Plaiderpillar

The rabbit fellow on the left should look brand new to all of you.  His name is Magnus.  He’s kinda big!

You may have met the black squirrel on the right during RNG Gallery/Dixie Quicks’ grand opening, but if not, come meet him.  (He was created while I worked at Signs and Shapes International.  I did the pattern, but Signs and Shapes fabricated him.)

OK, that’s all ya get!  Come to the opening Friday, December 9 for the big unveiling.  Need more info?  Head over here.

This is your sneak peak before the Baby Expo tomorrow.  On the left is a close-up of the neck of the new fella on the right.

There will be new fish and cats for you to see, too.  Fish is little, cat is big.

I posted a couple images of these when I mentioned the Baby Expo, but I thought I might explain them a little more, in case you were wondering where they came from.

Pretty self-explanatory, but it’s a bird mobile that I made for my new nephew Hank.  It’s made from tulle poufs, in mustard, off-white, and pea green.  The six birds are a tweaked for a simple bird ornament pattern, and I changed their body style slightly for every two.  I also experimented with different wing styles.  They are made form wool felt and have vintage button eyes.  The hoop is an old embroidery hoop, and was very handy, as I could wrap the string around the inner hoop, and adjust the height and position.

There are LOTS of cute DIY baby mobile ideas on Pinterest.  Some of them don’t even require sewing, or maybe just a straight stitch around the edge of two pieces of cut felt shapes.  I love this yarn mobile idea.  The circular ring could even be a found object.  (I dunno about you, but I actually do have a spare wheel hanging around the house.)  Just make sure you attach everything well and keep it out of the little one’s reach.

I have a crazy idea for what I’d like to hang over our future Mini-Pillar’s crib, but that will have to wait for another post!

Chad is the graphic designer at the inflatable mascot company (Signs and Shapes International) where, until recently, I was the patterner.  Before I left to work from home, Chad commissioned me to make his daughter’s favorite animal for her:  a wolf!

Her favorite color is purple, so I used some lavender for the eye background, and found some vintage striped material in purple-ish tones for the tummy.  He even has three different types of fur.  His nose is super-realistic, which I love next to the comically chubby body!  The grey of his body fur is slightly textured, so it looks like he’s running free in the wind.  Right?!

My friend Meredith commissioned me to make what might be the most . . . unique . . . toy for their soon-to-arrive baby girl.  When Meredith was little, she had an imaginary friend named Meatcut.  He was a piece of meat who was cut into slices.  Because he was sliced, he had to be careful when he walked so he didn’t fall apart.  Meredith decided this would be the perfect thing to bring to life as a surprise for her husband at their baby shower.  I found a herringbone twill so that the meat looked kinda marbled, and used soft grey wool flannel for his arms and legs.

For his slices, I made graduated pieces that snap together.  You can see how they slightly taper as they narrow down at the hips.  (Yeah.  Meat hips.)  His mouth is hand-stitched, and the eyes are two different sizes.  They are the last two roundy safety eyes in that style that I had.  In case you aren’t familiar, safety eyes are round plastic domed eyes with a shank on the back, and there is a one-way washer that slides on the shank to keep little ones from being able to pull them off easily.  (Although if I DO sew buttons on something that little hands might get a hold of, I sew them with strong thread and anchor them well.)  I have a stash of these safety eyes from my mom who made lots of stuffed animals for a while, and I was saving these two for something special.  There ya go, Meatcut!  Have some fancy eyes.

My brother, his wife Kara, and their new son Hank came down the street to visit for Halloween, and Hank was wearing the costume I made him.  He’s a gnome!

I made a sleeper out of fleecy blue fabric, used a vintage buckle and made a wool felt belt for him.  The hat is red stretch terrycloth, and I sewed tiny snaps inside to attach the beard.  The beard is also wool felt.  I cut it into strips and sewed it to a ribbon.

He was one sleepy little gnome!

How happy we are to be married!  It began raining right as we read our vows, but our family held tight under the trees at my family’s cabin.  Rob’s father, Tom, held an umbrella for us.  My brother, Eddie, was the officiant.  During the ceremony, Tom read the poem and haikus he had written for us.  After we read our vows, Rob’s mom, Margie, led the whole group in singing “I Will” by the Beatles.  We were married in a forest, on a carpet of yellow leaves, right at the edge of an overlook on the shuffleboard court.  The wedding party was almost entirely family.

Above right is my brother and his wife, Kara.  They had their baby just five days later.  Eddie’s restaurant, B&G Tasty Foods brought the main course:  BeeGee loose meat sandwiches.  The rest of the food . . . every last bit, including the cake was provided and prepared by my mom, Julie; Rob’s mom, Margie; and our sister-in-law Fran’s mom, Linda.  I can’t tell you how much work they put into our wedding, especially considering what short notice we gave them.

Cutting our beautiful red velvet cake, made by Linda.  So delicious!

On the left is Rob’s mom, Margie with our niece, Stella (who we call “Mini Margie”).  On the right with me and Rob is my mom, Julie.

Rob had strung lights all around the shuffleboard court so we could dance.  I purchased these two Polaroid cameras from my friend Jen, and a couple of our friends were kind enough to capture these pictures for us.  Our friend TG was our official wedding photographer.  I will post his photos in a second part for you to see.

Rob displayed his sculptures throughout the forest along the trails, and his sister, Megan (with only one day’s notice)  made a beautiful map of the property with dots marking the sculptures’ locations.  We had a full sculpture tour as an activity at our wedding. The next day, we walked the dogs through the forest and remembered our most perfect day.