evolution of the birds' eye

i had been making my vintage-print birdie onesies with button eyes.


and then i put on my hunter's vision -- or my naturalist's perspective-- and i found the hidden eyes in this vintage print. (can you spot them?)


when lined up just right, the flowers in the pattern make such great, subtle eyes -- so far better than the buttons (and it cuts out a step in production!)


the new, improved vintage-print birdie onesies (and newborn shirts)
(they'll be for sale this sunday at my table at the hearts and crafts affair at cafe grumpy in greenpoint, brooklyn!)

would you like to buy an O?

or a k? a j? an f? an l?...


...or any other letter?
prompted by the sweetly supportive positive feedback from friends about my cross-stitch K's, i'm putting the initials up on etsy -- with the option for custom orders.
i haven't had too much luck with etsy yet; we'll see how this goes.





(this post {maybe someday} sponsored by the letters k, s, g, m, and r.)

mushrooms - sylvia plath and meringues.

-Overnight, very
Whitely, discreetly,
Very quietly
-Our toes, our noses
Take hold on the loam,
Acquire the air.
-Nobody sees us,
Stops us, betrays us;
The small grains make room.
-Soft fists insist on
Heaving the needles,
The leafy bedding,
-Even the paving.
Our hammers, our rams,
Earless and eyeless,
-Perfectly voiceless,
Widen the crannies,
Shoulder through holes. We
-Diet on water,
On crumbs of shadow,
Bland-mannered, asking
-Little or nothing.
So many of us!
So many of us!
-We are shelves, we are
Tables, we are meek,
We are edible,
-Nudgers and shovers
In spite of ourselves.
Our kind multiplies:
-We shall by morning
Inherit the earth.
Our foot's in the door

That's my favorite Sylvia Plath poem.

The mushrooms pictured above aren't real mushrooms! They're cookies! Made out of meringue! HAHAHAHAHA!
Yup -- that's how I spent my Friday-night-after-Thanksgiving... making meringue mushrooms. What a nerd.

sunday morning

hung up some of the cross stitch pieces... they look kinda cool, right?

stitches in time

you can pin and mount me...

like a butterfly (or a moth).


sweet early-morning late-fall sunlight behind the latest cross stitch pieces

a hand made towel

taking a step backwards from the coral -- this is where it began, really, or where the coral facination stemmed from. (i actually finished these a few weeks ago -- just now posting...) this style of embroidery (which, again, i am not finished with my exploration of) is called "redwork." i first saw it a few years ago at the Folk Art Museum here in NYC, on quilts. It made an impression on me and I have just now gotten around to playing with it.



i really love the red embroidery floss on a white material.



dishtowels.

***my camera is taking really fuzzy pictures! or i am always taking my photos after i've had too much coffee...

inspiration coral-ation

here's my current inspiration board -- and new projects in the works.


i am IN. LOVE. WITH. the new gucci spring/cruise ads and runway looks. ( http://www.gucci.com/us/us-english/us/cruise-08/womens-runway/ ) the first time i saw the new ad, my heart went all a-flutter and my brain was obsessed with red coral.
in the picture you can see the beginning of my execution of the theme (the red-on-white coral cross-stitch pieces)-- and i'm just beginning.

smock around the bunker...

smock around, smock around...


I picked up Amy Karol's "Bend the Rules Sewing." I had been seeing a lot of reviews on it and everyone else seemed to love it. Well, when I leafed through it, I saw why. It really is a great book. There are a lot of inspiring ideas in there and the patterns are simple and easy to adapt and customize. I really appreciate her "bend the rules" attitude towards sewing --- the voice that says, " ah, don't pin it -- that's a waste of time -- just sew!" that is definitely how I work.
I tried the smock pattern first - with little miss Bella in mind.


Typical of me, I never seem to stop at just one. After the first, I decided to enlarge the pattern a little bit.


and then I just kept on going.

I had embroidered this chickie, but didnt have any use for it -- so I added it as a pocket.


If I make another, I think I will change the pattern just a little bit -- maybe make it a wee bit longer -- maybe add some buttons...
That book really is great. I recommend it to anyone who loves a project but needs a little direction. It gives the basic idea and how-to and lets you go from there to make the project "your own." A+++++++++, Ms. Karol.
(she also keeps a really great and inspiring blog, http://www.angrychicken.typepad.com/ )

this enchanted pony

i finished it; it's no longer the disenchanted pony.
i'm definitely not happy with the framing -- that will need to be fixed, but for now, it is complete.


that is a lot of x's....

making bunnies

(i have never quite understood why that is a term for little kids' farts.)*


here's the project du jour (one of them, anyway).
I drew the pattern the other day -- i dont know why or what inspired it -- bunnies arent a common theme for me -- but that day, i doodled a bunny and liked the shape. so i enlarged it on the photocopier and voila -- the bunny pattern was born.
at first i was going to make it of the pink polka-dot fabric that serves as the backdrop for these photos, but then i opted for the fuzzy felt.



i made the felt -- kinda... i had a pure merino wool blanket that moths had gotten to. well, i never really loved the blanket in the first place, so i thought that instead of darning the holes, i would try to turn it into a big beautiful piece of felt. i put it through one (hot) wash and dry cycle at the local launderette and it worked alright! this stuff is beautiful -- soft and fuzzy but strong enough to be cut with scissors. it sews up like a dream. perfect for soft fuzzy bunnies.



i made one, but wasnt 100% happy with the shape, so i revised the pattern and this little guy is the result.
i think he qualifies as a "green" product -- made from a repurposed blanket and stuffed with his own scraps (as well as some fluff).
if you love him and want one, let me know -- i've got the pattern and left over fabric!


(i also dont quite understand why i used that as the title for my post, when i could have instead referenced vincent gallo, or john updike, or the lemonheads.)