Shoe Box Weaving

We've been doing some weaving with shoeboxes this year for our handicrafts class. I found several great video tutorials on youtube (embedded below), but I made a loom on a shoebox instead of a flat piece of cardboard (as shown in the video). Mostly we've just been experimenting with techniques and having lots of fun doing it.

Landscape Play Mat

This is a playmat I made last year to represent different animal habitats. We have tons of those little plastic animals, which my kids love, and this is a fun way to play with them. This was one of those ideas that was just in my head for so long, until I finally sat down to do it unplanned. If I were to do it again I'd make a few things different, especially making the landscapes seamless. There are quite a few nice ones on pinterest, of course. 

Mermaid Tails

We have a bit of a mermaid obsession lately, and so we decided to make mermaid tails to turn all of our favorite toys into mermaids... and merpoodles.

I just cut out two tail shapes and sewed them together with elastic in the waist. I definitely would have benefitted from working out a template first - since I made a few a bit too small, and the tails get really skinny at the end. I'm thinking of taking another shot at it, so if anyone wants a template and instructions let me know!

Kittens: Soupa and Moupes

I've been eyeing this kitty pattern from Make Your Own Toys by Sue Havens for a few years. I don't really use patterns very often since most of the time I just like to make it up as I go. Invariably, using someone else's pattern always leads me to do something in a way I wouldn't have planned myself. I think that's probably a pretty good thing. Sue's book is full of really cute animals in a simple and sort of classic rag-doll style. She encourages reusing fabrics, which I love. These are made from an orangey-gold sweater.

So these kittens I've named Soupa and Moupes, although the girls have rejected these names for something more practical, like Kitty.

Sneak Peek [with Embarrassing Photos]

I don't usually have much trouble designing with the kids around, but the actual sewing, with pins and projects spread out on the floor and the dining table, the hot iron steaming - that can be a bit tricky.  So during the months I was working on Flip Dolls and Other Toys, my dear husband gave me many weekends home alone to put in some serious hours sewing. He and the kids would go visit the grandparents for a weekend, and I would have 48 uninterrupted hours to make a huge mess, assembly line stacks of projects, and do my hand stitching with a line up of cheesy movies. It was fabulous.

I would keep in contact with John and the kids with a quick skype over breakfast, and loads of photobooth shots of me, cheesing for the camera with the projects I was working on. I was giggling over some of these photos this evening, and thought you might enjoy a peek into my working process. Be warned: there's quite a bit of goofiness, some failed prototypes (read the captions for the details!), a bit of bed-head (with a surprising number of hairstyles over the last two years), and lots of coffee!

Unfortunately, this female super didn't make it in the book, because I made her shirt from the same fabric as her SKIN COLOR. Sheesh. Let's keep it clean, folks.

Coffee, and cheerful first morning. 

Coffee, a drafting ruler, and a frantic second morning.

The productive mess in action - can you spot the three different projects laid out here?

Not pleased with this square bottomed ukelele with floppy strings.

Sharing secret plans with one of my crocodiles!

Many months, and many ukuleles later... shape and string success!

Sitting pretty with my first finished birdie.

Prototype and finished Bearded Ladies - no more nubby arms, simpler hair, and a scale that matches the other flip dolls.  And I'm still totally sane. No really.

Prototype and finished Conjoined Twins. The bigger one is better, right? Wait, is something missing?

Blue Birds and Robins keeping me company. 
Nothing goofy here, just my favorite little toy. :)

Many months and a move later: 
doing book revisions with my cheering squad present this time.

The book arrives in the mail, and we can't keep our hands off it!

That's me! 
Wait, I'm flipped, too...

Thanks for reminiscing with me. Quite a lot of fun over the last two years! My only regret is that I didn't take pictures of all my mistakes - although the topless super hero is definitely a favorite. I think toy design may be one of the most fun jobs ever - at least one of the most playful, eh?

How about you? Do you mix work and play?

A Successful Scrap Quilt

I've been wanting to make a quilt for our bed for a long time. I considered making a cool tree quilt like this one, or this beauty from purl bee. The colors in this triangle quilt have me swooning. Okay, check out my quilt board already. 

But ultimately, I decided to go with the less expensive, less time consuming scrap quilt. Let's face it, I have a hard time finishing big projects like this, so I thought I'd make it easy on myself and just do squares. I did end up piecing a few squares, so that I could include some fabric scraps - but mostly its just 8" squares. 

As I was assembling it, I questioned my scrappy choice because it just wasn't as pretty as some of those others. I could have at least limited my color palette... But then John and the girls came in and started pointing out the fabrics they recognized and telling me which ones they liked best. That's what this kind of quilt is all about, right? Lots of memories. 

Puppy likes it. And about two minutes later, everyone else was snuggled in, too. So, yeah, that seems like a success. What do you think makes a good quilt?

Sewing Flip Dolls and Crocodiles

underbite

 Since I got the advanced copy of my book, I've been doing a bit of sewing. How handy to be able to read the directions from a book, so beautifully laid out - rather than trying to remember, "how did I do that?" or "where did I write that down?" I hadn't actually realized that I would use my book, since they are my patterns - but it turns out its pretty handy. :)

almost as long as the couch

In fact, I would have forgotten the rick rack on this Smiling Crocodile if I hadn't checked the book! Our crocodiles keep finding new homes - so for a long time, I've been wanting to make a really big crocodile to stay in our loft. Our loft is sort of our play room/school room - so it seems like we need lounging pillows. When I saw this lovely green fleece on the remnant rack, I grabbed a giant 28" red zipper and big buttons and set to work. I ended up enlarging the pattern to 425% to make this pillow! The 28" zipper would work if the pattern had been 500%, I think, but this was as big as my fabric would allow.

two bags of stuffing

I've been making some superhero flip dolls, too - and I'm enjoying playing with color combinations. I seem to be more creative with the girls than the boys though. I just always think of the boy as John (super-librarian) and end up using the same colors.

If anyone is interested in an explanation of how to enlarge a pattern 400% (I think I used 20 sheets of paper!), let me know and I'll draw up a quick tut.

Flip Dolls & Other Toys that Zip, Stack, Hide, Grab, and Go

I have to say, publishing a book feels very surreal. I always feel a little goofy telling people I wrote a book - because, really? Did I do that?

Most of my contact with my editor Thom at Lark Crafts  has been by email, with a few phone calls and letters - but never in person. So, occasionally, I've wondered if I'm really like the guy in A Beautiful Mind: anxiously working on projects I can't show anyone, spending hours writing and editing, and mailing away my work in large cardboard boxes; only to one day discover that I've really been corresponding with spammers and all of my plush toys have been stuffed into a hollow log in the woods.

But then yesterday, the UPS man, who seemed to be quite real, delivered an advanced copy of the book, right to my door. And then I saw that Flip Dolls & Other Toys is available on Amazon for pre-order already! And let me tell you, its slick and beautiful, with gorgeous photos and bright colors, and a layout that makes me giddy.

Don't worry, you'll hear more about it soon. It will be officially released in August, and I can't wait to show you all the fun projects in the book!

Laptop Messenger Bag

I'm in too much of a rush to say much here today. This seems to be my new normal relationship with the blogosphere. I can't say I'm unhappy about that.

Yet, briefly, I wanted to share this new pattern. I needed a bag to carry my laptop that was professional, but not one of those black ones with a million pockets and zippers that's all boring and busy looking (you know the one).

I put together this bag. It's very simple but uber-functional. I prefer the messenger-style, and this is padded to protect my computer on the go. It has large pockets inside and a pretty lining from Ann Tuck on Spoonflower. I meant to use this fabric for something else ages ago, but life got busy and it seemed a shame not to use it. 

So here it is. I'm very pleased with it, and I think I'll make a few in more colors. I think it will be just right for carrying art supplies also, for painting outside. It makes a nice guy-bag too, since it has no frills. The pattern is available in the shop.

Tiny Dogs #nightsewing

 L has been asking if she's going to get a tiny red dog like Clifford (when he was a puppy) for Christmas.  So of course, I had to make another dog for her, and one more for J.

So, I shrunk the pattern.  Really I just opened the image on my computer and zoomed out then I traced it until the whole pattern fit on half a sheet of paper.  It's like having a light box.  They sewed up really quickly, although the head gusset was tricky because the fleece is so thick and the corners are so tiny.  Still, I'm really growing to appreciate how forgiving fleece is.  Why didn't I see this before?

These little ones have stuffing in the heads, but the rest of the body is all poly-beads which I'm also totally into now.  Sorry for the yellow-y pictures - had to take them while the kids were sleeping, you know. (Also, the hairy arm below is not mine, just so you know.)

So, I'm totally loving these, and I think that I probably should have been making all of my patterns tiny like this.  And not just because of the storage space.  So, yes.  It's possible that I will be making tiny giraffes, turtles, and dinosaurs next year

(the year of sewing what I want).