here be projects...lots of them

in my mind, i defend all the craft supplies by the fact that sometime in may, i'll be unemployed. and in my mind, between now and then, i'll spit out piles and piles of adorable felted dolls, embroidered hand towels  and etsy banner sets (graphics) to keep us afloat until the wits program picks up in the 2013 new school year. yeah, in my mind, my crafting can keep up my financial end from may through october. i'm funny, right?? at least i have that!

lately, as i mentioned earlier, i started needle felting. it's a lot of fun and really portable. i've made some mini houses, a couple fairies, a faceless cat, and a geisha doll. i have a few boxes of roving felt to keep me through the long spring (it's texas, i can't claim an endless winter like i could in alaska).

i also taught myself (and am in the middle of TEACHING myself) really basic graphic design. i love blogs and i love redesigning blogs and i'll be hammed (yes, i said hammed and not the other word...i'm improving myself, people!) if i want to keep paying people $40 a pop to do something i sorta half like but will redo in a few months anyway. the blog headers aren't as easy, though i'm getting better (this very blog header above was my first one..not TOO bad, right?)

but what i am pretty decent at is combining digital scrapbooking kits (way cheaper than their tangible counterparts) and making etsy shop banner sets. now those are super fun and super fast. i'm not the high art type...i'm pretty  much the classic cutesy, kawaii girl any day of the week, so that's what i've been working in.

this week i'm working on a new etsy shop, darjeeling's designs and as i get better at and bored with banner sets, i'll start tinkering with blog design. someday. ha!

not that i didn't love the mugs. and not that it didn't keep us afloat a couple times this winter. it's just that, well, i have a goldfish brain and i need new stimulus or i'll go crazy and chuck the plastic castle out of my bowl. oh, and shipping charges for those mugs was ba-nay-nays.

i also have MILLIONS of threads of embroidery floss and yarn. someday i'll work on my sketches for embroidery. and someday i'll teach myself to knit, but i wouldn't hold my breath on that one. my kids are WAY too interested in knitting needles and i see the way kenna eyes her brother sometimes...i'd hate to arm the violence with my bamboo knitters.

hope the week is awesome where you are!

At last! Lulu is here...

Well, and by "Lulu" I mean that legless doll part conglomoration I was calling "Maisie" last weekend. (See here.) The pattern came from a book by the very talented Hilary Lang of Wee Wonderfuls fame and I. Love. Her. Stuff. It's true.

The pattern was relatively easy, even for a noob sewer like me, although I have to admit that while I spent the last few steps attaching the various body parts by hand, I was thinking to myself "self, there's got to be an easier way." And I think there might be. So for future creations, I might work on tweaking that bit because let's face it, folks, I am not the neatest of hand stitchers. I suck at it, actually.

But the directions were pretty straight forward and now I look at fat quarters in a whole new doll house fashion/coordination light. It's tons of fun. The finished product was supposed to have a pony tail sewn in there, but in all my excitement, I totally forgot to attach it. And then when it came time, I was so sick of poking myself and making my thumb bleed, I decided against hand sewing one on. I left her with a cute "pixie" haircut...sorta like my girl 'Kenna has herself. To compensate for the lack of flowing locks, I dug out an applique strawberry I had in the sewing box from a year or so back when I swore I was going to knit the world's cutest baby blanket (which currently sits in my basket as the world's cutest oblong washcloth. Whatever.)

The strawberry did it's part and I think Lulu is divine. The name, by the way, is courtesy of big brother Andrew. He simply said "she should be Lulu" and she was. Amazing powers, that boy has. He then stated that he wanted one too, and when I pressed and asked him if he really wanted a girl "dolly," (I was more than willing to make him one), he paused and changed his order.

"I want a monkey."

And there it is.

Add to that the "dragon blanket" Boy Wonder ordered, and there go any plans I might have for the next few weeks. My chldren have spoken, folks. I am but their humble, sewing, bloody-thumbed servant. I included a recent "smile" face photo of Kenna just for kicks. And to show you just how much that girl's got me wrapped around her baby fingers. Who wouldn't sew for her?

Have a great weekend!

Humble Fabric Beginnings...

I'm calling her Maisie. And even though I forgot to sew in her pig tails before sewing the body together, I still think she's on her way to perfect. Call me biased. All that's left now is the hand sewing steps and I had my fill of tangled thread yesterday...the finishing touches will wait til a little later this week.

But I was excited. And I wanted to share.

Happy Monday!

Me and My Sewing Machine

A long time ago, before Boo was born (you know, my three year old?), I taught myself to sew. Well, technically, the Singer DVD included with my machine and my most awesomest of awesome husbands who took Home Ec in middle school taught me to sew.

It wasn't fancy by any means. A rag quilt here, a burp cloth there. When Boo was born I was a wise little blackbird and refocused on my writing. (I'm sure the student loans as a reminder did nothing to urge me on to use the craft I was paying so dearly for...)

It's been a good two years since I dusted off my simplest of simple sewing machines, but last weekend I did. I hauled out my old fabric stash, I organized the old projects that I'd left in stick pin limbo.

Oh, sure, I forgot how to thread the needle and I boned it on the bobbin once or twice, but eventually, I was able to sew a very simple fleece blanket for the Boo. (See the picture? He loves "beep beeps" of any flavor, so the fact that these are farm machines and he's never seen a farm means nothing to him. I am a rockstar!)And thanks to one of the cutest books I've come across in a long, long time, I began to sew again.

It was a bumpy re-start, but it happened. From there, I was inspired to try a real project, and thanks to Kasja Wikman's book "Scandinavian Stitches" (a random buy from Amazon.com, thankee verra much!), I was hooked. Again.

I made two teensy projects, which, in hindsight could have worked against me. See, I'm not the greatest at small turns and tight corners...I'm more of an "open road" sort of sewer (read it: long, long stretches of flannel material all pinned out before me. I love blankets!)

The first project I attempted was the Spring Bird. In the fabric stash I'd found, there lived some vintage pillow cases my mama had sent me. One of them I actually recogniz

ed as my old pillow case from when I was in middle school. A few snips and stitches and one button eye later, and I had an adorable, Scandinavian spring bird for the mantle. (I've mentioned my family's heritage is very, very Norwegian before, haven't I? I'm sure I have...once or fourteen times.)

Wikman's approach at quilts and stitched art is whimsical and a ton of fun...just up my alley. I

have a few more projects dog-eared in the book that I'm planning, including some appliqued quilts and a few more pillowcase birds. All of these are building blocks on my way to my ultimate destination...a rag doll for Miss Makenna.

I dream in rag doll color combinations. I live for the day that I don't sew out of bounds around a

gently-curved head or get my embroidery thread knotted into an oblivion when I'm trying to stitch an eyebrow. Someday soon...

In the meantime, here's a picture of me and my Boo. I'm wearing yellow and I'm

smiling. It's about as close to Springtime in Anchorage as we'll get this month.

And Boo? Well, he's smiling because he's been in big-boy undies all week. My man....

Happy Spring melting to all you luckier folks!