I’ve finally come out of my extended couch hibernation and started sewing last night.   Sewing things for the shop to boot!  You can see pieces of a couple different diggers above.  I was really excited about making a patchwork digger, but it has proved to be a royal pain in the ass, so it may stay in pieces for a while.  Thank you for all your motivating comments on the last post!  It really did the trick (the cupcakes my husband brought home didn’t hurt either). And thank you for all your comments in general.  It amazes me that people take time out of their busy day just to say nice things about what I have made.  You have made me work harder and make nicer things than I thought I could–hell I probably would still be on the couch if it wasn’t for you.  I used to only get one or two comments and would reply to each, but now that more people are reading this little blog it’s a bit too much.  So from now on I’ll try to answer all your questions in the comment section, okay?  If you leave your blog address, I’ll be sure to visit, because I can’t get over how huge and varied this crafty community is!  Okay that’s enough, I always hated reading these kind of posts before I had a blog (but I didn’t know how grateful I would be because of a few kind words).  So THANK YOU! now tell me what you’re working on.

The mobile swap is officially closed.  Over 100 people signed up to participate, which was completely unexpected and a little overwhelming.  I had a system in place to match everyone up with partners (those who wanted baby mobiles and those who wanted to make them and vice versa) but it was not without flaws, so if there is anyone out there who didn’t get a partner or has some other concern please email me and I will try to sort it out.  I set up a flickr group for the mobile and there are only 25 members, so get over there and sign up.  Everyone wants to see the cool mobiles you are making.

I have an idea for a mobile that I am pretty excited about, but I can not get moving.  I have a great new studio, but it’s in the basement and it is so. damn. cold. down there.  Shit it’s cold up here–I think it’s maybe 5 degrees outside.  The picture is of one of the shelves (here’s another) above my sink–I am actually washing dishes to keep my hands warm these days.  I need some sort of kick in the pants to get sewing again.  What do you do when all you can do is think of great ideas, but not get around to actually doing any of them?

I told you all about her before, but my incredibly talented friend has opened her own etsy shop called Ten Fingers Workshop!  She paints these perfectly hip wooden dolls.  The details are amazing–can you see all the belt loops on that little dude’s jeans?!  You can buy the one of a kind dolls in her shop, or you can contact her for custom dolls.  For christmas I commissioned her to paint my family and my in laws (so everyone had a matching wooden doll on christmas morning) and they were a hit! My daughter calls them her “family guys” and plays with them everyday.  The two pictured above are Miles and Cora and they are my favorites, but there are plenty more and beautiful handmade mobiles as well.  So click over and imagine yourself in wooden doll form…

sorry for the absence, I am slowing crawling out of a flu hole–one that sucked me in for almost a week.  Thank goodness for extremely supportive and hardworking husbands!

Needless to say, nothing got done this past week.  But in honor of whipup’s children’s crafts month, which I am very excited about, I scrounged up some things I made for my daughter a while back.  It surprises me how excited she is to have accessories for her dolls (as I cannot accessories myself out of a paper bag).  The top two photos are pictures of the swing smock from Amy Karol’s book, “Bend the Rules Sewing.”  I just traced the pattern in the book–no enlarging necessary–and followed her directions.  I used velcro as a fastener instead of ties, but other than that it is the same as the bigger version.  The bottom left is a little mattress and pillow for her dolly’s cradle.  I should have used extra batting on the inside so it was more tufted, but oh well.  And the last is a wonky dolly diaper.  Super easy and as this one has already been lost, I think it’s time for me to make another.   She didn’t help with any of these, but a child could certainly pick out the fabric and older kids could even help sew.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be making accessories for a plastic dolly, but here I am.