Smiling Donkeys Stickers for sale in my Etsy Shop.
I heard the high-pitched voice of our UPS driver as he cooed at Minnie and leaned over to scratch her ears. Minnie used to run when he showed up. Flo was his favorite. But now Minnie seems to love the attention as much as Flo once did.
By the time I got to the back door, our driver was gone but he left a small box from Sticker Mule.
“My donkey stickers are here,” I told Jon as he finished eating lunch. (More potatoes and zucchini from the garden).
I opened the box and there were Lulu and Fanny smiling at me.
It’s Jon’s photo but it was in my iPhone. I remember when he took it I asked him to send it to me. At the time I thought it might make a good postcard or sticker. Not sure why it took so long. I think I forgot about it.
But now it’s here, Smiling Donkey Stickers. They’re 3 inches round and are $4 each including shipping. I’ve already sold ten and only have 50 total, so if you’d like one just click here to get to my Etsy Shop.
And if you don’t like using Etsy, you can always email me at [email protected]. I take Paypal, Venmo and checks.
I also have some new Pocket of Joy Stickers that I made from my Potholder. They too are 3 inches round and are $4 each including shipping.
Pocket Of Joy Stickers $4 each. You can buy them here.
I want to work more with putting paint on fabric then stitching around it like I did with my Pocket of Joy Potholders.
I have this idea to do something similar with something I saw on the farm a few weeks ago.
The sparrows that live in the barn and woodshed are brazen. They hang out in the doorway of the Chicken coop, and even go in the coop to eat the laying mash. What I saw were two sparrows sitting in the doorway and White Hen standing on the ground looking up at them.
I’ve been thinking of painting and stitching this image since I saw it. Today I began working on it.
I’m not there yet, but I think I’m getting closer.
I love the imperfection that comes with stitching around the paint. How there is no way to keep the paint within the lines. Working this way frees me up so my drawing aren’t as tight. And hopefully feel more alive.
I’ll continue working on this idea and hopefully get to a place where it works.
I started tacking Under The Sea, and then Jon and I picked up a train set from a Hobby Shop a few towns away and brought it to The Mansion. With the help of the Army of Good, he raised enough money to get the train set that has an engine that steams and a car with a spotlight.
When we brought it to The Mansion, Bill, who lives there, told us about the train set he had when he was a kid and said he’d be happy to help set this one up.
We had a frost last night, but the kale and lettuce seeds I put in my garden last week survived and are thriving alongside the garlic I planted in the fall. Jon and I are talking about when to open up the pastures for the animals to graze. We’re supposed to get both rain and sunshine this coming week so we’ll wait and give the grass a chance to grow a little more.
In a little while I’m going to visit my friend Emily and see an exhibit she has of her collages at the Pownal Library. She and I will go right to Bellydancing Class from her house.
Between Jon’s surgery and making my Pocket of Joy Potholders, I didn’t have a chance to work on my quilt Under the Sea.
But now I’m back at it.
Today I finished it off with a border of blue and pieced together the backing. I even sewed it all together so it’s ready to be tacked.
Under the Sea is spoken for. I will finish it this week and get it in the mail to its new owner.
The color isn’t quite true in this picture. If I need to I”ll hang it on the barn in the morning before the sun gets too high in the sky and take a picture of it there. That should show the colors more accurately.
I somehow forgot to put up this picture of more Flower and Pollinator Potholders that I designed yesterday. These are made with different bee fabric that worked so well with the yellow flowers.
There are also 3 of what I’m calling Beehive Potholders. The ones with the bees and no flowers.
I was planning on getting into my studio today to make a few more Pocket Of Joy Potholders today. The last batch sold quickly and I have a feeling there are more people who would like to have one.
But we had to go back to the doctor today after Jon got his bandage changed on his foot this morning because the new bandage slipped off. (Jon wrote about it on his blog, you can read it here)
So maybe tomorrow I’ll at least start painting the potholders, then continue working on my quilt “Under The Sea” before returning to Bellydancing Class.
