While She Naps

Safetey eyes are evil

I went to a doctor's appointment this morning and left Roxanne with a babysitter for two hours. And she did great. I was nervous about leaving her because she is so focused on mommy and she hardly ever stays with anyone else during the day. She cried for five minutes when she first woke up from her nap, and then was totally fine. I was so glad.

Today I made a bear from a thrifted Banana Republic wool scarf and some vintage curtain fabric for the dress. I am trying to make my bears baby friendly which means two things: soft and safe. So, I have put aside some of the itchier wool in favor of the soft furs and fleecy things. And, I bought some safety eyes.

Here is what I learned: I hate safety eyes!

First of all, I was looking for the 8 mm but they were nowhere to be found so I had to settle on the 12 mm. Secondly, as you can probably see in this picture, even though I cut the tiniest of holes in fabric to insert the eye, it tore and now is fraying around the eye. And they just don't have the same personality as button eyes. Buttons give the eye a pupil-like focus - these just have a blank stare. And, you know, my baby never tore an eye off a bear and choked on it anyway.

Back to button eyes it is. The dress was too fussy anyway.

Because I'm fuzzy

This new white fabric is so, so fuzzy! It's very soft and perfect for a baby to cuddle with, but let me tell you - it is a fuzzy thing to sew. The fabric for this bear's little dress comes via Katey at One Good Bumblebee. Thank you - it matched perfectly with this bear.

I'm saying good-bye to this little Japanese dog today. He is going to live in San Francisco.

My 30th birthday is next Wednesday. It feels weird to turn 30, but I'm okay with it. I feel like I am where I want to be in life at 30 and that is satisfying.

The challenge of presence

I was feeling so lonely and out of sorts yesterday. Sometimes I feel like my career has been stifled now that I am home with the baby. When I look back on my life before Roxy was born so much of my time and energy was spent developing my mind and my teaching career. I got my degree from Hopkins, I joined Teach For America and taught middle school in the Mississippi Delta. I was the education director at a non-profit, and I taught 6th grade here in Massachusetts. I have a master's degree from Harvard, after all! And now I'm home, changing poopy diapers and wiping down the high chair tray. And here and there I make stuffed animals.

I know, that's a harsh way to look at things, but that was how I was feeling yesterday. Charlie summed things up best last night (when I was sobbing and irrational) - it's the challenge of being present with our daughter. He faces the challenge of being absent because he is at work and only sees Roxy for a few minutes a day during the week. I'm happy and lucky to be home raising our daughter, but it is hard sometimes.

Meanwhile, in crafty news. I was looking at the Eskimo sculpture book and doing some sketching. I came across this beautifully minimal piece called "Swimming Bird"

which inspired me to make this.

And, to cheer me up last night (after Charlie let me take myself out to Starbucks for some iced coffee and time to myself), I made a little white mouse. And today I feel better.

Lollipop Doll

Here is the Spicy Brown t-shirt I was wearing yesterday

and here is the lollipop doll, asleep

and awake

Not my favorite project, but it did give me a chance to do shashiko on polka dots, which I wanted to try

and to make some felted beads

from the roving moki gave me.

Saturday morning shopping

I went to Magpie on Saturday and it was wonderful. They carry stuff from so many fabulous crafty women, including One Good Bumblebee, Sewing Stars, My Paper Crane, boygirl party, and so many others it was overwhelming. I had a lot of fun looking at everything and came away with an awesome journal from Ex Libris Anonymous. They take old books and make them into journals that are so beautifully done, with some of the pages from the original book interspersed throughout the blank pages of the journal. My journal was made from "The Bookshelf for Boys and Girls: Things to Make and Do" (1969). One of the owners of Magpie, Dave McMahon, was there working and I got to chat with him a little about my work.

I also got an excellent t-shirt from Spicy Brown which I would show here except that I'm wearing it right now. It has the kokeshi design on it. This morning, after I put it on and Roxy kept pointing at it excitedly I got inspired to make a softie of the kokeshi girl. I'll post her tomorrow.

