squirrel momma

Old Man Winter Is Here

Why is it "Old Man Winter", anyway?  That always makes me picture him cackling evilly, rubbing his bony hands together.  Better envision him happy, with a cup of cocoa, or I'll never make it through the next four months.

And now that "Happy Snow Joe" is here, I guess it's long past time to get Nut Boy to put away those balls I see hiding under the treehouse...

Plush for a Great Cause

We at Etsy PlushTeam--a group of softie makers from all over the world--are currently stocking our store with all sorts of squishable goodness.  But the best part is this: all the creatures for sale right now have been donated by their makers, and all proceeds from their sale will be donated to Big Brothers Big Sisters, a great organization that tries to make life better for kids all year round, not just at Christmastime.

Hedgie has volunteered to do his bit...

...and for those of you who asked "What the heck is Squirrel Momma going to do with that green rickrack she's been obsessing about?"

This little Hedgie was made as a swap for a special friend, and his identical twin is in my store. Whew! One more thing crossed off my pre-Christmas obsess with minutiae list!

Christmas Shopping (for Myself)

I stumbled Gretchen Kramp's Etsy shop today.  It's chockablock full of wonderful, handmade tiles that would be the perfect gift for just about any occasion, but of course this is the one I have to have.

And if Santa--or somebody closely related to her--doesn't bring it for Christmas I'm going to be extremely cranky.  Just sayin'.

First Christmas Tree of the Season

 

Nope, no cute little Norfolk pine trees for me. This is a little rosemary "tree" that I got at the store today, because a Christmas tree you can nibble on is pretty darn wonderful. And there's something about the smell of rosemary that just makes me all drooly and dreamy...I think I might have been a goat on a sunny French hillside in a past life. I bought one of these last year, and by the time I sprinkled it on focaccia and pasta and pretty much everything but ice cream it didn't survive very far into January, but it was great while it lasted. Yum. 

Hedgie Is Ready for His Close-up

A few days ago I was contacted by a British magazine, wondering if they could photograph one of my Hedgie pincushions for a spread on Etsy sellers in an upcoming issue.

Originally the editor from the magazine had requested that I send a pincushion that is currently for sale in my shop, but then she very nicely told me I could decide. Which was a mistake, because given a choice I will make any project difficult. Or, more precisely, as difficult as freakin' possible.

So I (of course) decided to send this pincushion:

Which I (of course) didn't have on hand.  But that's okay, because the secret about deadlines is that they make you get things done.

So with a little frantic sewing a duplicate Hedgie was completed, and mailed out on time.  

And now that that is crossed off my list, I can move on to trying to figure out who has bought up all the green rickrack in Western Michigan...

Flutterby Girls, Part Deux

I'm going to try and post quickly while multitasking--simmering a gallon of red sauce in one pot and sautéing spicy sausage to go with it in another. As the computer is around the corner from the stove, my culinary supervision is limited to listening to the sauce popping and splattering (did I remember to put the lid back on?!!!) and trying to smell if the sausage is browning...or burning. But I've got to tell you that I've finally managed to finish two Flutterby Girls and put them up in my shop. Actually, there are three done, but Lily is lacking in accessories, so she won't be going up until tomorrow or perhaps Monday. (I really do admire those people who can announce that they are going to do shop updates at precisely 12:17 p.m. on the second Tuesday of the month, because I'm not one of them. I struggle to get beyond the Second Tuesday of Never point.)

That first little girl with the pink hair, whom you've met before, is Hibby (short for Hibiscus, which is too hard for her to spell or say five times fast). Her little friend is Dotty--of course--and Squirrel Momma spent way too long embroidering those curls on. The other girl in the pictures is Lily, and she might be my favorite. Purple hair with pink highlights? What's not to love?

Oops, gotta go--I think the sausage has gone from sautéing to flambéing!

(okay, what's up with Typepad? I'll try publishing this again, folks...)

Monkey Love

One of the disadvantages of having older kids when you're a craft blogger is that they read your blog. On their own.  So Nut Boy, if you're reading this, you'll want to stop now.

...

Is he gone?  Good.

I am dancin' in my squirrel pants (and I still don't care how weird that sounds, 'cause I'm still going to keep saying it). The Divine Miss H, otherwise known as Hillary Lang over at Wee Wonderfuls, has done it again and created yet another fabulous pattern.  One that will make possible a perfect Christmas gift for a nine year old boy, should I happen to know one.

