Sunday, November 29, 2009

THANKSGIVING: APRONS AND SCRABBLE

Well folks, hope everyone had a lovely and feasting Thanksgiving day. I know I did. My sister and I went to my famous Aunt Sally's house in Connecticut, where all her huband's Harry's children and THEIR children were all carousing and having a friendly noisy party, the way a good party should be.

I brought a lot of my aprons, and when I felt the time was right, I asked the ladies to model them for me. It had gone so well last time - please see Gorgeous Georgina - I wanted to do it again. My cousin-in-law Christina was very happy to oblige:




George was happy to oblige too. What a guy!




And then everyone wanted to get in on the act:





Don't they look nice? Thank you Candace, Darol and Christina!!!!













The kids played on the sofa:





And even let the grown-ups play:




Harry carved the turkey, Blythe brought her delicious butternut squash soup, we had all the fixings, and dinner stretched out for a couple of hours.






Harry's favorite part of dinner is the blueberry pie:





After dinner the kids wanted to play scrabble! Who knew they were so literate and liked word games? My sister Nora is the family champion, so we formed two teams against her. Seth and I were the 1st team and Hannah and her father George formed the 2nd team, but soon eveybody was standing around giving advise and challenging words.




About 1 hour into the game:




James and Scott played rock 'n roll, the scrabble players danced in their chairs, Seth forgot tokeep score until we reminded him, and Nora won, of course. And a great time was had by all!

Saturday, November 28, 2009

CHANGE OF SEASON

It's that time of year again when I start singing "All the leaves are brown, and the sky is gray". Farewell summer, we hardly knew ye! And now we're into the holiday season again. My famous Aunt Sally called me today to ask me my size, said she was shopping and wanted to know if a size 12 would fit.Why yes it would and thank you very much I said. I'm at home updating my pictures on my store. Guess looking at picnic spreads won't do now, so I took new pictures outdoors in the cold November weather. It was done raining, but the wind was still blowing. I used Sally's ceramic birds to hold down the corners against the backdrop of tall trees with no leaves, and the swimming pool shuttered and covered. The only green was the pachysandra. Here are new pictures of my tablecloths, taken in Sally's backyard:



This is a Laura Ashley toile in green and yellow. I have this toile in several colors and use it in different ways. I have two different toiles to border the central rural scene.






This is a lovely soft blue/green bird's nest and floral toile that was just so pretty. I'm trying to incorporate the ceramic bird into the nest in this photo. You can find this at http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=24585775. Please click and copy this into your web address bar to go straight to this tablecloth.






Here is the Laura Ashley toile again, this time in green. Go to http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=26602729 for more information. Please click and copy this into your web address bar to go straight to this tablecloth.









Laura Ashley again, in black with the vine border. It is currently in a treasury on etsy http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=77221 with other "etsyfreeshippping" items. I just LOVE being included in a treasury. Thank you Meg of ME2Designs! Please click and copy this into your web address bar to go straight to this tablecloth.
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=32434109

I am offering 10% off anything and everything in my store until Jan 1, and free shipping on selected items, including all the tablecloths and aprons. Thank you very much for browsing in my store, and for any purchase you make.

And remeber our battle cry this season: BUY HANDMADE FOR CHRISTMAS!

Saturday, November 21, 2009

CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT




I am inviting everyone to Ridgefield CT for a holiday show starring my aunt Sally Aldrich, cousin-in-law Christina Stankard, friend Ferne Kawahara, and MOI, me, Nancy Tuttle.

Holiday show of fine jewelry, pottery, sculpture, watercolors and fabric designs for the home on Suncday Dec 6 2009 from noon to 6pm.

Address: 135 Peaceable Ridge Rd Ridgefield CT
Phone: 203-431-9954 for directions/details

Hope you can come! Looking forward to meeting you all!!

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Henry Beard

I was looking at my blog today and decided it was high-time I removed the picture of me at the beach - oh how short was summer! - and replaced it with Kitten on a Keyboard, with an excerpt from one of my favorite poets, Henry Beard. Mr. Beard is an amazingly inventive poet who takes famous poets' poems and re-writes them as that poet's cat. The excerpt caption of Kitten on a Keyboard is a play upon Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" from "Leaves of Grass", called "Meow of Myself" from "Leaves of Catnip" included in his book "Poetry for Cats". I know, I told you he was clever. I love this little book and highly recommend it to any English major, cat lover, or poetry reader, or anyone who vaguely remembers reading poetry in school and not getting it.

