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Just a little bit of love…

Hello, my dearies! I hope the new year is treating you all okay, and that you’re staying healthy and safe. I know this winter’s been hard that way. Personally it’s been extra hard having that horrible, existential dread come creeping in with the soaring Covid numbers. My household has been lucky so far, and we’ve been doing all the needful stuff, and I’m hopeful it’ll be enough to keep us going. Meanwhile, I keep distracting myself with new little projects and larger commissions, and this spring I hope to try some new things too.

(Like a handful of tiny, tiny dragons…)

I still feel incredibly lucky that this is my life for a while, and I cherish every day that I get to spend time bringing some new thing to life. I’ll have long, convoluted dreams about my old workplace; dreams that are unsettling. And then I wake up, have coffee with my sweet fella and then get to work trying out some new bit of whimsy. I’m just really glad you’re all here to appreciate the whimsy with me, too.

Be good to yourselves; you’re totally worth the effort;

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Busy in a good way…

Hello, my dears! I know, it’s been a bit since I’ve posted on my blog here. My only excuse is that this season I’ve been absolutely slammed with projects of all kinds, and I’ve been gleefully stitching since the end of October. Now that the holidays are here, I can finally slow down enough to catch up on a few things. And breathe. And get in a big cup of cocoa…

And I have to say, I have you all to thank for my extra busy state. And I do mean, thank. It’s been so wonderful, stitching up every odd little thing I could think of to make, and have you all giving me a big thumb’s up. It makes me more courageous about experimenting, with trying new textures and techniques to bring out something new and amusing. You fine people are the best little enablers I could ever ask for. And with that enabling, it gives me some fun ideas for the new year.

Alas, all this busyness means I’m behind in offering the Mystery Boxes I wanted to do for the holidays. I was just so slammed with commissions, there was just no time to really finish the ones I was working on. I want them to be a little bit “extra” if that makes sense, and soon I’ll have a little time to give them the attention they deserve. But good new things are coming your way!

And also, happiest of holidays to you all, and please be careful and stay safe and healthy. I have a huge amount of affection for you all…

Take care,

Mausi.

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Anniversary…

This week has a lot of anniversaries. Heartbreaking ones, good ones, strange ones. We’ve got a candle burning at my house today for September 11. And it’s also the first anniversary of my leaving my job at the museum and expanding my humble little business. i have to say, it’s been astounding how kind and supportive people have been about my work.  And I’m so happy to have gotten a chance to make a lot of it, as well as experimenting with lots of skills that were in deep storage all this time…things like beadwork, and sculpting, and combining it with embroidery and other fiber arts…

I have some really fun ideas for Halloween, because of course I do. I have been working on offering a couple of patterns in a pretty little kit for sale, in a fun little box. It’s humble, because it’s very much a new thing for me, and I’m excited to see how it all goes.  And I have a few larger pieces I’m planning on making, and there’s yarn to spin, and things to knit up. How would I have gotten all this done if I still had my day job? The one thing I’ve learned in spades from this experience is that when I’ve time, I’m a complete menace to my stash of art supplies. I’m just glad you’ve all come with me for this increasingly fun and weird journey!!

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A day in March…

It’s March. Again. Just like last year, except as different as it’s possible for anything to be…

Last March was a completely different world from the one I live in now. It was when all those whispered concerns about a new virus flowing through our communities became a fact; a fact you couldn’t ignore or get away from, no matter how hard some people tried.  We were all sizing up how disruptive this new situation was going to be, how dangerous Covid would be for us, and what we could do to protect ourselves. How bad could it be? It’ll just be a couple of weeks of weirdness, and then everything will be okay again, right? *Insert horrified laughter from the future right here.*

There were a lot of things I thought were possible, and I tried to plan for whatever came our way here at home. I stocked up on food, learned to stitch masks, washed everything I could think of washing. I stayed away from people as best I could. I figured if I was careful, I could keep plugging away at my job and stay as safe as I could until everything blew over and some kind of normality could come back.  But there were a few things that happened that weren’t on my 2020 Bingo card. Civil unrest and a bad family emergency changed my strategy drastically, and for about 6 months so far I’m…here, at home. It was just the safest thing I could do to help my small family unit get to better days.  I’m grateful I get the opportunity to do this, to be home and make whatever art I can and to help my husband regain his health. He’s recovering well, which makes me happy beyond belief, but there’s still a bit of a road to walk through still. As things get safer, then I can think about what comes next for us. It was and remains a strange feeling, not to haul myself up out of bed and hustle off to work, full of people and tasks and noise.

