Katamari Ella!

This strange creature was definitely out of my comfort zone. Can you tell? But, I appreciate a good challenge. Especially if it's for a good friend. So, I had to transport myself back to geometry class and think about shapes and gussets to get this thing right. It is a Katamri Damacy character. And, I had no idea what that was, but from a quick Google image search I can see that she (?) is adored by her fans and has developed quite the cult following. She's from a video game. I'm sensitive to those. Do you remember when either a video game or a tv show was giving all these children seizures several years ago? Well, I think all video games give me seizures, I have a low tolerance. Or, maybe it's just that everyone is better than me at them. I never saved the mushroom princess, not once, even with the utmost concentration, the kind that lends children to stick their tongues out of their mouths. My brothers could rescue her in about 10 minutes, while eating sandwiches and carrying on unrelated conversations. Hmph. I do like games in the three-dimensional world, however.





Katamari Ella was born into this world with a need for speed. Her legs are still strange objects to her, beyond her control, but she knows one day they will be powerful things that will take her to magical places full of sugary snacks! Standing still makes her nervous. There's too much to do and too many shiny, beautiful things to look at. She can not bear to sleep to miss a single moment! Her parents have caught on to this. They lovingly rock her to sleep, the faster the better. The movement is soothing to her and eases her into dream land, where her legs make sense and do what they're told.

Huckleberry and Ella

I love special requests, but sometimes when they go wonky I like to retreat to my comfort zone of people in cozy bear suits. So, what would have been a blondie boy in a penguin suit, is now a blondie boy in a bear suit. But, he's sweet. And, the penguin boy was giving me trouble, so I put him in the corner with my scrap pile (let that be a warning to you, Walter not really). Hopefully the recipient won't mind. There weren't any parameters for this particular request, but the giftee's mom and dad like the Pittsburg Penguins, so I wanted to make a Penguin kid, oh well. I used a special kind of fur for this bear boy---it's called Sherpa fabric and it has a suede underside. It also feels softer than warm butter. It's so nice to touch. A comfy, soft friend is so the right kind of medicine in the winter time. My comfy, soft friend goes by the name Albert (my miniature pinscher). When he is on my lap, I get so lazy.

Huckleberry can ice skate like a professional. He is not sure how it happened, but ice skates to him feel natural and much more comfortable than any pair of shoes, even his moon boots. His favorite place to ice skate is on outdoor rings with real chilly winter air blowing around. He likes to go so fast that his cheeks turn as red as his heart and his face starts to go a little numb. It is even better when it is snowing because the flakes get stuck to his eye lashes and tickle his face. The very best part of skating outdoors though, is the coming home part. His parents usually make him hot chocolate so he can thaw his face out in the steam from his mug. Then he snuggles between them and they open their heavy, hardbound books, and read to him about various adventures.

Usually when I am planning new Pink Cheeks, I draw silly things and then I go through my fabric and pick things that work. However, my latest trip to the fabric store was really spend-y. I saw very loud, colorful prints and I grabbed them like hot-cakes. Not that there was a line of people waiting to buy them, I just didn't want my frugal Franny side to put them back. I am going to make a few masked vigilante ladies with them. Here is one. I am putting her in the shop today!

Ella is tired of bullies. She thinks they are ridiculous, silly little things. She doesn't believe in violence, but the next time she sees a bully bullying, she is going to throw on her mask and fuzzy boots and give them the stare-down. She's not sure how her plan will work, but hopefully she will weird one bully out enough so that he rethinks his ways.

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!