Four days with the husband home, that’s how you get stuff done. Hope everyone had a fun 4th! Ours was pretty good. I’m almost over the stinging disappointment of Oak Park’s ridiculously bad parade. I’ve acclimated to the no more floats thing but no bands?! no shriners? no classic cars? no twirlers? Even the cool librarian book cart drill team were absent. sigh. But marching band withdrawal aside, we did manage to have a productive weekend and that always makes me happy. While Tim and Oscar whipped this place into shape I spent most of the time in the craft room working on some new designs.

These new bears are for a friend of ours who is expecting twin nieces or nephews this Fall.

I’m really happy with how they turned out. It was so much fun to work
on teddy bears. They’re good and squishy with floppy hands and feet and
in a nice gender neutral palette I think. They’re a little big. I
always think these toys are going to turn out smaller and then when
they’re done I realize oops, that’s bigger than the baby it’s for. My first attempt
was more right on size-wise but I didn’t like the shape. Guess it just
sort of expanded when I reworked it. Oh well, a toy you can grow with
right?

since I had Oscar’s swaddling blanket out for a prop I thought I’d try my hand at twin swaddling…

I was spurred on by this bear design to try out a new girl doll design. I’m still working on her hair and outfit but maybe tomorrow I’ll have her done. What’s funny about her is how I try all these new things and then in the end she came out looking very much like other dolls I’ve made. She’s a close sister to Dagmar. Guess she’s just the doll I want to make. Well enough with tomorrow’s post today.

The new flickr group link is up on the sidebar. refresh.. cute! refresh.. CUTE! And hey, got some happy news from the printer that the new put-together books have shipped! If you’re on the reprint list you’ll be hearing from me soon.

Here’s my line up of new bunnies waiting for tails, faces and dresses. I’m really excited about this batch! I have so many great fabrics picked out for their outfits. It’s good to have a fun activity lined up for the long nights in store for us this weekend, listening to things explode.

Glad to hear the pattern booklets are landing safely and I can’t wait to see your creations. More booklets have been reordered…and more thank you cards and more mailers. whew! The business of business, there’s a lot of it huh. Tim is very excited that people actually like these things and is eager to get going on the next set of patterns. I’m working on it dear. I’ve successfully recreated the butterfly and now the turtle.

The the biggest challenge for me in all of this is trying to balance going back and making patterns and tutorials of previous work with the desire to keep moving forward. I’m itching to get started on some new projects and designs. I have a set of twins to make stuffed animals for and I have been trying to come up with something new for them. And for the embroidery I have big plans, overambitious maybe a kid’s book type of plans. At the very least I hope to get a few embroideries together for a little set of notecards soon. Then there were those fabric designs and oh yeah, poor neglected thriftcraft. And bunnies! I’m working on a big batch of big footed bunnies to add to the store. And again there with the overambitious. Are there enough hours in the day to learn how to smock?

On the other side of the to-do coin are the patternbooks. I’m hoping to get two more sets done by Fall. The hand sewing set with turtle, snail and butterfly (and maybe a new design) and the robots and space toys which will be a much bigger book than no. 1 with more patterns and variations. And then, phew, that’s it. That’s as far into the future I can think!

I just put the finishing touch, a first place ribbon, on the latest big footed bunny. She’s what they call a horse girl. Coincidentally, a fellow equestrian is talking shop today so fittingly this bunny shall be named Alicia Bunny.