While She Naps

dog and some thrifting

After finishing the blue bird I decided to go back and revisit one of my old patterns.  I made this dog  pattern a long while ago (maybe last spring?) and he was a cutie, but I was always frustrated with his legs because they kept splaying out no matter what I did. I would make the under gusset smaller and smaller, but to no avail.  Since then, though, I've learned a bit about how to put darts in an under gusset that totally solve this problem (all of my birds are made this way). 

So here is the new version.

I sewed pipe cleaners in his ears so they are posable.  Pipe cleaners are a great solution because they are  soft, but are still wire. I ended up adding a lot of spots because Stella basically didn't nap yesterday afternoon and I can hand sew in her room while she plays.

This morning Charlie took Roxanne to Whole Food to buy everything for the Seder on Monday (we're hosting again so I'll be cooking quite a bit in the next three days - good thing I enjoy that sort of thing) and I took Stella to the flea market at the Needham Congregational Church.  For $3.60 total we found a lovely linen cloth napkin, an owl bank (so great!) and a recipe box (perfect for me because my old one that I bought at Wal-Mart in Greenwood, Mississippi is broken).

On the Seder menu:

-homemade salmon gefilte fish
-homemade horseradish (this is Charlie's job)
-homemade haroset
-matzoh ball soup (I use the mix - it's seriously tasty)
-sweet and sour brisket (my mom's recipe)    
-broccoli rabe with garlic
-carrot and apple tsimmes (a new-to-me recipe from Charlie's colleague)
-and homemade sponge cake (from the Joy of Cooking) with berries and ice cream for dessert

Whew!  I better get started.

flock of small birds

 
Four small birds together.  I finished the blue one today.  I like the monochrome birds - there is something interesting about seeing the whole bird in shades of just one color.  Enough birds for now. It is time to move on to something new.

Maritza came out to see my show today.  It was great fun to talk about toys and blogging and to hear more about Manny the Mantis.   

Tomorrow afternoon my show comes down.  It has been such an awesome experience for me and the month has really flown by. I'm so thankful to the art committee at the library for accepting my application and allowing me to show my work there. I will be donating 10% of all proceeds from the show will go to the Wellesley Public Library. 

And now, I am looking for a new venue to show my work.  If you know of anywhere, local to Boston or otherwise, that you think might want to exhibit my work, please let me know!   Having an exhibit is really super motivating for me.  It helps so much to think of all the toys together as a whole and pushes me to create new patterns and try new techniques. 

bird in grays

This was so much fun. To create a bird entirely from gray fabrics I dyed myself.  The contrasting textures of different grades of linen and muslin. The different shades of gray each one became when immersed for a short time in black dye.  Combining them together to create this inquisitive little fellow.  Sheer pleasure for me.

small bird #2 and some other things

This small bird is all oranges and greens - I'm in the mood for spring, I think, even though it snowed again last night. 

I had a lovely morning on Friday.  Kristin came out to see my show and then we went to get some coffee at a beautiful coffee shop here that I rarely visit for some reason.  Kristin is just as funny in person as she is on her blog and we had a really nice time chatting about thrifting and blogging and life in general. She brought me some red velveteen and an anthology of Madeline stories for the girls.  Such a nice, grown-up morning for me.

My awesome sister, Rachel, is visiting us for a few days for D.C.  During nap time yesterday we dyed some fabric.  These were all different shades of white and cream. Some of the pieces are cotton muslin, some are polyester blends and some are linen.

We used black dye and took them all out a bit early so that we ended up with all these incredible shades of grey.  So exciting!  Many grey toys to come.

And finally, please vote in the Softie Awards .  You do not need to have entered to vote. In fact you don't need to sew or make toys or anything.  My long-legged bird with the gold wings will love you for it, and so will I!

small bird

Inspired by the drawings of the boat-tailed grackle in our Sibley guide

I did some sketching of smaller birds. 

I like the long tail on this bird, but not the dark colors.  I'm in a bit of an orange phase right now.

Same vintage necktie for the wings as on the goldfish belly.  It looks both like fish scales and like feathers to me (and its got the orange).

Long tail feathers with interfacing inside to make them stiff.  I think they could be a bit stiffer, even. The bird is pictured here on a really nice piece of blue and white fabric from Mimi who came to see my show today (without me because both Roxanne and Stella have ear infections) and then came over for a chat and some freshly baked bread. We always have so much fun together.

