the smell of clean laundry

*cough*sniff*cough*cough*

thats what our thanksgiving sounded like for the most part. ran has the nasty flu. & i am trying as hard as i can to not get it. lots of orange juice & zicam.

all in all, it was a pretty good day. 

good food. mmmm... & i got everything for our meal- turkey, yams, cranberry sauce, pie,etc. for under $20! 

watched lots of movies...

i have mixed emotions about this movie. i did like it, but there were so many sad parts. i felt like i got too emotional considering i was watching a disney movie.

lots of sleeping. lots. we set up the air mattress in the living room & thats were we spent most the day.

we also discovered hulu...

i had watched a few things of this before, but never realized just how many different things there are to watch... movies, documentaries, & tv shows. i love it. they even have the biggest loser on there! how wonderful is that?  

happy thanksgiving...

this year i feel like have more than my fair share of things to be thankful for. and thats a wonderful feeling.

 

woodgrain stitches

... impromptu woodgrain embroidery on felt.

  

pirate stitchery

so remember a few posts ago when i was saying how i had discovered embroidery & i am totally in love with it & i promised to share some with you soon & gave you a few words to keep you wondering..."woodgrain, pirate, & band-aide." remember all that? 

well here is the pirate part of that...

 

skull & crossbones on a vintage book page with a lil' poem about black beard. i love it. i started another one on vintage book paper that im really excited to get finished. it really is a fun thing to embroider on... just don't pull too hard.

p.s. more exciting news to come soon!

exciting news (part one)

some of ran's work is published in the december issue of ceramics monthly. a few times a year the magazine does a feature they call the mfa factor, where they focus on a selected university's ceramic mfa program. in december they are featuring syracuse university. how exciting! we still have not seen it. we went to barnes & noble today but they didn't have any. so maybe it hasn't quite hit the shelves yet? we will let you know when we have a sighting...

show opening

the show at xl properties opened on thursday evening. i think it went over really well. there was an amazing turn out & everyone had a great time. ran's parents were here & were able to attend as well. the overall theme of the show was interaction...

* p.s. do you see that girl in a few of the pictures with the shoe purse? thats my really good friend amber. don't you just love her shoe purse? its from ireland.

it is finished.

& set up at its new home for the next month. the xl projects gallery in downtown syracuse.

this is how we spent our saturday. setting up the piece.

 

touching up little things like paint.

wiping the piece down.

and all of that good stuff.

and...

for the first time ever, we were able to see it in its entirety. 

i promise

that someday very soon i will become a daily blogger. someday in the near future when helping to build a giant altar piece is not on my nightly agenda. it is sooo close to being finished. its all painted. the lighting is all installed. ran is working on building a frame tonight. then we have to paint that. we have to frame a bunch of pictures. the pictures are printed & the frames are purchase. just have to put them together. then we have to hang said frames. clean off the ceramic pieces. & move it all somehow (sadly this a job too big for the civic) downtown to the gallery where it will be set up. really, thats all that left on the list. it was a much bigger list 3 days ago. much much much bigger.

spending so much time at the studio has not too bad though. i packed a lil' craft suitcase when i saw that staying late was going to be a nightly thing so that i would have projects to work on & i have managed to get a number of things done. all of which i am super excited to share...

i finished a new linoblock. i can't wait until i have time to print it. i have soooo many ideas running through my head for this lil' diddy. (in case you can't tell from the awesome computer taken photo, its a matryoshka doll. which, by the way, dod you know you can buy blank matryoshka dolls so that you can decorate them yourself? brilliant!) i also managed to complete & finish 3 embroidery projects. did i tell you i started embroidering? im in love. i believe i have found the perfect stitching related craft for me. i hate patterns (& recipes cause its pretty much like a pattern) so im not the best with sewing big projects like quilts or clothes. especially because i am not good enough at sewing to make up my own pattern. but with embroidery you don't need any complicated pattern. just an image that you either draw on yourself or trace onto the fabric. or you can just go for it. its pretty much wonderful. & another cool thing is you can embroider on so many things, not just fabric. 

so just to keep you wondering... 

wood grain, pirate,  band-aid.

no such luck

so i went to the thrift store this morning & the pyrex was gone. i figured it would be. now i made it a rule to just buy it when i see it. then i won't have any crazy dreams about it, get all excited, & run back to store only to be disappointed that it is gone. 

i did have a pretty good trip to the thrift store, despite no pyrex. i found a couple books, some vintage fabric, a shirt, & some beautiful green jars.

i think its going to be an obsession

remember a couple weeks back when i scored these beauties at the thrift store? vintage pyrex. they really are lovely & i really had no idea what i was getting myself into just by purchasing them. i had no idea that there are so many different designs & so many different items... bowls, casserole dishes, slat & pepper shakers, butter dishes, plates, cups, etc. 

i went to the thrift store yesterday & found another pyrex casserole dish with lid, but didn't buy it. the design wasn't my favorite. then i thought about it all day yesterday & even dreamt  about it. im going to have to go back tomorrow morning & see if it is still there. 

until then, check out these lovelies...

 

photo found here. an amazing & inspiring blog that you all should check out. & on a side note i have a super fancy gold frame that i now want to spray paint white.

i found these pictures here. apparently there is a lil' pyrex museum in bremerton, wa. why couldn't i have discovered this when i lived in washington?