While I was in Davis Square I also went to Goodwill and found this great striped pillow case and this fabric scrap,

for a grand total of $0.53. And I stopped in the used bookstore and found "A Treasury of Needlecraft for the New Baby" (1976)

This book includes some super parenting advice like"generally a small flat pillow is considered best for the baby." But check out this great pear bib

this beautiful house lap pad (from the days before super absorbent diapers)

and this terrific bird.

And I like these trees

and these bunnies (are they in a bush?).

This morning I took Roxy to the library and while she was walking around shrieking at a duck book, I happened to see a book of Eskimo sculpture. It is so beautiful and inspiring, full of simple shapes and lines and so many of the sculptures are mothers and daughters. I've been looking at it all afternoon.

Sock Monkey

Say hello to Chad, my sock monkey for Month of Softies. He is made from a pair of argyle's from bargain bin at Target. They were women's socks so he's a bit stumpy. I made him a pair of yellow dot coveralls fitted with a hole in the back for his tail to poke through. The textured buttons came from my grandma. His hat is the toe of one of Charlie's old socks with a little yellow embroidery.

Here he is without his cap sitting on Charlie's grandfather's trunk


and lounding on the lamb's ears in my garden.

I had never made a sock monkey before (thank Claire for the challenge!). They are quick, quick, quick and fun to clothe and they have so much personality.

New Owl

I've been thinking about a new owl pattern for a little while now. I finally drafted it today during Roxy's extra long morning nap, and here he is. I like his simple lines. Here is a detail of his face.

No fussy stitching - pure simplicity.

The last bear for now

I really do have other things to work on, but these little fellows are sort of irresistable.

Yesterday I sent off an email to Magpie in Davis Square to see if they would be interested in taking any of my work. I'm so nervous. I feel so intimidated reading about all the awesome artists and crafters who sell there (see here for a list of some of them). So intimidated in fact that I couldn't bring myself to actually visit the store before I sent the email - I just knew I would never actually do it if I saw for myself what they carry. Now, though, I am ready to take a look myself. Charlie is taking Roxy for his regular Saturday morning daddy daughter outing and I just may go over to Davis Square on my own to drool and drool. Besides, there is a great used bookstore there that has a nice vintage craft book section.

I'm saying goodbye to Black Kitty this week

She is going to live in Orlando. It feels good to sell some softies - my big basket of finished pieces is starting to empty out. Wish me luck with Magpie!

Two more bears and Taro Gomi

One more is in the works. The orange one is made from that alpaca scarf my mother-in-law gave me. My poor presser foot! I had to untangle is at least a half dozen times. Turns out alpaca is kinda hard to sew.

Before we went away on our vacation to the eastern shore of Maryland this summer, I stopped in at Wellesley Booksmith to buy some books that would keep Roxy occupied on the airplane. I stumbled upon this excellent book by Taro Gomi. If you haven't seen her illustrations, you need to. The book we have is called My Friends and it is about a little girl who learns all sorts of things from observing nature. Taro Gomi's website shows some of her illustrations Here are some of her beautiful drawings of chickens and birds:

and here is a little dog

and a bug

So cute. I need to get some more of her books.

New Bear

Here they are. Alone

and together.

A variation on the mod doll pattern - longer legs, a more square head shape, and bear features. I'm still working out a few kinks, but I'm liking this pattern. The faces are inspired by anano, but hopefully overall the bear is unique enough to be my own. I feel happy with their cuteness and there is certainly enough to work with here to keep my interest up - playing with different fabric and trim on the dresses, shoes and hair bows, colors and textures for the bodies.

Of course, it is so hard not to get side tracked. Already I have an idea for a new kind of owl. Charlie likes owls and, although he is supportive of the bear idea, he feels that bears are a dime a dozen and owls are more unique. Maybe after a few more bears, I'll give the owls another try.

I also found a nice small rectangle of maple in our garage left over from the carpenter who built our fireplace surround. I'm planning a little painting for it. And I would really like to make a banner for the top of my site. I have an embroidery idea for that, too. Hmmph.... I do tend to get side tracked.