lila

My youngest son recently received his first invitation to a birthday party.

What better gift than a soft, handmade mouse for a little girl who's turning three?

Oh yes, it was the perfect excuse to make another of these. The pattern is from "Hand-Stitched Felt" by Kata Golda and is very easy to follow. I've probably made dozens of these by now.

I don't follow her instructions exactly. I do not cut out the head and body separately, because sewing the whole thing up as one piece is much faster. It also looks much neater and I don't have to put a collar on the clothes to hide the unsightly seam in the poor gal's neck.

I also cheat a little and stitch up the clothes using my machine. Lila got a little button in back, too.

I made a little gift bag for the birthday girl as well. I started doing these when I gave away the Take Me to the Park quilt and needed a nice way to protect it during shipping, but didn't want to just stick it in some plastic (I hate plastic). And now of course, I can't stop making little bags out of muslin and free motion stitching people's names on them.

done and done

We spent a lot of the weekend at home and everything was so nice and quiet I had plenty of time to spend in my sewing room.

The tablecloth was so so easy and I love the way it looks even though it is in the local mountain style, tirolese which is not usually our thing. A lot of people around here, especially up in the mountains, have fully embraced it, and the fabrics are beautiful and in a very soft cotton weave that I do find appealing, but I don't think I could do all my upholstery, curtains, linens, etc. all in the tirolese style. We don't really have anything that traditional but I think for Christmas it works really well and this fabric is so bright and happy. We will use it for our Christmas day brunch.

I also made this little book mouse for our babysitter's mother, who is a librarian. She is French and visited us a few months ago. When she saw the animals I was making for the school market, she asked if I'd make one for her. So here she is, complete with a book in her pocket.

These are from Kata Golda's "Hand-Stitched Felt" and they are so easy for me to make now - I can do them in a little over an hour from start to finish if there are no interruptions. That has yet to happen, of course. But still, they are fun and sweet and I love how each one is different. I hope the recipient likes hers.

just another kitchen mouse

How about we call her Persimmon?

I need to stop making these! But it's just so addicting: a nice, neat project you can finish in one evening, a little therapeutic simple hand stitching, a bow or two, and a cute, cuddly animal at the end.

the beginning

I started this goose (or duck?) a few years ago. I cut and hemmed her little webbed feet. I cut out her head and gave her eyes and a beak. And then I wasn't quite sure how to proceed, so I put her away in the closet. She didn't even have a body. I thought she didn't stand a chance.

Except, years later, I bought a few books on hand (and machine) stitching so I could craft something decent to sell at the Christmas market to raise money for my sons' school. Reading through the books, I remembered my poor little goose. Lucky for her, I managed to find all her pieces, and all she needed were a body and some assembly. It didn't take long. I gave her a shawl and she was done.

But I wasn't!

I started crafting like a woman obsessed, in as much spare time as a self-employed mother of two can expect to enjoy, stealing stitches whenever I can.

This blog is to keep track of projects, progress, ideas, and, most importantly, inspiration.