WIP

This is my current WIP (work in progress). We have a wedding to go to coming up. I'm thinking of making them a small throw quilt as a gift. I say "thinking" because I'm not quite sure how it'll turn out. I didn't pick the fabric either. I wanted to use up squares a friend gave me that were left over from a quilt she made. I didn't want to use squares so I cut a third off of each one. The photo is a shot of the initial layout. It's taken me 6 hours to get this far. I just need to sew the rows together and quilt it. This is loosely based on a pattern from The Modern Quilt Workshop. Since I don't have the book nor have read the directions I'm really really winging it. I have seen quilts that followed the directions and am going off of those. I did ask for the book for Christmas. hint. hint. Mom?

Drama

I've been staying off the internets during this little holiday break. We decided to put the tree up today but in order to do that...

• All the furniture in the front room needed to be cleared out.


• Since all the furniture was moved it needed a new home which required more furniture moving in 2 other rooms.


• Once said furniture was moved, all the stuff that goes with the furniture needed to be organized and put into their respective homes.


• The studio relocated to the dining room and the living room is once again it's namesake.


• I removed the TV from it's armoir and turned it into a storage place for my fabric. (I'm still reorganizing all of my supplies.)

The best thing was unpacking our set of Rudolf and the Island of Misfit toys. About 6 years ago I treated myself and bought the entire set. I bought them imagining my future child playing with them. She calls them her "characters".

Speaking of which, I asked Tootie to look at the tree so I could get a picture. The picture on the left is what I got for telling her to "look" at the tree.

Camp

Toots moved up to the big league. She made her debut appearance at the kids table by herself. As in, not next to Mom and Dad and in another room. She had a great time with her cousins. We had a great time too.

We tried to get a picture taken for our Christmas card but, well, it didn't quite turn out.

This was the best one.

It has a certain snapshotty-over flashed-campy kitsch about it that's appealing. So awful it's humorous. It's almost worth using just because it is so bad.

A Doll for a Doll

I made a doll for one of my dolls. Next I'll make a doll for this doll like the hat. Not really. That would be silly.

Swap Ornament Finished

WIP Holiday Ornament Swap

Here's a sneak peak of the ornaments I'm making for the Holiday Ornament Swap 2006. You can see what other people have made here. Mine are still a work in progress (WIP). I still don't know what they'll finally end up looking like. Oh, the suspense is terrible. I hope it will last.

I got my first ornament from the Swap this week. Isn't it lovely? It's printed on 2 layers of felt with a fabric backing and is from www.craftlog.org.

 

Friday 9:30am Eastern

The dolls have been posted. From the ittybitty site:

The Dolls by Joybucket Designs will be making their debut on Friday, November 17^th at 9:30am EST. Be sure to log on so you can select your favorite doll before they are sold out. The
dolls will be priced at $129 which will include your choice of letter
embroidered on the felt heart that goes in the pocket of each doll.  Free shipping in the continental US. Oh happy Joybucket day!

To see the page on the left go here or find it under "Joybucket Dolls" on the ittybitty site in the sidebar column.

Thanks!

almost ready

A couple of the dolls are up

Nothing Much

I've been working away on my book proposal pincushions in order to meet my deadline which is this Thursday. I sent it express mail today and it will just get there in time. whew. So glad to have that over with. It looks like the dolly girls will not be up for sale tomorrow (Wednesday) but on Friday. Sorry for the delay.

I think that's it for official business.

The picture on the left is Tootie's creation. Requests for the special "yellow"* scissors and glue had to be obtained to produce this master piece. It is called "Unicorn (an assemblage)". I don't know. I'm her proud Mama and all that but I ain't seeing no unicorn. I looks like The Cheat from Homestar Runner. Glued onto the back there are what appears to be 2 legs and a tail. When I asked if that's what that was she replied, "No, that would be silly. Unicorns don't have legs! They just have feet!" At this point I'm starting to think maybe she doesn't know what a unicorn looks like. Until I found this** which she states is her frog dressed like a unicorn. No arguing there.

*The one's from Target and not the crappo dollar store ones.

**I made the cone to use as a funnel to stuff my pincushions with rice. Tootie found it and made it into a puppet and a unicorn horn.

