Tagged!

Yay, I've been "tagged"! I love reading fun facts about crafty bloggers, and now I get to share a few things with you and hopefully learn something new about some other gals who blog, thanks to BackwoodSophisticate. The rules are below:

1. Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share seven facts about yourself on your blog – some random, some weird.
3. Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs.

My list of random facts:

1. I was a bit of a sprinting/jumping prodigy in middle school; 100m, 200m, long jump, and 4x100 relay.
2. I didn't like going to fabric stores until college. Now I can't stop fabric shopping.
3. I love blackberry cobbler.
4. I don't eat tomatoes. Except BBQ sauce. I craved BBQ potato chips when I was pregnant with my first kiddo, but only the ruffled kind.
5. My eyes change colors. They are somewhere between grey, green, and blue. My husband calls them "mood eyes".
6. I'm allergic to cats.
7. I have lived in 20% of the states in the United States: Washington, Colorado, Minnesota, California, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, New York, Oregon, Georgia, and Wisconsin (yes, in that order--and an even more impressive tidbit: my parents were not in the military, nor on the run from the authorities)

Here are the 7 people that I'm tagging:

Amy Crankypants
Kirsten kirsten*can
Joyce Joyce Makes Art
Jennifer Deckled Edge Bindery
Maria Made By Maria
Crystal Crysto
Leah Whiffy Bean Bags

Fun News

I'm excited to share that my products can now be found at the Indie Fixx Shop! If you click on the picture below you'll land right on the page with my goodies.



Make sure to browse around--there are lots of incredible finds at Indie Fixx. There are so many items that are perfect for holiday gifts (I just adore this birdie brooch, these tea towels, this adorable sketch book...oh who am I kidding, I love it all!) so you can even shop guilt free, because it's for somebody else!

Have a happy Tuesday!
Kim

Swaps and Storybooks

I belong to a cozy little swap group and for a fun challenge, we decided to do a "Try a New Craft" swap. It was certainly tough to narrow down all the crafts that I wanted to try, but as soon as I had a glimpse of The New Crewel by Katherine Shaughnessy, I knew I wanted to do a crewel project. I absolutely fell in love with the ruby shoots design, so I ordered the kit and got right to work the day it arrived in my mailbox.

The needlework was a relaxing way to spend a few afternoons on the couch, and the entire design uses only the split stitch, something you are probably familiar with if you have done some embroidery before. But what to make it into? So many possibilities! I eventually decided to do a patchwork bag, which, if you're anything like me, involved making piles and piles of fabric to determine what prints to use. I'm pretty sure that about half of my stash ended up on the ironing board at some point (that's where I play around with fabric combinations) and finally settled on a pretty strict red and white theme. At one point I threw a little more green in there than you'll see on the end product, and decided it looked a bit too Christmassy--not that there's anything wrong with that--but I hoped to make the bag a little more versatile than for one week in December. It may still be a bit on the Christmassy side, what do you think?

I normally plan out the patchwork and things are pretty symmetrical, but I did a bit of improvising this time, switching out prints as I went along. There was a lovely moment when I happened to place the gingham print next to Little Red Riding Hood and realized how perfectly they worked together.

I don't know why, but Miss Riding Hood has always captured my imagination. When I was a young lass, I would lug an enormous volume of fairytales to bed each night and read until the wee hours of the morning. Mom and Dad never seemed to mind, so thanks to you two for never making me hide under the covers with a flashlight and a book! In any case, I'm a sucker for Japanese fairytale fabrics, especially this adorable one--check out the wolf peeking out from behind the tree. Love it!

the back...

The curly red shoots evoke a kind of fairytale forest feeling, and the wool embroidery thread creates such a lovely barky texture, so perfect for the "trees".

Learning about a new craft was incredibly fun and I sure hope my swap buddy likes it! I can't wait to see what everyone else made for their partners. Now off to dream of future embroidery projects...

