Aliens on the Brain

I'll admit it.  I'm a little boy-crazy.  In a crafty sort of way.  Yep, I love my boys to pieces, and I love "making stuff" for them.  My 5 year old Spunky is such a creative little guy.  I bounce ideas off him continually.  He's got great input into my creations.  He named this one (below) "Salien" (because he's got what looks like a sun on his face).

We were discussing aliens a couple nights ago and he had "a great idea!", so he drew me an alien.  It was so stinkin' cute!  He described every part of it, from the shape, to the eyes, "then there's a mouth, and another mouth, and stripes like a zebra, and this one squiggly stripe goes all the way up to his second mouth!!!".  And yes, I do know that he was stalling because he didn't want to go to bed, but those are the moments I cherish...

So, yeah, I've had aliens on the brain.  Here's how I created 3D aliens from the pictures: two scraps of quilting cotton (Spunky picked the fabrics), and an old t-shirt.

I am no good at free-hand copying, so I used an iron-on embroidery pen and some freezer paper to make a transfer, and after I transferred it, I copied over the lines with my fabric pen.  It was my first time using this method and it worked beautifully!

Sprout saw me taking pictures of the aliens and made a bee-line over to investigate.

He started TALKING (ok, babbling, but who's to say the aliens can't understand?  Never know, maybe he was speaking their language?!!).

He was so excited he even gave me the nose-crinkle that I adore!

Spunky got home from school and was thrilled.  Now if I could only figure out how to make antennae that are kid-friendly, I'd be a super-hero momma!

Blessings,
:) Caren

Uncomplicated

This blog post is a reminder to myself to keep things simple.  

At the moment I have a million (ish) fabulous ideas floating around in my head.  I start by drafting my patterns and adding elements, and by the time I'm sewing I realize that I have made things WAY TOO COMPLICATED.  Has that ever happened to you?

If you haven't noticed, I get pretty excited about uncommon animals.  You know, the ones that are totally unique.  Yep, teddy bears and stuffed kitties are nice, but they're fairly common.  A stuffed kangaroo?  Now that's not as easy to find!

See, it all started with a realization that I have a baby shower to go to this Saturday (eek!).  And yes, I do already have a gift to give, but it is not hand-made.  So I decided I'd make a small stuffie for the new baby.  Here's my sketch.  A bunny.  Not so difficult, right?

Ha!  Then I thought - oh, I bet that baby would like a crinkly toy!  So I added the crinkle factor (in this case, a sanitized pretzel bag).  Then I thought - oh, one is not enough!  I'll make a family!

  But even before I could finish one bunny, I had a "great idea" (anyone ever seen Wallace and Gromit?  "Don't worry, I have a GREAT idea!").  Yeah.  A kangaroo family.

Yes!  A pocket!  A little joey to snuggle in it's mommy's "pouch"!  Great idea!

But by then the crinkle bunny family was partially finished.  So now the kangaroo daddy has been finished.  So I'm kind of committed.  (Or maybe someone should consider committing me!)

I mean, really - look at those ears.  Gorgeous!  But ouch - they were fussy!!!  There's a bit of the "crinkly" in there, and then I gathered them, then the patch on the inside.... what was I thinking?!  And that's only the daddy kangaroo!

And since I was already committed, I decided not to leave this poor bunny family unfinished.  They deserve to be together, right?  So here's mommy:

Doesn't she look happy?

And if I ever get Mrs Kangaroo and little Joey finished, I'm sure they'll look every bit as happy to be a family...

...IF, of course, I can tear daddy kangaroo away from my little Sunshine!

Have a very blessed (and uncomplicated) week!  :) Caren

Stockings (Part 2): Applique

As I said in my last post, I am working on making Christmas stockings for kids in foster care as part of the Stockings for Kids project.  I have finished up three patchwork quilted stockings, and I am bursting at the seams with ideas for applique designs and I'd like to share them with you.

First off, we have the Christmas robot and the kitty with a tree.  You can't see the note at the bottom very well, but it makes me chuckle.  I wrote "fortunately I sew better than I sketch!!!"

Here's the kitty with the tree.  It looks so different from the sketch, though the applique pieces are the same, because of the fabric and embroidery techniques I used.  I wanted the kitty to be stripey.  I think this fits the bill.  You can't tell from the picture, but I used a backstitch for the star and a blanket stitch around the hat.  I have found the perfect white button for the pompom at the tip of the hat.  So assuming the kids don't take off with my button, it should be finished up tomorrow!

Here's my slightly wonky Christmas robot.  I want my stockings to look handmade.  Not bad quality, but just "off" enough that they can't be mistaken for mass-produced.  I do all of my embroidery by hand (which was not easy on this one, since the body/arms/wheels were made from vinyl).  I wanted this robot to be slightly wonky (like Wall-E after he got smooshed at the end of the movie).  I think that's how we humans are.  Smooshed.  But God has a way of healing our hearts and putting things in place like no robot can.  So I am praying that the child who receives this stocking will also receive Gods healing - way down deep in his (or her) heart.

I know I already showed you this picture, but I just love the details.  I was trying to figure out how to make stitches that resembled rivets.  I think this works pretty well - and I love that my 90 cent bag of embroidery floss from the thrift store had just the perfect shade of "robot grey" (my name for it).  And those glasses!  I can just imagine a cute little near-sighted robot going into the optometrist saying "take me to your candy cane glasses."  

Next up, a chilly penguin, and a sweet kitty with her teddy bear (I'm thinking pink fuzzy fleece for the kitty).  I'll keep you posted.  

Chow for now!  :) Caren