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Yarn Along: Puppy is raring to go!

Glad to be joining in with Ginny again for her Yarn Along.  I really didn't think that I'd have anything to show this week since it's been a very busy week.  Next week is even worse...feeding 200 people 3 meals each day for 3 days?  Ack!  I love it and hate it at the same time... 

Anyway, back to the yarn along.  I had finished this little guy 2 weeks ago, but he sat without a face all that time.  Last night, I embroidered his features: just some simple stitches and a lopsided smile. 

Wasn't really sure how to add a knot without having it show, so I simply buried the embroidery thread in the stuffing of the body.  I'm guessing that with a few good tugs, it could come loose?  My 11-yo won't pull on it, but if I were to give this to a younger child, I would want to make sure the thread wouldn't come loose. 

If the thread were wool, it would probably just felt with friction.  Or if it had been sewn on a felted piece of wool and then attached like I had done here and here, then I'd have a place to tie the thread. 

Anyone have suggestions for future sewing on of embellishments with embroidery thread?  What have you done?

For reading this week, I've been browsing some of my sewing books.  Yes, they look too new.  Yes, they've been sitting on my shelf making the shelf look pretty for much too long and haven't been seeing much action at all.  Presently, I'm working on two bags/purses and hope to finish them up soon.  Why is it that when I have so much to do, my urge to sit down with knitting needle or sewing machine or a good book only increases?  Does that happen to you too? 

More photos of the puppy and Ravelry info here.

Gotta go!  Puppy wants a walk...

Artistic

The quick little crochet bracelets (for my friend's daughters) she made from Kids' Crochet.

My daughter is always working with her hands, creating little treasures here and there.  For years, she's loved making tiny things.  Mini things.  She shows great attention to detail.  Sometimes her art and craft are made from paper, clay, more clay, baking, general crafting or her favorite, photography.  Nature photography, most specifically.  She's taught herself to crochet, how to use photoshop, how to embroider, is good at creative writing (when she does it!), has composed an original piano piece, has taken numerous art classes at different co-ops...definitely my creative spirit child!  I find that she also is the one who often needs a little push to get her ideas rolling.  Now we just need to figure out how to connect her creative spirit with college and/or a career choice. 

Any ideas? 

Embroidery

Anya, from a little sparc, has been busy with embroidery.  After having discovered Alicia Paulson's  Embroidery Companion, she started on her own rendition of the headband from the book. 

It was a long time coming since she had to find an appropriate marking pen (the drawing she traced kept disappearing from the fabric - very annoying!) and then find what the author called 'decorative elastic'. She ended up using a lovely muted foldover elastic.

She's done a beautiful job.  Such attention to detail.  Now's she got more ideas in various stages of planning... but first, she's off to buy some traditional thimbles for her aching fingertips.  Some of these look nice...

A Little Sewing: A Monster

One of the very first blogs I ever visited (after realizing what a blog was) belonged to Hillary of Wee Wonderfuls.  So naturally, when I saw her book, I was interested in trying out a wee wonderful of my own. 

There are so many lovely dolls and toys in the book.  I love her color combinations and the folkart feel.  I also like her odd little creatures. 

My youngest does too!  He thought the monster, Koji, was very cute.  I can understand why he was drawn to it: humor and mischief wrapped up in one funny little toy. 

 
I chose a kelly-green baby-wale corduroy (it looks minty in these pictures) for the body and used a thrifted sweater (multi-striped) for the spikes down Koji's back.  For his eyes, I used another thrifted sweater and added a simple French knot for the blue centers. 

Here's the ham with his monster!

 

A Little Sewing: Embroidery

Just popping in (late) to show the only crafting done over the weekend.  The past 2 weeks and weekends have been very busy with school-related subjects, for which I'm thankful, however, managing to squeeze in a little creativity is always a plus.  I'm finishing up the embroidered faces for the 2nd set of Matryoshka dolls.  They will have auburn hair and blue flowers to complement their blue-green eyes.  My daughter says that I need to practice my satin stitch!  I agree.

A New Month: April

Happy April! 

