Jellyfish Tutorial

Materials:

small pieces of felt in white and pink (or the jellyfishy colors of your choice)

a bit of stuffing

a five(ish) inch piece of ribbon for hanging

Tools:

sharp scissors

pins

pencil

sewing machine or needle and thread (in pink and white)

printed templates (below)

Cut out paper templates; pin to felt and cut the number of shapes indicated by the template. (For the teardrop shapes, I traced the templates, since pinning such small bits is hard.)
Position the white teardrop pieces on the pink bell pieces and fasten with a whip stitch or running stitch if you're sewing your jellyfish by hand. Alternately, you can attach with your machine.
To create the tentacles, cut each felt circle (3) in a spiral beginning at the outside and working your way in to the center.

Position the top of each tentacle between the two lower-body pieces, so each aligns with one of the three lobes. Pin and sew the two lower-body pieces together, making sure to catch all three tentacles between them. (Again, you can use a whip stitch or running stitch or sew the pieces together on your machine.)
Insert the lower body at the center bottom between the two bell pieces and pin. Beginning near the top, sew the two bell pieces together, securing the lower body between them and leaving an opening (as marked on the template) at the top for stuffing.
Stuff!
As you sew closed the opening, catch the ends of the ribbon, folded in half, in your stitches, and voila!
I've made one jellyfish on my sewing machine and one by hand--the machine version is neater and quicker, but you can make the hand sewn version while you stream episodes of Felicity on Netflix, so it's a tough call.

(If you enlarge or shrink the pattern pieces, you can make these in many sizes--attach them to a wooden hoop and you'd have a lovely mobile. The pattern pieces could also easily be used to create jellyfish applique. Have fun!)

Prototype

I'm working on a tutorial for this little hanging jellyfish--wait for it!

Living Color(ization)

I recently had my first opportunity to "colorize" a black-and-white image, whilst creating an anniversary portrait for a gorgeous, long-married couple. This:

arose from this:
All those blue lines were made by Brooke (the couple's granddaughter) and correspond to a list of colors she provided. The process was ridiculously fun, and I ended up feeling (vanity alert) like I was working a bit of magic. I hope the recipients feel that way, too!

I Love Making Presents

This one's for my mom. When I read the Isak Dineson quote, I knew she had to have it on her wall, and the process of creating the appropriate back drop was great fun.
I've simply sewn two scraps of linen (one a sandy cream and the other a sea-ish blue) together on the machine, ironed the seam flat, and attached it securely to the wooden frame, taking care to tug and tighten until I got a nice, straight seam line. I'm the type who likes to use my sharpest pencil to mark the lettering, but you can use a tidier method if you like.
And then there are the french knots. I know some folks hate 'em, but I want to marry them.

The September Way

She likes to write on the porch in the sun for a little while each morning (the girl, not the dog).

We're shifting here--from fall to summer, from swimsuits to jeans, from full-time mom to full-time dad. Today's Mr. Crowe's last day of work-outside-the-home, and we're thrilled, all of us. We'll welcome him to our days, along with the sooner dusk, the cooler breeze, the redder leaves.

Sometimes Harrier is Better

Comet got a bit of a makeover!