Good morning

Good morning, originally uploaded by wildjinjer.

I look forward to this moment in the morning: Amelia's eyes flutter open, she arcs her body in a stretch, and then notices me watching her over the edge of her crib.

I'm trying to create a collection of special moments in my sketchbook. I'm thinking I'm going to slowly work them into a storybook mixing drawings and applique. Grandma (Bobo) Martin is a book artist, so I'd like to collaborate with her on a special original edition for Amelia.

Big plans, but who know what will really happen.

Bundy's new hat

Bundy's new hat, originally uploaded by wildjinjer.

Every summer for the last 3 summers, I've taught a hat class for CCA's summer program for middle-schoolers, YASP. I teach them how to make hand-felted hats. This little sample has a separate brim sewn to the crown. The felt is decorated with different blue wools and yarns.

Bundy has a new hat

Bundy has a new hat, originally uploaded by wildjinjer.

Now if only it weren't impossible to get her to sit still!

This is a hand-felted wool hat. The bottom of the brim has a layer of silk chiffon felted into it, mostly just to see what it would look like (not terribly different than without).

It fits her a little too tightly now, so I have to look around for some object to re-block it with.

Bad, Bad Blogger

Illustration Friday: Discovery, originally uploaded by wildjinjer.

Okay, I've broken the blogger rule of "post at least once a week."
I'm a bad blogger. I suppose the worse sin is not taking myself seriously enough to do anything at all to get my blog viewed, so it's pretty much a ghost town around here. I suppose I'm waiting until I have a big archive of interesting posts and some momentum...

Meanwhile, here's a little sketch I did of Amelia a while ago. She's really sketch-able. I'm working on a project that may or may not actually happen --a little book (in collaboration with my mother-in-law who does book arts) of Bundy Portraits. She loves looking at faces now, so I hope she likes it.

sketching trip

What I see, looking Down, originally uploaded by wildjinjer.

I was feeling kinda blue today, so I took a walk with Amelia to cheer me up.

We stopped at a little neighborhood parklet, and I sketched things while she slept. Soon enough, she woke up, and was very keen to examine her surroundings. It was such a lovely excursion, I'm thinking of trying to get out and sketch a little every day. I have such a hard time building good habits like that, but I'll give it a go...

Here's a little sketch of Amelia in her front pack. It's sort of deceptive, because I couldn't actually see everything in this sketch all at once--I had to look from side to side, squashing my chin and craning my neck.

Amelia in a Blue Dress

Amelia in a Blue Dress, originally uploaded by wildjinjer.

whew!
The last week and a half has been super busy! I'm making a wedding dress (I'm a collaborative clothier in addition to a new mom), so I had time to throw this pic up on Flickr, but never added it to my blog.

Anyway, I designed and made this little dress for her while procrastinating about the wedding dress (which is going really well, despite procrastination). The little flower is in the style of some accessories I occasionally make for sale.

Bundy looks so pretty in Blue!

..Oh yeah, her nickname has become "Bundy." The original derivation is long and silly, but you can think of it as short for "Bundle of Joy," which she certainly is.

Balding Beauty

Balding Beauty, originally uploaded by wildjinjer.

Another shot of Amelia in her new blue dress. This is before washing; the flower is now charmingly crumpled.