what I've been up to

It's been a bad week or two for blogging eh? But I've been busy. I've just had so many things on my mind, I keep procrastinating a new post. Here's a couple things I've been up to (sorry for the bad pictures):

new lamp shade covers. I detested my old ones, these aren't totally what I want, but they are a step up:


fabric for the quilt I'm planning to make my little buddy:


I've also been working on some finger puppets. Clearly the pattern needed improving with that first one. I think it looks more like a cross between an elephant and a mouse. I'm in the process of finishing a pig. (I was almost done but my husband threatened to watch Lost reruns without me, lame I know :)


And finally paper dolls for my etsy shop (I promise I will open it next week):

snake-E Tutorial

My 2 year old, my "little buddy" has been talking a lot about snakes (He calls them snake-E's). I mentioned making one for him and he got really excited. So I made this snake for him in about 45 minutes. It will probably take less time for you-since I made a few dumb mistakes. Here's a tutorial if you are interested, read all the instructions before you start (I usually don't and end up with problems-just a bit of advice).

Step One: Cut peices out of cotton or other material of your choice.
Top: 3" x 21.5"
Head: 3"x 4"
Bottom: 3" x 25"
small tongue out of felt (mine is 1.75" x .5")


Put bottom and head together and use round object (a cup or lid, etc) as a stencil to round the head. cut out.

Step two: pin and sew wrong sides of top and head together using a 3/8" seam. (that's the edge of my presser foot). iron seam open.

step three: SEW button EYES ON SNAKE. Then, pin wrong sides of top and bottom together, centering tongue inside the two pieces. (see image below).
Step four: fold tail end in half (hot dog style) at bottom. pin.

Step five: measure in 3/4 inch and make a dot: see below (I only did 1/2 inch, but I think 3/4 would work better because I had to change my seam allowance at the bottom to 1/4 inch)
Step six: measure across the top 4 inches and make a dot, connect the dots using a ruler and a fabric marker. Cut along line.

Step seven: unfold and pin together. Sew almost all the way around the snake using a 3/8" seam allowance and a close stitch length. Leave a 2 inch unsewn space for turning right side out and filling snake.
step eight: Turn right side out and fill snake with rice, or batting or dry beans or whatever you want to fill it with. I used rice. I also made myself a little funnel out of a piece of cardstock. I left about four inches of the snake empty so that it could bend and move and not be too full of rice. It seems just right.
step nine: sew opening together. I did it by hand so it was hidden, but if you want to sew it on the machine, it would be a little faster probably. If you do sew it by hand, make sure you use small stiches so the rice doesn't come out.
YOU are finished and have one happy snake-E for someone to play with! If this was confusing or you have questions let me know!

etsy here I come . . .

So I've been wrestling with opening an etsy shop ever since I found out about it, over a year ago. I have many excuses for not starting one: It would take too much time, I would spend my time thinking about that instead of my little boy, I don't have anything to sell. But the real culprit is simply that I don't think I could sell anything. I'm afraid nobody else would want my stuff and I would put all that work into it for nothing. So I suppose I have put it off for a year for fear of failure. But, thanks to Candace's nudges over at Sparkle Power, I have finally decided to get creative and just do it. The more I think about it the more ideas I have, and yes, today my poor little boy was neglected. But he got to watch lots of great movies. We'll try not to do it again. It may still be a week or two before it opens, but here is a preview of one of the things I would like to put in the shop as a print (I'm still looking for a printer):

reversible apron

I finished this reversible apron today. As soon as I saw the lemon printed fabric I knew I wanted an apron out of it. That rarely happens with me and fabric. I was with my mother at the time, and that sweet woman bought it for me. As I was thinking about it I decided a green stripe would be a perfect compliment, and wala, a few weeks earlier I had gotten this green striped pillowcase while thrifting. I was so happy to get started without having to go shopping. I'm always spilling on myself, I'm tempted to wear it all day. . .

wedding and birthday cards

my creative card making juices haven't been flowing lately, so a couple days ago I spent all of my free time making cards. I used a card magazine to start my layouts and ended up making between 10 and 15 cards. I think the creativity is flowing again :)

calligraphy

this is for you Alicia: my Carolingian calligraphy assignment with the decorated versal. It's the only one I have hanging up at the moment so it's the only one that got photographed. You should go and finish yours now!

painting again

So while we were on vacation visiting family, I was able to go to my dad's painting class twice. I miss painting every week, that's for sure. I picked up a vase from Ikea and painted some flowers in it the first time around. (above) The second one I did was also a white vase but with purple and light green flowers. It was still wet so I left it at my parents, alas I didn't take pictures of it first. But since I don't have that one, I thought I would include one of my very favorite paintings: three tulips and a sugar jar. I LOVE tulips, and I loved the expensive canvas this little 11x11 painting uses. It was heavenly to paint on. Plus I love the bright happy colors.