While She Naps

a little flock

I finished the bird in the middle this morning.  He is all neutrals and very mod.  These three are like a little flock now.

We gave Stella a Cotton Monster for her birthday and it is such an amazing toy.  His mouth is a big pocket for all your treasures and it is just so satisfying to stick your arm down his throat!  Perfectly made and so great to look at.  We like to pose him on our black chair with his long arms wrapped around Mimi's tiki.  They're best buddies now.

Do you like the new blog banner?  And check out my new Etsy shop banner!  I recently discovered Picnik and now I feel so tech savvy. 

I'm working away at more and more birds for a good sized shop update in mid-May. 

birds and a birthday

I finished a second bird with a crimson breast this morning.  These two look very fine together, I think.

I have been putting a lot of thought into my Etsy shop this week.  I am hoping to give it some major attention over the summer, with bigger, scheduled updates.  The first will be in early May and there will be birds of many varieties. I'm pretty excited about this.

I'm a bit disdressed because Kinja, the blog reader that I've used for the last three years, is closing down at the end of the month.  I follow nearly 100 blogs, as I'm sure many of you do, too, and I need to find a new way to keep track of them.  I tried to sign up for Bloglines, but they refuse to send me a confirmation email which I need to verify my account.  Are there any other good options out there?  I would be so grateful if you could give me some ideas.

Today Stella turns 2.  Here she is, nearly two years ago, blissfully asleep on our bed while I sewed.

And here she is last week, big girl Stella, on a hike with her big sister.

Stella has such a sweet disposition.  She is caring and funny and she knows what she wants.  We feel so lucky that she is here. She makes all of us happy every day.   Happy Birthday to my second baby!

Ellie - before and after

Roxanne's classmate and friend, Z., is very attached to a little stuffed elephant, Ellie, that has been with him since he was a baby.  Four years of constant love and companionship, plus many many washings, had made poor Ellie totally threadbare.  You could literally see the stuffing through his body and he was falling apart in Z.'s hands. 

Of course, this particular elephant is no longer in production and is not available anywhere, not even on eBay.  Z.'s parents asked me to see what could be done to save Ellie and today they dropped him off for some major surgery.

Here are Ellie's before and after pictures

His head, legs and tail seemed to me to be in alright condition.  I cut his body along the seam lines and then used the pieces to create new panels in soft blue fleece  and yellow jersey that Z. and his mom had picked out. I sewed them together, creating an entirely new body, catching the legs and tail in the seams.  I then restuffed him with brand new stuffing, keeping that squishy feel of a well-loved toy, and finally reattached Ellie's head with doubled extra-stong thread.  I couldn't resist this shot of Ellie's head before I reattached it

I hope Z. doesn't see this because that might totally freak him out. 

I only had an hour and a half to work on this because it had to be finished before Z.'s nap time.  I wrote this note to Z. when I returned the finished Ellie to him:

"Dear Z.,

Thank you for having me repaired. I was a very brave elephant! I may look a little bit different now, but I feel so much better. I hope you will still love me as much as you always have.  I love you.

-Ellie"

a red-breasted bird

We walked into town this morning and sat on the grass and watched the Boston Marathon.

One of the few things I love about living in the Wellesley is our proximity to the half-way point of the Marathon.  The fighter jets fly right over our neighborhood and in the years when it is good weather, like it is this year, it makes for such a lovely morning cheering for the runners and having a picnic on the lawn near town hall.

(The other two things I like about living in Wellesley? The incredible occupational and physical therapists at the public preschool where Roxanne spends many afternoon hours and...the dump, of course.)

I finished this little red-breasted bird after we came home today. 

I love this crimson and cream combination.

