While She Naps

hen and egg

Porcelain hen from my folk art book.

Sketch.

Hen and egg.

vintage button swap

I received a beautiful package in the mail from Melissa for the Vintage Button Swap.

Everything came bundled together in this amazing fabric box she made

It will now hold sewing supplies on my desk. Isn't it so lovely!

And inside were all these excellent things

A card from boygirlparty, a sticker book for Roxanne, fabric (including some white and gold silk that is now wings on the peahen), amazing woven trim, and...vintage buttons, of course.  Such a great swap. Thank you, Melissa, and a big thank you to Sally for organizing such a fun swap again this year!

my little one is 1

I love you, little one. 

peahen

I've decided to give myself some time to work on more complex sculptural pieces.  I want to explore a bit and get away from making things that are perceived to be toys for children.  I also want to depart from feeling that the pattern I make for each piece has to be replicable and that I shouldn't put too much time into a single work when I know that I won't be able to sell it at a price that would truly compensate me for that time. 

Instead I am thinking about soft sculptures that are truly one-of-a-kind in that there won't be another made with just that pattern.  Pieces that tend to take many hours of complicated work are really interesting to tackle and I feel a stronger connection with the end product. 

So what does that all mean? Well, it may mean somewhat less frequent posts. Please know that it is not because I'm not working. I am working, but each piece may take longer to complete.

To begin I took a trip to the library last week for these books.

I really like all the animal images in folk art.  I'm starting to see my work as a form of folk art, too.

And did some sketching of peafowl (I just love to say "peafowl").

And then I made a new bird sculpture, inspired by the form of a peahen.

Her wings and feathers are silk and the rest of her is cotton muslin and wire.

three garden snails

Three garden snails made from scraps of new and vintage fabrics.  These will go to Sui Generis.

And I'm excited today because I've been chosen to participate in Plush You again this year.  Check out  my write up here.

gray dog in a party hat

I made a gray dog today. He is all ready for a birthday party.  I'm enjoying putting all the gray fabric I dyed to use.  I like how the grays look paired together.  The owner of Sui Generis brings her two dogs to work with her and lots of dog owners shop there.  I hope one of them likes this little fellow.

patchwork horse

I finished this horse today. I love that blue canvas with the buttons and numbers on it.  I combined it here with some new and vintage fabrics and some linen.  This piece will go to Sui Generis in Cambridge.

We spent the morning outside today trying to soak up some sun before the next big storm hits. Charlie spotted this blue bird working with its mate on building a nest.

Stella is a great dirt and grass-eating enthusiast.

And Roxanne gathers twigs and leaves for the goody bags at birdy's birthday party.

It looks like it's going to be a cold and wet Boston Marathon on Monday. 

Red Flapper Doll (before and after) and Ferber

Another day of reworking things.  Here is the original look of this doll, but since making it I learned so much from Mimi  about how to embroider that the original face was no longer okay with me.  Today I took out the embroidery on her face and gave her some new features along with a bit of brown wool felt hair peeking out from under her cap.  I feel better about her now.  Tomorrow she will be on her way to Magpie  in Davis Square, Somerville, along with seven other pieces.  I feel good knowing she is going off into the world with her eyes open.

Last night I went to hear Dr. Richard Ferber speak to the Wellesley Mother's Forum.  I know that Ferber sparks strong feelings in people and I hope you'll forgive me when I say that I LOVE Ferber.  Seriously. I may be his biggest fan.  I got his book, Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems, when Roxanne was three months old.  Actually, I ordered it from Amazon at 4:00 am after being up nursing and comforting her for the fourth time that night. When it arrived, I read chapter 5 and got right to work. That Friday night (we chose a Friday so that Charlie could be tired and not have to go to work the next day) we put her down for the night in her crib and when she woke up during the night we simply didn't go in. She cried for about 20 minutes four different times during the night and woke up in the morning happy as a clam.  And she never woke up at night again.  That was it.  6:00 pm - 6:30 am. Through teething and learning to walk and weaning at a year. And it worked even though Roxanne was only 4 pounds at birth and not yet 12 pounds at three months.

Stella is a totally different child. Calm and even where Roxanne is anxious and worried.  She crawls and is physically active when Roxanne just sat until 14 months.  But I sleep trained her the same way, at three months, and it worked just the same. It took one night and she was golden. I sing her a song and put her in her crib at 6:00 pm and walk out of the room until 6:30 the next morning.   

This method allowed me to rest, to be a better mother because I was well-rested, and to spend their nap time sewing instead of sleeping.  It meant that Charlie and I could go out on a Saturday night and know that the sitter would never even meet the baby because she'd be asleep and stay asleep the whole time we were gone. It gave us the evening to have some time for ourselves.

Ferber was really low-key and scientific and even a bit funny in person.  I am so thankful to him for figuring out how infants and children sleep and telling us about it.  Like I said, I might be his biggest fan.

lots of randomness

Let's see.  I finished this blue kangaroo for my niece, Ellis, to accompany the book I Love You, Blue Kangaroo as part of her birthday present.  She is a twin so an identical kangaroo in pink (no, there is no book about a pink kangaroo, but pink is her favorite color) will follow sometime soon.  Have you read this book? Fabulous. It's all about soft toys.Once you read this book you NEED a blue kangaroo.  In fact it inspired my friend, Lia, not normally a sewer, to borrow a sewing machine, draft a pattern and make her daughter one.  It's that good, people.

Otherwise, I've been doing a little soft toy surgery around here.  I've determined that the business of making birds is almost entirely determined by the beaks.  The beak of a bird  is like the face of a doll - it is vital to the overall appeal of the toy.  The birds below came back from the show and were sitting in the studio and every time I looked at them their beaks were bothering me. So, the blue one on the left got a new beak. The middle one once had very long legs and a fuller breast and a long beak - no more.  And the one of the right got a new beak and her legs are now bent the way the others are.  Whew. I feel better. 

Thank you all so so much for your awesome thoughtful comments on my last post. I've decided to embrace the work as it stands now and the market for it, too.  In that spirit,I will be making over a dozen toys for the lovely store, Sui Generis , in Cambridge, MA, to be ready before Mother's Day.  The owner, Janet, is really excited about them and that makes me feel awesome. I like that it's local, too.  I've put a new list on my sidebar of retail stores that now carry my work.

In a totally unrelated note, have you had this Icelandic yogurt?  So good.  Go to Whole Foods and get some.  I got three on Sunday and went back for six more this morning.

sand dollars

I've been meaning to make some sand dollars for several months and finally got started this week. These are made from scraps of linen and each one is pretty free form.  Some darts to give them depth, some french knots in their centers and some needle sculpting to make them bumpy. 

Roxanne announced today, "My hobby is collecting sea creatures. That's my outlet for my creative energy."  (I swear that is an exact quote from my just-turned-three-year-old).  Needless to say, she loves the sand dollars. I think they'd be great scattered with some soft sea shells underneath some shore birds.  Don't you think?

This week I've been thinking a lot about where my work fits in to the art/craft world.  Do I want it to be in a gallery or in the gallery's gift shop.  Where does it belong?  I am not a trained artist. I took a bunch of art classes in high school and a few in college, but I majored in history and I have a master's in education.  I learned to sew in 8th grade Home Economics.  I really don't have much in the way of gallery credentials.   And I make toys.  Or are they sculptures?  Maybe some of each?  Are they art or are they toys?  This is a tough one for me.