If it weren’t for the still-terrifying crisis we’re still in…this life is wonderful. I wake up early, have breakfast with Matt and start setting up in the corner of the dining room I’ve occupied most of the winter. It’s sunny there, with lots of plants, and it’s a soothing place to be when it’s cold and blustery outside. There’s embroideries to work on; commissions or just odd things out of my head, strange little cloth and thread experiments. There’s painting up in my “office”, and up in the guest room/studio I keep my acrylic painting projects. I take breaks when I need to, I make tea, I eat lunch, I go back to stabbing for spinning or knitting or saying, “Hey, those beads would look really cool if I added them to the mushroom embroidery!” People have been so great about their love for the embroideries, and for yarns, paintings, and and for whatever my strange little head comes up with. I want to keep doing this for a while more. I want to keep giving people something to make them smile. I want to keep imagining things and stitching them down on cloth so they can’t get away. I want to keep doing that strange alchemy from fluffy fleece to warm, knitted object. I want to hold up a watercolor and yell, “Ya wanna stick this on your fridge, don’tcha?” And I plan to keep exploring new ways to keep the goodness coming. I’ve always produced artwork and projects while I was working full time, but I am just honestly astounded at the difference being at home makes for my output. Not just having more time to work on things, but because I’m not as physically and mentally tired, my brain can tackle things that before would have made me groan and go, “Nope, not doing that, at all,” It’s more of a surprise than it should be, I think.

There’s an old saying, “Even the worst storm washes up some wood on the beach.” Before the Pandemic started, there were so many things I hadn’t tried artistically, or had neglected for years. Now I feel like I have so much more to share with you all, weird and funny visions and stories and how-to’s. I’ll tackle as many of them as I can this year, as we inch closer to a safer life for everybody. I don’t know what the future will look like, but for now it’ll be nice to keep making interesting things until then…

And thank you, kind friends, for being such supportive people. You’ve made a strange, lonely time much more bearable, and I hope I’ve done that for you too…

 

 

 

 

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The Gothmas Tree…

Welcome, my friends, to December!! Usually the time of year where we crowd together for warmth and cosyness, share gifts and food, and see who gets taken out first in the glorious game of Whammagheddon!  Sadly, this year is a little different. And it should be. The Covid numbers are so high in my state right now, the only sensible thing to do is to stay home, mask up and try like crazy not to get infected. And those of us who are trying to do exactly that are doing their best to make their homes a little more comforting and welcoming, to get us through this season. Here at Chez Cohen, we put up our tree a little earlier than usual, because we both love the twinkly lights and the fun of putting on or making ornaments. And, while I appreciate the wonder of a well-curated tree…my festive offerings are a little more,shall we say, whimsical. So, behold the Gothmas Tree!

Yippee ki-yi-yay…

Every year is a little bit different, but it’s always weird. There’s usually at least one skeleton hiding in the branches. There’s always at least one Cthuhlu ornament(and sometimes several), a couple of angry (but festive!) Daleks, and a wide variety of ornaments made by us or by loving friends. This year, I added green blinky eyeball lights to the purple and white light scheme we’re using this year, and as the month chugs along I’m planning on making more ornaments. (maybe with still photos from other films I consider “Christmas” movies, like “Prometheus” or “The Thing’) It definitely makes our living room a little more fun, and if you peek in the windows at our tree, you’ll find our tree peeking right back at you…

Making Gothmas, Making Gothmas, Lalalaaaa!

What are the other holiday plans? Good question. Mostly being very quiet, making as many interesting things as possible, and staying healthy. This moment in time feels a lot like the interlude in any zombie movie where people are holed up trying to distract themselves any way they can while the shuffling undead hordes roam around outside, howling and hungering. All I want for the holidays is for as many of us to be safe and well as possible. Anything else Santa brings me this year is frosting on the cake…

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Thanksgiving in solitary splendor…

Hello, my dears! I’m hoping like crazy that you’re home, and comfortable, and about to be very, very well fed.  This year it’s just going to be me, my sweet husband and the cats for Thanskgiving, just to keep everybody safe. It’s hard to not see friends and loved ones this year, but I wouldn’t be able to bear it if somebody I cared about got sick at some shindig at my place. So instead I’ll pester them on the phone and on Zoom, and share photos of cooking and mayhem, and decorate The Gothmas Tree.  We put it up a bit early, though it’s still very much in the early stages at the moment. (I suspect the Gothmas Tree will need it’s own post this weekend. There’s a lot of ground to cover there…)

