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Freebie Elf Stitchette Embroidery Patterns!

Freebies! Tra la la la…

I gave the ever popular redwork a try on these. I really like using a lot of colors when I embroider but I worked on these over Thanksgiving at my parents’ house so it was super easy to just bring one color of floss. I think they look really cute in all red.

We got our snow last night. Hurray! We’ve already been outside once this morning and now Oscar has  pulled his rocking chair over to the front door, parked himself and firmly announced that he’s waiting there til we go outside again. Poor Mom better layer up this time.

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cottonball creatures

these awesome old pipe cleaners I found at the resale shop + theresa’s post on cody foster and wondering how spun cotton ornaments are made + my current obsession with crazy vintage handmade ornaments = an oscar-free afternoon turning into a whirlwind of crazy ornament making activity! I unrolled cotton balls and used the strips of cotton to wrap up spools, wooden wheels, plastic eggs, anything I could find really and then glue gunned on little heads and buttons and birds, etc. so much fun! I could do this and only this for weeks and weeks but I have to force myself to put away the glue gun and get back to my christmas to-do’s.

sheep spool

with fawn

jingle face

santa button hat

cross bird lady with snowball head

red bird girl

button full of snowballs

sledding

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thank you!

Hey holiday crafters! Thank you so much for the put-together book orders over the past 2 days!! I can’t wait to see all the amazing robots you guys come up with and craft vicariously through you. Tim and I are always so excited about our little self-publishing projects and we’re so grateful and thrilled (and relieved!) when people are excited about them too.

Speaking of Tim, I always assume it goes without saying, but maybe it doesn’t, he is, of course, the one who did the Spaceboy & Robot’s booklet cover design. I love it so much! We were under such a tight deadline this time, trying to get it out by Christmas. I assigned him covers and started working on patterns and instructions and I swear he did this thing in one night. He’s a star.

Here’s the new thank you card that’s going out with orders. Miss Hobbibot is very excited about her new role as ambassador of gratitude.

In shipping news, the first batch of orders went out this morning and the rest should be out by this afternoon. And now for a public service announcement: I ran into a problem with the orders that I wanted to let you all know about because I know a lot of you are selling things online and using paypal. I always track my orders from the email notifications that paypal sends me. Starting Monday, emails from paypal have been going missing. This has never happened with me and paypal before and I’ve been using it for forever. I called them and they said that “email notifications are not guaranteed”. ok, swell. I’m guessing it’s the holiday surge. I had to go through every transaction in paypal for the last week or so and double check to make sure I’d caught it. That’s how I noticed it just started on Monday. There were quite a few that hadn’t made it into my inbox and it appears to be getting worse as the days go on. So, if you’re using paypal and relying on the emails, guess that’s not the best way to go. And please do not worry, you don’t need to email me to check that I got your order, I’ve been through it a 100 times and I’ve got everyone.

Paypal will not ruin our plans for robot domination!

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Spaceboy & Robot

Why do robots have to be so hard? All cold and metal and beepy. And ever tried to cuddle up to a plastic Buzz Lightyear for a napper? We think space toys should be squishy and lovable and wrapped up under the tree this year. Put-together Book #2 Spaceboy and Robot is in the shop now for the low, stocking stuffing price of only $10!

12 page booklet includes full size pattern pieces, complete instructions and 6 additional control panel embellishment options (embroidered for babies and bedazzled for older kids).

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experiments

I’ve had the idea for this doll forever and then had her half finished for another forever. Feels so good to have her done finally. Shoeless, but done.

Back when I was tearing strips for this rag knitting project I had the idea that it would make pretty cool doll hair. I really like how it turned out. Kind of primitive raggedy ann-ish but at the same time, still more polished. She needs a little beret I think. She has beret hair.

The book I was showing yesterday is a Japanese book on embroidery that had some smocking projects in it. I thought I’d smock her dress up all fancy. First time out with smocking and I thought it’d all be made clear after looking at a few diagrams with Japanese explanations. So, yeah, not so much. I had to get out my Guide to Needlework and try the simpliest smocking pattern they had and still.. so hard! I think I’m going to have to actually read the directions or something. piffle.

Oh and about the dress fabric. I’m stumped. I think I got it at a quilt shop in Wisconsin this Summer. I emailed them to see if they had any info on it. I only got a 1/4 yard and it didn’t catch any of the selvedge info. I’ll post here if I figure it out. I’d like to get more of it myself. Why do I get all cheap at the fabric store and only get quarters!