Hope everyone had an inspiring weekend!
Kim

Pearfection

It took a few more (okay WAY more) drafts than expected, but I am finally in love with the result of this giant custom pear pillow for a gender neutral childrens' room

I used Ginseng home dec fabrics from Joel Dewberry and a corduroy stem. I'm a bit of a late bloomer in coming around to home dec weight fabrics, but I'm now officially hooked. And a lovely discovery it is as it opens up a whole new world of fabric obsession/collecting for me.

This project was more of an undertaking than I first realized, but not in a bad sort of way. All I can say is that pattern drafting (at least on a larger 3D scale) is not for the faint of heart or easily discouraged. But it's worth it when you get the outcome you were aiming for.

Thanks to those who were so encouraging on this project, I hope to soon have some of these giant pears available in my shop.

Kim

Not an unhappy post.

I was going to have one of those depressing posts where I complained about how the words "Get down off of the piano" came out of my mouth no fewer than 50 times in the course of an hour this morning, and my being irked about how our incredibly slow school district took two weeks to send me a letter indicating that I needed to register my son for school after my calling and speaking to an actual person, back when there was plenty of time, asking what I needed to do to get special services set up for my son, and he now has missed a full week of school after having received no services over the summer because of our moving across the country.

But instead I decided to play with my new pears.

So pretty. So carefree.

They like sitting in their new cherry colander. You can get a pear for yourself here tomorrow.

It was time that I started making the pincushions in different prints, although some of the old stand-bys are there too. I even made a ginormous pear after a request to make a large pillow-sized cushion for a child's room.

This isn't the custom pear, but one I did for practice (okay, maybe I thought the giant pear idea was so cool that I needed to have a one for my work room). I enlarged my pincushion pattern by about 400%, and it turned out a bit squatty, but still very pear-like. I knew this would happen, as just simply enlarging a pattern makes it all wonky with the out-of-proportion seam allowances, etc., etc., but I do think it turned out cute. I'll post the custom pear later this week when it's finished.

Oh, and completely off-topic, but relevant to current events, please register to vote if you haven't already! I'm doing so today, even though in Wisconsin you can register to vote in person up to the day before an election (how awesome is that?!). Check with your state/county (I Googled "How to register to vote in...") to find out how.

Have a Happy Monday!
Kim

happy rainy day

We have had a remarkably sunny summer this year, but today is rather drizzly and cold. Rico curls up on my lap, shivering, every time I sit down someplace even for a moment. I let the boys play outside (I sat just inside the house watching through the door, I know I'm a wimp because I hate being chilly, but they had a blast) until Jack's teeth were chattering and Joey was too cold to get down from the playhouse, they are so in love with mommy right now.

I haven't felt much like sewing today, but I have been playing with some new fabric and taking pictures of my new digs. My work space is in our basement, and though I do have a window, I don't get a lot of light, even on sunny days.

Do you ever get a new box of fabric and just unfold it and roll it and fold it again and make pretty stacks of it until it's just right? I do. I think it's part of my creative process, to actually feel the fabrics, see how they look next to various other prints, put them in a fun display so I feel happy when I get a glimpse of them while working....

My work room is still very much a work in progress, in fact, there is no way that I will show you any more than just my nifty little storage ledge until the place is in better order. Which will be soon. I hope.

In the meantime, maybe I will go splash in the rain a little. Have a happy Thursday!

Kim

birthdays and bear cubs

I've just had one of those weeks where I look back and marvel at how differently my life has turned out than I might have expected (warning: contemplative birthday post to follow). For instance, would I ever imagine the following things come out of my mouth, and even more surprisingly, directed at my children:

"Stop licking the piano."
"Stop licking the TV!"
"Stop licking the window!!"

only to be followed by:

"Don't eat your book."
"Don't eat the dog kibble!"
"Don't eat that pencil eraser!!!"

I celebrated not only my birthday this past week, but also my 9th wedding anniversary--a little bit strange as I still see myself as a youngster right out of college. And speaking of which, I never would have expected that my current job would be: mom of two bear cubs and independent designer. Especially considering my favorite subject in high school was biology and even my parents expected that I would go on to study zoology or something similar (I ended up majoring in psychology, then worked in publishing in NYC, and went on to a graduate program in speech pathology, so in retrospect, I suppose it was the natural order of things to do something else completely different).

