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freebie! wee bunny pattern

Time to get Easter (or whatever) crafting. The wee bunny pattern is now available in the new freebies section! Based on the wee pattern, the wee bunny is easy to make and very versatile. I used the ever abundant fleece, fuzzy side up, for my solid front but you could use whatever you like. The pattern calls for a pompom butt. I made my using my new pom pom maker and some yarn. You can go that route or you can buy poms at the fabric store or sew one up, whatever works easiest for you. The ears are flat and not stuffed and I just zigzagged them together for the easiest ear possible. If you want puffy ears you could cut the pattern pieces a little larger and sew right sides together, turn inside out and stuff before sewing them into the bunny.

As with all my free patterns, please make them for personal use only. Please don’t make a litter of bunnies and start selling them on etsy. If you’re dying to make some to give away to people you don’t know, why not make some up and donate them to kids at Artists Helping Children, a wonderful organization that distributes donated handmade toys (knitted or sewn) and other handmade items to sick and needy children.

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some excellent mail

When Ginny, a librarian in Seattle, emailed me out of the blue with the subject line “want books” I of course emailed back “yes please!” boy, I had no idea what amazingness I was in for. She’s got my number!

Lokomotywa, a Polish children’s book of poetry by Julian Tuwim, illustrated by Jan Marcin Szancer, 1938. Of course we’re huge into trains around here, and the colors and illustrations are so beautiful. I love this book. more photos from the train poem here and here

there are two other poems in the book, here’s an illustration from “Ptasie Radio”

Ginny also sent this great Funny Jungleland flip book put out by Kelloggs in 1909

and even more! these amazing beautiful vintage buttons, a great retro kitchen towel and a super fun vintage casserole book too. Thank you so much Ginny! I feel so so lucky that these beautiful things have come to live with us.

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I speak for the trees

I finished up that baby quilt I was working on this morning and it just came out of the dryer all nice and crinkly. In the end I decided to forgo the tying and french knots plan. I kept trying it, different colors, different yarns and it just wasn’t working. It wasn’t nearly as dramatic as I’d envisioned and it made the quilt too folky instead of the more modern look I was going for. I moved the trees around some too. I really like how they are running off the page now. For the binding I used a vintage scenic linen towel. It was a labor of love because although it was big for a towel it was still a smallish square and I had to piece together about ten small strips to make the binding. It was worth it though. I’m very happy with the blue sky border.

Now I’m ready to get another quilt up on the felt wall. Something about quilts, no matter how much time they take to finish as soon as it comes out of the dryer I feel ready to jump into a new one.

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32 things actually

I’m it! Thanks Jen. 4 things…

four jobs I’ve had
hollering after a toddler get back in the bathroom with that toothbrush
shredding paper at a bank
clerk at video hell
waitress at the track

four movies I can watch over and over
anchorman
dazed and confused
singing in the rain
pride and prejudice

four places I have lived
madison wisconsin
chicago illinois
austin texas
oak park illinois

four tv shows I love to watch
sopranos
the office
pingu
instant star

four places I have been on holiday
new york
duluth minnesota
south of france
memphis

four of my favorite dishes
chilaquiles
massaman curry
tim’s beef stew
pho tai

four websites I visit daily
flickr
go fug yourself
ebay
imdb

four places I’d rather be right now
sleeping under an umbrella on a hot beach
at a fancy hotel snoozing in one million count sheets
dozing off in a rocking chair at a lake house reading a novel
well you get the idea

four bloggers I’m tagging
I don’t know who has been tagged already so to not embarass myself I’m skipping it

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H is for Hillary

My new Jess Hutch bear. I made this one for myself. I love him.

What else is going on? I’ve just been trying to keep up, to catch up! My bloglines is running out of control. So many great ideas have been sparked and now I’m just scrambling for time to try them all out. Right now I’m trying to learn how to draw with a Wacom tablet in Illustrator. Not an easy task. Especially since I can’t really draw at all. I need to figure this out though. There is so much I want to do. I’m working on drawing out the patterns for the booklets. I’m also trying to make something fun for my miniswap partner. Oh and trying to “help” Tim with the new site design. I need to put my H bear over here by the computer to be my cheerleader while I try to figure this stuff out.

Speaking of catching up, check out all the great stuff from the Whip Up gals. They’re going to be keeping us very busy!

Another crafty blog development, a sad goodbye to one of my favorites, Little Birds. I’m really going to miss checking in on her beautiful site. At least we’ll soon have her etsy shop! I hope to console myself with one of her little lambs.

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brand new shiny craftroom

My craftroom overhaul was successfully completed earlier this week and I’m in seventh heaven. It’s so easy now to see all my fabric at once. And all this empty space to lay things out. My big clear work table surface to draw/cut/work on. It’s awesome! And so worth the near panic attacks I had last weekend when the room was completely dismantled into one huge pile of chaotic mess.

I took out a whole set of shelves and redistributed stuff all over the house, mostly to the basement. Here the essentials are left over. My favorite fabrics and books. And off to the side, why the shelves were banished, to make room for my new felt wall! Thanks to Amy’s great how-to post I now have a magic wall to which fabric miraculously sticks. What a great way to work on a design. I’m working on a baby quilt for a friend and it is so cool to be able to lay the whole thing out first.

I needed a new button storage system since the printers drawer they lived in was stashed under the exiled shelves. Jelly jars is what I came up with. Tim is skeptical as to how easy they’ll be to access but right now I’m just in love with how they look. We’ll see how it fares after the romance is over.

A new shelf for the dollhouse waiting to be redecorated.

All the CD’s were banned to the basement and I got a whole new set of shelves for little this’s and that’s.

ahhhhh…..