One Person's Plan....

There has been a conversation on the Vintage Cloth Dollmaking list about making shoulderheads. I mentioned that I had a way to make shoulderheads I discovered my accident, and Mary N. said that my accident was her plan. ;-) Isn't that funny? Another discussion with Mary was about fabric choices and we were getting practically giddy. I said, "Isn't it great that we can get excited about fabric and twine?" It really is true. It's the simple things that really bring joy in life.

Above is one of my experiments. I lost the head (yes indeed, I lost my head) to one of the smaller dolls I was working on so am beginning again on a companion for the larger doll at the top of this post. Experimenting is fun!

Squirrel Taking Over My Sewing Room?

I was talking with a photographer friend and said, "I need to go down and see what's been going on in my creativity zone." As if anything would be happening if I weren't doing something. But when I went down to my sewing room and saw all kinds of my old drawings had fallen off a tall bookshelf onto my sewing table I thought something was up. My sewing room does not look like this right now. It's an old picture. Anyway, when I looked on the floor I saw a small acorn on the ground which had been cracked. Do you think we have a friendly squirrel there? Yikes. OTOH, maybe the squirrel will be more productive than I have lately. It needs a visit from Clean Sweep. But when it's cleaned up it's a very nice place to create on a cold winter day. :-)

Collecting Satisfactions

A long time ago I read about "collecting satisfactions" on Katie Estvold's blog. She found the original post at Charming the Birds from the Trees. I originally wrote about collecting satisfactions here. This week several things have happened that are worth being thankful for here.

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When we went to get the H1N1 vaccine for our children at the local civic center, it was a thing of joy (and I thought I heard angels singing) to see OUR pediatrician walking across the civic center to give our boys their shots. This is especially meaningful when you have a child with autism, and getting your child a shot is akin to an Olympic Event. The fact that someone who knew him was giving him the shot made it do-able. He did great. This was only possible because Dr. Carmack, GOD BLESS HER, was volunteering on her DAY OFF. My husband described it well "divine intervention and human grace".

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This week someone who is in the Izannah Walker Dolls group pointed out that the Izannah Walker Chronicles was mentioned in the November/December 2009 edition of Yankee Magazine. It was so fun to be able to see a passion of mine - researching and writing about Izannah Walker Dolls - mentioned in a magazine as a resource for those who want to know about Izannah Walker.

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The contractors are done and pulled out of my driveway. Yay! They have to come back in 3 weeks and install shutters and that's it! Yay again! I love the red. Yay again!

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I discovered Greek Yogurt at the grocery store. YES. I love that stuff. It's higher in protein and gives me a little boost in mid-morning and afternoon when I need it.

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I made soup this week. Making soup is one of my favorite things. Partly because it gets better every time you reheat it.

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The fundraising efforts for the 5th grade Boston Trip are coming along. There are lots of parents involved, which makes for light work. I like that!

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I saw a friend's photography last night at a group show. It was fun to see artists displaying their work and having fun. But it is mostly fun to see my friend, a forty-something year old mom, going back to school to study photography. I am encouraged by her reaching toward her goals.

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When someone asked about my artwork last night I was able to pull out a business card. And that was primarily because of my friend the photographer urging me to make them.