2 Loves - Pincushions & Dandie In The Underworld

I'm having a love affair with pincushions right now. Shown are the "mama" (7 1/2"x7 1/2") pincushions but I'm working on some newer pincushions - the "baby" (4"x4") pincushions that are both cute and funky. I love them because I get to draw, sew and make them all so different - love that. I just dropped off seven last night to the one and only Dandie In The Underworld - the coolest, hippest, most unique store ever. Even its location in the alley is cool - or I should say, the owners made it cool with their fabulous flair for the creative and their fierce use of recycled items. I've never been the shop-til-you-drop type of girl but I went in this store once to drop off my first shipment of goods and almost couldn't find my way out. Every corner of the store was enchanting to look at. I love handmade and of course anything recycled because of the unique, one-of-a-kind factor. For me, this is the kind of place where I could forget where money came from and buy, buy, buy! Enjoy!

Arty Potholders

Here are some arty potholders for the viewing. They've been crocheted and have hand drawn illustrations appliqued to the front.

Giving Thanks

Thanks to Softies Central for hightlighting The Carneys in their July 9th post. I love that feeling of visiting someone's blog and you don't expect to see you work but there it is. It's a wonderful feeling of shock and excitement. I also received some love from Steven who resides in my beloved London. Of course, I had to visit his blog, Steven's Happy Accidents. I love his colorful, upbeat work.

Enjoy the latest addition to the Carney family - mon petit DoodleBug. Plenty of other Carneys have tried to beg, borrow and steal DoodleBug's hat. Some have even offered to buy it but this dude is not letting it go at any price. He even sleeps in that hat. S'amusez bien!

Myrtle and Valentino

Myrtle is the first Carney I made and, therefore, she is the matriarch of the clan. I love her ... maybe it's because she was my first born. :) The arrogant Valentino sits next to her. Since they're seated, you can't really see the cool boots they're wearing but trust me, they are pretty darned cool. Enjoy!!

Carney Bios

I made up some tags for this series of dolls but I wanted to make something a little different... something other than paper, so what did I opt for? Well...fabric of course. I hand drew the doll faces on a petit piece of muslin, hand wrote their bios on the back and topped it off with a fine satin ribbon to go around their necks. The blue photo shows a handmade, muslin label sewn to the backside of each doll...just so you won't forget its name. :)

Welcome to Carneyville

The story on the Carneys is this: I'm a big recycler ... love turning things that don't work anymore into things that do work. That's where the name came from - the fact that they were reincarnations of fabrics that were once something else. They were not inspired by circus or carnival folks... although some of them do look like circus freaks. There are currently 6 Carneys in the series and all are one of a kind made freehand, not from patterns. The two shown here are Gumbo on the left and Gingko on the right. You may recognize these two from the sketches below - Gumbo sketch posted 6/11 and Gingko sketch posted on 6/23. Enjoy!

A Carney Debut

Finally. . . Finally I have pictures of the Carney's and finally I bought a digital camera. This is the longest I've gone without posting but I've been making stuff like crazy and I've been procrastinating using the camera since I got it a few days ago because poorly written directions and figuring out how to use new technology are not my favorite things but I've been at it for hours now (it's now 10:27pm) and have had some snags along the way but I'm happy to have figured it out, so here they are making their debut...The Carneys.