Sneak Peek

Just some sneak peeks at a pink cheek that will be ready tomorrow, I hope.  I used the most Spring-like fabric imaginable.  Today is beautiful where I am, and I hope it's beautiful where you are.  It has been a great Saturday so far, and I think it will only get better because tonight involves red wine, a couch, a husband, a dog and a Jimmy Stewart movie plus the windows will be open, which makes everything nice.   Earlier today I walked to a cafe and wrote a letter to a friend.  She sent me one a few days ago and when it arrived in the mail I got all giddy.  I love snail mail.  I used to write letters to my summer camp friends almost every day of the week, but I probably only sent a third of them because I wasn't as organized back then (sorry Mollys and Tracey and Kerry).  But anyway, I took along this old sketch book to write the letter in, and in it I saw all these year-old sketches for Pink Cheeks (back then Pillow Monsters) and it reignited my sewing flame.  But I also bought this teeny tiny brush from the art supply store, that honestly looks like 3 eyelash hairs, and that has me excited to paint tiny matryoshka dolls, AND I also have this intense desire to start a container vegetable garden.  Hopefully I can focus on these things and do and paint and grow them, instead of feeling overwhelmed and just watching American Idol instead.   I'll be back with a post tomorrow, have a lovely Saturday night!

Super Matroyshkas Complete!

They're finished!  I feel completely rejuvenated.  Maybe these little Supers transferred some of their powers to me when I created them.  I really like these little fellows, but I am slightly embarrassed that I neglected to paint any Super ladies.  Maybe next time.  I like though that these Super heroes are a little awkward and ugly, I mean why do Supers need to be so attractive anyway?  These matroyshka Super heroes are definitely the type that play D and D when they aren't saving lives, and they probably don't know how to talk to girls, and that's why I like them.  More than ever now, I wish I knew how to do simple animation, because I think these 5 could really be some sort of Super team, like the Power Rangers (or maybe some other Super group that is cooler than the Power Rangers), and I think it would be incredibly fun to show them hatching out of one another when the time comes for them to fight crime.  Some day I will learn animation, some day.  Sigh.  I am going to list these guys in my Etsy shop today.  Thanks for reading and have a lovely evening.  

Daily Walk Documentation

I found this amazing book at Barnes and Noble ages ago.  I found it when I was looking for a book that Kitty Pink Stars had been flickering about.  It is by the same author (Keri Smith) so the books were neighbors on the shelf, and I was immediately drawn to it because there are all these colorful circles on the cover and I find circles to be a most pleasing shape!  

**(quick side note---while looking for a link to Keri Smith, I just discovered she has a blog [swoooooon])

I bought the book without shopping around or checking used book stores because I fell in love with it immediately, and except for the occasional cafe mocha with extra whipped cream splurge, I tend to be pretty frugal.  But, this book is great, it helps you to see the world through new eyes.  It brought out my inner child that had gone into hibernation because all the "adult-ish" stress-bullies weren't letting it play.  It has all these projects to do---a lot of them are about drawing, collecting, observing and wondering.  Before today I just used to peruse the book during a bath and get excited at the possibility of actually doing the projects, but today, on a walk with Albert I made myself do one.    I collected interesting objects on my walk---the goal was supposed to be 30 items, but I lacked the pocket space (I smell a sweater alteration project, do you?).  It made my walk very exciting.  I felt like a pirate on a treasure hunt.  It also made me more mindful and got me genuinely excited about Spring and all the magical things that occur.  I made it a rule to not pick anything living, like weeds and flowers.  The coolest thing I found was the item on the far right, bottom.  It's a natural thing that grows on trees, but it looks like some medieval torture device or something....  Completely strange.  I really enjoyed myself, and I really recommend the same adventure to anyone else!

Wooden super hero catharsis....

My sewing machine is getting dusty, and my blog is even dustier.  I blame my job on both, but I like my job, so I don't want to be too blamey towards it.  If you read this regularly you know that I work with adults who have developmental disabilities.  I recently became the instructor at my program, so I am like a "teacher lady" with 2 different 2 1/2 hour classes plus an hour in a half being a lunch monitor (or I'll go ahead and say lunch lady).  When the adults I work with are engaged, I consider the class a success.  When they are enthusiastic, I consider the class an enormous (almost miraculous) success to the point where I feel moved to tears.  The reason I am telling you this is so that you can understand why my blog is being neglected lately.  In an effort to try to get my class excited I pump up my enthusiasm for whatever we are doing by about a million percent.  I talk about the new spring weather like it is the first time I have ever experienced something as amazing as "buds forming on trees", and I direct a Bingo game as if the stakes are millions and bazillions of dollars instead of a sticker of an ice cream cone.  This enthusiasm results in me coming home at 5:00 feeling like I have been run over by a truck.  The energy I have left is completely depleted when I exert it to open a bottle of wine.  But, this makes me sad.  I miss creating my little plush friends.  

