Littlest Fairy

I hope you all had a fun Halloween! This little fairy helped me hand out candy while Darth Vadar and Cinderella went trick or treating.

5th Birthday Party

For Lily's fifth birthday, we invited about a dozen of her friends to our house for a costume party. We had a few very unscary decorations like the spider on a web that you see here. There was also a little Halloween bunting. We started with cupcakes with orange frosting and jack o lantern faces.

Then we moved to the craft! The kids all brought their favorite stuffed animals to dress up for Halloween. I had supplies like this on the table.

I also made up a bunch of costume pieces that could be embellished. We had crowns in yellow and pink, Indian headdresses, black capes, tutus and fairy wings. The kids could decorate those or use their imagination and scraps of fabric and construction paper.

Here is Snow White's creation. Isn't her bear cute? She carefully glued sequins all over the tutu!

After that we headed to the yard where we hung this spider pinata that Lily and I made. It was filled with plastic bats, Halloween erasers and lollipops (treats of her choice!).

My son had a great idea. He suggested that we use a broom to hit the spider since you can clean away cobwebs with a broom. We went with it! Here is Cinderella taking out all her frustrations with her wicked step mother and step sisters on the poor spider.

After that, we hung cider donuts bought from a farm down the road. The kids were supposed to eat them from the string without using their hands. This proved frustrating for some but mostly got a lot of laughs. It was hysterical. I definitely recommend this as a party game!

At the end of the party, it started to sprinkle but the shower passed in moments and we were blessed with a double rainbow arching over our barn. We feel certain it was meant for Lily on her special day!

Darth Vadar and Cinderella!

My sneak peeks were all that you needed to figure out this year's Halloween costumes. Everyone was right. I introduce Cinderella, escorted by her big brother Darth Vadar. This picture cracks me up.

Here is Darth Vadar demonstrating the "force choke." Fortunately, it didn't work on me so the photography session continued.

Here is a little close up of the applique. I bought his mask which came with a cape. I intended to make the cape but since it came with the mask and he was smitten with it, I didn't bother. I bought a $10 sweatsuit and appliqued the top. I cut the shapes out of a fake black leather stuff from the costume section of JoAnns (that was highly technical wasn't it?). I put some quilt batting scraps underneath it and then used fusible web to attach some Kona black for the dull black areas, some silver material, again from the costume section, and some green and red cotton for buttons. I used a zig zag to finish off the applique. I stitched an outline around some of the buttons on the front panel and the chest plate part. That combined with the batting helps it to catch the light nicely. He thinks he is pretty snazzy.

And here is Cinderella. I used a dress pattern that I had in the house and cut it on the generous side so we could fit clothes under it for Trick or Treat. I also adapted the sleeves to make them puffy and more Cinderella like and added the lighter blue pieces at the waist. That was the trickiest part of the outfit. I made them each equal to half the waist measurement. Then I gathered the skirt to the bodice but just pinned it. I unpinned it a couple of pins at a time and slipped the lighter blue piece in and repinned then stitched through all the layers.

I used ribbons to tie up the back which make it a little more adjustable for clothing layers. Her hair was a challenge! I had to ask a neighbor for advice because I have never made anything remotely bun like. Then I had to borrow hairspray from my mom since I haven't used it for the last eighteen years. But I think it came out pretty well, especially since I was working on a moving target!
I took these pictures prior to the big fifth birthday party which was held today. It was a costume party. I will post party pictures once I recover just a little bit!

A Paper Project

I had a hankering to make something with paper for a change. I wanted to make a baby gift for a little boy's nursery using my "Lullaby" linocut. It is printed here on blue mulberry paper with silver ink. I then created a border of sorts for it with cut paper.

Here is the little squirrel up in the tree! The papers here were a gift from my mother for my birthday a couple of years ago. They have amazing textures. Some are embossed. Some are fuzzy. Some have sparkles.

There is a little owl in the hole of the tree trunk and a little blue bird.
This is the print that inspired the rest. I extended the tree branch with the cut paper and built the tree canopy. I added a few cut leaves on the print to help it become a part of the whole, so to speak. What do you think? Does this new experiment work? If nothing else, I really had fun making it and using these amazing papers! My plan is to find a dark wood frame for it. It measures 8" x 10."

Fall Sewing Inspiration?

I am not getting any sewing done this week. It's not for lack of ideas or motivation but time, three children, home repairs, Halloween and birthday parties. You all know about those weeks.


