Everything is a puzzle around here this weekend. We're trying to figure out what the heck to do with the dying lawn we inherited with this house. Lawn. Piffle. I thought you bought a house in the suburbs and grass just grew all beautiful and green and you lived happily ever after. The other big debate going on around here involves two novice gardeners trying to figure out what the heck to do with a newly cleared out yard and a Fall planting season breathing down our neck. Bulbs? Shrubs? Trees? Just put blinders on and hope for early and long lasting snow coverage and worry about it in the Spring? But these are not the pickles I've come here to discuss. In craft room dilemmas we have... toys on wheels.
As I mentioned I've been working on the toys on wheels pattern for the next put-together book. Well I've run into some difficulties. First thing is, they're really hard to make. Maybe tricky is a better word. They're pretty small and there are all these tricky turns and then there's lining up each side with the gusset and having it all come out even. tricky. And the fabric selection is tricky. If it's too thin, like the vintage cotton I was trying to use, it doesn't hold the shape. And too thick makes it even harder to work with. Even stufffing them is tricky! And then there's trying to sew them to the platforms. I remember that was a bitch. I had to get out the curved upholstery needle. And then there's the trip to the craft store for a dowel for the axles and there's cutting them down to the right size and then finding a good glue so the button wheels don't pop off if you look at them funny like mine do. It's not that this project is impossible and not that I'm against making patterns for more advanced sewers but I'm guessing most people would be buying these to make as Christmas presents and I really don't want to frustrate the heck out of everyone. I can just hear the mid-December chorus of $@#&* that Hillary!
Second problem is, they're not really toys. I made them as centerpieces for my sister's baby shower. They're pretty much just decorative. I don't know how fun that is. So if you go to all the trouble and struggle to get them right, then there's explaining to the children in your life that they're not really a "play with" toy.
I want to make fun patterns. High success rate patterns. Easily adaptable patterns. And I kinda want to make a new pattern. Instead of looking back through my projects for the next put-together book I'd rather just dream something up. I spent yesterday brainstorming and sketching and I think I may have some fun ideas. Or I might try them and they suck and I'll be back writing a "they're really not that hard after all" post.
