While She Naps

I wish that hedgehog were real, I wish that hedgehog were my friend

I made this little guy from the same book that the giraffe is from and although he is a little cutie, he is not the hedgehog of my dreams. He's so tiny! Seriously, this guy fits in the palm of my hand. I am hoping to have Charlie take the pattern to work and enlarge it up on the copy machine. Turning and stuffing teensy tiny arms is just not my thing. All the same, look at that little blue scarf! I do like him.

I am getting ready for two dinner parties in two nights - tonight we are hosting two couples for a Chanukah dinner party. The menu:

-green salad with lemon shallot dressing
-African beef stew with dates (so tasty)
-latkes and homemade applesauce (with nutmeg, ginger and mace)
-Israeli couscous (the large kind)
-and for dessert, homemade chocolate chip cookies with ice cream and berries

and on Saturday night we are having two other couples over, both of whom would also be stuck at home with a baby and no babysitter on New Year's. We are setting up lots of Pack 'n Plays upstairs and having ourselves a nice dinner party and some board game playing down stairs. It is mostly potluck, but I am making prime rib, which I've never made before but there was a great recipe in the Times food section this week so I couldn't resist. Today, I'm polishing silver and cleaning the kitchen and doing some last minute prep work. Have a great weekend everyone!

*the title of this post is inspired by Mordant's Wish by Valerie Coursen, our latest obsession

Carved Stamp Swap

As promised here are some pictures from the carved stamp stationary swap moki set up. Click here and scroll down a bit to see the entire contents of the package and who made what. My favorites tended to be those featuring bird stamps like these three

but I also think this lion is adorable

and this clover print is so lovely.

Overall, the swap was really inspiring and fun. Thanks moki for organizing it!

Giraffe

We had a nice Christmas weekend, full of great food and good company. We managed to find a babysitter on Christmas Eve and treated ourselves to some awesome South Indian food in Framingham. And on Christmas Day we went for Lebanese food with good friends during the daytime and ordered super spicey Chinese food with other good friends in the evening. A fun and yummy three day weekend.

The past few days I have been working on a giraffe from this book originally posted about my Molly Chicken.

I think he came out very sweetly and what a lovely book! I mentioned to Charlie last night that a few months ago I don't think I could have made this little guy half as successfully as I can now. This project made me feel like I'm making progress and really learning to sew more beautifully.

The giraffe is made from cream-colored linen and a vintage orange and yellow floral. He is stuffed with both polyfil and plastic pellets for weight where he needed it. His spots are a super soft yellow fur material.

The big news today is that someone has just bought the entire contents of my Etsy shop! So strange for me to say good-bye to all my little fellows at one time, and yet wonderful to clear out some space for new creations. I have some items to photograph and put up in my shop to refresh things a bit so it won't look too empty. I think my crafting might finally start paying for itself -almost.

Esme

For the last few days I've been working on this doll. She is made from the same pattern as Sonya and Sarah, but this time I tried my hand at yarn hair. I've been afraid of attempting yarn hair that is sewn to the head for a long while now, but I'm glad I gave it a shot. She even has little curls along the nape of her neck in back.

Her dress is made from a piece of lovely vintage fabric in brown, green, red and white and I made some buttons of the same fabric as accessories - one for her hair

and one to fasten her backpack

and three more affixed to a little card as a present for whomever takes possession of her.

I named her Esme because I like the name Esme and because we are drowning in rejected baby names around here. I am at a total loss as to what to name the baby. I know we have until the spring to decide, but it is stressing me out feeling her kick her little feet and roll around in there and not knowing what her name will be.

Esme will go up in my shop shortly.

Gift basket and stationary sets

Roxy and I delivered the gift basket to Charlie's office this morning. Here is what it contained:

-crackers and goat brie
-plates, napkins and some knives for spreading
-assorted fruits
-star sugar cookies with lemon icing
-orange pound cake with orange glaze
-spiced almonds
-pistachios and
-chocolate coins

The Rox was a big hit, as usual, especially since I put two little pink bows on her pigtails this morning.

On Monday I received some excellent mail including a new Japanese craft book and the package from Moki's stationary swap (I promise some excellent photos of both later on). I was inspired to use my hand-carved stamp again, as well as another hand-carved stamp I made but didn't use in the swap. I came up with these two little stationary sets.

The cards are a wonderful rag paper, about 2" x 3", perfect for a little note of gift tag, and come with their own little envelopes all tied up with string and a button.

Four cards per pack. These will go up on my shop today and more to come later.

This is such a busy time of year. I feel like I'm really busy but nothing is getting done. Here is a list of things I've been working on:

-We hosted Charlie's office holiday party here last Thursday and I got the most beautiful flower arrangements from Winston's. Here is close up of the white amaryllis:

-I'm also working on a gift basket for his office. I did one last year and it was a lot of fun and pretty well-received. I just put the cookie dough in the fridge for a few hours. I want the cookies to look like this (I clipped this picture from a magazine a while ago)

and I'm making the orange pound cakes tonight. My house smells so wonderful right now because I just took the spiced almonds out of the oven.