Pesach and a Cordon Bleu

Passover is fast approaching and I've been cooking and cooking these last two days, with another day in the kitchen ahead of me.  On the Seder menu this year:

-Hard Boiled Eggs
-Haroset (I'm making that tomorrow)
-Gefilte Fish with Homemade Horseradish (I didn't make the gefilte fish this year, but I did last year and I hope to do it again sometime. Charlie takes care of the horseradish.)
-Matzoh Ball Soup (Yep, from the mix.)
-Brisket (In the oven right now. The recipe is a secret but really sweet and sour and totally yummy - thanks Mom!)
-Sephardic Carrot Pickle (I made this yesterday and it is marinating in the fridge.)
-Asparagus
-Carrot Kuggle (I made this yesterday, too. The recipe is from Marsha, Charlie's former boss, and I swear we would eat this even if it weren't Passover. It's that good).
-Caramel Chocolate covered Matzoh (A new one this year. I made it last night and it looks really good.)
-Berries, Macaroons (I bought these) and Ice Cream

And I made a second escaped caged bird, also inspired by images from my Birds of Hawaii book.

This one is a red-cheeked cordon bleu (only the males have red cheeks).  You can see the image from the book in the previous post, second bird up on the bottom right.

If you celebrate Passover I hope you have a happy, interesting and tasty Seder.  And if not, have a great weekend anyway!

P.S. I just saw that I won a Seacoast Spotlight Award for best sculptor!  Thank you to everyone who took the time to vote for me!  I'm totally excited! 

 

a coat, some seeds, a meeting, and a canary

Let's see.  The Joseph coat came together really nicely and I presented it to Roxanne's class today.  I showed them the pattern I made from a big sheet of newsprint and then did a little hand sewing demonstration with two leftover scraps of the fabric they had made. And then I pulled out the finished coat - a vest, really, intended for dress-up when they act out the story of Joseph - and everyone was very excited. I made a little tag with all the kids names on it, printed it onto fabric and sewed it inside.  Roxanne modeled the coat and was totally thrilled about the whole thing. Mission accomplished!

And it is finally warm here in Boston.  Roxanne and Stella and I planted all kinds of seeds this afternoon and went bike riding and hiking and I even pulled the grill out of the garage and grilled lamb chops for dinner.  And it is 6:35 pm and still bright and sunny.  Hooray!

I must mention the highlight of my weekend which was meeting Amanda Blake Soule!  She was in Boston for a book signing and Stella and I went to say hello.  It was so great to talk with her in person, after all of these years of "knowing" her through her written words.  And she is lovely, and so is Ezra.  And her book is right on.

Okay, finally the sewing.  I have been mulling over canaries for some time. I thought they were more parrot-like, but really they look like little finches.  I found a book at a church rummage sale Saturday morning with a few pictures (that's the canary there, second one up on the left)

did some sketching

 

and some serious punching of tiny little hands (yep, I'm back at the punching again)

and made a canary.

 

And I couldn't resist this shot.

 

white elephant

I was really inspired by the 2nd Annual Softie Awards, especially when Therese put up the elephant tribute category.  I have always liked making elephants and there have been various iterations in the past few years, but I thought I'd take up the challenge and make a brand new one. 

This white elephant is made from an unused flour sack and some soft white satin.   I made a little swishing tail by covering some wire with white floral tape and securing some unraveled white cotton yarn at the end.  His eyes are black buttons with string eyelashes and flour sack lids.

I sewed him up with black thread and stuffed him firmly with wool.  What a fun project.  Thank you, Therese, for keeping us challenged!

This week I am working on making a Joseph's coat for Roxanne's nursery school class.  The children decorated various bits of fabric with paint and spin art and I am about to set to work transforming their art into a wearable dress-up coat for the classroom.  As you well know by now, I do not make garments (just as I do not engage in the yarn arts), so we'll see what happens.

(The elephant is now available here)

swan

Some research (these are pages from Sibley's Guide to Birds).

Some sketching.

Much pattern drafting. Many a gusset and many a dart. A wire armature through the neck and some fishing weights in the body.

And a swan.

My endurance is building.  It took me a week of steady work to make this. It feels good to take a long time to make something. Plus I was listening to Treasure Island, another of those classic books that I had never read.  Shiver me timbers. 

website!

Hooray!  My website went live this morning and I am so thrilled with it.  Kim did an awesome job keeping it simple and modern and easy to navigate.  I hope you like it as much as I do.