maybe she’s not so sure about that?

{onesie and “clown pants” (as dubbed by Daddy) both from the lovely Sarah G. — The onesie was made by the fine folks at craftster.org and found at the Boston Bazaar Bizarre (which just so happens to be having a SUMMER show this year, on August 21st. Sure to be totally awesome.)}

I don’t have a lot of time, so I’ll keep it short and sweet. A list will do!

1. turns out I love being a mama. YAY! (not that I doubted that I would, but I’m pretty glad that I do.)

2. a tree fell in our backyard 2 nights ago. crazy, right?

3. my aunt moved her shop to an amazing new space! It’s called Ikonium Studio and it’s at 69 Church Street in Lenox, MA — Go visit! There you will find contemporary and traditional Turkish and American fiber art and craft, amazing Turkish rugs, as well as some fantastic paintings and a few things made by other crafty folks and yours truly.

4. I’m doing a show in 2  weeks! I haven’t really gotten back to work yet (still resisting, enjoying “maternity leave”!) but I have to. Today. The show is sponsored by BerkshireMade; Handmade in the Park, downtown Lee, MA, Saturday August 7, 10am – 4pm.

5. tomatoes! summer! swimming!

6. I am told our miss Natalie is very “advanced” — large for her age (10 weeks!), but also strong, smiley from day one and super talkative for weeks now. Also sleeping a lot, but I wont get into that, for fear of being stoned by other sleep-deprived mamas.

7. did I mention summer? With that comes weddings (that we have missed, boo!) and visits from friends and family, barbecues, birthdays of some of my favorite people, craft fairs (I’m only doing one, but you better be visiting lots!), farmer’s markets, tag sales (no, haven’t been to any, but we will), vacations (maybe next year?), and the Berkshire Fringe (starts next week!)!

Yay, Summer!

It’s this weekend! It’s going to be AWESOME. I can’t wait to see/meet you there! yippee! (I’m table #84! Near the Theramin!)

my cup runneth over. for reals.

We had Thanksgiving dinner at my parents’ with 20 family members and friends, followed by some visiting with John’s family.

Then a second round on Friday with a gang of friends at our house for our “Annual Day-After Thanksgiving Leftover Feast”. Yum! Just writing about it makes me want more mashed potatoes… seriously.

A few things I am grateful for this year:

• my family
• my wonderful husband
• our growing baby bean (almost 5 months!)
• our dry basement
• craft fairs, loyal customers and awesome fellow crafters
• art, craft and doing-it-yourself
• furry friends
• my tribe of fantastic human friends
• mashed potatoes (can you tell I’ve gotten my appetite back?)

I was at Twist this weekend! I did not take any photos!

It was wonderful, though, and I had lots of fun chatting with customers and friends and my fearless helpers and fellow vendors (why are you all so wonderful and fun to be with?!) — and thankfully some of them captured the day in pictures. You can see a few nice shots on fellow vendor Maeg’s blog, including a photo wherein I appear to be as humongous as the Sasquatch on her t-shirt, but that’s ok — there’s a baby in there (Did you hear?)! I was so grateful to be able to spend the night with my lovely friends, too, so I didn’t have to drive back and forth Friday night/Saturday morning. They showed me the sights in Florence and Leeds; I’m definitley going to have to go back for some swimming this summer!

So yesterday I spent the day lounging and doing not much of anything, in an attempt to recuperate and get some energy back. John and I had a lovely and gluttonous brunch at the Dakota restaurant, followed by movies and tv-on-the-internet and a leasurly stroll or two around the neighborhood. One of those was at sunset and the sky was so darn pink, it was quite amazing! And again, I didn’t take any pictures. I’ll try next time, I really will.

I am so thankful that I sold almost all of my new holiday ornaments (little stuffed birdies!), but now I need to get back into making-mode for Mass MoCA this weekend! My back is still bothering me, though, and I’m trying not to aggravate it and make it worse. I am going to attempt some gentle yoga today; I really need to get back into that. And apparently back into taking photos for you, too. Like I said, I’ll try!

