Fairy Lights and Late Nights
A string of really proper hot weather walloped us this week, so I suppose summer is truly here.
May and June have been blurs. But…
These lemon sweet treats look delicious.
I’m a third of the way through The Moonstone.
I spent the first two weeks of June in Rome and wrote about the experience over on Substack.
Other than that? I’m pushing through a new draft of my own book project. I need to get to the beach at least once this summer. And I’m getting ready to share info. about school/library visits soon.
Onward to July!
The Fish Festival
Spring is here and the motivation to make and do is roughly 90% higher than it is in January.
Some odds and ends:
Close Your Eyes sucked me into the story from the very first episode. It’s a sci-fi podcast drama that’s fascinating for its look at the thin line between reality and unreality. There is a bit of language, so just a heads up if you listen with kids around.
I’m planning a new substack post for this week. Over there, I get more in depth about craft and method, so if you want a deeper dive into the illustrative process, head yonder.
The Comfort Crisis is a great read with oodles of food for though.
Winterized
Winter is mostly (hopefully) over. Time change is brutal in the inky black early morning hours, but come 5:00? It is glorious (as is the bird song and the first tenacious bulbs poking through).
And so:
The Anne of Green Gables books I illustrated will be available as a boxset this fall. Tundra did an amazing job on the packaging and I can’t wait for this collection to hit shelves.
Speaking of Anne, a nice mention of Anne Dreams over on School Library Journal.
I finished knitting the Cold Hearts Cowl from Boyland Knitworks (pictured above). It’s a fun, quick knit and very, very cozy.
I finished Brave New World last week and while good, the bleakness at this time of year… Oof. So I needed a palette cleanser and opted for Anthony Horowitz’s The Word is Murder, and it’s just what the doctor ordered.
Baba Yaga
I didn’t just want to make a Baba Yaga inspired pattern, I needed to. So that happened. To be honest, it’s something I’ve been wanting to do for ages and finally found the time this week. I’m in the process of updating my portfolio, so working on some new patterns for that.
Elsewhere:
I shared on Substack some of my plans for 2025.
Just when I’d given up hope on more episodes of Vienna Blood, the programming gods looked kindly and offered up another season.
I’m a third of the way into The Straight and Narrow Path, a 1950’s satire featuring British/Irish relations. So far, so good (and at times absolutely hilarious).