Here's a take on Carl Sandberg's "Fog":

Thunderstorm by Carl Sandberg's Cat

The storm comes in
on big human feet.

It goes stomping
across harbor and city
in clumsy hipboots
and then plods on.

I considered this one for Kitten on a Keyboard, but the quote was too long:

The Love Song J. Morris Housecat
by T. S. Eliot's Cat

Let us roam then, you and I,
When the evening is splayed out across the sky
Like a kitten neutered on a laboratory slab;
Let us stray on paths through neighbor's yards
Behind the boulevards
Where raccoons scuttle in the refuse bins
Scattering cellophane and potato skins;
Paths that follow like a nagging accusation
Of a minor violation
To lead you to the ultimate reproof...
Oh do not say "Bad kitty!"
Let us go and prowl the city.





But my favorite is Shakespeare's cat's soliloquy:

Hamlet's Cat's Soliloquy from Hamlet's Cat
by Wm. Shakespeare's Cat:

To go outside, and there perchance to stay
Or to remain within: that is the question:
Whether 'tis better for a cat to suffer
The cuffs and buffets of inclement weather
That Nature rains on those who roam abroad,
Or take a nap upon a scrap of carpet,
And so by dozing melt the solid hours
That clog the clock's bright gears with sullen time
And stall the dinner bell. To sit, to stare
Outdoors, and by a stare seem to state
A wish to venture forth without delay,
Then when the portal's opened up, to stand
As if transfixed by doubt. To prowl; to sleep;
To choose not knowing when we may once more
Our readmittance gain: aye, there's the hairball...

And it goes on for the whole length of the poem, with the famous line "Thus caution doth make housecats of us all", and the ever profound humanity of

And since our choices hinge on weighty things
We pause upon the threshold of decision.

I love this man. I hope you are laughing as you read this, and want to purchase his book, too.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

GORGEOUS GEORGINA

This is a family blog about a party my aunt had for a long-lost cousin from England who has been living in Florida with her mother for several years now, whom we only occassionally saw. Georgina and I share common great-grandparents - her grandfather and my grandfather were brothers, which makes us 2nd cousins. At the party there were children of her 2nd cousins, and I'm not sure if they are 3rd cousins or 2nd cousins once removed - all very confusing, but I said we were all kissing cousins, and that made everyone happy.

My Aunt Sally threw a terrific party at her house in Connecticut. There was food, wine, champagne, laughter and well-behaved children. Georgina is gorgeous, and modeled one of my new aprons:



...and so I call her Gorgeous Georgina! So long, so tall, beautiful strawberry blonde hair, nice smile, really great gal.

Aunt Sally modeled my other apron...



She is Queen of the Kitchen in her stylish bistro apron! My cousin Katy bought both of them! Hooray!




Rock on Katy!

My cousin Gillian and her husband Pete and their two children came, too. They are a lovely family, coping with jobs, a new house, a new car, and two small children. We always have a lot of fun when we're together. (By the way, those are all my pillows on the sofa behind everyone.)





That's little Miles upside-down! And Alio is eating cookies after Daddy said it was OK. Here is baby Miles by himself - big blue eyes...you know all the ladies adore him...




Here are the ladies - cousins and my Aunt Sally...




Harry carved the turkey and we partied on like troopers. There's always a ton of food - ham and turkey, asparagus with hollandiase, sweet potatoes, gravy and stuffing, with apple pie for dessert.



Ellory and Alio are cousins, too, but that's another 2nd cousins? 3rd cousins? question which I can't answer (but my brother can - he researched all this once upon a time) but they are buddies. In this picture Alio has just been told she can only have 2 cookies, and she is saying "Daadddyyy!"


















