Wee Wonderfuls

sepia

Hope everyone had a fun Halloween! Oscar had a great time. New phrases to add to his ever growing vocabulary -- "trick or treatin", "candy bar", "open it", "wrapper off", "ding-dong", "bye bye kids" and of course "chocolate!" I knew the costume had to incorporate the great hat Amy sent us so it we came up with crayon. Turned out to be a great costume. Oscar is obsessed with coloring so he was very pleased to be a crayon. It was pretty easy to make and nice and warm (that fleece is good for something) so he was happy to wear it, especially when he figured out that meant people would give him candy!

"Corduroy" quilt idea

**updated bit at bottom**
This is the project that was a bee in my bonnet. The other night I was reading Corduroy to Oscar and Freeman's illustration of a quilt on the girl's bed caught my eye.

I love the "randomly tossed down squares" look of it and I thought that it'd be a cute quilt to make out of outgrown kids clothes. The old dress quilt. I have a disproportionately large selection of pinks in my fabric collection so these are what I started grabbing to give this design a go. I just cut out (freehand) large-ish squares and started sewing them down with a zigzag stitch. I have no idea how to quilt it or who the recipient will be and I'm not sure how successful the design is but I think I may like it a lot. Maybe it's all the dizzying pinks confusing me. I'll have to live with it for a while and see what kind of a relationship develops. For now it's on to more pressing matters, maybe a Halloween costume for Oscar?!

** thanks for the great input! the size is what I thought would be good for a kid's napping quilt, about 42" x 60". I'm definitely going to leave the border around the edges - not put squares all the way to the edge - that's my favorite part! I'm still undecided about covering up all the green underground bits that are peeking through. and still have no ideas on quilting. I like both suggestions - an overall stipling or 2 different patterns, one for patches and one for the green.  I did nothing to finished the squares' edges. I'm hoping the zigzag and then the quilting is enough to keep them in place without too much fraying.  Nope, no pocket for corduroy but the finished project may have a button sewn on just in case Corduoy needs one.

a patchwork robot

first I tried felt, then wee, now patchwork

I had the idea of making a robot in the same was as my dolls and while I don't want to play robot favorites, this guy is making me very happy because he's so squishy and huggable.

The patchwork panels on his chest and the stripes on his arms are from a quilt block Amy sent me a while back. I just love brown and yellow together. These fabrics were very close to becoming a Patchwork Set girl. Instead they filled a more technical destiny in the exciting world of robotics!

are you ready?

yes, I'm ready!

I'm all set to knit and enjoy!

another craft store purchase this morning, this fabric in a non-seasonally appropriate color scheme. Ever get a bee in your bonnet to try out some idea you came up with immediately even though you have piles of other things to do?

and then

Morphe!

I'm so excited to be a part of this show! And more than a little freaked out that I have absolutely nothing done for it yet. I have to figure out how long it takes to ship things to Australia so I'll know exactly how many days I have. I'm thinking of making a set of Christmas dolls. At least that's the latest page in my sketch book. I'm loving all these colors from vintage Christmas books. Time to dig through the fabric shelves and see if I have any matches.

phew

What an exhausting weekend. It was worth it though because the Patchwork Set cards went off to the printer this morning!!! I'm so so excited (and terrified). I can't wait to get them back and see them live and in person. It was a tricky weekend. We had sun on Friday and then mostly cloudy and drizzling all day Saturday and Sunday. Tim and I really had to work to get good light on our indoor shots and had to be ready to go at a moment's notice at any peek of the sun. Friday my sister Katie was a huge help. She came over and watched Oscar all day. I was able to not only finish up Inez but also get out into the sun for a photo shoot. She's a lifesaver! The other challenge was that I really only had vague ideas of what our set-ups were going to be. Tim and I were coming up with ideas on the fly, making props, changing our mind all over the place. Suki, of course, proved to be the most trouble with 3 different set-ups. But I think her final one turned out to be the most clever of the group. Overall I'm really happy with how they turned out. So very soon (hopefully) the Patchwork Set cards will be available for sale.

Saint Katie.

Lotte on location.

The Patchwork Set Number Four

Inez

Her quilt is blocks of corduroy in 3 dark reds with flowers from an old kimono print cut out and zigzag appliqued on top. For the quilting pattern I went with something similar to the ones I used on my quilted bags and here's a pic of the back.

Inez is a leisurely homebody type so she's wearing slippers instead of shoes.

Seems like the easiest hairdo yet but was really the most difficult because of the super soft yarn. Great color though!

tiny shoes

If anything was to ever get me over my paralyzing fear of having a second child it might be these amazingly cute shoes by Catarina Madruga.

my lackluster knitting and other business

Thanks for all the nice comments on Lotte! Some people were asking me about plans for the dolls. I'm still planning on doing photo shoots with them for a pack of Patchwork Set cards. That's why I'm trying to get them done so fast. I'm hoping I can finish up the last set this week and then start working on the accessories and hopefully we can start taking pictures this weekend. It's the peak of Fall around here. I'd love to get some turning leaf action in the photos.

Last night though I had to take a break from the sewing room and veg in front of the tv so I turned to my knitting. I've been working on this sweater for Oscar for months and this is as far as I've gotten, about 2/3 way through the back.

I'm so not feeling this project. Itchy cheap wool and these damn cables around the waist. I'll never get them to lay flat. I've never ever once had "blocking" work for me. I think it's a myth. Like the unicorns. You know, the unicorns who wear nice flat-laying smooth handknit sweaters. Like the unicorns who must knit these beautiful things by Taule Design.

The Patchwork Set - Lotte

Here's the latest Patchwork Set, Lotte and her quilt.

leaf buttons this time

Japanese owl fabric for her kerchief and Uxbridge Tweed yarn for her braids. Here's a peek underneath.

fur lined boots to keep her warm while hiking.

Lotte's quilt is made of vintage green floral, a new orange floral and thrifted pillowcase. I used the same quilting pattern as I did on my Plain Spoken. close up.

The backing is some great boy scout patterned flannel that I rescued out of an old sleeping bag.

Now on to the fourth and last in this series. I have all the fabrics picked out but still have no quilt design ideas. I'm hoping something will come to me soon!