Wee Wonderfuls

boxcar

that's what we call him. cause we couldn't think of anything else that (sorta) rhymes with oscar.

a very belated mother's day gift for neene...

weekend

Thank you so much for all the wonderful reassurances and generous comments left on my last post. I'm sure I'll always struggle with what to write on this blog but if y'all are sure I sound like an actual living breathing person and not a craftbot then I'm satisfied. Back to mindless blogging about the first thing that pops into my head!

Hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend. Chicago decided the best way to punish those of us who aren't glamorous enough for a lakeside retreat was with record breaking heat. I really really want to bitch about how unbelievable hot our 2nd floor apartment gets but it's not even June yet and I'm sure there will be a long summer full of that rant ahead of us so I'll pace myself. I did my best to ignore the heat and stay motivated to my tasks and had some highs and lows.

low... this was supposed to be a sheep. hm.

and high, super high! I finally got this pattern working again...

yes, my voice...

and my 'mummy' voice nonetheless! My voice inadvertently gets much more 'mummy' when the video camera goes on. When Oscar grows up he'll watch that and think 'oh, I guess that snappy distracted mom I thought I had was an illusion'. good good, mission accomplished. So I am such a spazzy, hit and run blogger these days, always rushing to get something up and out there, that the fact that my voice was going live never really sunk in. Good thing or I would have chickened out for sure. Thank you so much for all the really nice comments about Oscar! But please don't encourage me, it will be the all Oscar show around here before you know it!

So I thought I'd take this quiet morning -- Oscar's out at a friend's -- to sit down and actually write something on this blog. Maybe answer one of my frequently asked questions, where do you find the time? How about I don't spend any time stewing over what to write on the blog anymore. (for real answers to this question you can see my FAQ.) Gone are the days that I'd spend (waste) way way too much time in front of the typepad administrator trying to make the random thoughts in my head come out lovely and coherent and at all interesting. I've never been a good writer. I started the blog to motivate myself to make stuff, to connect with others who were doing the same and to keep myself from going crazy home all day with a baby. It was never because I thought anyone would want to read my writing. That's why it's a pretty straight forward formula arond here....project, chat about project. done. I'm feeling guilty though, and boring. I'm in awe of beautifully written blogs like Alicia's where her wonderful personality shines through in every post. Her blog always has me happily reminiscing about my childhood or relishing the details of some aspect of daily life that I would have passed right by. Anyway, I'll never be able to write like that and I know trying to is not where my time would be best spent, but I am going to try to find time to make the blog a little bit more personal again and hopefully that will be more interesting. you know, more posts about sick babies and dirty laundry and stuff.

Now I want to ramble on a little bit about comments. Thank you! Thanks so much to everyone who leaves nice comments. (and a big thank you! also to all the people out there who follow the golden rule, if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all) I love reading comments. Please know that I read them all. They pop up in my email and I get so excited. They're little hellos from like minded friends whom I haven't met and seriously they get me through the day. They encourage me to keep going when my friends and neighbors can barely muster up any interest in why I've stayed up way too late making an elephant on wheels. So please, never think I'm not reading them, or that they don't warm my cockles. Well enough about my cockles... I've spent over an hour trying to write these 3 measly paragraphs so I'm off. I lost some of my big footed bunny pattern pieces and I'm trying to redraft and get some made up for the shop. and if you've made it all the way through and are disappointed there's no picture, check over here on my neglected second child blog for some slippers. thanks!

** update ** um, is the internet broken? this post keeps coming up in random and unedited versions, with crazy junk links, etc. and is it related to the fact that my gmail has been slammed with spam today? please excuse any mess!

pull me

ok, it's got wheels! I was up way too late working on this guy last night. I still didn't put in enough work to satisfy Oscar. He was at me all morning to finish it up. In that especially charming toddler sort of way... is it done, is it done, is it done, can I play with it, can I play with it...  It was actually kinda funny so I got the video camera out. I'm was tempted to put up the desperate pleas but instead here's a tiny happy bit of the final moment. And of course he was on to something else 2 minutes later!

I started from a little drawing I did of an elephant. Then made up a pattern, crossed my fingers and it worked on the first try. Well sort of, I had to reshape the trunk a bit, still... that NEVER  happens. I use a mints tin for the base and quilted some dotted flannel to batting for the cover. The wheels are hot glued (not all that well) to dowels for the axels and then I secured them in place by sewing twill tape over them. I attached an alphabet tape for the pull and she's ready to go!

we need wheels

Last Friday Oscar and I ditched his last playschool class and went for a walk downtown to the library and shops. It felt like we hadn't been to the library in ages. Back when I started blogging it was Summer and Oscar was 8 months old. We'd walk down to the library in the stroller almost everyday and I'd check out piles of books on design and sewing and quilting and toymaking and I was overflowing with inspiration. Maybe Summer just does that to me because I'm feeling that way again. I've got so many ideas swimming around in my head already and our trip to the library tipped me over the edge. All other projects must stop while I make toys with wheels! I'd already been thinking I needed to make some stuffed muscle cars with wheels that actually rotate for Oscar to snuggle with, sort of like this Aronzo van. And then I found this book, American Antique Toys, 1830-1900 by Bernard Barenholtz at the library and cars have now been bumped as my new obsession with animals on wheels has taken over. I really want to make a little set of antique yet modern stuffed animals on button wheels. I've picked out some  fabric from the basement that may work. Now time to get working on patterns.

neopolitan

If you've been wondering where all the pinks, creams and browns have gone these days it's because they've all been sucked into the vortex that is my craft room. It's been a whirlwind of projects for our upcoming niece. Hope Maggie likes Neopolitan!

ok Katie, no peeking beyond this point. (I know she won't. She's the good sister. The one who only halfheartedly helped me dig through closets for hidden Christmas presents when we were kids.)

poor list

Please send your thoughts and prayers for my to-do list...because I am kicking it's ass! It's all scratched up, discarded on the floor, breathing it's last breath. I spent the entire weekend sequestered in my sewing room while Oscar and Tim yukked it up. It was a weekend well spent though. The proof is in the dryer right now. More later today...

And what's this.. I finally got more envelopes for the Patchwork Set?! Yep. Scratch it off. Rest in peace list. If you've been hankering for some postcards they're up in the shop now. Sorry about the delay.

cross breeding

If I write another post about how busy or how scattered I am these days I will bore myself to right to death so instead I'll post a little evidence of my hurried crafting. How proud was I of my new patterned kitty and her long floppy tail until Tim pointed out she still has bunny feet. damn. the feet! so here she is, Kitty with Bunny Feet...

amy's angry chickens

I always feel a little bit tacky blogging about gifts I'm sending out but I can't help it...the blog needs fodder. It must be fed! And I think (hope) the recipients can dig that. This little scene is for this month's birthday girl, angry chicken Amy. A couple of embroideries glued into little tin frames that I found at a garage sale. As soon as I saw them I knew I had to incorporate them into her present - scallops!

beta

I love 'beta'. You can slap the label beta on something and all is forgiven. Did you know flickr is still beta. ok. So the pattern booklet volume 1 is done. sorta. beta. Tim jumped in and saved his sinking wife from the treacheries of Illustrator. Although I did manage to learn a thing or two first. Need a clipping mask? I'm your girl. So now we're going to do a little testing and then off to the printer it goes!

Happy Mother's Day weekend everyone! I was going to give myself a mother's day treat and stop looking at this thing and maybe do some online shopping but I just noticed I screwed something up. erg. I don't know if I deserve a mother's day present anyway, after all I'm still Oscar's Mom ^BETA