A Small Fox in a Big World

"You can take the girl out of the library..."

Janeice, who has been the director at my library for the last 17 years, retires on June 30. In honor of her years of service and all-around awesomeness, we threw a little soiree for her last Friday. We had a nice meal and took turns talking about how much we'll all miss her. Then, we presented her with gifts. The staff all pitched in to get her a really nice digital frame that was loaded with pictures from the library, but I wanted to do a little something extra too.

Taking inspiration from Ms. Happy Stuff's Common Threads quilt, I made a patchwork bookshelf mini quilt, backed with a happy bit of vintage pillow case that complimented the colors of the patchwork and made me smile to look at.

 

I tried to pick fabrics that I thought Janeice would like and that I thought would remind her of me and all her years at the library.I bound the quilt with dark brown to emulate the shelving we have at the library and because it set off all the colors so nicely.

I sure will miss her!

Put on your bandit caps!

Back in March, I received these fabulous mittens from Sarah as part of a swap. I love them to bits and I've gotten to wear them a couple of times and I'm really looking forward to next winter just for the chance to wear them again! Sarah sent me a whole list of things that I might consider making for my half of the swap, but I don't remember what they were, because I stopped reading after, "Ash from Fantastic Mr. Fox."

I love that movie. LOVE. I watched it 4 times the weekend I checked it out from the library and have checked it out at least twice more since then. (We really need to buy it.) I had recently purchased Fiona's Rabbit Pattern, and my brain immediately saw a way to transform that pattern into a something foxish.

So, I went from this:

To this (with a few months of procrastination in between. Hey, at least I'm honest!):

It took three socks for me to get his mask where I wanted it to be and I'm still not happy with it, but it occurred to me that if I waited until I was completely happy, I'd have to go buy more socks! I was going to show him sans outfit, so you could see his spiky embroidered eye brows and his body details, but the sock likes to shed when I touch it and his pants are sewn around his tail, so it wasn't really possible. Feel free to use your imagination though!

I left the raw edges exposed on his ears so they would be a bit shaggy and I embroidered around his eyes to give him his characteristic eyeliner look that I love so much from the movie!

His cape is made from a wash cloth I cut down and then sewed Ric Rac to so it would tie around his neck. His tail helps balance him, so he can sit up on his own without leaning on anything. I stuffed him really full, so he's nice and firm. I really hope Sarah likes him! Sorry it took me so long!

DQS8: Unicorn of the Sea

I hope you like it, secret partner who shall remain unnamed!

DQS8 WIP

Craft Hope

By now, I'm sure you've all heard of the Craft Hope shop on etsy. In a Herculean effort, the crafting community got together to donate and purchase products, all in an attempt to raise as much money as possible for Doctors Without Borders in Haiti. As of January 31, 2010, over $29,000 have been raised by the kindness of regular people like you, and, I'm happy to say, like me! Here are the two dolls that came out of my donation:

I may not have much, but I have time and a modicum of talent and I'm always happy to do what I can. I'm overjoyed that the same can be said of so many others!

More shots of Fiona and Bernice can be seen on flickr.

All Caught Up

I've finally started chipping away at my to do list of projects, beginning with the blocks I owed for the Common Threads quilting bee. I was all caught up for a week. Now, there is a new stack of fabric on my desk waiting to be assembled. Such is life. ^_^

Next on the to do list: the two dolls I donated for Craft Hope and a quilt for my niece. Both are already half done! Oh! And if you read this through a feed reader, click through. I updated my look!

2009: A Year in Pictures

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Holiday Ornament Sale

I have a few extra ornaments after everything is all said and done and I'd like to make them available to you! They are $10 a piece with $3 shipping and since I don't want to go through the hassle of making 13 different listings on etsy, I've decided to sell them right here. I'm going to link to an image of each of the available ornaments on flickr, so that you can see them. If you are interested in purchasing an ornament, just list the names of the ornaments you want in the comments below. Ornaments will be available on a first come first served basis and I will try to keep this post updated as well as I can. I will email you and let you know if those ornaments are still available and where you can paypal your payment. I think this should work. If it gets too confusing, I'll bite the bullet and list them on etsy. Thanks!

Archer

Roselle

Finn

Beatrix

Liesel

Verna

Dierdra

Una

Nadine

Freya

Eben

Hadrian

Isaac

Ornament Swap

Lots of cute things are being posted in the swap pool! Make sure you check it out and don't forget to upload your own contributions! My little sister is participating too and she gave me her submissions at her party. I need to remember to photograph them at some point and stick them in the pool. In the mean time, here is a look at what I'm working on!

All my little people are lined up and ready for hair and makeup. Then, it's on to wardrobe!

My first idea was to paint on the bodies. But I quickly learned that I'm not good enough at painting for my apparently high standards. So, this little lady became prototype number 1. I do like her on the clothes pin though. I think I may cover the top with white glitter to emulate snow. I may put a bit on her hat too!

I then decided to glue fabric onto the body, which I really like, even if it is a bit fiddly. And I thought that I would pop holes in the acorn caps and then thread floss through to hang them. But it was really hard to get the hole in the cap with out breaking the whole thing and don't get me started on the mess threading the floss through became!

So, I think they will end up being a mix of the two designs. Cloth bodies and clothes pin bases. I think it sounds like a winner!

Gretchen's Baby Shower

My little sister is due with her first child sometime between December 26 and January 6. So, I threw her a party, with a lot of help from my mom. We brought way too much food that I forgot to take a picture of and people came and brought lots of fun gifts, which I did take pictures of! You can see all of the pictures right here! Enjoy!