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June 21, 2008

distracted

Writing on the weblog is like e-mail correspondence, like exercising, like showering, like writing a paper: if you put it off it's harder to make yourself do it and then suddenly you're hopelessly behind and don't even know where to start. I have been busy and I have been doing nothing. Being at home is good. I'm trying to bring some sort of structure into my now mostly structureless life, with middling success thus far. I'm working on some exciting new things for the shop but can't seem to bring any of them to completion. I printed up a bunch of fabric this week though, so that's a start. And I have some lovely vintage aprons I'll be putting up in the shop on Monday to tide me over until I get some work done. And I promise, really truly promise, that on Monday I will have a new wee baby sock pattern for y'all, hastily scrawled down this morning off an existing pair of socks that will go home with the mama-to-be this afternoon.

Today we're heading up to beautiful Exeter, Ontario for a picnic in the park to celebrate the 40th anniversary of my family's arrival in Canada. Last night I baked scones for the first time in my life. With raisins, just like the ones we had when I was a kid (my very English grandma called them "flies", trying to get us to believe that's what was in there).

And finally, thank you all for the red hot love on my new tattoo post. Sorry I didn't reply to anyone but now that my comments are being moderated they're not showing up in my e-mail anymore. That'll be fixed soon, but not just yet. Anyway, I'm glad you all love the map; I'm pretty happy with it myself. It wasn't an original idea, though: I caught a glimpse of a shoulder tattoo of the Great Lakes, in silhouette, once in a photo of Joni from The Whoreshoes and it's nagged at me ever since, the only time I've even seen a tattoo on someone else that I would want for my own. When the time came to journey home and I wanted a way to commemorate that, it was the perfect time. I'm still not sure what, if anything, I'll add, but for now I'm happy with it the way it is.

Posted by jodi at 07:28 AM | Comments (2) | categories:  self-absorbtion

June 08, 2008

welcome home

Marta at Addictive Tattooing and Piercing did this for me.

Yes, my tank top is on inside out (deal with it). Also, don't worry, I'm going to ask her to use a different kind of tape to stick the bandages on next time. Clearly my skin doesn't like the tape too much.

Posted by jodi at 09:50 PM | Comments (26) | categories:  self-absorbtion : true patriot love

June 07, 2008

dear shoulder blades,

I'm buying you a present today! Hope you like it. I'll try not to let it cover up that sweet little constellation of freckles I never knew you had until just now.

love,
me

Posted by jodi at 09:13 AM | Comments (3) | categories:  self-absorbtion

June 02, 2008

upward

Peter and I spent the weekend completely rearranging the furniture in three of the four rooms on the main floor of our house (all but the kitchen, which doesn't really have furniture) in order to make the front room into my work space. The living room shifted around to accommodate some things from the dining room which in turn made way for the piano to vacate a space in the front room for my sewing table. It's been exciting and exhausting and the whole place is a mess, but we got rid of 80% of our books, our living room is charming and cozy and I have a space to sew and design and draw, with a big work table and lots of room. The dining room table is covered with piles of stuff we don't know what to do with, but as it's now warm enough to eat our meals on the porch, that's a small thing.

And this morning I brewed myself a big travel mug of tea, walked over to the Windsor Printmaker's Forum and set up all of my stuff in the little desk space I get with my studio rental, making it nice and homey (if y'all haven't noticed, homey and studio-ey are pretty much the same thing to me after all these years of working in my home/living in my studio):

I'm not quite ready to print yet, so I spent a few hours sitting at the desk polishing up a bunch of copper etching plates that I'd abandoned in progress over the last few years, allowing them to get grossly oxidized and covered in verdigris. But they're all shiny now and ready to be reworked.

While packing up my Athens studio to bring it all home I came across some rejected knit design sketches that, after not looking at them for a while and sort of forgetting what they look like, I still think are pretty cool. So I'm going to start working on a few of those in hopes of self publishing the patterns later on. I've also got a design in progress that I abandoned sometime last year that I'm going to try to finish up over the next month or so. In the midst of all this I need to somehow make some money (that first student loan repayment date creeps up fast) but I've certainly got a lot to keep me busy.

Sometime over the next couple of days I'll have a wee little pattern to share, just as soon as I get around to writing down what I did. It's a present for somebody that I haven't put in the mail yet, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't read this, so it'll be safe to show. Stay tuned!

Posted by jodi at 01:57 PM | Comments (3) | categories:  in the studio