If you are itching to sew but are lacking in the inspiration department, I want to share these pictures with you today!

Giveaway!

I'm so excited! I just learned that I won a giveaway from Krista of Poppyprint. Her friend, Berene, has a shop full of adorable patterns and kits. Take a look! I thought that I should pass along my luck to one of you! (Besides, I am up to my eyeballs in Halloween costumes and 5th birthday parties right now so I won't have anything to show you for a few days!). You can win a silkscreen panel like the one shown above but in your choice of colors.

You will also receive a pdf pattern so that you can make it into a mini quilt that looks something like this! It would be a great decoration for your sewing room or a Christmas present for your favorite quilter.
To enter, please leave a comment. All of my followers may enter twice as my way of thanking you for reading my blog each day (to do this, leave a second comment please). I will pick a winner at random next Tuesday giving you a full week to enter.

Swap Package from Australia

I just completed a swap with Mandy from Australia. Mandy inspired my Kokeshi doll madness. She was my partner for a Mini QT swap over the summer. I wanted to send along an extra with her quilt so I looked through her photostream for inspiration and learned that she collected Kokeshi dolls. I had never heard of them before. I Googled Kokeshi doll and the rest is history! I sent her some panels of linen with rows of stencilled Kokeshi dolls back in August. In return, she made this Huggle stuffed animal for my littlest daughter and sent me some scraps and other goodies.

The collection of scraps is really amazing. There are some little gems in there. This is a grouping of my favorites (but there are others too!). Do you think that she meant to let that little fish swim away to New England? I don't know, but I am glad it did!

Penny loves her Huggle. I promised Mandy a picture of the Huggle with its new owner and here it is. If you will notice, the Huggle's face is damp from kisses! I believe that Mandy sells these. If you are interested, you could contact her through her contact information on Flickr. They are nice because they are completely washable and safe for little ones.

Silk Screened Kokeshi Dolls!

I have been quite literally talking about silk screening in my sleep. I woke up the other night while asking my husband if I had rinsed off my screen yet. He kindly told me "yes" without laughing at me and I said "good, I am going back to sleep now." Do you think I am obsessed? Perhaps.

But, look at the results of such obsession! I successfully created two silk screens. One has the dresses and hair ornaments of the Kokeshi dolls and the other has the hair and other black details. I print the colored screen first followed by the black screen.

My mother offered to pick up more heavy weight interfacing for me so that I could put together these ornaments for the shop. She made a great discovery, Pellon Peltex 72 F Double-Sided Fusible. I sandwiched that in between my wool blend felt backing and the linen. The linens used here include natural, winter white and sand.

I have listed a big batch of ornaments in my shop. Thank you kindly for reading yet another post about Kokeshi dolls!

Covered Button Sale!

All covered buttons in my shop are on sale for 20% off through the weekend! Yes, they are washable! You could attach hair elastics through the back loop and use them as hair accessories. They can be used on clothing or purses. The possibilities are endless!

Office Renovations Underway

When you own an old house, there is always a house project in the works. Right now it is our office/library/computer room. This is what the room looked like when we moved in. It was renovated in the 60's or 70's and they covered over the horsehair plaster walls with wood from a local tanning facility. The wood was really dark and had little holes all over it from hanging hides to dry. It makes for a kind of interesting story but the room was dreadfully dark and the walls were really rough and hard to clean. And there was an ugly orange/red carpet. We promptly pulled up the smelly carpet and have been living with a strange brown chipboard kind of floor for the past 4 years. We weren't sure if the wood floor below could be saved.

When the floor was ripped up, it was still covered in a paper material but we could tell that with some patching, the floor could be saved. We replaced the walls with wall board and painted and replaced the old replacement windows.

I love exposed beams in the ceiling but the beams in the before room were fake, and obviously so. They were removed and we added a new beam. This beam was found at a local salvage yard and looks like the beams used when building our 1840s house. We couldn't expose our actual beam due to the height of it and the need to level the ceilings so we attached this beam to the house beam so it could be exposed.

The floors have been patched and refinished and look like the floors in our living room and dining room. It was definitely a nice surprise!

