A few crafty things

Just a little bit of show and tell today -- first of all, here's a cat I made for Sofie out of one of her winter dresses (a really cute purple fleece) that I just couldn't bear to get rid of. Her friend Hazel has a cat that's laid out like this and which Sofie just ADORES and carries around every time we're at our house, so I drew it out on paper, approximating its design as well as I could from memory. And I stuck a bell in it, because Hazel's has a bell. :)



I'm happy to report she loves it, stumpy misshapen legs and all.

And - I haven't really shown a picture of the work I've been doing on the Quiltville Mystery Quilt, because up until now it's just been a series of small pieces that weren't that interesting in themselves. But for the last two weeks we've been joining all of those small pieces into a larger block called a spinning star:



And we made thirty of them, which laid out on the floor actually looks like a quilt!



That said, I don't think the final quilt is going to look much like this -- the quilt is called Orange Crush and the major fabric in it is orange, plus there's a bright turquoise accent fabric I haven't used yet either, which we haven't even used yet, and a whole other set of small pieces we haven't incorporated. There are three more steps until we're done. I can't wait to see what it looks like!

Homemade Applique Shirts

For a while now, I've been ripping pages out of catalogs and filing them under a category roughly called "Things I Could Do Myself So Why Should I Pay You $40 For A Kid's Shirt?" For real. Flip through some of the kids' clothing catalogs that come and you'll find teeshirt after tee shirt with something cute but basically simple appliqued on it selling for $40, $50, sometimes even more. Ridiculous!

So I bought a bunch of plain but nice quality $10 tees from Old Navy and have been meaning to give this a try. And today I finally did.

Take a gander at these -- and wow, let me just say this was a fun, easy, and cheap project since I already had the felt:




I have to give credit for the flower design to Applique The Piece O' Cake Way -- it's one of their applique designs which I traced and used for this shirt. Here's a closeup -- bent over a pillow a little which makes the top of the circle look strange in this shot:


The tomato and the ice cream cone were based on designs in Postcard Cuties for Summer from Bunny Hill Designs. Anyone who knows me knows I *had* to make a tomato shirt.



Materials are all wool felt. We'll see how they go through the wash. If that doesn't work so well I'll do it again with cotton and really applique it.

Owly

Alas, I'd be getting more quilting done with Brett gone if I weren't so easily distracted.

By questions like, "Oh, how hard could it be to make a stuffed owl without a pattern?"



Answer: not real hard. Although when you decide he needs wings and then decide to teach yourself how to blanket stitch to fasten down his eyes, you can easily find yourself suddenly missing a day of your life.

Sure, his nose is crooked -- I was going to fix it then decided that it adds character and also it might be a good learning tool for Sofie later, if she ever comes to me and requests a nose job. "Your owl's nose isn't perfect," I can tell her, "and you love him just the same." Oh yeah, I can see the good parenting awards rolling my way.

Our new owl is suspiciously committee-sized. Who thinks I should sew a big number seven on his chest?

More felt clips

moreclips, originally uploaded by Brett&MeganZalkan.

Several more felt hairclips I've made over the last week or so. These are so fun and easy to make, and look so great on! I'm getting addicted to this process. I made several of the hearts one at the top and gave them to Sofie's girl posse for Valentines Day. I'm also liking the daisies (third down) and intending to try that one again with the hopes of it coming out a little less wonky - so hard to freehand cut all these little pieces in a way that comes out symmetrical. And the felt is so thick that with pieces this small I can't really fold it over and cut it out evenly... Hrm. More to learn. In the meantime, Sofie's awash in fanciness :)