Happy New Zoo!

Another adorable softies set made from my pattern.
This one is by Frambooske.
I especially love the polar bears and the peace-out giraffe!
xo

It's a Double Decker!

 The adorable Sam was happy with his Christmas gift.

Apparently (which I had no idea) he is really into buses.
His mom reports that he kept repeating "It's a double-decker!"

And he quickly figured out that the wooden wheels turn. Clever boy!
I hope he has lots of fun with it.
xo

Joanne's Big Meadow set

This is the beautiful stuffed toy set that the very talented Joanne Friar made (from my pattern) for her grandson for Christmas. It's so interesting to see someone else's different fabric choices! Check out Joanne's stunning children's book illustrations here.

Trim up the tree with Christmas stuff, Like bingle balls, and whofoo fluff!

 Nearly just in time, the tree is finally trimmed!

 The big tree is mostly for ornaments from here and there...

 The table-top fake-feather tree is for ornaments I have made over the years...

 there are various incarnations of mice...

... and some funny bunnies too...

Merry Merry Christmas, everyone!
xoxp

Fa-la la la-la!

We actually had a real live group of (human) carolers come to the door last night! It's a long tradition in our (new) neighborhood, followed by a big party next door. Very merry!
xo

Mousekin munchkins!

And here are 2 adorable boys doing just that (i.e. making the crafts in Christmas with the Mousekins mentioned in my last post). They did such a great job! And check out their amazingly decked-out tree too!

 

They also made the best Cinnamon Snails - Yum!
Thanks to their mom Analisa for sharing the photos.
xo

It's that Mousekin time of year!

It's that Mousekin time of year...

 

 

 

There is crafting to be done...

and tasty cookies to be baked.

Make a felt mobile, Mimi & Momo finger puppets, a snazzy Christmas Tree Hat, a mousie sock puppet, old fashioned cornucopias, and a beautiful angel mouse tree topper!

I hope you'll look for Christmas with the Mousekins at your library or bookstore, and join this industrious and very cheerful little family for some serious holiday fun! xo

who's on the bus?

bus pillow/toy made for a very special little boy, who, i'm sure, has been very very good!

 it's about 11" x 19", and has movable wooden wheels. i hope he likes it!
xo

Pigging Out

A delicious feast was enjoyed by everyone.

And then we all felt like this.

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving!
xo

living in oblivion

Espresso Swirl and Mocha Swirl...determined to ignore what's going on around them....

 Moving - Ugh!

Party Pigs

i've been working away on my pigs book....

...hoping to meet an end of october deadline.
but we are moving (again!) on 10/15, only across town this time, but still a gigantic undertaking.
i hope i make it!
xo

Lester Loves Laundry

Mmmmm.....here's nothing like a warm towel, fresh from the dryer.
xo

outfit

Here you can see her play-suit more clearly.

Kitty

I've been a long time away...
There's a new doll in my shop!
xoxo

happy baby card

...and a card to go with the pants...
i painted it with acrylics (plus a scrap of fabric) on my new surface - Srathmore 500 10-ply illustration board. a while back i was kvetching to my critique group about surfaces and someone suggested this. i never ever would have thought of it. it's totally new for me to use a non-flexible, less porous surface, but i really like it. wouldn't be great for water colors, but it's perfect for acrylics.
there's something very freeing about not having to tape down your paper. and because i was always lazy about stretching my water color paper, it was usually warping to some extent (or a lot!).
And i find that using transfer paper doesn't really take more effort than transferring with a light box - in some ways it's easier because you can see the line that your tracing exactly.
And, it's double sided, so if you mess up one side you haven't lost the whole piece.

just another example of the many benefits of critique groups!
xo

Baby Pants

 Vintage fabric baby pants for a new addition to the (small) extended family.  Trimmed with vintage cotton ric-rac (newer is usually all or part poly).

It's so exciting to have a little girl to make things for!
xo

Spring around the neighborhood

 A tour around the neighborhood on a typical slightly drizzly, light-gray spring Seattle day....check out this two-tone cherry tree...

 and my very favorite yard. got there a little late but it's still a profusion of color and texture...

 it will still look like an Easter basket long after april.

 another great rock wall.

 and this conjurs the Mediterranean. oh how i wish!

 love this rock wall right across the street from us.

 at the base of our landlords' chestnut tree.

 and these in our own back yard. Forget-me-nots. more subtle, more delicate, but dearly loved.

 a second favorite - a crabapple (i think) from the park overhanging our mossy garden shed.

and you've gotta have Daffies!
Many of you are probably on your way to summer by now, but here in Seattle, spring lasts until july.
Visually, that's a nice thing!
xo

Hoppy Easter!

for easter i made myself one of my bunnies from my Most Prized vintage cotton fabric - a stunning abstract floral. i'd love to have Everything made from this print - pants, skirt, shirt, pillows, handbag...but a bunny is a nice way to start.

Happy tulips and daisies and everything yellow!
xo

The Musician Mouse....

so when this wonderful knitted mouse arrived on my birthday and i was thinking about what to name him, i decided he was definitely a Sylvester - partly because he reminded me of a french book i'd had as a kid about a mouse with that name. or so i thought.  i still had the book but hadn't looked at it in years. when i found it, sure enough there was this intrepid mouse character wearing only a scarf, just like my mouse. but i was totally surprised to see that the book was called "Julienne - the Mouse Musician". as much as i wanted that connection for my mouse and this book, Julienne was definitely not the right name for my new friend.

 

 i'd not looked at the book in years and enjoyed all over again the classic perfect illustrations by N.M. Bodecker. i reread it the best i could with my french lessons long gone. it's such a fun (& relevant) story (originally published in 1961).

 Julienne lives in a meadow and enjoys all the other critters who live there, and he especially loves all the different sounds and music he hears in nature.

 by and by, Humans come along and ruin everything - they plow up the meadow and build a development. you don't need to know French to make out the meaning of "un grand bulldozer"!!

 Julienne is displaced and goes into the town to find somewhere to live. finally he hears music coming from a shop and goes inside and finds his perfect house inside a guitar. at night he makes music by strumming the strings on his "door" and passersby hear the lovely music.

the shop owner is mystified - with his bad eyesight and in the dark he doesn't see the little mouse.
eventually, the perfect person purchases the guitar and things work out spiffily. maybe you can find the book in your library system to see more of the wonderful illustrations and to read the whole story.
realizing it was not a french book after all (which i assumed as a child of course) i went on amazon looking for the english version, and here was my big surprise:

in the english version, the mouse's name is Sylvester!!!
how can that be?
i don't think i could have possibly known that....
very strange...but so satisfying - now everything wraps up into the perfect package i was imagining.
sometimes life is nice like that.
xo