We came home tired and worn out. Both Jon and I took to the earth for grounding. I went to the woods and Jon spread soil in his raised garden beds.
On Wednesday Jon will have surgery to amputate his toe. (He has been writing about it on his blog you can read about it here). Today we went to three appointments in preparation for the surgery. We have lists of the things we need to do. Jon has good doctors but it was draining.
There are practical preparations that all the doctors and nurses have been mostly good about communicating. Our biggest concern was how to get Jon out of the car and up the few step into the house once we got home. But with the help of a friend and reassurance from his surgeon, I think we’ve figured that out.
The emotional part has been harder for me to grasp.
Jon and I are both more quiet than usual and slowly withdrawing from the world a bit. We are both a little edgier and more gentle with each other.
I feel a kind of gathering going on inside of me. A calm as if collecting myself and storing up energy.
Last week I was pushing myself to get work done. But today, when we got home later than we expected I chose to go for a walk in the woods instead of going to my studio. I knew it would be nourishing.
I also knew I was too unsettled to do my work well.
When Jon was getting his blood work done, there was a small boy in the office who cried, thrashing on the floor for the whole time we were there. It was more than a temper tantrum. I don’t know what his condition was, and no one including his mother and nurses and doctors was able to help him. It was awful for him and his mother and hard to not get upset witnessing it.
Jon and I were both still feeling the anguish of it all when we got home. So after our time outside, we meditated together, then napped.
I believe that Jon will get through the surgery fine. I understand that he may be in pain and will be uncomfortable as he heals. We will both get irritated and annoyed at times. But we will also be loving and kind to each other. We’ll sleep downstairs for a few days, him on the chair and me on the couch.
Jon will be back to work as soon as he can.
I will be working too. Maybe not in my studio right away. But I have a list of things that I can work on from the house along with blogging, drawing, and taking pictures.
Tomorrow we’ll go food shopping to stock up on what we’ll need. And I want to work on some more “Pocket Of Joy” Potholders that I started on Friday.
We have some good friends who have offered to help if we need them and feel comfortable accepting their offers. I feel like I’m learning how to take care of myself instead of just pushing through. I’m consciously trying to slow down and allow myself to feel what I feel without judgment.
I also understand that Jon has a right to be feeling the things he is feeling and that it’s not about me. So learning to trust and to be more patient.
I have no doubt this coming week will offer its challenges, but I also know that much good will come from it. Probably in ways, I can’t even imagine yet.
painting the fabric for my Pocket of Joy Potholders
I scrolled through the names of the people I sent packages to for the past three months. I knew Cheryl’s would be there and that I’d be able to tell her that her Potholder had been delivered and exactly when.
It’s happened before, mostly it gets settled quickly a package is overlooked or misplaced.
When I didn’t see her name the first time, I looked again going back to March, even though our first email was in April. Surely it was here. I remembered packing up the potholder and putting it in the mail.
Or did I?
Apparently not. As certain as I was, there was no record on Pirate Ship ( the mailing service I use) that I’d sent the Pocket Of Joy Potholder.
I thanked Cheryl for emailing me and apologized profusely. Cheryl was more than gracious, understanding my lapse of memory.
Today I made a Pocket Of Joy potholder for Cheryl, tomorrow I’ll put it in the mail. For real this time.
I think I may have forgotten to send a magnet in the past, but, as far as I can remember, this is the first time I’ve messed up so completely on mailing out a potholder that someone paid for.
If this happened in the first years of my business, I’d have beaten myself up over it. Now I pretty much know I can trust the people who buy my work as much as they trust me. Cheryl not only understood but knew I won’t have done such a thing on purpose.
And it’s not like we even really know each other. She is not even one of my regular customers. But still, her response to my mistake was heartening.
It seems like there is more anger and fear than ever in the world. It’s so easy to get caught up in it, to get defensive, be suspicious, even paranoid. And it’s even easier to feel this way online when we don’t have to interact face to face.
