random thoughts + a discount code

happy monday, peeps. i’ll be back later in the week with some new projects. in the meantime...

o1) thanks for all the love on my whale stuffie pattern! i was happy so many people commented to tell me they were going to make one.

question though: how do we feel about me putting some up for sale in ye olde etsy shop? (which is quite bare at the moment ::cheesy grin::)

o2) e-shakti is offering googiemomma readers a 20% DISCOUNT when you shop online! pick yourself up something pretty, and think of that 20% as a gift from me to you ;)

you can read my e-shakti review here, and check out their new spring line here.

some of the pretties i’m currently crushing on:

retro style zigzag print dress          tux front poplin a-line dress

vintage denim chambray dress             make a beeline poplin dress

tiny heart print crepe dress          nautical crepe print maxi dress

 

simply use code GGEMMM at checkout for your 20% discount, valid now through 3/20/13—so get shopping!

o3) we are weaning. by ‘we’, obviously i mean elliot and i. well, mainly elliot, since i’m fairly certain i was weaned 31+ years ago.
it’s very bittersweet and i’m not gonna lie there were tears—from both of us (actually more from me) but it’s time to be done—wait, my merit badge just came in the mail, let me quick sew print it out and hot glue it on…

OOH! and i got the golden badge too!

that’s for holding Breastfeeding Mother Status totaling 95 months or more! wow. i almost want to push it another five months to get my platinum badge.

sheesh. i’ve spent just shy of 8 years of my life nursing someone.

seriously though…it’s very, very hard knowing this is it. she’s our last (yes, she IS.) and this is my last trip down this road. it feels like we’re closing the door on the chapter of our life entitled “Babies”. and while i’m excited about all the adventures in the coming chapters…i really like having babies around.

so, you know…fair warning that i’m feeling rather sappy these days. and that might pour out a touch in this here blog.

o4) also, tossing around an idea for a blog series in may. more deets to come.

xoxo,
googiemomma out.

a whale of a…whale (free pattern)

it has not escaped my notice that, as an avowed hater of stuffed and plush things, i have made and blogged quite a few.
the irony.
but i guess when it comes down to it, i don’t necessarily hate all plushies, just the stupid, pointless, waste of space, free/hand-me-down/non-emotional-connection type. yeah, those.
anyway, after making the quanket for the Unnamed Baby my friend is expecting, i still had a good sized piece of minky fabric left.
obviously, it needed to be a stuffed animal. because misery loves company and all that jazz. (sidenote meg: you’re welcome, kiss kiss)

and then after i did one, clearly i needed to do a second. brother and sister whale.
matching whale-ies.

soft and huggable whales, with contrast fabric bellies—his to match the quanket, hers a piece pulled from the stash (you may recognize it from the owls)

obviously i’d like to think that the future loving sibling relationship between Mr. No Name and his sister is/will be due—in large part—to the common bond forged by matching sibling whales.
and if you can get that from a pair of stuffed animals/dust collectors, then maybe i need to rethink my stance.

want to make a whale stuffie for yourself? you got it.
SUPPLIES
+ 1/4 yard of minky or other soft fabric with a bit of stretch
+ 1/4 yard (or fat quarter, or scrap fabric) contrast fabric for belly
+ embroidery floss/needle for eyes
+ stuffing
+ for the “girl” a small piece of felt for the bow
PATTERN
cutting notes + i included only a 1/4” seam allowance on this pattern. that’s all i generally use, and if i went any bigger the main piece wouldn’t fit on one sheet of paper. keep this in mind while you’re sewing. you can always trace the pattern onto your fabric 1/4” larger, giving you a standard 1/2” seam allowance if you’re more comfortable with that.

+ the minky fabric i used had a lot of stretch. i cut my whale body pieces so the direction it stretched most was around the top of the whale. (in other words the stretch went from his belly on bottom up to the top of his head)

+ ***IMPORTANT NOTE: ignore where i marked the “whale tail” as contrast or main fabric. cut it out of your MAIN FABRIC, not the contrast. sorry ;)

(right click pictures to save and print full size)

+ INSTRUCTIONS +
sew fins, right sides together along rounded edge.
clip curve, turn right side out & press

pin one fin on each whale body piece and stitch down.

place whale body pieces right sides together and sew along the top edge.

set that aside and grab your tail pieces.
place a pin in the center of the main tail piece (the one cut on the fold).

pin the other tail pieces on top, right sides together, matching the outer corners and working towards the center.

