Stylish, Pleasantly Plump Lady Matryoshka Dolls

I had fun with this one, and I look forward to the others.  Matryoshka dolls have such a great, humble shape---plump in all the fun places.  This particular Matryoshka Doll added a belt to define her waist (she learned that from What Not to Wear).  Despite having a great time last night painting and drinking tea, I am battling off a grumpy mood today, it came over me like a.....(insert quirky metaphor here, I can't think of one).  Mother Nature is not offering me up any help because it is gray and soggy here, so she's probably a grump too.  Perhaps the two of us should get together and eat cookies to try to lighten things up.  

Beatrice

Beatrice is a spring fanatic.  She has little tolerance for the color gray, and gets quite grumpy after the last fall leaf has fallen off the trees and the branches are all bare.  As soon as the weather becomes bearable, Beatrice is outside preparing for Spring.  The first thing she does is collect pine cones and buy up crunchy peanut butter from the shop.  Then she gets to work making and hanging her bird feeders on all the tree limbs that are starting to sprout buds.  She's pretty sure that she is personally responsible for the rising bird population in her county, but she doesn't mind.  Next Beatrice tends to her flower garden which features every color in her 100 colored Crayola crayon box.  The colors are important because Beatrice is an organic-enthusiast, and she refuses to dye her Easter eggs with food coloring.  Instead, she makes dye naturally with her flowers, and they come out quite nice.  The children in her neighborhood are so in awe of them that they don't even complain about the lack of chocolate inside of them at her annual-organically-dyed-Easter-egg-hunt.

Beatrice measures 12" tall while siting, and her legs measure 6 more inches.  She is 8" across and made with super soft fleece, brightly colored spring fabrics, vintage and non-vintage buttons, denim, felt and polyfill.  She can sit up all on her own and looks ever so lovely on a shelf.  She has posable arms and dangly legs.

Beatrice is up for sale in my Etsy shop!

Not Ready Yet...

But definitely tomorrow!  In the meanwhile, listen to Lisa Hannigan who is amazing, and sews all of her own lyrics for her album cover!  I'm a little in love.

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!