Wow, 22 days since my last blog post! Is that the longest blog-break I've ever had? I think it might be. So much has happened over the past three or so weeks that I need to catch you all up on, but where do I start? I have been writing bits of this post in my head for days and days, never being quite able to commit myself to the computer time and energy it would take to complete it. I'm not sure I'm totally prepared to do it now either, but here goes nothing!
I guess I should start some where near the beginning. Moving a week before Renegade was crazy. I've been working hard trying to get this place set up and feeling like home, but it's been really hard (harder than I thought it would be) to get back in to the swing of things.
This apartment is way smaller than our last place and it's been really tricky finding a home for everything without it feeling cluttered. I am definitely not even close to being done yet. I set up the living room/bedroom area so I am happy with it and it feels cozy and nice, but the studio is still filled with boxes and is a bit of a disaster. Actually, today it is a huge disaster! I keep finding myself being drawn back to the couch because then I can't see the boxes and random stuff stacked and piled around the corner. This is probably not helping me to get any work done. The persistently rainy cloudy weather isn't helping either. And I have been feeling lonelier than I thought I would with Justin gone. I just need it to be sunny out! Just one day, please! I need to wake up with the sun on my face, telling me to get out of bed and get excited about making new animals!
Here is a couple pictures of our apartment so far:
Making curtains and hanging up some art always makes a space feel nice and homey. These are fairly tight quarters, but
Justin and I decided to save the bigger room for our studio. And the kitchen is pretty spacious and downstairs, which makes the place feel bigger too. I really like it here. I miss the sunlight that filled my last studio, but I think I'm just missing the sun in general. I'm pretty sure I remember one or two fairly sunny days here, and we got pretty good light in this new studio... it's just those darn clouds!
What do you think of what I've done with the place so far Justin? (He hasn't seen it since we first moved all the boxes in!)
Moving on to the next topic at hand... I guess I should do a bit of a Renegade recap... it already seems like it was so long ago! I think one the best things about the weekend was deciding to stay in a rented apartment. It was so nice after a long day at the fair to go back to a private apartment with friends who were also working at the fair, to relax and hang out. And I was really glad Justin ended up being able to get out of work and go. I don't know how I would have been able to sell his stuff
and mine!
Lillie came with us, and it was so nice to have her help and get to spend lots of time sitting and chatting. (Can we still work on that sculpture collaboration? I've been thinking about it a lot.) And of course sharing a booth with
Alice was wonderful! We are old friends, having both grown up only a couple towns away from each other in New Hampshire, but we haven't gotten much of a chance to hang out in the past few years. That weekend was very much needed! Plus she brought her lovely house mate
Francesca along, who I knew a bit thanks to
Etsy and
Flickr. Yes, you've guessed it, she is even sweeter in person!
I think the most disappointing thing about the weekend was that Renegade didn't put us next to
ArgyleWhale as we requested. We did get to visit a bit, but I wanted to sit next to her and listen to her jokes all day! Next year Elise! I also forgot to take pictures. I only snapped a couple before the fair started, and then took a group photo right after we packed everything up on Sunday night! Oops!
As many of you probably already know, the fair took place in the park this year, instead of the pool like the previous two years. I really loved sitting in the park, on grass instead of concrete, under the shade of big trees (sorry to those of you who didn't have this luxury! It was lovely!), but I didn't like how gigantic and spread out the fair felt. Being at my booth most of the time, I had no real concept of how sprawling the park was, and when I finally got to walk around, it felt like the rows of booths went on forever! I did miss that sort of small-ish family feeling of the park, all the booths butting up to each other, being able to stand on the edge of the pool and see all the vendors. We had the most perfect weather though, and tons and tons of people came out to walk about and shop. All in all, it was really great! I do wish that we hadn't moved just a week before so we could have been a bit more prepared and relaxed, but, oh well! Timing has been tricky these past few weeks!
I feel like I have so much more still to write about, but I think I'll have to save it for another day because it has escaped my mind. I will leave you with this though:
Since Justin moved out to Beverly for the summer he took two quilts and I kept two here. But he sleeps best when he has every blanket we own piled on top of him. So I spent one whole day making him this quilt. Yes, I made the entire thing in one day, all from fabric I already had in my stash. I only had to go out to buy the batting. This quilt was actually a huge feat for me. I am usually very picky and particular about the quilt pattern and which fabrics are touching each other. But with this one I just grabbed the fabrics I had a lot of, which conveniently happened to all be in blues, and started laying pieces out. I tried to keep myself from thinking about it too much (over thinking my sewing projects is a problem I am often fighting), and I am really happy with how it turned out! And Justin keeps telling me that he's been sleeping much better since I brought it out to him. Oh how I can't wait until he comes back.
Okay, well, I heard a rumor we're supposed to get a bit of sunshine tomorrow. Let's cross our fingers that it's true! I'm going to get back to sewing now. I'm trying to finish up a couple new animals so I can finally open my shop back up! Please stay tuned - I'm hoping to have it back up and running by the end of the week!
