Randomness

Well, I seem to be falling off the blogging wagon.  I really mean to be including more here. 

I've been a little off since Thursday.  I was called for backup childcare when my friend went into labor and she needed me to take care of their first child.  Not exactly what I was planning.  The only person who got enough sleep was the kid I was taking care of.  It took 10 hours of sleep for me to feel normal again Friday night.  But the baby is here and healthy and everyone is now home.  I finally got a nice thank you from the mom for taking care of her kid.  I really needed to hear that.  I haven't been invited to come meet the new baby though.  Oh well.  I just keep reminding myself that no one was/is thinking super clearly during this situation and trying to not get upset.  Being exhausted does not bode well for me feeling good about things.

Enough said about that.

Went up to Portland for a second job interview that went well.  Keeping my fingers crossed that I'll get the job.  I'm sick and tired of being unemployed.  It is so debasing and makes me feel like such a loser.  It's hard not to take the situation personally.  I'm just hoping that this job works out.  My unemployment benefits are almost gone and that means I'll have to move back in with my parents. :0/

I've been sewing.  (Is anyone surprised by this??)  I got some bright purple microfleece and am working on a hippo and a cat.  My sewing machine has been misbehaving....I don't know if it's from sewing fleece or the thread.  My guess is it's the thread.  It's not good quality thread.  My machine is getting fussy about what thread it uses. 

So obviously my brain is jumping to a million different topics.  What I really need to be doing is listing new animals in the shop.  I have quite the menagerie going in my apartment.  I'm actually starting to feel a bit overrun with animals.

Been busy sewing

I've been busy sewing and have a few creations to share.  Taking photos at night doesn't turn out the best results but I still wanted to share.  I'll have to take some better pics tomorrow.

 Sundrop the dancing dinosaur.  A tyrannosaurus rex to be specific.  This is another Funky Friends Factory pattern.  I just love her patterns.  I shrank the pattern to make this girl.

Duckie the kitty cat.  Made from a FFF pattern that I shrunk, and then drafted pointy cat ears and a long curved tail.  

Duckie is made from minky.  Minky drives me a bit batty because it sheds so much.  I went through a lot of lint roller sheets making this one.  But I'm happy with the results.  I think she turned out pretty cute. 

Ok, I think my brain has turned off for the day. 

If you give a Hippo a Cape...

So I just completed this little guy and he inspired me to write a little poem.  I based the poem off of the book, If You Give A Mouse A Cookie.  (One of my favorites!)

 If You Give a Hippo a Cape
If you give a hippo a cape,
He's going to ask to try it on.
When he tries it on,
He'll probably ask to climb the stairs.
When he's at the top,
He'll climb on the railing.
When he climbs on the railing,
He'll get ready to jump.
So he'll probably ask you to catch him at the bottom.
When he's ready to jump,
He'll tell you he's "Super Hippo!"
He might get carried away and think he really is a super hero.
H may even think he can really fly.
When he jumps,
He'll realize he can't really fly.
You'll catch him in the nick of time.
He'll hold on tight to you to make sure he's really safe.
So you'll reassure him and take off his cape.
When he sees his cape again,
He'll want to be a super hero.
And chances are if he wants to be a super hero,
He'll ask for a cape to complete his costume...

 Side view of the Super Hippo.

This hippo's name is Harvey.

 Hippo Hiney

 Check out Harvey's cool striped feet.

How hippos pretend to fly.

Sparks

So I just added a page of UFOs.  Somehow that has sparked the creative juices and I actually feel like doing some quilting.  Since I don't feel like spending most of the day pinning, I'm going to work on this quilt for the baby shower in 6 days.  Since it's small and I'm just doing a stipple it should go pretty fast.

I have a box full of fabric and rhinos in tutus and a panther that needs to be stuffed.  This is all for the new shop I'm going to start.  I want to have a shop that is just focused on the stuffed animals.  They are so much fun to make and I adore the Funky Friends Factory patterns!

A little preview of the cuties that will be in the new shop!  These girls have been nicknamed the Lemonade Twins.

Whenever I'm on the floor cutting out pattern pieces, a certain fuzzy beast thinks that he needs to be on the fleece.  Even though it's pretty warm out right in Oregon and he has an insane amount of fur, he still wants to be on fleece!  That fabric must be a sort of cat magnet or something.

Ok, so apparently having an ADD moment and jumping around from topic to topic.  I'm going to go and work on this quilt before I lose my motivation!  Pics soon to come!

Blog Excitement!

OMG, I'm so excited. 

It all started when I made my friend A's daughter R a rhino in a tutu! 

So here's a front view of the rhino.  Her name is Lemon Poppy Seed, or Lemony for short!

 A side view to see the cutest rhino in a tutu!

And of course a cute rhiney hiney in a pink tutu!

So I was so excited and thrilled about how cute Lemony turned out that I posted a pic of her on the pattern designer's FB page.  I ended up inspiring her to do a give away and I was the first winner!  So thrilled.  And then this evening to make it even better, I found out that Lemony was featured on her blog! You can check it out here: Funky Friends Factory Blog Doing a little happy dance at the moment. 


I'm definitely loving the rhino pattern.  It goes together so quickly.  I experimented with making a mini rhino today. 

 This is Miss Mango the mini-rhino!

 Pictured here with Blueberry so you can see a size comparison.  They are actually cousins.  They have the same fabric for the inside of their ears and the pads of their feet.

 Two rhiney hineys are cuter than one!

Boo Boo Buster Bag!

I've been playing around with this idea for awhile in my head and today it came to fruition.  I made a Boo Boo Buster Bag! Perfect size to throw in a purse, diaper bag, backpack or the car.  I think I might make one for my car.  It's amazing how often I need some sort of first aid like thing (bandaids and tissues, mostly) I need in my car.  I think I'll throw some granola bars in there as well. 

I had super cute puppy and kitty fabric.  So I thought I'd play around with it.  I made a little red cross patch to put on the bag.  I played around with the design of the patch.  First I had a pieced red cross but it was way to big.  Felt was so much easier.  And just making  a square patch was kind of boring so I made it a circle. 

I'm thinking of making these for my shop.  I've been looking for something new to make to give my shop a little boost.  Hopefully, this is the solution.

I think it turned out pretty cute.

 Close up of the red cross patch.  It's top stitched down.

I little demo of what you could put in it.

 I made the lining of bag nylon.  That way it could be wiped out if need be.  I'm not used to sewing with nylon.  It's kind of a pain.  But I like the results.

 I hadn't planned on squaring the bottom of the bag but after looking at it, I decided it'd be cuter with a squared bottom.  Plus that means that it will stand up on it's own.

 Zipper.

Reverse side of the bag.  Check out the dog and cat!  So cute!  A quilting friend, G, gave me the fabric.  I think she made some pajamas for one of her daughters. 

Blueberry is up for adoption!

I just added Blueberry the Rhinoceros to my Etsy shop.  She needs to go to a loving new home.

You can check her out here: Blueberry