The Butterfly Bush and Rick Astley

Well the summer heat is back.  It feels nice though.  I stepped outside to take some pictures today while my sister was out mowing our gigantic and overgrown lawn.  It's always nice to stretch my legs and feel the sunshine after sitting inside crocheting or drawing all day.

I got really distracted by all the commotion on our butterfly bush.

I had a really hard time waking up this morning, but thanks to two big cups of coffee and my Rick Astley radio station on Pandora, I was able to get a lot done today. 

 
I finished these fun and colorful fingerless mitts and will be adding them to the shop this week.

I've been doing a lot of reading in this book, which is turning out to be a really empowering book.  It's a collection of essays written by women of size.  I keep having to write down quotes as I read it, their stories are all really hittin' home for me.  I'm really burning through it and I'll share some of the quotes and review it here on the blog when I'm finished.

I'm so glad I got out last weekend and went to the Lexington Art League's Woodland Art Fair.  It had been two years since I'd gotten to go to it, and I am really proud of myself for getting out and connecting with the art world.  It's a long drive, full of crazy traffic and parking fiascos, but it was worth it.  Looking at other artists' work and talking to them about their process is such a cool experience.  We walked around for hours and saw tons of neat things and interesting people and dogs too.  I'll have a post coming up all about it.  Looking forward to sharing those pictures.

Another happy member of the butterfly bush crowd.  Didn't see the hummingbird that comes around, but I'll get her next time I bet.

I finally nailed down a concrete and focused to-do list for my shops.  That was really bothering me and making me feel scattered.  I didn't post it on my studio wall yet, but it's written legibly on the back of my big envelope that came from the student loan people, on top of a pile of stuff, on one corner of my desk...  and I've already crossed some things off of it!

I came across these sweet little sculptures by Lynda Black today.  You can see more of her unique creations in her Etsy shop, polkadottydolls.  I love all the different facial expressions.

 
I'm off to fix some supper and do some more crocheting tonight.  I'll leave you with this calming image of the praying mantis that was hanging out on the porch tonight.  Have a nice week!