April 15th ended the 2010 tax season which means that I finally have a little more time on my hands again. As many of you know this was my first foray out of the family business in about 17 years. I learned a lot. I loved the clients who came to H&R Block and mini tax geek that I am, I loved the actual job. The inter-office dynamics, now that was another thing entirely! I generally try to keep my blog positive in nature so I've decided not to dwell to much on the subject of my co-workers but I will caution those of you who were negative, life-sucking, energy draining, leeches (you know who you are) - Clean up your act or you are certain to be sucked into the Vortex of Hell! Whew! Feels good to get that out of my system....


Now on to more positive things. The Art Nest is busy learning and creating again. I am currently taking a small course in drawing to increase my illustration skills. This is somewhat of a leap for me since I have to conquer that internal voice that tries to convince me that I can't illustrate. So far I am doing well and I hope to post some of my illustrations soon. In the meantime I have taken out my machine and created a new dish/tea towel from the retro Japanese series I have for sale in my Etsy shop.

Isn't she just delightful! I found her happy little expression so uplifting...

Check out all the designs in this series at www.theartnest.etsy.com.

Seasons of Change

September has arrived and Summer seems to be drawing to a close. The kids have headed back to school which allows me to finish up a few projects that were on hold and begin new projects.

I finally stitched out the woodland deer towels for my newly painted downstairs bathroom. I love them! I actually like them better stitched on the chocolate brown waffle weave towels than I do on the solid white background. Anyway I think they look totally sweet....

I sewed up some cool cool fabric coasters from a tutorial I got from www.makeitfromscratch.blogspot.com/2009/03/drink-coasters-from-scrap-fabric.html. I liked them so much I am planning to make some in different designs for my etsy shop as well.




And, check out the cool necklace and earrings I made during a beading class I took with my friend Nancy...

I hope to delve a little further into jewelry making in the future but I thought this was a good start.

More Cowboy Kitty!

The last few weeks have been so busy! Spring is in full swing and the gardens are growing like mad. Miss Emma has returned (again...) and so far, so good! I have managed to make those really cool kitchen towels I referred to earlier. The softies are still under construction and I am beginning on some "Days of the Week" kitchen towels with a sweet vintage flair to them. I'll be posting them shortly. In the meantime here are the remainder of the vintage 1940's pattern "Cowboy Kitty" kitchen towels. They look great in my kitchen and if you are looking for a set you can find them in my Etsy shop at http://www.theartnest.etsy.com/. Enjoy!

Cowboy Kitty with his Lasso of Mischief...

Pondering his next act of mischief...

And lastly, singing the tales of his mischief!!