Wow is it easier to make a shorter bird!  This one just stood up and balanced instantly.  A satisfying project.

Softie Awards

I'm really excited that my bird with gold wings is a finalist in the Softie Awards! 

That day last week when I was feeling down I got the best pick-me-up when I checked my in-box and there was an email from Therese saying that my  piece had been chosen.  I love this particular bird and it was the very first thing that sold when I put all the work from my show up in my shop and the first toy (of many now) that sold for over $100. 

Looking at the Softie Awards flickr gallery over the last month or so has been a great source of inspiration for me and has introduced me to many  new soft toy artists that I didn't know about before.  Two of my favorite new-to-me plush makers are Camilla Taylor (I'm sort of obsessed with her work now) and Spooky Daddy (the rare man who sews awesome toys). 

It looks like voting will begin at the end of the week, but until then check out all the finalists here. There are so many beautiful pieces to look at.

goldfish

I was at a party on Saturday night and someone mentioned to me that when there is nothing to do and she is need of an indoor acitivity, she takes her kids to the pet store to look at the animals.  Why hadn't I thought of this before? 

We headed over to Pet World in Natick yesterday afternoon after "naptime" (when nobody actually napped).  I picked Pet World over Petco (which are both in the same shopping center) because I figured there would be more actual pets.  We had a great time. They have a giant parrot that said, "peekaboo," to Roxanne.

And I did some goldfish research for this guy.

His belly is a piece of a thrifted necktie that reminded me of fish scales. 

pufferfish

Thank you for your kind and caring comments about my feelings of isolation recently. I so appreciate them.  As far as my creative slump, I tend to just sew through this kind of thing.  Just keep sewing and sewing and it will work itself out. So, on to the next toy.

I have been bombarded by images of pufferfish recently.  We finally framed and hung up a series of lovely photos from the Amherst College (Charlie's alma mater) geology department's collection of natural creatures which included this pair of pufferfish. I just love the little one.

And Roxanne saw a pufferfish a few weeks ago in a fish tank at the mall and has been fascinated by them ever since.  She'll tell you:

"I caught a pufferfish, took it home, cut out the poison, cooked it and ate it for dinner. 

It was delicious."

Uh huh. 

Charlie got her this card for her birthday

This ceramic pufferfish has sat on my desk for months now. I found him at Global Thrift in Waltham. 

Then I saw this pillow in the Chiasso catalog.

I just love the idea of rolled felt cones on a pillow - and it reminded me so much of a pufferfish. So that was it, I needed to at least try to make one. 

Here he is.

And from the sides

 
Roxanne loves him. Charlie feels his spikes are too big.  I think he's hilarious.

a lanky linen guy and a creative funk

Inspired by this photo in the most recent Marie Claire Idees

I made this lanky linen guy.  I'm really not sure what kind of animal he is. 

I put a fishing weight inside his body and filled his feet with poly pellets so he has a nice heft.

I'm in a pretty big creative funk.   Charlie says I go through this every three to six months.  Maybe this is true.  I think this one is caused by feeling isolated.  Sometimes I think that making soft toys saves me on a daily basis - it connects me with this awesome online creative community, it keeps me thinking, and it gives me something that I do for myself when I am spending the remaining hours of my days doing so much for my children.   

At other times, though, I feel like making soft toys during nap time and in the evening (yes, I do sew in the evenings, not just during nap time) has a tendency to isolate me from other people.  I find myself getting so annoyed if the phone rings between 1:00 and 3:00 pm, even if it is a friend calling.  I am sometimes hesitant to commit to going out in the evenings during the week because I "need" to be sewing.  Do I really need to sew? Having two babies at home to care for, the older of whom is a very anxious and socially wary child, is enough to isolate someone, and sometimes sewing alone seems to just seal the deal.

I need some creative inspiration and some dates with friends (with and without the kids around) and I think things will pick up again.

two elephants (no tusks) - bare essentials

I took off the tusks on the first elephant and I like him better - simpler. And I made him a twin.  I love how weighty these are - they have 2 ounce fishing weights inside and they sit so nicely. Fishing weights are awesome.  These two will be part of the set of toys that go to Beehive Co-Op in Atlanta.