PIN ONLY UNTIL YOU REACH THE CENTER PIN YOU MARKED FIRST. you’ll have excess fabric on the 2 top pieces.

sew together, going from the center pin at the top around to the outer point and down to the intersecting corner at the bottom.

this gives you a 1/4 seam allowance on both top halves of the tail for you to attach it to the belly of the whale.
now grab your whale body, and match up the point at the back of the whale with the center pin of your tail piece. pin the seam allowance you left in the center of the tail piece to the two sides of the whale body.


sew that “u” shape up from end to end. trim up the center where it gets a little bulky.

now you have the main body of the whale complete. (looks like a manatee to me, right?)

time to attach the belly.
center and pin the belly, right sides together, onto your whale body.


stop where the tail piece meets up with the body. you’ll have an extra flap of both belly fabric and tail fabric past that, which we’ll use to close up the whale at the end.

sew that up and turn what has now become a somewhat creepy whale skin right side out.

now stuff! and stuff! and stuff!! seriously—the key to getting all the puckers and ripples out and making a nice looking animal is to really, really pack the stuffing in.

(i actually should have put a little more in this whale before taking these pics!)

now all that remains is to close up the bottom. tuck in the belly fabric and fold the tail fabric over the top creating a nice edge, and slip stitch together.

if you have a tag this is a nice spot to stitch it in.

i used blue embroidery floss to embroider on simple eyes. for the “boy”, i went in at the top, did each eye and came back out the top. then i created small loops by tying knots and leaving excess floss.
for the “girl” i just did the two eyes and then stitched a felt bow on the side of her head.

and there you have it! whale plushies, to add to your collection! enjoy!

p.s. i turned word verification back on. SORRY!!! i know, it’s a huge pain in the tuckus. but the spam comments were getting IN.SANE. i’d still love you forever if you fought your way through to leave me a comment. ;) xoxo

mini me

do you remember caldor? it was a store—kind of like a kmart, not quite a walmart. it was of the era before walmart. there was woolworth’s, and bradlee’s and caldor and probably some others i don’t remember.

anyway, when the caldor near us finally gave up and had a big “GOING OUT OF BUSINESS” sale i was probably…oh, 9? and mom and i found a dollhouse kit marked down to $6. why i remember that i don’t know. but it was a huge discount and my 9 year old heart got all fluttery.

mom and i eventually assembled it, but it was a raw kit—no doors, no windows. we bought some shingles, i think i may have even painted the outside. over the next 3 or 4 years i would drag it out on occasion and work on it a bit…most of the furnishings cobbled together from clearance sales and things i could make. mom and dad re-papered and carpeted their bedroom—i trimmed the tiniest bits off the edges of the wallpaper to make border for my dollhouse. carpet remnants became wall-to-wall in my dollhouse.

as i got older my dollhouse hacks became more sophisticated. witness the wooden thimble turned hanging plant:

a leaf plucked surreptitiously from one of mom’s fakes, sliced into tiny plant shapes and glued into the center. embroidery floss becomes the hanger.

yup, i still have it. because i never finished that dollhouse, but there came a point when i knew it was time to give it up. the dollhouse went to the trash—but the few good things i had in it got packed away.

even then—at what, 14? 15? i knew one day i’d have a daughter, and i would finally, finally make the dollhouse i’d been dreaming of.

i had my daughter back in 2000, and then i had 3 more, plus my one boy. the dollhouse dream was always there lurking. but there was always another baby—too small to start working on such delicate things around.

then a couple of years ago we hit the jackpot.

i’m sure if i took a poll i’d find a huge percentage of people who had unstarted or half-finished dollhouses at some point in their childhood. and i’m sure, like me, at some point during a spring cleaning they finally realized it wasn’t going to happen. time to give it up.

this huge dollhouse, along with bins and bins of supplies was on someone’s curb. the major work was done—the house assembled, sided, shingled, even some rooms started.

and it looked like a major attic cleaning had occurred, and the dollhouse was given up. the bins contain carpeting and wood flooring and tiny light fixtures and miniature area rugs and rolls and rolls of wallpapers. all the tools for wiring this house so the lights work! tiny trims and windows and staircases—it’s all here. literally hundreds of dollars in supplies.

no, really. i went online to price 3 doors and 3 windows that we need because they’re either missing or broken. $65 plus shipping.

this thing is pretty huge. and it even had an addition piece with two more rooms that attached on one side.

i have flat out refused to part with it since my mom so wonderfully trash picked it for me us and brought it over. it has moved from place to place in our house for the last 3 years, waiting for the day i deemed our kiddos old enough to begin.

it’s now.

last night we pulled it out and began sorting through the supplies. the kids picked wallpapers for the rooms, and we got started on the bottom floor.

they are beside themselves with excitement. i woke up this morning to find furniture placed in some of the still unfinished rooms. they’re beginning to decorate.

we changed it a little, mommy. this is going to be the girl’s room, and the boy’s room will have a balcony!

it’s going to take quite a bit of repair work to really finish this house. but i WILL do it.

because last night as ava and i sat side by side gluing down the carpet in the living room she chattered away about this house. and how it was going to be so fun for all of them.

and then she said and when we grow up, we can pass this to our kids! and they’ll have it! and they’ll get to play with it too!

hello, heartstring tug. if that doesn’t make me stick to it then nothing will. and in that case, i’ll post a curb alert for you—3/4 finished doll house. maybe you can finish it.