But I’m fortunate that I’ve seen little of that on my blog and in my business (I’m knocking on wood as I write this). I think it’s partly because I have a very small presence on Facebook, where anger and lies easily fester. And I have no presence on many of the more popular platforms. And even though I sell my work on Etsy, the majority of the people who buy my art there come from my blog.
So I think the people who buy my art know enough about me through my blog and Jon’s to trust my intentions and be understanding of my mistakes.
So I’d say that my blog and work are a success in more than one way. Not only do I get to make my art for a living, but I have created a blog that attracts people who want to be there and have come to trust me.
It is true that I’m not controversial and I don’t make a lot of money, so both are good reasons why I don’t attract a lot of criticism or arguments.
But this is a conscious decision, I made early on. My art has always been about making connections and trying to put a little good out into the world.
I’ve never really thought about my blog in quite this way before. But it feels good to acknowledge. It makes me feel even better about what I do, knowing that I’m in the company of so many kind and good-hearted people.
Fate and some of the potholders I made after a walk in the woods. You can buy them here.
Fate isn’t as interested in my Potholders as she looks. I know she’d rather be running around the sheep or chasing a ball than watching me hang my potholders on the maple tree and take pictures of them.
But she’s a working dog and even if she’s not really into it, this has become a part of her work. She doesn’t have to stand around watching me, but she does.
I designed these potholders after taking a walk in the woods last week. Now they’re all done and for sale in my Etsy Shop.
I have some with leaves, one patchwork potholder and a couple of potholders with butterflies on them. I made these potholders with the scraps that were left on my work table after I finished making my Under The Sea quilt and with fabric from my scrap bin.
These potholders are $22 each and shipping is $5 for one or more. You can see them all and buy them in my Etsy Shop, just click here. I also have more Pocket of Joy magnets and a few other magnets too for sale.
Jon and I spent most of the day at his eye doctor’s. I didn’t get into my studio, but I did have time to respond to most of the emails I got asking for my “Pocket Of Joy” Potholders. And to blog a bit before Bellydancing Class.
We got out of the car and looked up the hillside, the grass starting to turn green. The sun was shining, the sky blue with big billowy clouds. Chloe was grazing, Queenie and Micky were standing next to her.
As we walked towards the gate, first Queenie then Micky then Chloe lazily headed down the hill.
There was a feeling of calm. Of horses used to being together enjoying the warmth of the sun.
As usual, Chloe was more interested in grazing than me and Jon. I walked over to her and asked for a kiss. She lifted her head and I kissed her soft nose. I pulled a piece of carrot out of my pocket. After eating it, Chloe went back to grazing.
Queenie, who the last time I visited wouldn’t let me get near Chloe, wasn’t interested in us at all. She and Micky stood at the bottom of the hill taking in the sun.
I brushed Chloe, and it was as it had been at Bedlam Farm. I felt the same energy between us. She seemed completely at ease, content, at home in her surroundings.
It felt just right.
Then I looked down the hill and saw something else. Jon was scratching and talking to Queenie. They too, looked content and at home. As I was brushing Chloe, Jon had made a connection with Queenie. “She’s a sweetie” he said.
While Chloe continued to graze I brushed Queenie and Micky and gave them each a piece of carrot. And I realized how right this was. The wonderful new home for Chloe and I get to come and do with her what I love to do most. Brush and comb her and spend time with her. Also I get to do the same with Queenie and Micky.
Because even thought I don’t necessarily want to live with a horse, I still like being around them. And this is one of the gifts that Chloe gave me. Being able to experience that beautiful and atavistic connection between people and horses.
We saw Donna, at the hardware store where she works, after visiting the horses. She told me how her granddaughter loves to spend time with Chloe and give her hugs. Donna said Chloe gets tons of cuddles because she’s a snuggle bug.
I don’t think this can get much better than this, for all of us.
