i'm done





(at least for a few days. this is the last of the "2009 work". i have two major pieces that i'm going to start maybe next week, but they gonna take a while.)

tomorrow i pack up the studio. not sure where i'll be working this weekend, and then on. kitchen table? so long, studio.

tomorrow i also pack up most of the upstairs, and bits of downstairs.

moving used to be as easy as two big black garbage bags.
honestly it's still pretty much that easy, except for my pesky art collection and art studio. these things require a bit more attention. the majority of 'stuff' that has to go overseas has to do with 1) art making 2) art collecting 3) cooking. oh, to be a self-employed artist and housewife in switzerland.

tonight i spent 3.5 hours driving through a blizzard running an errand.
i say that's earned me a couple hours of beer, regretsy browsing, and sorting my back-issues of juxtapoz.

ETA: you might be interested to click here. ami'style

The Spotted Tootsie

rare and elusive.


when i peek under the bed at night, this is not what i want to see staring back at me.





(yes he has little pubic-area hairs. he's a wild monster.)

i'm particularly fond of the tail-spots.



off he goes.

eta:
you might be interested in clicking here

THINGS

i have a million emails/convos, i'll be answering them tomorrow. (ok i have a dozen. whatevs)

ALSO.

Luv-able Hug-able opens tomorrow night! GO! if you're in the NYC area. There are baba yaga shacks, strawberry birds, and other miscellaneous bastards there for you to see.

12-3-09 ETA: You can now shop the show online -->HERE<-- . I know my Etsy shop is tragically low on stock, so this might be a good place to run for a chicken shack or tiny teardrop or strawberry monster, if ya like.


Stuff This opens Saturday night! GO! if you're in the Columbus Ohio area. That is where the Baba Yaga plush sculpture is at. AND, I also have a special ornament showing and available there:

OH MAN that Radish God is pissed off for good. Watch out.


STUFFED winter 2010 is now available for pre-order. Comes out Jan 1, and I have a gaggle of bastards in there. And my name is on the cover, which makes me kinda feel like spiking a football and doing a little dance.


i'm also making another Tootsie Monster. and a new amigurumi (order) that i dont have photos of yet.

here's some sketches.




everything should be wrapped up friday/sat morning. donedonedone. then i will sleep. and go to renegade. have some beer. and pack the shit out of my house because the handyman is coming monday to fix um everything. then i will quilt and chill and do yoga and light the lights and bake cookies and re-the-fucking-lax.

c'mon, weekend.


PISSED OFF RADISH GOD!
i like him. he gave me a lot of problems but i think thats just because i hate radishes a lot and he probably resents that. but it's really the little red ones i dont like. i like the big ones. i love them pickled. MMMM, TAKUAN!! although this guy isn't quite a Daikon.

anyway.

Baba Yaga and Her Chicken Shacks

(where did you think chicken shacks come from?)



(she raises them in her garden)



(they frolic around the blue roses and valerian, and eat healthy amounts of bug legs and children's fingers)



(in the morning she puts on that old dusty coat and big black boots, and stomps into the chilly yard where they greet her, chirping, and chomping the tiny sharp teeth in their keyholes.)



(the world needs more baba yaga.)


I am very happy to tell you that:
This piece was made for the STUFF THIS show at the RIVET GALLERY in COLUMBUS OHIO
DECEMBER 5th - 30th
Opening reception is Saturday, December 5 from 7-10pm

Rivet
1200 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43201

more details and a bigger photo over at my Livejournal

Also.

This entry is going to be completely rambling and babbling, but it's Thanksgiving morning and i'm not cooking today and i've got some coffee and so there.

I've been thinking a lot about these guys lately:



Because of questions that i've gotten or things i'm working on recently. I keep turning around in my seat at my desk and glancing back at these two poor bastards.

They're Number One and Number Two: the first two creatures i sewed.
One year ago, i decided that in order to continue to express things i wanted to say, i had to branch out from crochet, and learn how to sew plush. I had no idea. The white-muslin guy was made first. If you look close, you can see he is in fact held together by packing tape in some places, because i couldn't figure out how the pieces would otherwise go together.
Then i figured i'd start smaller, and made Number Two, that demented little bird. There were a lot of bird prototypes after him, but this little guy has a special spot in my heart as being the first.


He's so ugly. I adore him.
(This is, incidentally, why i don't sell patterns. I'm super interested in what happens and what creatures and art can be made when people don't use patterns and just sort of figure it out.)

So, one year later, this weekend, I'm working on this piece, for an art show in Columbus next month. It's complicated and worrisome and I'm still figuring things out. But I feel in 12 months I've come very far from these two poor misshapen bastards. I haven't slept much, I've burned through a lot of wool felt, and my fingers have awesome and deep 'needle calluses'. 2009 has been completely bad-ass.

I suppose where I am going with this is, when i think about thanksgiving, i'm cheesy, yes, and i am thankful for many things. and one of the things that i've never taken for granted, and am always thankful for is the fact that i have a thing i want to do, and i love to do, and i have the ability to just do do do do it.

dear internets.
happy thanksgiving. thank you.

weekend.

why yes,
now that you mention it
i am in fact having a

black-friday-weekend-sale

(limited, as mentioned in my last post. i can only do so much)


From Friday, November 27 - Monday, November 30, only:

-- Free Shipping on all items within the US.
-- Free Shipping internationally on any items -or- orders totaling over $50 USD
-- Select items on sale, such as all Baba Yaga Chicken Shacks, Strawberry Birds... etc.
-- Quantities are, again, limited. What's in the shop is all there is.

melissasue at etsy dot com

in the shop

i like these guys.

lots of work. good work though. i've re-assessed and re-thought a lot of things in the past couple days. i've got a few fantastic orders to finish up. i've got some Hello Critters about to be done. i've got a big stack of gifts getting ready to head all across the globe: washington, switzerland, vietnam, spain, ohio, chicago. there will be no holiday-shopping-keeping-up-with-Etsy-craze for me, i'll make some stock for my shop and when it's gone, that's it. i would much rather focus on what i am really good at and put on this earth for: creating things to make joe smile, cooking in a warm home, petting my dog, painting pictures, being with people.
most importantly at the moment though, i've got a few turkeys to cook, soup to make, and a long, long conversation to have with Baba Yaga.