April is a finicky month.  It utters forth with rain and wind and warmer temperatures that melt the last specs of snow into mud and mush and make a sport out of puddle-jumping.  Rainboots required...need to buy some!  And then it rushes back into freezing weather, and you wonder if you need your wool hat.

Yet, I see shades of green dotting the landscape more and more, and the flowering branches of our pear tree encouraging us with its fuzzy blossoms.  The small patches of bright yellow daffodils and the smaller beginnings of purply-blue grape hyacinths which line our walkway in a haphazard fashion, make me smile. 

Last week I noticed how a whole host of red-breasted robins arrived in force to our backyard in search of food along with the squirrels and starlings.  At least I think that's what they were.  The starlings, that is.  I'm not a bird watcher.  Yet.  Hope to improve on identification!

 

Here are a few good things to usher in the first full month of the season:

:: a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow for you to print out:
An April Day - Longfellow

:: another bunch of science-related activities for you to print out:
Natural Science Through the Seasons April

:: a lovely April calendar image  for you to download from Geninne's Art Blog. 

:: a Spring Cattails nature study for you to try (whole site is fantastic!)

:: a few sewing,knitting, crafting ideas:

making books like these

sewing a patchworked table runner like the one above from this book

trying some embroidered pins like Tiny Happy's

knitting a few pairs of Saartje's baby booties (so cute!)

sewing a messenger bag complete with ruffle

:: some delicious  uses for these green stalks during  peak  asparagus  season

 

Have an Inspiring Weekend!

 

A Little Felting: Bears

Some of you may remember these.  Several years ago, I began making felted purses (cats & bears) from thrifted fulled sweaters and little bits of embroidery.  I made several for a lovely friend. Soon afterwards, I gave a few of them away to other fellow bloggers in a giveaway.  At one point, I thought perhaps I'd try to open an Etsy shop for all kinds of handmade goodies. 

That was 3 years ago! (whew!)  Life stepped up in various ways, and the purses (actually a lot of crafting) were put on the back burner.  Recently, I began to finish a few of the them that I had begun and that were gathering dust (not literally; they were covered) on the shelf. 

I do hope to begin an Etsy shop.  Baby steps, of course.  But for now, I was just glad to add a few finishing touches to some of them.  Still have several more to finish.  It lifts the spirits a bit.

Babkas & "Babushkas"

Babkas and Babushkas.  Sort of sounds good together.  Probably because both begin with 'b' and end with 'kas'?  Actually,  babka is a yeast cake laden with sugar and butter and is related to the word baba (Polish) which means an old peasant woman.  Babushka is either a headscarf or an old peasant woman (or grandmother in Russian).  There are similarities.  At any rate, I made (or am still making) both.

Not having ever made a babka before, I was a bit intimidated.  Sort of like the creme fraiche intimidation.  I knew it belonged in the bread family and that butter and sugar were involved.  I knew it was a more costly bread to buy in the store. (probably because of all that butter and sugar and time!)  I've since learned that a babka is simply a very rich 'coffeecake'.  But doesn't the word, babka sound more interesting than coffeecake?  I think so. This recipe is not for the faint-hearted.  It is LOADED with butter and sugar.  But your arms will get a good workout from rolling out the refrigerated dough.  

It is a two-day event: make the dough the first day, chill it overnight, wrestle it 'til it's pinned on the board, fill the breads with a mixture of sugar, butter and various flavorings, and then, after jelly-rolling them and popping them into the oven, you hope hope hope that they turn out all right.

Now I just have to hope that the matryoshka dolls turn out all right.  'Babushkas' have been interchangeably (although mistakenly) used to describe the dolls.  Probably because the dolls often resemble an old peasant woman or grandmother with a scarf wrapped around her head. Whatever you may call them, 'babushkas' or matryoshkas, the second set is still in the making.  Like the first set, I'll embroider the faces onto wool and then attach them to each doll.  This set will hopefully be ready in time for a friend's daughter's birthday.  We'll see.

Raverly Info for 'babushka'.

Babka recipe from this cookbook.