However, I have discovered the immediate catharsis of painting (or maybe "re-discovered" since it was my major in college).  I am really ecstatic.  I have started this super hero matroyshka project and it feels so good to be creative again.  The sewing takes too much planning for my energy level right now, so I don't know when I'll get back to it, but hopefully the wooden super heroes will entertain you as much as they are entertaining me.  Thanks!  Go outside!  Have fun and enjoy the breeze that doesn't chill you anymore!

Heraldo

Heraldo would rather be deep sea fishing than worry about the recession.  Though he'd like to be a deep sea fisher-man by trade, his current day job is an accountant.  This is most-likely due to Heraldo's inability to keep the fish he catches---he always throws them back in because his heart is as big as a killer whale's and as soft as his furry mustache.  Sometimes when his clients are talking to him about their stock worries, Heraldo drifts off and instead stares at his screen saver (set to "oceanic scenes").

Heraldo measures about 12" high and 9" across.

I am going to hire Heraldo to be my accountant, since I don't have one.  Then instead of talking about practical money matters, we could drink tea and dream about living off the radar on some sort of hip-ily decorated ship.  Heraldo will be available in my Etsy shop today!  

 

Monsta Love

Awhile ago I had a very fun request from a very colorful girl to the north of me (Canada).  Her name is Miss Monsta and she has beautiful red hair, a nose piercing and tattoos.  She wanted a plushized version of herself and here is what it looked like.  So, a couple weeks ago she asked me to make one of her boyfriend and supplied me some photographs---the best one being this one (because of course he is in a glam rock band)!  This photo is more of what I based the "plushized him" off of, mainly because I wouldn't know where to even begin with that glam-rock hair.  But, I loved the zebra scarf-tie thingy, so I had to include that.  I pierced his ear with a paper-clip and a wire-bending tool and the whole experience made me nostalgic for my junior high rebel years when my friends and I thought we could pierce our ears with safety pins.  I didn't actually follow through with that, actually none of us did, but we were pretty hard core for even talking about it.

I start my full-time job in a couple of days *gasp*.  I'm mostly excited and a little nervous and definitely sure that I am going to miss my 1 hour naps with Albert (below) in the early afternoon.  

I plan on "Pink-Cheeking" it on the weekends.  Actually that phrase is less-endearing to me now that I found out there was a "gentlemen's" club in Santa Fe called Pink Cheeks.  Oh well.  Thanks for reading, happy Valentine's day and have a lovely, lovey-dovey weekend!

Oscar for Dawn

Oscar is a carpenter. He had a bit of a wild youth, hence the tattoos all over his body. Oscar specializes in tree forts because he is a really great climber. He doesn't believe in ladders, but he's super strong and agile, so there isn't really a need for them. Kids in the past have thought he was part man, part bear because of his scruffy beard and burly ways. One boy, Tommy, overheard him accidentally hammer his thumb instead of a nail. He screamed really high-pitched, like a kettle when the water is boiling, or like a girl-singer when she is reaching a really high-note. Tommy thought it was funny, but not as funny as his completed tree fort was cool.

He measures 10" by 10"

This story is a repeat---I haven't been able to write new stories lately.  I am not sure why, but I have a sneaking suspicion that maybe it is due to the free cable I acquired a couple months ago. Today, when I heard Joseph pull up I had to run and turn the TV off before he caught me watching a "Next American Top Model" marathon.  So, I need to get to the library and turn the boob tube off more.  

Oscar is for a lovely, lovely, lovely plush goddess named Dawn.  She is from Look What I Can Do and is the hands behind those lovely, large-eyed love-creatures that you can see nearly anywhere.  They were the first softies I saw that really started making me curious about sewing my own.  Also, Dawn has a special place in my heart because she did the most adorable Flickr set---documenting the vegetarian lunches that she makes for her kids---it's really fun, you can check it out here.

Thanks Dawn!