I’m also planning to knock out some spinning and knitting this weekend, since I have a commission to play with and some really great fiber to spin up. There’s so much alpaca, people! So much! And now that my knee is recovered from whatever the heck I did to it, I can go back to the spinning wheels (carefully) and make some really fun natural and dyed yarns. Some of the shades of blue and purple I got from one shepherd are so perfectly beautiful, and I can’t wait to play with them all…

Also, I’ve been doing a few sketches for funzies, like the Jackalope I painted recently. It’s been hard to draw rabbits of any kind since Shamu the Bunny passed on; for the longest time I just didn’t have the heart to do it. But now it’s easier to embrace the memory of a sweet rabbit and bring his expressions to  other pieces of art.  And I’m also not sure why I wanted to draw a little bat hugging a tree ornament, but he really did turn out fairly swell…

Stay safe, my dear friends, and stay well, and I hope you’re planning on a tasty dinner and a thankful, quiet moment, and possibly a huge nap. I’m thinking about you all…

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My pastime is making midnight mushrooms…

I’m not exactly sure what I was expecting this autumn and winter to look like, way back in March when things started getting crazy in earnest. I know there was a big difference between what I was hoping for and what was actually going to happen. Sure enough, another lockdown seems to be barrelling it’s way towards us, and even if it isn’t formally announced, I think the smartest thing to do is to hunker down again.  Anything I can do to help keep people safe seems like a no-brainer to me, and I’m still frustrated and frightened by all those people out there who can’t even do the most basic stuff to keep other people healthy.  Not least because we’re such a vulnerable household right now. This is the time period I was the most nervous about when I was still working with the public, and right now I’m grateful beyond words that I can stay home over the winter. I realized it’s a lucky, priviledged position to be in, and while I feel some real guilt, I fight it with relief that my chances of giving somebody I care for Covid are so much less this way.

So I’ve been preparing with Matthew for a long, quiet winter.  It’s mostly the usual winter prep, with caulking and plastic over the older windows in the house, and leaves and burlap over the more sensitive plants outside. The pantry just got restocked; I have canned peaches for ages. The fresh stuff gets delivered to the house, and wiped down carefully. And apart from doctor’s appointments and whatnot, neither of us go out. Thanksgiving and Gothmas are being spent here at home, pestering our loved ones on the phone as much as possible.  I’ll miss my sweet people, but what else can we do?

For extra cosiness and a spot of cheerful light for the darkest part of the winter, I’ve been putting plants in the dining room, with a full-spectrum light for the really dark days, it’s turned into a pretty cosy place to eat or write or play with various crafting supplies.

Yeeeees, I put an Audrey in the dining room window.  It’s going to stay there all winter long!

I’ve also been busting out extra crafting supplies for projects over the winter. I stressed out my knee, so instead of using the spinning wheels for a bit, I thought I’d have some fun sculpting a few things, like toadstools…

*Not recommended for ingesting. Because you’ll break your teeth.*

So I feel like here, we’re ready to hide from the world again for a while. At least this time we don’t have the shock of the first lockdown, wondering what was going to happen. We know what’s going on a little better, and with the new vaccines coming up there is a light at the end of the tunnel, if we can get there. But first we have to get there, which means staying the hell out of the way. Please, everybody, please be careful,  I want to see you all again soon. You all deserve good health and safety, and I can’t wait to see you all online until we can have better days…

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Love, and Fear in the time of Plague

Hello, lovely readers! I hope you’re all staying well and healthy out there, wearing masks diligently and being very careful.  These days I always feel more and more like I’m quoting a Jane Austen novel when I talk to people, since I’m always asking after their health. So, what have I been doing recently, since COV is the party guest that just won’t leave? I’ve still been at home on family medical leave with my husband, who’s still recovering from his stroke. Recently he’s had Botox injections in his arm and leg, and it seems to really help his spasticity there a lot. But there’s still a long way to go. We stick very close to home, apart from rehab appointments and doctor’s visits, but we’re both painfully aware that it wouldn’t take much to get unlucky and get infected. I’m hoping like crazy our luck holds until a vaccine is available in the far-flung future. I just want to get us both to 2021 in one piece.

