Marchness

 
 

March, in a nutshell:

  • I sewed the Tova dress from Wiksten, using a print from my Cozy Up fabric line. This was my third time sewing this dress - it’s a great everyday garment and a thorough, well-written pattern. The shawl is this free pattern on Ravelry.com and the book matched it all (and let’s be honest, is hiding a less-than-stellar bang trim).

  • I gave up donuts for Lent (womp, womp). But, St. Joseph’s Day was Saturday, which meant a break for zeppole, so off to Enzo Benzo donuts. If you’re in southern Maine or seacoast New Hampshire, run, don’t walk in the direction of these delights.

  • This Flannery O’Connor documentary is stupendous - I saw it last year and just noticed it’s popped up for viewing on Amazon. This one’s worth it alone for the illustrated A Good Man is Hard to Find segment.

  • I’m going full-tilt on sketches for a new installment in the Anne of Green Gables series and finishing endpapers for Mouseboat at the moment. And I’m giving myself a deadline of June to hammer out a picture book dummy outline. Send coffee. And donuts, but after Easter.

Rethinking the Situation

 
 

It had seemed like a good idea, at the time. But after reading the owner’s manual, Hugh regretted his purchase, immensely. He packed the box away in the attic, went off to make a mug of Horlicks and promptly forgot about the kit for the next fifty or so years.

***

In non-apocalyptic matters: if you’re on Instagram, I had the pleasure of posting last Thursday over on the Tundra Books account, sharing all about process, painting and house plants, amongst other things.

Anne's Tragical Tea Party

 
 

Anne’s Tragical Tea Party, adapted by Kallie George and illustrated by me is out this week! This is the fourth book in this Anne of Green Gables inspired series published by Tundra Books and it’s a delight to illustrate a character as iconic as Anne Shirley. There’s lots of raspberry cordial and wintry adventures in this one, but I wish I had some currant wine with which to celebrate. This recipe, though, looks like it might come in handy…

 
 

Swept Away

 
 

Sketchbook things, St. Patrick’s Day on my mind. I had a great-great grandmother named Delia Delaney and it’s always seemed like a splendid name for a book character. That said, I have no idea if she ever did battle with malevolent fairies. Hopefully.

The Hint of an Explanation

 
 

Here’s something I worked on end of last year, an illustration based on the opening scene of The Hint of an Explanation, by Graham Greene. The short story is one of my favorite things ever written — regrettably, I can’t find the text online, otherwise I’d link. Without giving away the ending, it’s a turning, twisting tale of one man’s childhood encounter with evil and the good that paradoxically results. I feel like it’s begging to have a film adaptation (see also: The Secret History, The Saboteur, The Last Gentleman, The Paper Garden, etc., etc., etc.). Which in turn has me wondering: what book would you want to see made into a movie?

All that to say, though, this t-shirt is hilarious (and 99.9% accurate).

Staying Warm

 
 

It seems like everybody and their brother is sewing a quilted vest at the moment and because it can snow here until April, I didn’t feel like it was too much of a lost cause to be making one myself in March. I’m using prints from Eloise’s Garden, vintage linens, Spoonflower test swatches and a few bits of linoleum block printed fabric. And this quilted vest pattern from Purl Soho is free (!), so that’s what I’m using to put this all together.

Other March things:

The Wild Atlantic Way

 
 

Going through some old artwork recently, I ran across scans of this coaster I illustrated for the Salut! 6 show at Nucleus Portland last year. It’s reminding me of the west coast of Ireland, which seeing as St. Patrick’s Day is in a few weeks, seems apropos to post.

And if you, too, fantasize on the daily about running off to Eire, may I recommend the website Cheap Irish Houses? The site is absolutely fantastic for kickstarting daydreams about your dream cottage in County Wherever.