Mini Yam

Awhile ago, a friend requested I make a Yam doll for her cousin's baby whose initials are, you've guessed it, YAM. Now the cousin, who is also a friend from long ago, requested a mini Yam for her daughter to hold onto (she's a baby [**correction, she is the cutest baby (sorry Walter, it's true)]). When she asked me to do it, she mentioned that she loved big Yam and wanted her daughter to love mini Yam so much that she through a fit whenever the mini was accidentally left at home. I am not one to condone tantrums, but the idea of a child throwing one over a Pink Cheeks makes my heart do somersaults!


Here is mini Yam! I tried to make her jingle by putting tiny bells inside of her, but the jingle got squished out by the fluff. That is unless it is like the Polar Express bell and only children that believe in the magic of Yams will be able to hear the jingle. Maybe?

I showed this to Walter to see if she passes baby approval and he promptly tried to put her in his mouth, so I think that is his version of a thumbs up.

Ramona

I always feel more productive creatively after a good snow fall. I think this is left over from snow days and the feeling of being given an extra special day to avoid the 9-5 and do enjoyable things. This is a picture of the abandoned house across from mine. There is a small family of cats living inside. I like to imagine them watching TV and making tea for one another.

Ramona has a mission. She wants to be the first person ever to capture the Corey Lake Monster. The Corey Lake Monster lives in Corey Lake and has been seen by very few people, but she counts herself among the few. She saw it when she was under water, winning a breath-holding contest. It came right up to her and gave her a wink. She hasn't seen it since, but she writes the Corey Lake Monster elaborate letters that include drawings and glued-on glitter and sequins. She makes the letters water-proof by carefully wrapping them in packing-tape and then tying them to a rock. Then, she canoes (using proper form) to the middle of the lake and drops it in for her friend. She hasn't received any return correspondence in the traditional sense, but she's convinced the Corey Lake Monster appreciates her efforts. It hasn't gone unnoticed that Ramona's lake experience has improved since befriending the Monster. The minnows don't seem to nibble on her, and she spots a lot more frogs (her favorite). She's sure her friend must have some control over this. When she does capture him, she's going to name him Fred and teach him how to play Scattegories.

Ramona was a special request from one of my favorite people ever. It's for her sister who is the fiercest board game player that I have ever met. She is having a baby. The baby is super lucky. This woman is awesome, warm, fun, funny and smart.

Pillow Line

Ever since I made Walter's curtains, applique has been my new best friend. She's the kind of friend that keeps you company while your baby is playing with his truck. She's also the friend who innocently distracts you from special orders that need to be done with her charm and sparkling wit. I love it. Everything is so quick and satisfying. I've been using my ginormous pile of fabric scraps which makes me feel green and good about myself. Sadly, I've been known to let perfectly good scraps pile up into a big heaping mountain of colors and textures. Then, guiltily, in an effort to bring my studio back to a sense of calm, I purge them all into the bin.
Applique is very fun. And very addicting. Applique is my "Angry Birds". You can make scenes... and speech bubbles exclaiming things! My little people can be holding hot cups of felt soup---and you can tell it's hot because of the embroidered steam rising from the cup! I am excited to say the least. I've decided to take out my excitement in the form of a line of pillows. I am still figuring out the nitty-gritty. This pillow pictured above has an envelope for an insert (I learned how to do this by watching this video), which I thought would look professional, but I think I am just going to stuff the pillows myself rather than using an insert. I like a firm stuffing. I like my pillows like I like my burritos: Stuffed to the max. I look forward to sharing more with you!

Walter's Curtains

I hope everyone had a nice ringing in of the New Year! My family was in bed by 10, but our partying was on New Year's Day in the form of banana nutella crepes for breakfast. I ate them slowly, with my eyes closed. If I can judge the rest of my 2011 based off of this breakfast, it will be something special.

I have been spending my time making our home more home-like. We rent, as I know is our destiny for several more years, but after receiving this book by Lotta Jansdotter for Christmas (thanks Joseph!), I wanted to go ahead and make our rented home feel like our handmade home.
I designed this curtain for little Walter Bean's room:


you can get a better view here. I used a regular Ikea curtain for the base and then used weird green fabric I bought from a remnant bin for the dinosaurs body, one of Walter's outgrown onesies for his attire, and some felt for his eyes and horns (? what are those things called? [I need to freshen up on my dino anatomy]). It was a hassle to applique on a giant curtain, but fun to lay it out and design it. It's like drawing a little bit. I am sure it will be much more fun on pillows. However, I love him hanging out in Walter's room. A friendly dinosaur burping a love heart. Generally dinosaurs freak me out. Jurassic Park blew my mind, and the dino skeletons at the Field museum in Chicago gave me tiny goose-bumps and had me quietly wondering for weeks. What were those giant monsters doing here? Regardless, they make nice characters on curtains for rowdy boys (or girls).

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! For your present, I got you a better designed blog (thanks Mike for your help!). My little family is hitting the road for celebrations. Thank you for all your support this year. It fills my heart up more than Russian tea cookies have been filling my belly this year (very much). I hope everyone has a very beautiful next few days full of family and friends.

The image above was a present from Joseph. We opened them yesterday for a mini-family Christmas (it was popping-corn). We also watched Planes, Trains and Automobiles which is about getting home for Thanksgiving, but we pretended it was Christmas. That movie is hilarious and then so sad. Maybe that is a directing trick to open you up with the funny bits and then sneak in something incredibly sad right when you are feeling vulnerable. Whatever it is, it's good.

Merry Christmas!

And the Winner is....

Confetti
Originally uploaded by ADoseofShipBoy

My super sweet friend GENEVIEVE SULLIVAN (it was completely random, I pinkie-promise)! Congratulations Genevieve, Merle will be snuggling with you soon!

Giveaways are super fun, I'll do more.

Two Lovelies

These two lovelies are off to a woman I met at the Bloomington Handmade Market. She and her husband make these beautiful leather wristlets and pouches. They practically sold-out at the market because their work is so beautiful. I am really flattered that they wanted to buy a few of my Pink Cheeks. It's nice when anyone loves your work, but there is something extra special about other crafts people liking it. I want to buy one of their wristlets, wear it on my wrist and prance around to show it off!


Herman loves shadows. In his room, his mom helped him hang a sheet from the ceiling, and then she got a very bright light to shine on it so that Herman would be able to put on shows for the rest of the neighborhood children. The shows are quite elaborate. He does the musical numbers with a kazoo he hangs around his neck. Sometimes his shows require big monsters, so he gets to be the shadow. Other times they require little tiny creatures, so he borrows his sister's dolls. He has a pet hermit crab named Peter. Sometimes he tapes a GI Joe to Peter's shell and puts him in the show. That creates an interesting effect.


Betts is attracted to the nocturnal lifestyle. She prefers soft, dark light to the fluorescent ones in her school, which make her head feel wonky. Sometimes, during the day-time she sits in closets and works on her night vision. She is pretty good. She makes drawings in her room at night, by the light of the moon, which she thinks is a pretty artsy thing to do. She does this while eating moon-pies. She calls her drawings "moon-scapes". Sometimes bits of her moon-pie melts on her fingers and gets smudged on her drawing, but her mother thinks this adds to the overall effect. She signs them "anonymous" and tapes them up on the walls at her school.

My little Walter took his first couple of steps today. It's just incredible how they teach themselves.