Sally is a ceramicist. This is her studio where she throws 10lb blocks of clay around on her wheel and makes beautiful bowls and sculptures. She also does watercolors, and exhibits in various galleries and in shows. Click on these pictures and you can really see her work.
Ellory and Alio played with Sally's clay. They made fruit and a bowl to put them in - that's a watermelon, not a potato:







Speaking of cats, here is Sasha. He's a big guy, 20lbs of solid muscle except for that fat waddle under his stomach. He is a fierce hunter, a terror to all the small furry beasts of the woodland.




That's a big frog Sally made. Sasha likes to lay himself around it and paw it for anything that moves.


Here are the boys of the party - my cousin Scott, Pete and Miles:





Towards the end of the party baby Miles became sleepy in Daddy's arms.




And now it's time to leave. Little Miles models my red hat. A little young for the Red Hat Society, and perhaps not the politically correct gender, but he's cute in it:



Bye Bye! Bye Bye! Bye Bye!

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

My Most Successful Success

I am writing this for the etsy bloggers carnival, and must really consider what I would call success on etsy at this time. I have 8 sales since March 2009 when I joined, so it is hard to get excited about that. Actually, I think my best etsy success is my blog. I am proud of myself for figuring out the technical details. I am not of the X generation and am not especially computer literate. Blogging was a real learning experience for me, and dealing with a digital camera, new programs, uploading, saving, putting pictures into my blog, all that cha-cha-cha. I still haven't figured out how to put OTHER people's pictures in my blog, so my blog is still a work in progress.

I can say though that through my etsy store I was invited to a Women's Expo on Long Island, which is now leading to other opportunites to sell my goods. My best sales event was the Expo, which I blogged about (please scroll down to "Nancy's Been to the Fair"). I think the Expo was far more successful than any etsy sale I have made because people were able to see my goods in person, to pick them up and feel the texture, the hand, and appreciate the piece live, and not just through pictures. I am slowly building a following through this blog and the Promotion Forum. I encourage and promote other etsians on this blog, in my store, and on the forum, and they are kind enough to do the same for me, for which I am grateful.

I am a single woman, I live alone and am currently unemployed, so I cannot give you any hints on how to juggle etsy, your job and your family, except to say, "Stay organized, make lists, and keep cool." "Yeah yeah, thanks a lot for the advise" I can hear you all saying. Well, that's how I cope when faced with many challenges. Of course, I'm naturally organized and making lists is part of that process. It's the staying cool part that can be hard. That could be me you see running screaming naked down the street in the middle of the night sometimes, but not so much anymore. With the help of much therapy, I am finally an adult at 58 years of age. My parents are SOOOOO glad. (Sigh - it's not easy being me.)

Anyway, that's my etsy bloggers carnival contribution for the 1st half of November. Thank you all for reading, thank you all for browsing my store, and please contact me if I can help you in any way.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

I'M A FEATURED ARTIST

HI everyone! This is a mini-blog to let you know I am the featured artist on kellycrochet's blog at http://kellycrochets.blogspot.com. Please copy this link and paste it into the website address doodad. Forgive me being so technical (hahaha). I appreciate everyone reading and leaving comments, and thank you very much!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Christmas Show in Connecticut

Hello everyone out there in blogland! My lovely Aunt Sally, a ceramicist for many years, has a Christmas sale/show in her house in Connecticut every year with my cousin-in-law Christina Stankard Aldrich, a jeweler with her own following. This year they invited me to participate! Hooray for me! So I am inviting you all to join us at 135 Peacable Ridge Rd in Ridgefield CT 06877 on Dec 6 from noon to 4-5pm. Sally has a website http://www.sallyaldrichart.com where you can see her art - both pottery and watercolors, and please browse my store to see what I will be offering. This is a chance to meet me and see my goods live and in person. You know, it's one thing to look at pictures, it's quite another to pick the item up and feel the texture, and how your hand accepts the piece. Also, things can look different in person than in a photo, no matter how good the lighting etc.

I look forward to meeting you there! Have a lovely day and God bless us everyone!

Monday, November 2, 2009

New England Quilter

This is a blog about a fellow etsian New England Quilter at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5325154. She makes adorable cloth items, mostly for children, but I did just heart her. You can see her 12 Days of Christmas ornaments on my sidebar Favorite Things, which will link you directly to her shop. Have fun!