Super Size Me

Here's a little update on the gigantic (36"X48") commissioned piece I've been working on for the grand reopening of the Wintergreen Arts Center. You've seen it leaning up against all manner of things in the background of recent posts, so I thought you might like a clearer view.
All the furniture and other bits (curtains, paintings, cats, flowers, etc.) are loose pieces that can be endlessly rearranged by the little artists who visit the center.
I'm still working on the family--actually there will be two sets of peeps, one with lighter skin and one with darker skin--and the mice that will live in the underground hidey-hole, with access through the dining area.
I just realized one of the dining chairs was upside down when I photographed the piece. Doh!
I think my favorite part is the stove and refrigerator--wonder if I can have these custom made (in metal instead of felt) for my dream kitchen some day.
Whew. The board got picked up this morning by the goddess of all things community arts, my good friend Lara, and I wasn't sure if I was sad or happy to see it go!

Making a List

If you've read this blog for any length of time, I'm guessing I don't have to tell you I'm not a huge holiday shopper. Now, don't confuse this lack of consumer drive for a lackluster Christmas spirit--I love Christmas. While I generally manage not to step foot inside a mall or big box store during the whole holiday season, I love to listen to Salvation-Army-scored records (just got The Nutcracker in perfect condition!), bake up a mess of something that smells like cinnamon, and drape the whole house in handmade garlands, and that's just what I'm gonna do. And to keep track of all these plans, I like to make lists: lists of things to make, things to bake, and yes--a few things to buy. That's why I've been sewing this little batch of appliqued notebooks--they're tiny, just big enough to serve your Decemberish needs and then be stashed away for posterity. I think they'd make nice stocking stuffers, too. I'm taking them with me to "S is for Sale," the little invitational art/craft shindig at the home of my friend, the goddess of Swallowfield.

And, hey--here's hoping you had a lovely, slightly-gluttonous Thanksgiving, my dears!

Holiday Tutorial: Let it Snow!

To make this cheer-inducing winter scene, you will need:

1. 1 9-inch wooden embroidery hoop

2. a piece of cotton or linen about 12" square

3. wool felt (or craft felt) in white, pink, brown, red, yellow, green, and turquoise (or the colors of your choice)

4. coordinating thread colors

5. embroidery floss in brown and turquoise

6. sharp scissors

7. pinking sheers

8. glue

9. a few straight pins

Stretch your background fabric (I've used this polka-dotted robin's egg blue cotton for a clever snow effect, but you can use whatever you like!) on your hoop, tightening and pulling gently until you achieve a nice, tight, drum-like effect.
Print and cut the templates and pin to appropriate felt colors (or trace around the template for teensy bits). Cut all your pieces, and arrange tree, house, roof, and snow bank without pinning in order to determine the appropriate position for tree and house.
Pin the tree and the house, and attach with a small, neat running stitch.
Pin the snow bank in place, overlapping the bottom of the tree and the house, and attach with a small, neat running stitch.
Attach the roof top with a running stitch. Use a small whipstitch to attach the rooftop snow at the top left corner.
Attach the window in the center of the house with a whipstitch. Position the wreath base at the bottom of the roof, slightly overlapping the house, and attach with a small whipstitch at the outer edge only.
Using two small stitches for each, attach the leaves to the wreath base, lining up the inner edge of each leaf with the inner edge of the base. You can tuck each successive leaf between the wreath-base edge and the previous leaf's edge.

Attach the tree snow to the left branch of the tree with a small whipstitch.
Position all three pieces of the snowman's body to the left of the tree, getting them just how you like them. Pin and attach each segment with a running stitch. (I also attached each segment to the other with a couple of whipstitches, to ensure a tight connection.)
Insert the side piece of the scarf into the space between the snowman's head and his middle, and attach with a few stitches. Then position the neck piece and attach with a running stitch all around the edge.
Attach the eyes and buttons with a small "x" of black thread in the middle of each. (Though I've used felt, tiny black buttons would work very nicely here, too!)
Using brown embroidery floss (all strands), make arms with two side-by-side rows of backstitches. The position of the arms is totally up to you!
At the end of each arm, attach a mitten, using a running stitch.
Use a sharp pencil to mark "let it snow" (or any winter greeting you like) on the banner, and trace the letters with a small, neat backstitch in turquoise floss (two or three strands).
Use a running stitch to attach the banner to the snow bank.
Use a doubled strand of black thread or floss and a backstitch to outline the window and create a t-shaped crosspiece inside the window.
The hard part is over! Now to neaten the back, trim away some of the excess fabric, and run a bead of glue (almost any kind you have will do) around the inner hoop. Now fold the fabric down all the way around the hoop, pressing with your thumbs and fingers until the glue takes hold of the fabric. Let the glue dry, and trim around the hoop, using your pinking shears, until you end up with a neat, close edge. (I haven't photographed this step, but you can see it in the "Pink House" tutorial if you want to.)Tah Dah! Let this little man welcome your holiday guests this year!

And so it begins...

We're not ones to languish. On the first day of home school, Annabelle worked on this:

I worked on this:

And we both promise (well, hope) to have finished products to share with you tomorrow. Mine includes templates, my dears!

