While She Naps

I'm back

Last night we arrived home from our vacation. We survived two very turbulant flights. Traveling with a toddler is also pretty crazy, but we made it. The weather was very sunny and warm and we had lots of beach time. Roxanne got to spend time with grandma and grandpa and interact with both of their dogs, which was very exciting for her. I got to hang out with my sister and even managed to do some shopping, thrift and otherwise.

Before I left, this package of vibrant vintage fabric arrived:

I bought a bag of assorted vintage buttons at a thrift store in Ocean View. I also bought some origami paper, awesome square stone beads and a Japanese monkey mug at Japanesque in Bethany. All of these are in a package we mailed home which hasn't arrived yet. I will post pictures when it gets here.

At a little store in Rehobeth I bought this terrific book of postcards by Yoshitomo Nara.

They are too good to mail out. I love the graffiti backgrounds

and the surly faces.

I missed sewing and crafting and blogging while I was away. I am so glad I cut out the two yellow and black owls before I left so I could jump right back in last night. They are almost done. It's so good to be home!

Vacation!

We leave for a week's vacation to the eastern shore of Maryland tomorrow so no posts for a while. I'm excited for my parents to spend some time with Roxanne and I'm excited to see my awesome sister, Rachel. I love going to Bethany because we spent a week there every summer when I was a child. It brings back all sorts of good memories of spending the days swimming in the ocean and sailing on the bay with my dad and the evenings wandering around the boardwalk and going on the rides with my sister and brother. Maryland crabs are one of my favorite foods - I always asked to eat crabs as my special birthday meal (my birthday is in early August right at the peak of the season).

Anyway, no crafting and no blogging for a little while. Perhaps in a last spurt of sewing energy I cut out two owls last night from a piece of wonderful yellow and gray vintage fabric I just got.

I'm hoping to make the faces from a piece of black brocade from my mother-in-laws scrap bag, although I've never sewn with this kind of fabric before so I'm not sure how it will go. I also fine-tuned my owl pattern a little in an effort to make all the seams very tidy and the finish more professional.

Be back in a week!

Fabric Postcard #2

I'm practicing embroidery stitches. For this postcard I chose an image from my book of Japanese Family Crests, modified it and drew it on some white canvas leftover from our wedding chuppah. I love the crazy black and transparent button on the top right corner. The back, which isn't pictured, is green and white floral fabric from a thrifted napkin.

We are getting ready to go on vacation to my parent's beach house in South Bethany. I'm already having both crafting and blogging withdrawal, but hopefully the sun and sea and building sand castles with the baby will be enough of a distraction.

Cinnamon

I finished this little kitty today. She is wearing a dress made from a vintage tea towel. The flower in her hair is meant to echo the flowers on her dress. She has little red mary janes on her feet. I used the same pattern for her that I used to make Sarah and Sonya. I think she is nifty and certainly very fluffy.

We had a guy here last week regrouting our shower and doing some other tile work around the house. The seam between the two slabs of granite on our counter top in the kitchen is rather sloppy and I've wanted to get it sealed since we moved here. I asked him what could be done about it and he said, "Well, you can't polish a turd." Not an expression that I would readily come up with, but I find myself thinking it now when I am at that awkward stage that all craft projects go through. The stuffed animal looks kinda funny and I ask myself whether I should just call it quits or keep adding to it in the hopes that it might come out lovely in the end. I think that sometimes I am just polishing a turd, but you never know, do you.

There is an ad in Dwell this month for seatbelt bags like this one

These are so cute! They are made of genuine seatbelts and must be so sturdy. I love the backpack. My 30th birthday is coming up, people. Hint hint.

Happy Father's Day

to Charlie who is one terrific Dad

who loves to cuddle with our little girl

and with all my stuffed animals, too.

Green bear and yard sale finds

I finished this green bear today. His body is made from a thrifted pillow case. I think he's rather nifty. Charlie has told me that my stuffed animals are "taking over our bedroom" so this little guy is up for adoption.

This morning Charlie took the baby for three hours so I could go to yard sales. Yard sales in Wellesley are excellent. I got what looks like two yards of green wool felt for $1 as well as these two lovely tea towels that will make excellent frocks for bears and bunnies:

and this Dansk peppermill:

I also got some patterns for doll clothes. All together I spent less than $10.

Roxy went in her for 15 month visit on Friday. She is 21 pounds and 3 ounces! That is so unbelievable considering that last March, when she was born, she was 4 pounds 7 ounces. What a big girl. There was a little stuffed dog on the exam table so Roxy got to say "woof woof" to the pediatrician. After her shots, I took her out for pizza and on the way home we stopped at this little Japanse store in Brookline that I've always wanted to visit and got this excellent devil mask:

June Bug

I finished my submission for Month of Softies. This month's theme is June Bug. I made this bug from an original design. His legs are posable and are made from cotton calico (thanks again Bertha!) and his body and stinger are wool felt. He has little wool felt wings on his back. I debated adding some pincers, but they were making him look lobster-esque. Does he need some antennae?

Father's Day cards for grandpa

Since I don't think my dad reads my blog, here is his Father's Day card. It is actually a card I made a while ago, but I just made the envelope today (excuse my finger but the flap wouldn't stay down).

Here is another envelope I made also.

I love these two papers. They are from Paper Source, an addictive and expensive place which conveniently opened a branch here in Wellesley shortly after we moved here (Paper Source was one of thing I felt sad about leaving in Brookline, but have no worries). Other good news is that Charlie won a free class at Paper Source for me at a charity auction two weeks ago. Yipee! I have always wanted to try one of their classes. He's even offered to babysit.

The little one and I had a hard day today. I woke up two days this week with terrible neck aches from sleeping in the wrong position. I'm thinking it may be time for a new pillow. After a workout at the gym this evening I'm feeling a bit better. Roxy slept nearly all day today. I think this new-fangled nap schedule was just leading to cumulative sleep deprevation. I felt so bad! She was sleeping like a newborn yet today was her 15 month birthday. I think tomorrow we are going back to the two nap a day business for a while longer.

Look how beautiful these cakes are

Wow. While lurking at a Live Journal cake decorating board (something I often do) I found a link to these cakes made by JollyBe Bakery. Each one is really a work of art. And, wouldn't you know it, they are made by a woman who was home with her second child and started baking and decorating cakes. Here name is Ruth Seidler and you can check out her site here.

This one is inspired by Matisse "Jazz." We had a poster-sized coffee table book of the entire Jazz series on our coffee table when I was a child (that was a vintage Noguchi coffee table, by the way). I love this cake. I also love my parents furniture, but that's a whole other post.

June Bug is in progress

I started work on my June Bug for a Month of Softies. I didn't submit one for May even though the theme was May Flowers which was so open to interpretation. So I feel I must get down to work on June Bug now before we go away at the end of the month and I have no time for crafting.

Here are some sketches I've made for the bug. As you can tell, my projects tend to start out in very rough form. After I've chosen what animal to make, I usually start by looking it up on google images. Then, I do a web search for mass market soft toys of that animal. And then I start some rough sketches, usually on whatever notebook paper happens to be near the computer.

Attaching the legs and the eyes is the challenge with this one. Let's see how it goes.

The garden is blooming and blooming. I promise some pictures of it soon.