We ordered two school house style lights that are appropriate for the age of our house and here is one hanging. The other isn't in yet. It's the same but smaller.
We still have a lot of work left to do. We need baseboards and trim around the windows but first the radiant floor heating needs to be put in place because it is getting chilly in here! We have plans to build an L shaped bench by the bay of three windows with a table. That end will be a sitting room, and the office will be on the other end of the room. I am looking forward to moving furniture back into this room and settling the house a bit again.

Halloween Costume Sneak Peek #2

Here is the second and final installment of Halloween Costume Sneak Peeks for this year! I showed you Timothy's a couple of weeks ago. This is a sneak peek of Lily's costume. I am very happy to be done sewing on this silky, satiny material that frays at the drop of a hat! I am not making a new costume for Penny this year. She's going to wear one that I made for Lily when she was about the same size. So, what are your guesses?? And yes, that darker blue fabric has glittery sparkles on it...ooh la la!

Kokeshi Doll Ornaments

It would seem as though I can't get enough of these Kokeshi dolls. I really do love them. They just make me smile!

Here is the group I have made so far. A couple will be hanging on my Christmas tree this year. I am also in two swaps that require sending out Christmas ornaments so up to 4 might go there. And my mom requested some as well. It looks like I will be needing to make some more!

My kokeshi dolls are made using freezer paper stencils but my next big project will be to attempt to make a silk screen for them. It will certainly save me time if I can make a good screen! Here I printed my designs, heat set them, and then backed them with two layers of heavy weight interfacing. Then I used fusible web to attach them to a wool blend felt. I finished them with a raw edge applique. They have enough body to not be flimsy but are also lightweight for easy hanging.

I will leave you with these happy little pictures. I have some Halloween costume sewing to do before preschool lets out and nap time ends!

Scrappy Mug Rug Received!

I received this beautiful mug rug (over sized coaster for a mug and a snack) along with some goodies from craftytammie! I think Tammie must have done some serious snooping because she made a mug rug that is just perfect for me. She paper pieced the zig zag full of little bits of pretty fabric and used linen for the background. She also sent some scraps and pieced flying geese, a fat quarter, a tea bag and two cute paper clips. Thank you so much Tammie!

I have my first batch of silk screened quilting process mini quilt kits prepared and in the shop along with a custom option (see my shop link in the sidebar). If you want particular colors, buy a custom kit and request your colors in the comment section. More colors will be printed soon so if you don't want to order a custom kit, just keep watching! (And no, "CRINKLE" doesn't really go downhill like that it's just hard to keep the fabric perfectly aligned while scanning sometimes!)

Silkscreening!

Guess what this is? That's right! It's my very first screen! I am now going to be creating my "Quilting Process" panels using the silkscreening technique. I have never done screen printing before but I have been reading up on it and successfully made two screens, the one you see here and one that says "LOVE" to be printed second in a separate color.

Here is my inked screen.

And the end result! I will be printing "LOVE" as soon as this one dries to the touch. I am very excited! You will be seeing lots of screenprints in the shop in the future. I am not going to stop making linocuts though because they have a texture like none other. Certain designs simply call for certain kinds of printing techniques, in my opinion.

Fighting Back

I'm fighting back with these very stinky bulbs! If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you know that I love to garden but tunnelling moles or voles or chipmunks have been destroying my flower gardens for the past couple of years. This year was particularly bad. I've been trying to plant things that can handle the tunnelling and still survive. But the next step in my battle you see here, Fritillaria Imperialis Lutea. I planted ten of these bulbs over the weekend. They are stinky and are said to help. At very least, I should have ten pretty yellow flowers in the spring.


I don't have much sewing to show right now because I started work on a Christmas present over the weekend which is a surprise. It will have to wait till after the holidays. I did finish up another pincushion for the shop though.
If you are waiting on Quilting Process Mini Quilt Kits, they should be available soon, maybe by the end of this week.

Christmas Frogs?

This may be the most unusual of Christmas designs but I know that my partner for Potholder Pass 5 really loved my Scrappy Mug Rug with leap frogging frogs. I decided to turn them into Christmas frogs by going with red and green for her terribly non traditional set of holiday potholders!

I did use Christmas fabrics at least! See the snowflakes in the pinwheels? And the binding is from the Twelve Days fabric collection.

My New Flickr Group!

I have created a new Flickr group so that you can share pictures of your work created with prints purchased from my Etsy shop. When I send out my linocuts or stencils, I always wonder what will become of them! If you make something, please take a photo and share it with the group. (There is a button now in my sidebar to link to the group.) I can't wait to see your creations!