Veterans Day - Home

Today was a beautiful day and perfect for the emotional reunion of families whose beloveds have been away. Even a stoic like me had trouble holding it all together as children ran to their Daddies (and Mommies) nearly tackling them in enthusiasm. Oh, there were speakers and dignitaries and VIP's but the real focus,
the one thing everyone came for, was the soldier who did his/her duty and is now home. Home. And as each stepped off the bus you could almost hear a collective sigh of relief. 

Are you ready?

Available next week on IttyBitty.

More to follow.

MOO!

They're here! They're here! My MOO cards have arrived! What? You don't know what Moo Minicards are? Don't feel bad I just stumbled across them myself. There's a flickr group for them and who knows what else? There are so many many applications with these little guys. I love how they turned out. Fantastic. I'm going to use these as hang tags for my dolls and to give out as business cards. I may just have to use Moo for our Christmas cards this year.

Yep. That's me over there on the right.

As for dolls, here's the skinny. After conferring with my friend at Itty Bitty we've decided to put the next batch of dolls up for sale Wednesday, November 15th ish. This will give me time to finish more dolls and work out any kinks in our web page design.

Finally, and totally changing the subject, I checked my stats this afternoon and holy cow, I've been featured on Craftzine blog! Thanks to the lovely people at Craft and welcome you of whom have come from there! Grab a cup of tea and please stay awhile. I love having visitors to my little home in the Blogisphere. And please say howdy if you get a chance. I love me my comments. It gives me a big head makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

And with that guten nacht! (yes yes. I know it's still daytime but guten tag just didn't have the same punch.)

 

WIP - Dolls for Itty Bitty Ladybug

Here's a sneak peak at 2 dolls almost ready to go to Itty Bitty Ladybug. I have 5 black haired dolls that will be ready at the end of next week (Nov. 10th) and another small batch after that. Once these two groups are complete I will be up to my elbows in pincushions for a craft book that will be coming out next year. I would love to share but you'll just have to wait until the book comes out. How's that for drama. Oh, and speaking of drama, as if I didn't have enough on my plate, I also signed up for an ornament swap which I'm pretty excited about.

While you're on the Itty Bitty site check out the new hair clips. A friend of mine makes them and they are the best at keeping very thin hair up and out of a little one's face. Tootie can wear hers all day without it falling out.

Happy Friday!

Making it up as I go along

My friend came over today to help me make dolls. It's the first time I've had any help and I didn't know what to do with myself. The time passed way too quickly as we chatted away while working. I wonder if this it's what it's like to be in a quilting circle? It reminds me of what it was like back in art school and makes me realize that I miss that kind of community. I was so giddy that I sewed a couple things backwards. I'm not used to adult conversation during the day. I hope I didn't bore her to tears or wasn't too much of a task master. I can't wait for my next doll day.

Last night H took Tootie out for trick or treat. She was so excited that when it was time to go out the door she couldn't do it. She just ran in place like a cartoon character. I finally had to nudge her to get her moving. And since her legs were already going she nearly flew out the door and off the porch. 45 minutes later I could hear her at our neighbors house "TRICK OR TREEEEEEAAAAT!" When she came in we dumped all the candy and she picked out 10 pieces for herself. The rest of the candy is set out for the Halloween Fairy, ahem, to collect and trade for a toy. This is a brilliant idea I got from my friend Mrs. Figby. Tootie started asking me all sorts of questions about the Halloween Fairy and since I don't have much of a grasp of it myself I was pretty much winging it as I went. What I told her is the following and it's good I'm writing this down so I can refer to my notes. The Halloween Fairy collects candy because that's all she eats. Tootie gasped when I said this "Mommy, THAT'S not good for her! Her teeth will fall out!" I replied "Well, they have!" which was not the best plan Stan.

"How does she eat the candy if she doesn't have any teeth?"

"Ummmm, she's friends with the Tooth Fairy?" I guessed.

"Yeah! and the Tooth Fairy must give her new teeth!"

"Rrrrrrr-iiiiiiight." I am thinking I am in way over my head. Why couldn't I have kept it simple? Candy=Toy. That's all I needed to say but noooooo.

The rest of the evening was spent imagining what the Halloween Fairy's house looked like and where it was located. According to H she lives in a castle made of candy and is very far away. 

So what stories have you dug a hole for yourself made up to your kids?