Meanwhile, in between doing helpful things for Matt, I’ve been making more masks for loved ones. Cooking a lot. Cleaning a lot, but never enough, really. I’m investing more time and energy for things to put in the webshop. I’ve been absorbing Youtube tutorials and lectures to keep my mind busy.  But I’m avoiding things like restarants and bars like, well, the plague. Can you blame me? Every time I see the numbers go up from a bunch of partiers at a bar or another spreading event, I end up muttering, “Oh nooooo, so much no; every single no!” to myself. It’s much better to sit on the back patio with a spindle and some wool, and just have a quiet time spinning and keeping Matt company.  After all that time apart in the hospital, I appreciate his presence even more than I did before he got sick and before all this happened.

And there’s the occasional Zoom chat with people. One of the most recent was a friend of a friend offering a lecture about how to deal with “fear as an entrepreneur”. I decided to give it a shot, since I have a (painfully small and wee) business and could always use good advice, but it was a terrible trainwreck. It started out reasonable, if somewhat canned, elitist and a bit disorganized, until one of the guest speakers started ranting about how “masks don’t really work; they’re just there to comfort people, and also criminals are using them to hide their faces during their criminal acts!”  I couldn’t facepalm hard enough as I quickly hit “leave session” as speedily as I could.  Funny enough, it didn’t really help me with my fears of keeping income coming during a pandemic, and gave me an extra fear of that anti-mask lady who’s out there probably picking fights at Kowalski’s and spraying rage-spit all over the produce.So, not as helpful as I had hoped, alas. Plus, the whole tone of the meeting was oddly dismissive of fear, the way people can be if they feel like nothing really bad is ever going to affect them personally.

Honestly, I feel like fear has it’s lessons to teach. Fear makes you pay attention to your surroundings. Fear makes you think hard about your actions. Fear makes you vigilant about consequences. Fear makes you appreciate what you have, while you have it.  I feel as long as you can embrace fear as a friend with something important to tell you, it’s not something that needs banishing or something that makes you weak or cowardly. I really wish the Zoom meeting had covered some of that. (To be fair,  maybe it did, after I noped out during the ranting. But somehow I doubt it.)

I scream. You scream. We all scream. Because we’re all still pretty freaked out about everything happening around us, every single day. But it’s okay to be afraid. That just means we’re paying attention. And if we are, that gives us all a better chance to get through to the next day, and the next, and the one after that. And that’s useful, in it’s odd way.  Also, take a break. Get out some yarn and play with it. Draw something stupid. Take a nap. Make a cup of tea you like. Let your fear make you pay attention to the things you love…

And when we all get to the other side of all this craziness, I am hugging you all so very hard…

 

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Adjusting…

As time moves merrily forward, I keep finding new and exciting ways to make the world around me more interesting. Ways like more odd embroidery!

(Did I mention Nightshade is really, really fun to embroider? Because it is!)

Also, I illustrated a smallish, charming book for the excellent writer, Tansy Undercrypt!

“The Utmost Propriety” can be ordered online at lulu.com! Toss a coin to your inker! Oh valley of plentyyyyy…

But mostly I’ve been slowly, every so slowly switching products from my Etsy shop to here, and thinking of new yarns to make for spring. I won’t lie, this winter has been tough for being creative. I’m hoping this spring will be better. But that said, I’m looking forward to some new things to try, and I’ll share them with you all. And I’m grateful for your kind attention and support,..

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What am I doing? Nuthinnnn…What am I doing nuthin’ with? Welllll…

Wool. Lots and lots of wool. That’s what I’m doing nuthin’ with. And I’ve gotten a bit brave and added things to the online shop here, too. Now that I’m a bit more comfortable using this system I can keep adding inventory as I finish projects. Which will make room for more projects.( You see how this loops in on itself. Yarny things forever, wool without end!) I just ended up buying more wool to spin up, since (gasp) I’ve been emptying bins while spinning more yarns. Cant have that, can we?

Also, I’ve been doing a lot of creative stuff lately. Not that long ago, I did a spinning demo for my workplace, which I enjoyed immensely. I managed to get all the way through Inktober, something I’m very proud of. I repainted a dresser as an anniversary gift to my husband. And today I’m at the end of a very nicely long staycation where I did a variety of creative things.

But now I think I could use a giant nap…In fact, I definitely do…