the best of a bad bunch!

kt: I love this photo of you! Okay, let me start off by asking "What made you open up an etsy store?"

Kim: My Etsy shop was opened in my final year at Cleveland College of Art and Design. I'd done a degree in Textiles and Surface Design at CCAD as a "mature" student, something I should have done 20 years earlier (instead I was going to music festivals, falling in love and having babies). By 2008 ,when I graduated,I was a single parent with teenage children, living in this very remote cottage, looking for a way to make some kind of a living from my creativity and shiny new degree, without having to uproot everything. My friend Helen (www.Tidelinedesigns.Etsy.com)  had been doing very well on Etsy for a while so I thought I'd give it a go, along side some freelance design and part time work.

( a final piece from my degree show)

kt: What is the inspiration behind your work?

Kim: I'm inspired by so many things that I often find myself in a state of inertia because I can't do all the things I want to do.So I drink coffee and dream of bears, owls, ancient woodland, Lakeland mountains and cozy winters. I read greedily and I'm sure my love of log fires, enamel coffee pots, being snowed-in and making my nest cozy for hibernation comes from an early obsession with the Laura Ingalls Wilder books and a more recent discovery of Tove Janssons writing. Music is also a passion but often such an emotional jolt that I tend to work listening to BBC Radio4 in case I start pining for the dance floor!

(This canvas was inspired by Elbow's song "The Birds")

kt: What do you like about having your own on-line shop?

Kim: Well, I'm not making anything like a living yet but I am old enough to still be amazed by the internet and the way it can be used( we only got Broadband here in 2009 and it is verrrrry sloooow). Etsy has a great community aspect to it and I do love the way it enables us all to play shops, showcasing so many talented people whereas real shops charge huge commission and don't always allow such creative freedom. At the risk of sounding soppy, what I most like, about both Etsy and blogging, is the virtual friendships that can spring up over thousands of miles through comments and conversations. A few encouraging words can make all the difference if you're feeling unmotivated, the sewing machine's broken or you're snowed-in with a broken heart!

(Detail of embroidered baby slippers, made by the Witchmountain elves)

kt: How would you describe the style you bring to your work.

Kim: I think my work is all very different, from large framed pieces to my handpainted necklaces but has an overall theme of muted, vintage colours, wintery fairytale imagery and a general emphasis on the North. 

(A commissioned piece based on a poem by Tennyson)

kt: Next one of my favorite questions, because I know each one of the etsy artists that I interview have wonderful shop ideas brewing. So Kim, if your shop was not just virtual but in an actual building what would it be like?

Kim: I would LOVE a real shop. In fact I'm sure that's how we first "met" Katy, because you had posted a beautiful collage of your imagined shop! Mine would be painted simply ( chalky  pinks, cream and grey like old enamel ) and have a big log fire, top of the range coffee machine , home made cakes, books everywhere, sagging comfy chairs and carefully selected handmade treasures for sale. These places are close to my ideal....http://temporarymeasure.co.uk in Keswick and www.Barterbooks.co.uk in Alnwick. Meanwhile, the nearest I get is Etsy and my market stall...

kt: I would be a "regular"  at your shop:)

(My stall at Helmsley Walled Garden Vine House this year.)

kt: Is there a symbol/image that reappears in your work a lot?

Kim: Finally,  recurring images in my work are bears, owls and birds. When I was small I used to draw horses all the time but a recent ill fated love story lead to my bear obsession. You can see my sketchbook about the story and make of it what you will  here....http://www.arthousecoop.com/library/515Now I'm having a bit of an owl thing, Ghormenghast, Twin Peaks and The Owl Service. I'm frantically making owl brooches and experimenting with cyanotype on fabric...so I suppose its time to say goodbye, put the coffee pot on the stove and thank you very much for reading.

(brooches, wallets and experiments with cyanotype)

kt: Kim Thank you so much for taking the time out to do this interview. I loved learning more about you!

If you want to purchase any of Kim's work her shop is: Witchmountain@etsy

Kim also has a beautiful blog here: Witchmountain

etsy treasury (hostess gifts for under $25.00)

PK shopkeeper of stone and bone(she makes wonderful ethnic inspired wire wrapped jewelry) featured my cornflower mugs in her treasury hostess gifts for under $25.00 she found great things, I would love any of these items as a hostess gift.
Thanks PK!

eugene snapshots #5

1. Even with the cold and rain, these two women were managing to smile ( A baked goods booth at the Saturday Market)

I wanted to share this small cozy cafe  Cornbread Cafe on 7th and Polk that I pass by frequently on my bike. I managed to stop in and ask if I could take some photos. I loved capturing this sweet family sitting under the curtains. The staff was incredibly friendly and the menu looked great.

I just love all the creativity this cafe has going on!

finally me interview

Excitement!! I was interview by meri over at her joint blog FinallyMe the interview is up today, this is the first time in my life that I have been referred to as a "fascinating woman"....hummm growing on me .....Oh yes, I think I could get use to this:)
Thank You Meri!
kt

love it is that simple

Inspired by yesterday's birds and flowers show I painted my first of a love bird series...how many in the series?...not sure yet, but I do know this, this one below is the first one of many to come. I am a "love/heart" person, I have hearts in all forms settled in my house...the symbol of the heart never grows old to me...it is never to "cute" for me, I know what it represents and that is why I never tire from seeing it.  Love people, it is that simple.....I choose love.


This red bird has put itself out on a limb, thinking about the one it loves all the time, doesn't matter if this old bird's love isn't being returned....to this old bird "love" is something you give freely....and when you receive it, cherish it....it is a gift (out of the old bird's mouth:)

*this painting is now in my shop

U 0f O art museum

I went to this museum so many times as a kid. I loved hanging out on the U of O campus and their art museum was free to kids, still is. The courtyard with the fountain and pond was my favorite place to sit and daydream. Yesterday I was biking past the museum and made myself stop and go in. I am happy that I did they were having a birds and flowers  exhibit and I was told I could take photos of the pieces of art that the museum owned.

The courtyard with fountain

A few works from the birds and flowers exhibit

1.Still life with yellow flowers(Flowers with a red book) 1940s David McCosh 

2. Conference of Gulls 1965 Mary Davis

3. Falcon's dream 1995 Rick Bartow

vintage dish towels renewed

I love giving a second chance to vintage linens.  I have been working on some vintage dish towels backing them with soft vintage table cloth fabric. Oh how I am taken with how generous their size is, admiring the embroidery work of a stranger I will probably never meet....but yet here we have been connected, I always find this wonderful.
These unknown artist's work called out to me in the thrift store....I knew I would put them out there again....after some mending and stain removal....Oh  I am crazy about these old soft linens.

*these dish towels are in my shop

november's vision board

I lucked out and landed a big pile of old country living and country home magazines, so I have been cutting out my inspiration ideas for November....getting excited for what this next month's possibilities are.....yes, I am welcoming November, even with it's frosty breath.  


 I just cut out what speaks and I just had to have this woman and her smile on my board this month it seemed so gentle and knowing.

embroidered dish towels, trimmings, a smile and bits of fall, pink lush roses

some modern mixed with retro, pitchers with flowers, draped couches, YES! to Natural elegance

wallpapered doors, horseshoes, country fabrics, china plates and porcelain statues, big benches with floral pillows

I have got a passion for the past, happy that my November vision board is now hanging up my room