Back from NYC

I've been away for a week, enjoying as many New York City wonders as I could possibly cram into a week. I don't think I've ever walked so much in my life, and I kind of miss it already, though my feet sure don't. The only real free time I had was at the airport, waiting for the plane that would take us to NYC. I spent it needlefelting, thinking that surely this would not be the only downtime in the trip that I could use to be productive. BUT IT WAS.

I was listening to This American Life.

Most of our time was spent in museums, and getting to museums. We ate delicious food that we often found by going "oh man I am hungry, let's find someplace to eat" in the middle of a museum-bound trek.

The first museum we visited was the Museum of Natural History.

Look at those silly knees!

I took a few photos, some of them of creturs I intend to make in the future. Click on "read more" to see them, if you'd like.

Finished - needle felted Mexican free-tailed bat (Tadarida brasiliensis)

As usual, tried some new techniques... this time, aside from some experiments in the needling process, it was sewing, for the wings. I am terrible at it, generally, but I think it worked out pretty well in this case. What do you think?

More pictures:

Inching closer

We can rebuild him. We have the technology. Better, stronger, faster.

Next work in progress: Tadarida brasiliensis

A little mouse

Here is a little mouse that I made as part of a collaboration. A friend of mine will receive it soon, and make a chainmail armor for it. And then we will have a mouse with chainmail armor!

More pictures after the cut.

Starting up starting over

Hi everyone! Hi. Hey.

I'm really sorry for the sudden disappearance. Those of you that follow me on Twitter may have had a better idea of what happened, but it was still not the full story. I moved, but that wasn't all. I also had to put the store on hiatus, legally, because the visa I was under expired on May 31st, so I couldn't work until I got my greencard. I fully expected that to take until September at least, but I was very pleasantly surprised with the San Antonio INS crowd... I got it half a month ago!

So I should have like three new creturs already, right? Well... right, I should, but, see, things happened. Dogs happened. One dog happened in from the street, a sweet, mild 5-year-old pit mix. Then as we were walking that one, another dog happened. A little 8-week old puppy, possibly a lab-terrier mix, followed us home. We were powerless to prevent these dogs from happening to us. And those of you who have had puppies know what an amazing time-sucking ability puppies have.

The other problem there was that the dogs lived in the area that we had previously designated to be my studio. All over it. You see, that area has a concrete floor off of which the inevitable puppy mess is a lot easier to clean. But this made working in the (destruction-prone, poop-smelly) studio very unappetizing, so that took up some more time while we futilely tried to teach the puppy not to poop all over the place, not to destroy everything within reach, and other normal puppylike activities. So my husband and I made a rolling gate and divided the studio to give the dogs roughly a third of it to hang out in while we are at work, and I finally got to have a real studio. Yay!

1. Cretur boxes
2. Dog fence
3. Wool chest
4. Filing cabinet full of mostly yarn and works in progress
5. Wool-soaking tubs
6. Desk, and the blindingly bright outdoors

So there, I am starting up again at last. ONWARD

Bye, springhaas!

Phew! I'm a little late on this one. I've had a pretty crazy week, and it's only gonna get crazier from here. Moving, soon, into our very own house. zomg. HERE IS A SPRINGHARE:

And now it is gone! Goodbye you little cretur!

Goodbye, quoll!

The lovely couple who won the painted dog at the Painted Dog Conservation fundraiser decided to expand their needlefelted cretur collection with a creature as Australian as they, the tiger quoll. And so, cardmaking is in order!

Dasyurus maculatus

Bye, second hoatzin!

Three days ago, a hoatzin was commissioned by someone who expressed a lot of enthusiasm for good ol' Opisthocomus hoazin. So I, equally enthusiastic, made Hoatzin 2.0 for her:

More photos:

Bye, painted dog! Have a good time down under!

The painted dog was finished this very morning, and sent to Australia immediately after. The post office guy tells me it will be there in 6-10 days, which assuages my fear that it wouldn't get there before the 20th, to be auctioned by Painted Dog Conservation on the 23rd. (go there, it's in Perth, do it)

I hope you sell for a MILLION AUSTRALIAN DOLLARS

Lots more pictures under the cut: