Backing Up

Wow, there has been so, so, so much going on.  So I'll start sort of at the beginning.

This was not a winning summer.  June was pretty awful, in fact, with a bad car accident, a sick dog, and a sick cat that ended up leaving us too soon and too suddenly.

Neptune

We also found out that we had to move, since our landlord wanted to move back "home"... which meant our house.  Yeah.  So the remainder of our summer, for the most part, when the dog wasn't falling down the back deck steps (or I wasn't falling down the back deck steps, for that matter, and smashing the face of my phone in the process), was spent house hunting.  And packing.  And packing.  Did I mention packing?

Did I mention I hate moving?

Well, we lived through the summer (Though not injury-free, since not only did I fall down the stairs but also over a file at my day job, smacking my head good and hard into the corner of a wall, creating a nice big gash right in my brow.  It was awesome.).  Barely.  And we've come out the other side after a move during which so many things went wrong it became comical, ready for our fresh start in our new house... which is currently still something of a maze of boxes and bags, but definitely coming along.

And it's a seriously awesome house.  We moved a whole 17 miles north into a more mountainous town where so far we've seen not just the typical grey squirrels, but also a plethora of black squirrels and chipmunks, several deer, and one bear crossing the road.  Yes, a real bear.  And no, not a zoo escapee.  A wild bear.  Awesome!

So, see, this post isn't about whining, but it is definitely about catching up.  Like how for my birthday we went to the Bronx Zoo and saw some terrific animals.

Like this rabbit.

Let me explain the rabbit and why it was so terrific by zooming out just a bit...

Can you read that sign?  Read the sign.  Look at the rabbit.  Laugh your head off.  'Cause... well... yeah.

I got some pretty cool gifts, too.  The most notable for purposes of this blog are the gift card to JoAnn's mom got me, the cool gifts Eric got me,

and this gorgeous handmade bird's nest necklace from Kimberly Kitchen of MakintheBestofIt.

Unfortunately, my jewelry-making friends are not kidding when they say it's hard to photograph jewelry.  And also I took this pic with my phone.  So if you want to see good shots of her stuff, go to her site.

Also in July, I did another Farmer's Market in Carlstadt.

Did it again in September too, and this time I brought scarves since it's getting a bit cooler.  Photos are here. Speaking of scarves, I've been knitting a bunch.  For starters, more washcloths, a couple in this great trinity stitch...

And a couple in blue cotton bamboo.  This one is available at Fabric of my Mind.

And this one that Eric has appropriated.

But I mentioned scarves, so I'll show you one and save the rest for another day.  It's a great Celtic knot pattern in deep blue, available in the shop.

Until another day...

I've been busy!

First... I finished the scarf order, and am planning to meet up with my customer to deliver it, since he's local.

Then, I started on the gifts for two first birthdays.  My cousin's daughter just turned one and her party was today.  In addition to a beautifully illustrated big book of nursery rhymes, Eric and I got her my very favorite children's book, The Sneetches & Other Stories, by Dr. Seuss.

If you've never read it, with or without kids... read it.  It's worth the time.  There are several stories, each with a message, but the great thing about Seuss is that, in addition to his brilliant rhyme and beautiful talent for illustration, he never beat you over the head with the moral of the story.  When he died, we lost a hell of a talent.

Besides those, I couldn't let a birthday go by without making something for her.  So I made her one of my knitted mice and this adorable stuffed bunny.  I found the tutorial here.

I was so glad to have a use for the feminine fabrics; I'd won them intending to try a quilt that's just never going to happen.  They were perfect for this bunny, though.

The other first birthday was that of Eric's best friend's son; the party was yesterday.  So he got a mouse too, in dark blue, the same great book of nursery rhymes, Eric's favorite childhood book, A Fish Out of Water, and this cute penguin I made.

It's funny that my favorite is a Dr. Seuss and although Eric's favorite book was not actually written by Dr. Seuss, it's one of Seuss' Beginner Books series.

Now?  Now I'm working on another stuffed bunny for my nephew; when my mom saw my cousin's daughter's she insisted Avery needs one too.  It's in progress!

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Handmade Holidays, Part 5: Biggest Undertaking Ever

That's not entirely true.  Not the undertaking part, the holiday part.  My nephew's 2nd birthday is today, and this is actually about his birthday gift.

A busy book.

I'd wanted to do this for a while, but had no idea how intense this would get, how involved.  This was a lot of work!  See, I wanted to design my own, not use someone else's pattern.  That's not to say I didn't search online for ideas.  Of course I did.  I took bits and pieces of inspiration from some of those, as well as from other places, and from my own head too.

Anyway, here's what I came up with.  Page one, I did color-matching flowers that are held on by velcro.  And the stems are attached to the "separate" flower heads to hold them to the book.

And yes, throughout this whole thing, I hand drew the designs onto paper, then pinned them to the fabric and cut them out, then sewed them on.  Some were topstitched like the felt on this flowerpot page, some weren't.

On to pages two and three.

Page two is a pair of denim shorts with a belt that buckles and unbuckles.  I used my own jeans for the shorts and the waistband of a shirt for the belt, but any thick fabric would do.  It just happened to be the absolute perfect width for the 1" buckle I bought.

For some reason, this page intimidated me before I did it... then it turned out to be perfectly fine and fairly easy.

Page three is my car with snap-on wheels.

The wheels, headlight, and bumpers are felt, but the car body is a really soft velour.  I'm sure my nephew will love the feel of it, but man was it a pain to work with!

Ah, pages four and five.  The pages to teach buttoning and tying.  The pocket, made from the same shirt as the belt on page two, didn't worry me at all, but the fabric proved difficult and the way I wanted it sewn wasn't as easy as I thought it'd be.  And that, my friends, is my very first buttonhole.

Meanwhile, the sneaker, designed by looking at my own Keds, was the last page I completed and most to scare the ever-living daylights out of me.  In the end?  A breeze!  The "toughest" part of that page was hitting the store to purchase the grommet pliers.  Oh, and using crazy glue to make the ends of the laces stiff and keep them from fraying.  It worked, but I did it with my bare fingers and then spent the next day and a half scraping crazy glue off because I don't happen to have nailpolish remover.

Pages six and seven, the zipper page and the clock.  To get a zipper involved, I made a jacket from another old shirt, with felt collar, cuffs, and waistband.

The clock face is made from a shiny, slippery shirt fabric.  The grommet pliers came in handy again on this one, so the clock hands are moveable to teach time.

Last, but definitely not least, page eight.  I had no idea what to do with page eight, but I didn't want a blank page.  I also didn't want to be repetitive and had already addressed buttons, velcro, zippers, snaps, and everything else I could think of.

So, I did a gift within a gift.  I made a pocket out of this fab dinosaur fabric I have.

And in that pocket... a puzzle!

And yes, another button, but for this one I did a loop closure, so it's still something new.

Anyway, on to the puzzle.  It's felt.  It's several layers, and it's dinosaurs.

Measuring 10"x15", it's cut into 8 pieces and features a pterodactyl, a stegosaurus, and a plesiosaur.  I figured one air, one land, and one sea dinosaur would be fitting.  The pieces fit nicely into the dinosaur pocket, too.  And it turns out my nephew loves dinosaurs!  So it's perfect.

I didn't want to leave the cover blank, so I hand-embroidered a title for it.

And I gave it a ribbon-tie closure.

After all that work, I couldn't use my design just once.  So you can purchase the extensive instructions and .pdf patterns for the entire thing in the Reef Botanicals Handmade Artists Shop! Or you can also get the instructions and pattern for the puzzle separately, in case anyone wants just that.

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