What About the Boy?

Okay, so a complete fail on my part when I vowed to devote a significant portion of time this month to boy "stuff."

And it doesn't help to have a veritable theme song running through your head, reminding you that you haven't done what you planned...(although, without the whole dead-reappearing-murdered-husband-causing deep-psychological-scars-in-the-child-thing...mostly just the "what about the boy" part)

Although, yesterday, I did cut out the jacket I'm making for Little Man.

And hey, now that I think about it--I DID fix a hole in my brother's pants--totally a boy thing.

And ya know, I DID finish the scrubs I was making for my mom--and yes, they are for my mom, but scrubs are totally, you know, gender neutral...

All right, I'm stretching, and I know it.

BUT...
I did come up with a cute t-shirt design for Little Man.

Its freezer paper stenciling and applique--together! Like BFF's! 4-evah!

The awesome stencil shot:


I did play around with the idea of an eyebrow on the eye. But I didn't want it to look like a girl eye, and for some reason that did to me.

Initially I was just going to put the "eye" and the "rock". But I thought that may not translate well ("Hey, whats with the eyeball and the gray lump on your shirt?"


The "rock" is two colors of leather--a black leather and a gray suede. I just stitched them right on. I probably should have used a sew on interfacing to give the t-shirt some body in back, but I didn't have any.

Believe it or not, its harder to make a convincing-looking one-dimensional rock out of leather than you may think!
But I think I pulled it off, and I'm pretty happy with the result.

And apparently so is my little ham...

CraftFail

How have I never seen this before???

Maybe because we crafters are in general too proud a lot to air our dirty failures for all the world to see?
And so who would think to google "craftfail"???

Or because I've just never failed at a craft or sewing project?

ha...haha....ha....

ahem.

Either way, I'm off to craft a custom moniter wiper to clean the coffee I just spit all over my computer.

Yup, its that funny.

Thanks to Obsessively Stitching for showing me the craftfail light!
You've got to check out her "failed sock frog"!!!

A Doll's Tale

I have been so inspired by all the adorable handmade dolls I've seen--both online and at the Amish market near us.
I decided to give it a whirl...
And so, with visions of a much-loved and played with toy running through my head, I created this for my Baby Bear:



I put alot of thought into it.

I made it to vaguely resemble her--the blond piggy tails shooting up on either side. They have crinkly paper in them for interest.

The fringy eyelashes, hand stitched and trimmed; the embroidered lips, bright red and feminine; the ruffly dress, the bright colors--yet not too bold...all done with my Baby Bear in mind.

Something soft to snuggle with, yet interesting enough to keep her entertained.



I imagined repairing "boo-boos" inflicted by too much love...washing a baby muddied by countless backyard adventures...packing her up to make the move to a newlywed's home, there to await the day she can be loved by a new generation of grandbabies...

I know, I know...I'll give you a moment to dry your sentimental tears.

I imagined too much.

Because this is what happened:


She flat-out hates the thing.

Can't stand it.

Won't touch it.

Maybe because I made the doll as big as her?
Like a stuffed zombie out to eat her brain...




Hmm...well, it was a lovely thought.