This recipe is super - give it a try:

1 egg white
1 pound raw almonds
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher or coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cocoa
pinch cayenne (optional)

Heat oven to 300 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk egg white until foamy. Add almonds and toss to coat. Transfer to a colander to drain. Meanwhile, wipe out bowl and add remaining ingredients and whisk to combine well. Add nuts and toss to coat evenly with spice mixture. Place nuts on parchment or aluminum foil (dull side up) lined baking sheet and spread in one layer. Bake for 20 min. Using spatula stir the nuts and spread again into single layer. Bake until nuts are dry and mahogany colored, about 20 min. more. Cool completely before serving.

-We went to Modhaus this weekend for their holiday open house and bought a bunch of terrific mid-century furnishings. This rocker will go in the new baby's room for about a year and then will move into the living room.

This side table is for the living room, too.

Plus, we got Roxy a Heywood-Wakefield dresser and mirror for her room (her changing table is going into the new baby's room shortly). And we got a few other housewares, some of which will be gifts so I won't post them here.

-And, of course, there is always crafting going on. I started a log cabin quilt square.

I so love the ones Lisa makes and I got a book of quilt square patterns from the library last week that included one for log cabin squares. This was a lot of fun to try.

-I'm reading Handmade for Profit by Barbara Brabec and learning a bunch.

-And I'm finallly teaching myself to use Adobe Illustrator.

And even though that's a lot, it's really only half of what I'm up to. Whoa. And yet, I feel like nothing is getting done. Weird.

Sweater Hat

Need a cute holiday present you can make in 10 minutes? Sweater hats. I got a book this morning at the library called Rags: Making a Little Something Out of Almost Nothing, by Linda Allison, and in it are all sorts of great quick things to make. I happened to have a thrifted blue wool sweater laying around and give this hat a whirl. Here's how you make it:

1. Cut off the end of a sleeve about 10" in length and make sure it fits over your head. I have a massive head so this was a bit of a challenge.

2. Turn under raw edge and stitch it down. I only turned it once and I used blanket stitch. You could turn it twice for a neater look and do some decorative stitching if you like to get fancy.

3. Close the top of the hat (the cuff of the sweater) by putting in a line of running stitches and pulling them tight. You could add a pom pom or a tassel if you'd like.

Ta da!

Let me know if anyone give it a try. I'd love to see them.

Snowbot

My sister, Rachel, is visiting us from D.C. for a few days. We had some success finally in taking Roxy out in the snow. Instead of crying because there was snow on her boots, she actually enjoyed being pulled along on the sled and making a "baby snowbot." Notice the palm tree she is holding - hoping for warmer weather.

It's been so long since Rachel and I have crafted together. I remember when we used to get out all the construction paper and doilies and markers and make the best valentines. I bought Rachel a needle felting kit for Chanukkah and while she was trying her hand at making a felted flower, I made this blue tweed dog from The Splendid Soft Toy Book. At first I feared he looked too much like a hippo, but now he seems to have shaped up into a puppy. His ears are made from a vintage necktie.

On Sunday afternoon Charlie took the baby and we went to the Bazaar Bizarre in Boston. We got there right as it was starting, which was a good thing because by the time we left the line wrapped around the block. It was so nice to see so much interest in indie craftsters. I got to meet lots of people and bought this little nurse from My Paper Crane.

I also bought this incredible ring from Gimmick Jewelry. It's like a tiny piece of sculpture and I just love it. Thanks, Rachel, for being my hand model.

Rachel is leaving this afternoon. We will miss her!

a fish, a hedgehog, an ebay find and a snowstorm

We are seriously considering doing the new baby's nursery in black and white, maybe a few red accents. Inspired by this idea, I made another fish. Charlie helped me think of the contrasting yellow and purple for the eye.

A few days ago I saw this

found here thanks to Molly Chicken

and became interested in making a hedgehog. Here is my first attempt. Hmm...

And check out this fabric I got a few weeks ago on ebay

I'm not sure what to do with it yet - this is one of those yards you hate to actually cut into.

If only we were having a boy - Xenophon Bump!

It is so snowy here. Charlie stayed home from work. It is just beautiful outside. Too bad Roxy is afraid of snow and starts crying immediately when we go outside. Then, when we get back in, she insists on wearing her snow pants around the house for hours. Arrrgh.

Soft Block

Inspired by a project in my Jean Ray Laury book, A Treasury of Needlecraft Gifts for the New Baby, I made this soft block out of felt. Lots of good embroidery practice and it came out rather nicely. It's squishy and fun to play with. Such a fun, easy project - it came together in under two hours.

*Edit: The block is 5" square - I know it is hard to get a sense of size in these pictures.*