But, I love it. I get to be at home to nuture my two young cubs (see? I am studying animals after all!) and nurturing myself with creative endeavors (and possibly a little extra-curricular reading).

So, necessity is the mother of invention, as they say, or was it something about idle hands....? Instead of continuing with my "No, no, no" one-sided conversation about which household items are appropriate for mouths, I ran to my sewing table, cut out some fabric and whipped up some candy for Bear Cub No. 1 to chew on. It was pretty brave of me, too, as I used no pattern (which I never, ever do) and I even cut into one of my favorite fabrics for the occasion instead of practicing with muslin.

and...? Success!

It's the closest I've ever gotten him to a real lollipop (you think I'm lucky, but I assure you I'm not... he also won't touch anything containing nutritive value. Thank goodness they put vitamins in cereal!

He thinks the corduroy is the tastiest part.

It's back to real life for me now, and you know, I think I prefer it to the one I had imagined for myself as a young'un.

Take care,
Kim

pears aplenty

It's a fortunate thing that pears are my favorite fruit because I've been making a lot of them lately. Thanks to all of you who love these pincushions as much as I do!

A stack of pear pieces, ready for sewing

A few leaves, freshly hand embroidered

(This is where I would insert a picture of a finished bushel of pears if I didn't have to wrap them up and ship them out as fast as I can sew each one. One of these days I'll catch my breath and actually get ahead for once. Maybe. But I also sort of hope not to.)

Kim

Where O Where

You may have been wondering what the heck I've been up to, and, well, let me tell you. I just moved across the country from Georgia to Wisconsin (adding that to the list of states I've lived in brings the total to 10--just 40 to go, woo!). It was a big move, though not the furthest. That distinction goes to the time we moved from New York City to Portland, OR. We did that one in the middle of winter, apparently because we enjoy a challenge. So this time, we loaded up the troops in the minivan (2 kiddos, 4 dogs, 1 fish and 2 houseplants, one of which--my poor African Violet--became a casualty of the road) and drove for 2 days to get here. Let me tell you, if it weren't for this guy, I would still be looking for bits of my sanity strewn alongside the interstate.

I am still searching for some of my things, however, many of which are still in boxes, due to the fact that the movers used all manner of creative thinking in arranging our items on the truck in such a way as to break almost every single piece of storage furniture that we own. So until my shelves are replaced, I'll have a small warehouse of boxes in my basement.

Found, however, was my fabric and sewing gear, mostly because I convinced Paul that it absolutely imperative that I lug it all with us in the car. I needed a lot of it with me because I have been working feverishly on a top secret project that I dearly wish I could tell you about, thus explaining further the dearth of project pics and commentary from my corner of the internet.

Anyhoo

I can share with you my latest obsession

I've been wanting to make some cute toys for my little boys, and the image of this fun guy popped into my head.

Of course I couldn't sleep until I was holding him and thinking that it's almost 3am, so perhaps a little shut-eye would be a good idea. Red is made from prints in my favorite retro color combination (his back is comprised of 45 patchwork squares, what was I thinking? Oh yeah, it was, "I'm having so much fun I think I'll make another one!")

and Phoebe is just so sweet in blush Ginger Blossom prints

These two owls will be for sale in my etsy shop soon, meanwhile, I'll be making up a batch of these guys to perch on a shelf in the boys' rooms.

Did I mention that our new house came with a swing set in the yard? Heavenly. I think perhaps I'll take the boys out to play, and maybe work on some owls later tonight, fittingly, when everyone else is asleep.

Be good!
Kim

Summer

It's hot. It's humid. I'm feeling slow and lazy and sleepy. I haven't felt up to making anything new today and then something keeps catching the corner of my eye



No, no, go back to sleep, I'm not sure I'm ready for you yet.



I know I made you months ago, but then you turned out so darn big and I didn't know what to do with you. I'm sorry you're feeling neglected and lonely. Maybe I should ask blogland if they have any ideas...a giant tote bag? A pillow sham? What do you think?