A Blast from the Past: A Mishap

I follow a lot of blogs.  A lot of blogs.  One of them is called Lindsay Sews, and in yesterday's post, she asked about crafting fails.  Well, that called to mind a major fail I perpetrated back in December of 2012.

A friend of mine was looking for a stuffed animal version of a frog in a cartoon.  It looked like this.

Cute, right?  Her daughter was completely obsessed with that character, so she was trying to be a good mom.

Ever reaching for new heights, I offered to make it for her myself!  I developed an idea, then a pattern, and went to cutting and sewing.

Sigh.

Here was the result.

Um... right.  I obviously couldn't sell my friend that travesty, so we scrapped the idea, and thankfully she was OK with not getting it.  Instead, I decided it was an alien octopus with measles, and kept it for kids to play with at my house when they come over.

Go ahead.  Laugh.

Fun with Fabric

I didn't make much this year for my nephew's birthday or the holidays.  I mostly bought my way through, since I had so much going on with the show and those 21 crazy apples.  I did make one notable thing, though, for my nephew's birthday.

See, my 4-year-old nephew loves to cook.  It started with his play kitchen, and then he took a cooking class.  He loves it!  For Chanukah, in addition to a science kit because he also loves science, Eric and I actually got him two children's cookbooks.  These:

He loves them!  He's already made runaway pancakes and chocolate mousse, both from Fairy Tale Feasts.

So for his birthday, we kept with the theme.  In addition to getting him this set of 100 cookie cutters from Bed, Bath & Beyond, I made him this adorable apron.

The fabric is vintage (but brand new), from a New York fabric shop that no longer exists.  It belonged to my friend's grandmother decades ago, and my friend was generous enough to give me a ton of great vintage fabric from her mother's remaining stash.  This was part of that stash, and I think it's awesome.  I already had the denim for the pocket in my own collection, and only had to procure the bias tape.

I've used more of the fabric from my friend too.  A lot of what she gave me is decor fabric, and as it turns out, we needed some.  Our house was built in 1954 and is pretty drafty, especially by the front door and the door to the attic.  So Eric suggested door draft stoppers.  Well, why not?  I had this terrific funky fabric that looks to be circa 1960s or 1970s, and polyester fiberfill, and just needed the gravel to weigh it down!  So off we went to purchase gravel (and pick up a money tree, rubber tree, and flower pot while there - we're such impulse shoppers!) and some more fiberfill, and I got to work.

While making these door draft stoppers for our own house, I decided to make extras... and list them!  If you need any yourself, since they're a great way to save on energy costs, you can find them right here in Fabric of my Mind.

Artist Spotlight: Part Ninety

I think it might be faster to tell you what Rhonda of Lil' Bit Sassy doesn't make.  But I'll try to tell you what this creative woman from northwestern PA does make.  After that, you'll just have to visit her shop and blog to see what I missed.

So... dog coats, book covers, iPad cases,

cupcake toppers, bibs, and burp cloths,

dolls, teddy bears, and cuddle buddy blankets,

luggage tags and heating/cooling packs (the packs I can vouch for; I bought one for a friend and it was great!),

and last, but definitely not least, hair accessories and superhero capes!

Sassy, indeed!

So I Made a Few More

You know me, once I get going I keep going.  And having just one eyeglass case in the shop was silly.  So I made three more!

People were admiring the one I did for myself in black, white, and grey, so I added a similar one to the shop.

And then I went ahead and did one in greens and khakis.  It's a pretty nifty color scheme, if I do say so myself.  This one's in the shop here.

And then I went really girlie with this one, in a pink, red, and aqua floral print with some polka dots thrown in for god measure.

Like 'em?

I suppose I really am 42.

(the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything!)

And I suppose it's reasonable that my eyes, my 20/20 vision of always, my perfect eyesight of yore... would start to fail.  (Sigh.)  I finally dragged my sorry self to the eye doctor for the first eye exam I'd had since I was in 6th grade and they did 'em in school after I couldn't read some small print in a catalogue and had to have someone else read it for me.  Yeah.  Really.

(Sigh.)

It turns out I need reading glasses, though I'm hearing those more experienced than I in the eyeglass-wearing population call them "magnifiers" more than glasses.  The prescription is for +1.5, which I gather isn't all that much.

So once my eyes undilated and I could see again, I dragged my even sorrier self to CVS and bought - count 'em - two pairs of reading glasses, since they were 2/$10 and it made sense to me.  I picked two different styles, since I couldn't decide.  One a thin metal frame in a hematite color, with rectangular lenses (Eric thinks these look better) and the other oval lenses in plastic frames in a classic mottled brown color my mother always called "root beer."  (Most of my friends prefer these.)

And to console myself, I also bought some 75% off Halloween decorations.  Because if you saw my recent Halloween post, you know I need more Halloween decorations.  But then, you can never have too many Halloween decorations.

That was Saturday.

On Sunday, I decided to embrace my reading-glass-wearing self, and realized I'd need to bring them to work with me.  That meant transporting them, and that meant risking damage.  I needed cases!

So I made 'em.

And I matched them up with the two pairs of glasses.

And then, me being me, I made another one for the shop!

I did them narrower so that your narrower style glasses, especially like reading glasses, won't slip out.  There will be more forthcoming, but the one above is made from cotton paw print fabric, cream and black linen solid fabric for the contrast band, cuff, and lining, and a fleece layer between the outer and lining to promote the safety of your glasses.

Flossie the Cow... Sixteen Times Over

I took individual photos of the cows I made since each one's a bit different, and here they are!

 This is the one I gave to a friend at work.  Cows are her favorite animal, and she's been great to me since I started there.  She said she wanted to buy one, but no way was I going to charge her.  She's been too awesome, looking out for me.

 These three are listed in the toy section of Fabric of My Mind.

I love how this one looks so direct, like a good friend who's about to tell you something important.

And this one with the pinkish purple eyes looks so inquisitive!

While this cutie looks kind of needy, like a puppy.

Two of the rest are going to my nephews for Chanukah and Christmas, and the other ten to my fellow cast and crew members.

So... who wants one?

Vote for Me!

Well, for my item in Fabric of my Mind.  Remember my busy book?  The one I made for my nephew?  Well, the pattern and instructions are for sale at Fabric of my Mind.

There's this blog that supports handmade, Made for Me by Oaklie, and every week she runs a Great Finds contest!  And that busy book is in the contest this week!  I'm in the lead right now, but every vote can count.  So here I am, asking for a favor.  I'm asking that you go to the contest page and vote for Fabric of my Mind.  It doesn't require you to sign up for anything, just scroll down, click the dot next to my shop name, and then click "vote."

Thanks in advance!

New Shop Announcement!

Reef Botanicals has a new affiliated shop, Fabric of My Mind!

It's in that shop you'll find for purchase the results of my sewing, knitting, toymaking, and photography, as well as instructions and .pdf patterns that cross the Fabric of My Mind (see how I did that there?).  It's small yet, with just a few listings, but I hope you'll visit frequently to see what's new.  Currently, you'll find my hand-knitted cream scarf...

patterns for my felt dinosaur puzzle and busy book...

and the jumbo dolphin crayons that Eric and I make.

At some point hopefully soon, there will be another scarf available too, this one in a soft vintage lavender yarn.

Enjoy!

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