Playing Dress Up/Clean Up

We thought, with all the changes afoot, with so much to do and plan, why not move some furniture? We switcherood our bedroom and my studio (Thanks, Honey!), giving me loads more space to work--and I managed to get the computer off my work table. The room's still a work in progress, but it feels great.
And dress-up-wise, Miss A. tried on my wedding gown last night as we were cleaning out the storage closet. (Yes, I know--I've been married going on 15 years and still haven't managed to get this thing properly boxed. My laziness might be a passive-aggressive hope that it'll disintegrate in a pile of shimmering threads and sequins!) Right after I took this shot, she said, "I love this dress so much. Can I wear it for the rest of the day?" The dress is madly out of character for her--and for me, even at 20. Not sure what happened there, but it was 1995. Do I get a pass for that?
I want to thank all of you who left such supportive, encouraging comments regarding our decision to home school this funny little critter again, and to those who asked me to share my thoughts on the process, I'm sure that whether you like it or not, you'll have to hear a bit of home-school shop talk now and then. Luckily, our plan is to keep it interesting--for everyone, you included!

A Poem Written on an Envelope, by the Girl I Get to Home School

Sadly, No Conspiracy

How boring

Yes, it's true

I testify

Not an orphan

Or a robot

Not from Jupiter or Pluto

Not from China and adopted

(Yes, I checked my DNA)

Not cloned

Or made with cables

Wires, bolts

Like some science fiction movie

To think the surface is the final layer

No secret door or cupboard

Leading to a golden room of gears and cogs

Just normal bones and blood

And me

Sadly, no conspiracy

Annabelle, age 10

What's Up

Firstly, I brought home this wee turquoise fellow today--he felt a little out of place at the insanely bedazzled bookstore, amidst a mad crowd of Christmas bits and bobs, but here on the mantle, as you can see, he feels quite at home:
I'm insanely busy, my dears, but one thing I am working on is that promised holiday tutorial. Here's the state of it this afternoon:
In other news, we Crowes, apparently allergic to smooth sailing, have decided to return to home schooling after the Thanksgiving break. Big decision. Big. For you, it likely means seeing a bit more of the divine Miss A. around these parts, which is good stuff. Lucky you, lucky me.

Housiness, Size XL

There's a very good reason why I can't really cook anything.
It's not just that I'm a little lazy since the daylight savings fiasco.
It's also because this is my dining table:
So where would I put the food? Come on, folks.

Bridesmaid-Type Distraction Project #2

Right. So, I'll have you know that before I made a wool-felt-flower-bedazzled headband, I took orders to the P.O. and took the plastic off the canvas I'm supposed to be working on.
This is cute, though, right? I was going to add a bunch more flowers, but my hipper sister cautioned restraint. (Actually she said if I added more it might look "crazy." Whatevs.)
I got these wide, black, fabric-covered headbands in a pack of three at Target, I think. Cheap-cheap. The flower is very easy to make. I started with a strip of wool felt about 1" by 12", I'd say. I cut a sort of wavy, wide scallop edge on one long side and did a running stitch with two strands of embroidery floss along the other edge. I pulled the string to sort of bunch up the felt a bit, and then I rolled the felt strip up to create the flower shape, basting it in place as I went. When that was done, I used a couple of stitches from the same length of floss to secure a little shank button in the center. Again with the same strand of floss, I quick stitched the flower to the band. Voila! If anybody is dying to make this (in other words, if you have dishes to wash, laundry all over the place, etc., and are looking for an excuse not to do that stuff) and needs more details, just let me know.

Working...feverishly?

Having just finished this sweet little bedroom full of happy creatures, I've turned my attention to a project of giant proportions, the pattern for which must be drawn upon a huge swath of butcher paper. (Can you tell A. and I have been watching the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice from the sickbed? I'm afraid I shall be talking like this for weeks.)
It's also given me cause to order wool felt by the yard for the first time. Such big pieces make me feel full of ideas, but I'm sticking to the task at hand, keeping my nose to the grindstone, baby. Miles to go before I sleep. Whatever industrious cliches you can think of, all of them apply to me!

Except that I feel like I might be getting a fever. Blargh.

A Little Loopy

Yes, me--after four days in this apartment with a flu-ridden Miss A., burning up with fever, alternately docile and demanding, wanting endless stories, and complaining of sore throat and headache but whinging about the medicine. (I think it smells like grape drink--yum!--but she says it's disgusting.)
But also loopy, and far more pleasantly so, is this little wool felt corsage I whipped up during her nap yesterday, based on this pattern from Betz White. Betz uses her own felted sweaters and such in all her crafts, of course, but I'm finding lots of them can be done similarly with felt.
My cousin Amanda is getting married in May and asked me if I could make something for her bridesmaids, so I'm clearly letting that distract me from a load of other tasks, but when the results are this cute, who can complain (aside from, you know, my customers)?!

Puppies and Paris--and Piglets?

Here's a little dog I added to a finished house hoop this afternoon while poor Annabelle napped. She has the flu. We won't give this flu any special name because we don't have any flu-diagnosing powers around here and try like the dickens to stay out of the emergency room, but, you know, pigs do have a tendency to fly into one's mind these days when one's family members are stricken with fever, sore throat, body aches. Currently the fever is down a bit, and she's watching An American in Paris. There are some perks to sick days--Gene Kelly among them.