stay where you are sky
Things have been a little bit up in the air around here lately. I’ve been trying to make some tough decisions and I think, with the help of Alicia’s goldilocks theory, I’ve finally got things settled in my mind. (speaking of goldilocks – cute!) Trying to decide what’s the right size/fit for me right now is super tough. Hopefully the decisions I’ve made are truly ‘right fit’ decisions and not
‘ruin your life and regret it forever decisions’. I think I’m on the right track though because the immediate result of these tough calls is that I had a free unfettered weekend to work on stuff I’ve been wanting to work on for quite some time including this little gal.
I was able to dig back into all my inspiration books and revisit things I’ve been dying to work on for months. This little chicky was inspired by a bit of a japanese childrens book illustration I’ve had on my boards forever.
ruffle that!
I’m loving my to-do list today. It’s all nice and scratched out. My list has been a formidable challenge for me lately. I’ve been very fortunate and was asked to contribute projects to three different books – a modern quilt design book, a softies book and a general craft book. I’ve been working on these projects on and off for months and today I’m a few photographs shy of being All Done! All Done! In reality this just gives me a brief moment to breathe in before I jump on to the rest of my list but I’m very happy to have that moment. I thought I’d take the opportunity to ruffle it up. I made a ruffled carrysmall from some of my newly thrifted fabric. I’m happy with it but it still needs a lining and maybe a ruffle on the back too. And I need one of those rufflers. Manual ruffling is for the birds.
freebie! wee bunny pattern
Time to get Easter (or whatever) crafting. The wee bunny pattern is now available in the new freebies section! Based on the wee pattern, the wee bunny is easy to make and very versatile. I used the ever abundant fleece, fuzzy side up, for my solid front but you could use whatever you like. The pattern calls for a pompom butt. I made my using my new pom pom maker and some yarn. You can go that route or you can buy poms at the fabric store or sew one up, whatever works easiest for you. The ears are flat and not stuffed and I just zigzagged them together for the easiest ear possible. If you want puffy ears you could cut the pattern pieces a little larger and sew right sides together, turn inside out and stuff before sewing them into the bunny.
As with all my free patterns, please make them for personal use only. Please don’t make a litter of bunnies and start selling them on etsy. If you’re dying to make some to give away to people you don’t know, why not make some up and donate them to kids at Artists Helping Children, a wonderful organization that distributes donated handmade toys (knitted or sewn) and other handmade items to sick and needy children.
some excellent mail
When Ginny, a librarian in Seattle, emailed me out of the blue with the subject line “want books” I of course emailed back “yes please!” boy, I had no idea what amazingness I was in for. She’s got my number!
Lokomotywa, a Polish children’s book of poetry by Julian Tuwim, illustrated by Jan Marcin Szancer, 1938. Of course we’re huge into trains around here, and the colors and illustrations are so beautiful. I love this book. more photos from the train poem here and here
there are two other poems in the book, here’s an illustration from “Ptasie Radio”
Ginny also sent this great Funny Jungleland flip book put out by Kelloggs in 1909
and even more! these amazing beautiful vintage buttons, a great retro kitchen towel and a super fun vintage casserole book too. Thank you so much Ginny! I feel so so lucky that these beautiful things have come to live with us.
I speak for the trees
I finished up that baby quilt I was working on this morning and it just came out of the dryer all nice and crinkly. In the end I decided to forgo the tying and french knots plan. I kept trying it, different colors, different yarns and it just wasn’t working. It wasn’t nearly as dramatic as I’d envisioned and it made the quilt too folky instead of the more modern look I was going for. I moved the trees around some too. I really like how they are running off the page now. For the binding I used a vintage scenic linen towel. It was a labor of love because although it was big for a towel it was still a smallish square and I had to piece together about ten small strips to make the binding. It was worth it though. I’m very happy with the blue sky border.
Now I’m ready to get another quilt up on the felt wall. Something about quilts, no matter how much time they take to finish as soon as it comes out of the dryer I feel ready to jump into a new one.
freebie sewing pattern
A free pattern for Pointy Kitty is now available to download! She’s a sort of trial run for the pattern booklets we’re working on. The PDF includes instructions and the pattern pieces. If you give her a shot I’d love to hear how it goes. Any feedback would be great!
