just wrapped up a custom that had me pretty much shaking in my boots when the customer first floated the idea. she wondered if i could do something with a metamorphosis theme. in batik. plus paint. hmmmm. but i managed it and am pretty darn happy with the results, save for a little paint that went beyond its bounds in a place or two. nothing horrific, just not quite perfect. anyway, without further ado, the pic --

also wrapped up these other custom shirts --







in other words, it's been a pretty good week. now i just need to keep the momentum going and knock out customs for a few other people that have been waiting oh-so-patiently even though i started several weeks ago, before vacation...

i have lots of customs to wrap up. here's a pic of some in-progress shirts, and then there are several more i need to draw and wax up as well. and yarn! i will hopefully get back on the yarn wagon and dye up some pretties soon! i bought some new racks that i think will help out my process and fix some of the bleeding problems i was having on occasion with the old ones... fingers crossed!

and for even prettier pictures, here's thumbnails of the shirts i stocked at the leaf shoppe last night! sort of a low key stocking as i was the only person to get anything up in time... but so it goes.

but turns out i'm actually more in a batiking mood. i got started on a few shirts last night and before i knew it it was 3am. so i promised myself i'd not stay up that late tonight but just try to finish those shirts for friday's stocking instead of all the yarn like i had planned. i might just offer a yarn option for the shirts... that would work. or i might squeak in some during the day tomorrow, but with the kids in the mood they've been in lately it's all i can do to get meals prepared before they're at each others' throats. i don't recall my brother and i being like this when we were 4 and 2 but my kids just antagonize each other. so. darn. much. constantly!

anyway back to zoope -- i haven't even taken in-progress pics because 2 shirts are in the wash at this very moment and 2 more have been painted with dye and will get their second wax application once that dye dries. i guess i should take pics of them, but i want them to be a surprise. if they turn out like the picture in my head i think they're going to be really really cute!

we're officially done with our almost weeklong vacation... only 20 miles from home but it's still nice to get away! the weather was decent -- lots of rain but thankfully most of it was during naptime, the evenings or overnight. the kids had a ball swimming in the pool (or i should say, being carried in the pool by me or dh), going to garage sales, hiking on the new walking trail across from the condos, eating out *far* too much, and just generally being on vacation-behavior for the week.

i'll be really glad to get home and sleep in my own bed again. and to get back to work -- i had to convince myself to not drag dyes and yarn up here because i have the dyeing bug. so hopefully this will translate into tons of progress this week on instock and customs. my next stocking will be on the 20th at the leaf shoppe. look for yarn and shirts and maybe an hc$ auction as well!

no pretty pics from vacation yet but i'll try to add some once i get them off the camera. instead here's a few shirts i worked up before we left for collabs with kim at kukae & mimi stocking at universal mama this monday!

1. it is summer and i have a headcold!
2. the kids both have colds too, though i don't think they have a killer sinus headache like i do right now!
3. dh brought the cold home, i figure he should have to deal with snotty kids all day long instead of me
4. and it's finally warm enough to swim but it's been too rainy to do so this week!

on the plus side, sick kids makes for longer naps, and gives me an excuse/chance to take them too!

because it attacked me last night. actually started in the afternoon after a cup of water. wtf? of course it was probably the lunch at culvers after a weekend of too much food and dessert that is the real culprit, but i've never known drinking water to be the thing to set it off. that's definitely a first for me.

anyway, this mean ole gallbladder of mine -- the one that i've been nice enough to not have cut out mercilessly by a surgeon going on 5 years now after its first sneak-attack on me just a month to the day after ds was born -- decided the holiday weekend was a wonderful time to surprise me and make me miserable all evening, all night long, and even through this morning. despite still tasting my lunch (really it was fine going down but after that i'm done, okay?!) i tried giving it some chamomile tea first but couldn't get more than a sip into me before the nausea told me that just wasn't going to work. so onto a mini-flush like i've been doing for years with olive oil and orange juice. that usually does the trick within a few hours, but not last night. still i could taste lunch, now mingled with the not-quite-orange-juicy-oily taste. big ew. trust me, if it didn't work i would never do that again. but it usually does right my system after a few hours, so i endure it. when it doesn't work, though -- oh boy. them's fighting words!

so needless to say, i am not talking to my gallbladder right now, though i did send a peace offering of a very bland piece of bread a few hours ago to see what it would say. no word yet, sigh. i'm not quite sure it's done with me yet.

i'm still here and plugging away on customs alongside instock. i have 2 stockings this coming sunday night with just a few things planned for each. yarn and a shirt for one, not positive about the other yet but probably a shirt or two. here's one squishy skein called "earthside" from this week that might make an appearance at either the leaf shoppe or the tree of life sunday, as well as a few custom yarns ("great outdoors" on targhee and "beach pebbles" on cestari superfine? or fine? merino) and a shirt that will be auctioned off beginning on memorial day at kukae & mimi to support the "united by reading" program. i'm more than a bit smitten by the whole kawaii-style animal thing right now, they're so cute and fun to do... i have a panda design waiting in the wings when i get around to batiking that one up too! and i need to get going on a custom kawaii kitty for someone over the pond as well. (soon, very soon!)