Littles

"Sew, a needle pulling thread."

As I said, I like doing small handcrafts. I love Salley Mavor's Wee Folk and started making them a while back. I love making them, but what do you do with them once they are made?

I proudly showed them off to some women I used to hang out with and they kind of looked at me like I'd grown three heads. About the same look I get when I talk about Lord of the Rings.

I'm happy for the Gramerly's to play with them during inside calm play, but they won't hold up to being shoved in little pockets, or left in the rain. Then I discovered felting and loved those wee animals too.

Cute, but not durable either.

Then I found pocket lovies on a blog, a mixture of wool felting and embroidery, and tried my hand at those. I love making them, but they won't really hold to to rough play either.

My gramerlings have this need to take something home from here every time they visit. I wanted some little something that would hold up to imaginative play, but not cost so much of my time that I would grieve it's loss.

Enter The Cuter Book. Oh my, I can't stand it. I want to make ten of everyone of these little cuties. After some careful consideration though, I decided to make several of a few of my favorites that I will name and tell stories about. They are perfect for pocket stuffing and will survive a fall in the creek and a good wash.

This littlest blue bird is only about an inch and a half long. I need to rework Itsy Bugg a little. I followed the pattern, but her head is too big for my liking.

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Any name ideas?

Sew is Me

I've had sewing on the brain this winter. Nope, have no idea where that comes from, but it was bad enough that I bought myself a sewing machine. Awhile back I bought a book, Wee Wonderfuls, thinking I would make dolls for the gramerlings. I've always had a sewing machine. It's lived contentedly in the attic for many years. I gave sewing a whirl when I was newly married. Yeah, well, as I've stated machines and I don't mix and the Handy Man finished everything I started. I couldn't sew even a straight stitch without the thread creating some sort of disaster. Being older and wiser I determined that surely the sewing machine was the problem.

So, I went to my friend Amazon and sought a sewing machine that didn't create massive thread disasters. Sure enough, I'm not the only person who has experienced this sewing nightmare, because on one simple machine practically every review mentioned that the thread never got tangled up- SOLD!

A couple days later, it showed up on my porch. I was thrilled that I figured out how to thread all the parts and start that baby up without any help from my Handy Man. I drug out all the stuff I bought to make adorable dollies from last year and went to work. Well, let's just the results were less than adorable, though, I never got that thread tangled a single time. I'm a bit embarrassed to show pictures of the little mermaid doll and teddy bear I tried to make. Luckily little ones are very forgiving and they suited the gramerlings just fine. Still.

So, I went to the Jo Ann Fabrics and signed myself up for a couple of classes. The first class was interesting, though not in a good way and could be a post in and of itself. Suffice it to say, I learned nothing, nothing at all except that was certainly not a good use of my money. I'd already paid for the second class, so back I went. Though most of it I had to figure out for myself, I had the time to do it and look at this.

Boy howdy, I can not only sew, but make something attractive and functional- get out. I am so loving this bag, I could kiss it and my sewing machine! Alas, there were no curves. I can't decide if I'm never going to try to make something that has a curve, or if I'm going keep practicing curves till I get it right. Curves cause me some serious stress.

I'm as excited as I can be with my ownest sewing self, but my love is still in hand sewing tiny things. That presents another dilemma, but I'll save that for another post as well.

I'm off today, shhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I told Handy Man I was going to sit right here and sew all day, and in addition to washing clothes and cooking, that's just what I'm doing.

Next up is pillow cases for the kidlet's pillows that I got at Kroger, yes you read that right, the grocery, for $2. What is up with that? I couldn't buy the stuffing for that.

Mom is finally over the hump, though not feeling too well yet.

Aunt Lois came through the big move, but now is needing some grieving time for her boy.

Pete is coming for supper. I'm proud of him. He is taking his pooches to visit shut-ins and nursing homes.

I am loving this day off and some beautiful sunshine. Thank you Lord!