While She Naps

Mail and a new bear in the works

I received this lovely little package from Fiona. We did a little swap for her lion pin cushion and she sent along some adorable printed fabric and woven cherry ribbon and...real wool blanketing! It is so thick and soft I couldn't believe it. Her cats made from this material must be really sturdy and so snuggly. It's too bad that wool blanketing of this quality just doesn't seem to be available around here.

Recently I've only had the energy to do little projects. I am working on the design for a new small bear. I had made this one a while ago and Charlie is very fond of him. This version is smaller and has a different nose. I like the shape of the face patch on the green one better - its contours follow the shape of its ears - and I also like the embroidery on the face of the green one. I think I'm going to make those changes on subsequent versions.

I just took a shower and washed my hair. It felt so nice to not be in a rush! Roxy is down to one nap on most days now so in the mornings she roams around the bathroom getting into mischief of one kind and another while I'm in the shower. I hate rushing through my morning shower so tonight I decided to take one in the evening and it was so nice. It's the little things, you know?

I've signed up to do a craft fair on November 3rd. It is being put on by a local organization that I belong to for women with children. I've never done a craft fair before. Anyone who has have any advice for me as I get ready? It would be much appreciated.

White Fuzzy Bear #2

I made this fuzzy bear as a special order for a colleague of Charlie's. I think she bought it as a baby shower gift. She looked at my photo album and picked this one and I made another just like it. It was sort of weird to replicate a bear I've made in the past. I think they came out just alike.

On a totally unrelated note, I think these cards by sidepony are so lovely. I originally saw the link for them at Design Sponge.

Needle Case

Because I didn't participate in back-tack the first time around (I didn't have a blog yet), I don't have much in the way of creative notions holders. I was sorely lacking a needle case, especially since a few weeks ago I moved all my sewing supplies into the new sewing box that Charlie got me for my birthday. My old shaker box which I got for my Bat Mitzvah and which had a cracked top from when I stepped on it when I was 14, had a little pin cushion attached to it that I used to use for needles.

So over the weekend I made this needle book out of some wool felt and embroidery floss.

It has a snap closure and folds out to provide plenty of room for needles. The pattern, again, is from the Mabs Tyler book. She's really brilliant. Every pattern in that book works well. I wonder if she's still writing? I just located another book by her on ebay, The Big Book of Dolls. Tempting...

Speaking of awesome crafty authors, mrspilkington pointed me to Jean Ray Laury's website which lists all of her books - the two I'd like most are Doll Making: A Creative Approach and The Total Tote Bag Book. She also contacted Jean Ray Laury herself who apparantly is now 77 and writing a quilting mystery!

Dolly Purse

Last night I finally had some crafting energy and made this dolly purse. At the top of the head there's a button

and when you open it up you can store all your treasures inside.

The pattern came from A Treasury of Needlecraft for the New Baby which I've posted about before. Here are some pictures of the project from the book

I thought it would the perfect thing for a little girl to carry around. A doll and a purse combined! I've been meaning to make some things for my twin nieces in New York (who are just two months younger than Roxy) and I think they might enjoy this. The question is - can they share or do I need to make another?

ATC swap and a neat book

At the library the other day I discovered a children's book I'd never seen before - "Bembo's Zoo: An Animal ABC Book" by Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich. The author is originally from Brazil. All the illustrations in the book are made up of the letters in the word they illustrate. The only colors used are black, white, orange and turquoise. Look how neat these are!

And here is his self-portrait. "Bembo" is the name of the font he used to create all the illustrations.

I finally finished a third ATC last night so I was able to mail off a package to her package off to Shell in Australia this morning. Here is my series.

And I got her package in the mail yesterday. Here is the lovely card she made.

and her ATCs.

Thanks, Shell, for starting my collection!

Oven Mitt

Inspired by this these beautiful oven mitts, I took out my new Denyse Schmidt Quilts book and made an oven mitt. Charlie helped me pick out the vintage fabric for the outside and the white canvas lining. I enjoyed machine quilting it, too. I need to add a loop on one end so that I can hang it on the hook where the oven mitts go in our kitchen. This oven mitt project is my kind of craft -quick, satisfying, and useful! I think these would make nice housewarming presents.

Kangaroo

I finished the kangaroo from the Mabs Tyler book. She is made of wool felt and sewn on the machine.
I made her a little garland of felted beads with seed beads on them, inspired by the garland here.

Her joey is also wool felt and is hand sewn with embroidered details. He can either be tucked into the pocket or taken out and played with.

Fabric

Lovely brown vintage-look fabric with apples and pears.

Eiffel tower fabric that will make a lovely dress for a bear and some awesome polka dots.

Look at that black and white one!

This one is a larger print. I think it looks like an abstract cut paper collage.

I think that one on the right might be my very favorite - there is only a small square of it so I have to save it for something special.

These are a few of my favorites from the big box of scraps I received from Alexia. There are dozens of pieces of fabric in there. When I sorted through them last night I just pulled out a very few to post.

I also received a lovely little painting from Holli. I'm a little behind finishing the piece I am making to send her in return, but it's coming!

Last night I also started working on the kangaroo and joey from The Big Book of Soft Toys. Because I transfered the pattern onto larger paper without a grid I've had to make a few adjustments to the pattern pieces along the way. I think it's going to work out and come out nicely, though.

Today Roxy and I had lunch with a friend of ours and her daughter who moved away to Omaha right when I started my blog. It's been three months now and it was so nice to see them again and to think about how much I've learned about crafting from sewing every day and reading lots of crafty blogs every day these last three months! Wow.

ATCs, a new bear and a big box of scraps

Over the weekend I got a start at making some Artist Trading Cards (ATCs). I had a lot of fun cutting the selvedges off some of my fabric and incorporating them into designs with dots and birds. These are the two that I came up with.

Since The Village Baby bought all my bears yesterday (!) my basket of softies was looking a little empty. I made this guy last night with some more of the Kaffe Fassett print in green.

The mailman came early today and brought me the most wonderful package of fabric scraps from Alexia. I feel like I hit the scrap jackpot - so many beautiful pieces to sort through! Tomorrow I will post some of my favorites.

Yipee!

My bears are now for sale at The Village Baby in Brookline, MA.