Monday, August 23, 2010

Halloween....already




I think it was the week before last when someone mentioned Halloween and I got the bug. Meet Mischief and Mayhem and their bag of tricks. For some reason Halloween always brings black cats to mind before pumpkins, ghosts and ghouls. This pair took shape in my brain and the pattern was made up as I went along. I have to admit a certain car insurance companies ads about mayhem contributed to their names.
Don't they look like they are ready to start trouble? They would just love to go to a new home where they could use some of their tricks.
Created with sparse black mohair they are 5 inches and 4 inches tall. Non jointed, they have glass google eyes, horse hair whiskers and wool felt ears. I hoped to list them on etsy today, but I had to help a friend take his dog to the vet. It will be $80 for the set and of course their bag of tricks is included.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Suddenly ..too many ideas


I finished this little guy, a custom order, over the weekend. Now, after a dry period, the ideas are flowing in my brain. Besides finishing the Chihuahua, I dyed a bunch of mohair last week. Mint green, butter yellow, and a couple of shades of pink are now waiting to be cut out. Some tan mohair was dyed to a nice chocolate brown( I couldn't find the right shade of brown). I was anxious to complete the little chi so work could begin on all the newly dyed fur....then someone mentioned Halloween...and my mind went in a totally different direction. Now a couple of spooky critters are in the making.
This morning was my first solo(without hubby) trip to the new Hobby Lobby. A bag full of odds and ends I'm sure I will need(sometime) and a couple of things to go with the Halloween critters in hand...headed home...my afternoon planned.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Roses on my mind


I got my copy of Teddy Bear Review yesterday and was delighted to see a photo of Rosita included in the feature "Teddy's Friends". My last post was about Rosalie and now, Rosita gets mentioned. With the suggestion of roses my mind started to wander to my mom. I grew up in a small cape cod. The yard around our home was mostly paths through gardens. My mom had a green thumb(something I didn't inherit). Kids from the neighborhood would knock on our door asking if they could have a bouquet for their mom. There were many, many different flowers, from tulips to crocus to daffodils. But the roses were the main attraction. There were small circular gardens on each side of the front yard. In the center of each were tree roses that my mom had trained to grow that way herself. Every color of rose you can think of grew along the side of the driveway. Beautiful red roses climbed up the brick on the chimney. After I graduated high school, we moved to another county. The new house had a much larger lot but the roses never grew as well there. Roses still make me think of my mom.

Red rosebud

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Rosalie gets a makeover



Been wanting to do this for a long time and this weekend seemed the perfect time to finally get to it. It was a cloudy and rainy weekend, an unusual occurrence here in sunny Florida.
Rosalie was created 2 1/2 years ago. I was never happy with the way she turned out and it was very obvious she needed a nose job. I think I have been doing needle felted noses for almost 3 years now. Something learned the hard way....you can make them bigger but you can't downsize them once they are big. This meant she needed a whole new head. She got new eyes too. Instead of the google eyes with black pupils and whites, I gave her black glass ones. Rosalie wanted to lose a little bulk, so I pulled out some of the fiber fill and replaced it with some plastic pellets...just a small amount...so she could be a little floppy. She looks and feels so much better!! Now she would like to travel to a new home. If this week isn't too busy she should show up in my etsy shop in the next few days.

Rosalie

Monday, August 2, 2010

Starting over


The contract on the house we were trying to buy kinda fizzled out. Short sales are complicated and are usually drawn out. The bank decided it wanted to review all it's short sales so we decided to back out and start over. We have found another house, put in an offer, and are waiting....again.
I have been sewing to keep my mind off the housing troubles. A new "series" is in the works and it's sweet! A custom order came in yesterday and I will have to dye some fur...hope to get to that later today.
My birthday went by last week. I celebrate quietly these days. The day before Bill & I went out and I had the most delicious white chocolate raspberry cheesecake. Bill had to work on my actual b-day so I treated myself to a day of shopping then some Ben & Jerry's Phish food ice cream. All in all a nice birthday.