What I'm Thinkin'

So last week or the week before, while browsing my blogs, I came across an entry (it was on Cutable.com) for this soft sculpture artist in the UK. Here's some of her stuff:









Cute, right? Well guess how much she charges? 35 pounds! That's $55 usd or $70 sing dollars! This made me really mad. I keep seeing these cute little stuffed things, and you know what I'm thinking: I could do that! I could do BETTER than that!

So I decided to try. I was really approaching this as a money-making thing. I already have an Etsy account, I could easily set up a store, or just sell from my blog. Well, yesterday on my mental health day, I made a prototype. The head was all wrong, so I fixed it this morning after our chat. And this is what I came up with:










Random thoughts:
I want to make cats that look like real breeds; this one is obviously siamese, but I have some sketches of other types of cats. I could do the "points" in a color, tho: green or blue or red. Whatever. This one measures almost 7" tall, but that's pretty small. The UK lady puts her toys in a custom box. I would like to do something like that. Chinese take-out boxes? (kung-pao kitty) or maybe a tea/coffee cup? A soft sculpture one, or a real one. In that case, the size will be dependent on the package. There's also these cute metal lunch boxes at Oriental Trading that could be used. Lunchbox Kitty? I could see miniaturizing the little orange hen for this, too. And maybe a goldfish or something like that.

I have such a hard time being able to tell if my designs are cute. I can tell when someone else's designs are. So I'm really looking for constructive criticism. I know you're not into cute. Think of this a soft sculpture instead of a toy. I would have to market it that way, anyway with the button eyes and all that. Not safe for little kids.


So whaddya think?

Tell me which one is more like the true color of your quilt? The left one is without my fix and the bottom one I pumped up the color a bit. The left version is darker and cooler in tone, no?

I had to show you some winter.

At Last the Drapes are Done!

The flash makes them look so shiny

and sparkly. The grommets look like metal but they are plastic, genuine plastic.

I don't think you can tell by the picture but they make a dramatic difference in the room. I am sooo glad I decided on silk. I am considering lowering the rods a teeny bit to make the hem puddle a bit more, but then the fan and furnace blows them around, so that may not work. I need curtain weights, which I can get at Hobby Lobby next time I go to town.

With the flash and then without the flash. I can close them and block out that stinking yard light.

Finished Product

I wanted to let you have first look before I post this quilt. I think I need to get a little distance from it before I price it; it was such a long, dragged-out process to get it quilted that I feel I want to charge $500 for it, but that'll never sell.

Ojos de Dios

39" x 35"

I did wind up having plenty of trouble with frayed edges again - but not until I was quilting it. I suppose I'm manhandling the quilt too much as I force it under the sewing machine and stuff. I trimmed quite a bit of the frayed parts and was consciously more careful as I proceeded to quilt it and I think that might have helped. I dunno.

I did have some trouble with all the blocks laying perfectly flat, but overall I think it's not too much of a problem.

Need to clip that little thread there...

Moving the closets...

Dave put up a shelf over the dryer which makes it so much easier to fold clothes on the washer and dryer themselves, and to hang things immediately. Now if I can only get him to bring his clothes upstairs and put them away.

I also got the skinny closet next to the laundry room. What a surprise that the wire basket-drawers fit in there perfectly. I emptied them mostly and now will put in the dishes and stuff that rarely gets used...or something. I don't know what. And there is a bright light here too, which makes me so happy. Lighting is stinky in many of our rooms, and it is my challenge to fix that.

And now my studio is back to a painting studio with the exception of the curtains which I may start on this weekend. No promises.

Dave is always on his new laptop and that makes us both happy.

We watched tv this afternoon and never did get dressed. La dee dah.

Notice the chicks on the bannister. So sweet. They need a big mother hen. Wanna send me the pattern? O nevermind, I put away all my sewing stuff. I still need to organize the stuff in that closet with all the rubbermaids...when I have a moment.

The completed assembly of all that furniture. Not counting Dave's bed which is still in the garage. I added captions which you can get if you click on the icon in the lower left corner. Eva who sent me the artwork is a blog reader I recently discovered. She has her own blog too. I have it on my sidebar.