I was putting that little button over there on the right sidebar for Twist (next weekend!), and every time I checked the site to see how it looked, I just couldn’t look at that photo of myself anymore. So you are treated to TWO posts in a ROW. hahah. This image above is a little collage I made of some of my work from this year. I have been a busy bee, haven’t I? There’s nothing like collecting the images all in one place to see what you’ve really been up to! More images on my Flickr stream, here.

(That’s almost 4 months, for those of you who prefer your dates in monthly form.)

I may have started this pregnancy journey with a bit of a belly, but not quite like this! I have also been losing weight (?), but the belly continues to grow, so… it’s a baby bump for sure. The little one is supposedly the size of a navel orange these days, but of course quickly growing. At times I feel so amazed and overwhelmed by the miraculousness of it all, and at others it feels so normal already, so much a part of my life and my every day. {And of course a part of the grand scheme of the world and one of the most natural things that can happen.} I love it! (what I don’t love is the constant I-need-to-lie-down-right-NOW tiredness, ridiculous hunger followed by three bites of food and total fullness, and the most recent development of gagging reflexes kicking in during things like brushing my teeth. Yeah, those aren’t so fun.)

I’m still having some trouble mustering the energy to do much lately besides growing a human, but I’m trying! I did a little bit of sewing yesterday and it was really nice. I am also going to do some goccoing of holiday cards soon. If you are interested in a custom holiday card design, please contact me ASAP, as my holiday-making schedule is filling up fast! See the Events page for a complete list of where I’ll be selling the crafty goods in person, and you can also now find the 2010 Birdie Calendar and some cards in the Twist pop-up store in Thornes Marketplace in Northampton, MA! Yippee!

There was a really nice article about BerkshireMade in our local Berkshire Eagle newspaper yesterday. If you missed it in print (in the Berkshires Week insert) you can read it here. {The link will only work for a few days, though, before it’s archived, so head on over and read-it-up now!}

We had a nice time as a group at Pittsfield’s Third Thursday last night. There was some really awesome music being played down the street, which made for lovely ambiance. I was also able to pick up my completed order from Pasko Frame & Gift, a custom frame for a “Bound on Earth” print (photos soon) from the incomperable Lizzy House, my printmaking and pattern design teacher at Squam Art Workshops. Sarah and I each snatched one up from her buzzing table at last June’s Art Fair at Squam. I’m so glad to have it ready to hang up! {I’m also a little sad, because the Sept. session of Squam is in full swing this week and I’m not there. I’m really not sure what I was thinking, not signing up? I’m sure everyone’s having a magical time, though, and I wish them all lots of happy campfires and loon calls!}

How cute is he? This lovely man helped me sooo much this weekend at SoWa, I can’t thank him enough. (yes, my lovely hubby John)

We had a great day, rockin’ the crafty goodness with a big group of BerkshireMade‘ers, and some amazing weather.

Now, it seems it is time to get busy crafting holiday cards and such… mostly beacause I just found out I’ll be part of Bazaar Bizarre in Boston this December, which is so super exciting and so super nerve-wracking! It’s by far the largest show I’ve ever been part of, so it’s a little daunting just thinking of how much I should bring with me. Better get busy!

“A Vision of Squam” art show at Artstream Gallery on North Main Street in Rochester, NH is opening today! (Friday the 11th from 5-7pm)

I’m so excited to be part of this show, full of wonderful artworks inspired by the Squam Art Workshops in Holderness, NH last fall. I’m so honored to have my work hanging in the company of such talented artists. I so wish I could see the show in person, and have thoughts of ’stopping by’ on my way to Boston this weekend, but it might just be too far out of the way.  If you are in the area (i.e. on your way to Squam Art Workshops next week?!) go visit! Artstream is such a gorgeous space, owner Susan Schwake is such a lovely curator (and talented artist!), and Rochester is an adorable little town. The show is up through September 30th, and was conceived by the amazing Liz Kalloch. swoon.

In other news — if you’re in Boston this weekend, don’t forget to visit me and the rest of BerkshireMade at the SoWa/South End Open Market; Sunday September 13, 10am to 4pm. We’d love to see you there!