Take it from me, nine year old boys love monkeys, almost as much as they love stuffing their pockets with bent paperclips and small rocks that look like dinosaur eggs.  So tomorrow I'm scampering to the fabric store yet again (oh, darn!) to pick out the perfect fleece for Mr. Fleecy.

Did you see he's got a 30 inch tail? I can hang him from the tree on Christmas morning!

...must remember to make felt bananas, too...

Flutterby Girl

I know haven't been blogging much lately about what's on my sewing table, but that isn't because I'm not working.  Unfortunately, part of what has kept me busy is a special order that I can't reveal yet, but I've also been tweaking a new product for my store.

It's something I have been thinking about for many weeks, but was hesitant to tackle--a rag doll.  So many wonderful versions are out there right now, with so many similarities, that I wasn't sure I could bring anything new to the mix.  But I eventually I decided to give it a go, to see if I could create a doll with a "Squirrel Momma" feel.

This is my first--my prototype--"Flutterby Girl".  I wanted her to be colorful, fun, and full of squishy huggableness (I think I hear one of my English professors spinning in his grave at the creation of that noun).  I chose to give her embroidered features and soft wool felt hair, so that she would hold up to lots of loving.  But she's got pink hair, because, well, the five year old in me thinks that pink hair is really cool!  

Right now she's got a hibiscus flower sewn into her hair, and a removable scarf embellished with buttons.  But I think she will be acquiring more accessories over the next few days, because that is my absolute favorite part of any doll project.  I'm pleased enough with this one that I ran out to the fabric store this morning to pick up some great prints for two more dolls (can you see the tiny hearts on this one's tights?--I love that fabric!) that I'm planning to finish this weekend, perhaps fiddling with the pattern along the way.  And then make them all little bits and bobs to wear.  Or maybe I'll skip straight to the bits and bobs making.

Sigh.  It's great being five again.

Who I'm Wearing Today

I'm not sure whether or not I should admit this, but I have an embarrassingly large jewelry collection, 99% percent of which I never wear.  None of it is terribly valuable.  A ton of costume jewelry, some of which I inherited, and the rest I picked up at flea markets and estate sales.  Added to that the usual necklaces and earrings everybody (well, every woman I know, anyway) acquires over the years.  And then a whompin' big pile of stuff left over from my metalsmithing years, which is the most neglected of all.

For an entire decade--roughly 1996 to 2006--I hardly ever wore the pieces I had made myself.  My style was narrative, a world of storybook creatues and cartoon penguins surrounded by plants and flowers (hmmm, not much has changed there), and narrative jewelry had fallen out of fashion.  Also, I had small children, and as you know little fingers like to yank at brooches pinned on sweaters and tug on dangling earrings. And, I'm sad to say, I didn't want to expose myself in front of the acquaintances I circulated through every day, the casually known moms and teachers.

Most of my pieces are no danger to my reputation, but the one I'm about to pin on my sweater today is one I can't quite bring myself to wear to an elementary school open house, or a curriculum committee meeting. 

It's a fairly small piece, about 1 inch square, and made from sterling silver, copper and gold.  It's typical of my simpler pieces, with intricately hand cut piece of silver on top of oxidized copper, giving the feel of black lines drawn on white paper. I was very happy with the way it turned out, but after wearing it one time to a classroom party and having other moms glance at it and then quickly avert their eyes I started to wonder.  I had made it to wear at Halloween, and in my mind I had intended it to be a joke about love--devilish men or some such--but I worried that people thought I was into demon worship or something.

Maybe I'm just being paranoid. A friend, another local metalsmith whose gorgeous work poses no threat to her reputation, just thinks that people around here don't comment on handmade jewelry. And people can't really think I'm sacrificing cats in my basement, can they?

So, what the heck. I'm getting older, life is too short, and I don't really care if someone I barely know wants to think I'm a danger to felines. I'm wearing my pin today.  

Quickie Book Reviews

I have always been an avid reader, but ever since I got an iPod several years ago I have been relishing the power of multitasking. I can listen to books AND go for long walks. I can listen to books AND sew. I can listen to books AND (unfortunately) clean toilets.

So, here are a few I've read (okay, listened) lately:

Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen. I've been a fan of Carl Hiaasen for years, and I happen to think he's hilarious, but I have to warn you that his graphic writing style (yes, sex and violence, albeit humorous) may not be for everyone. Skinny Dip centers on a scummy biologist who's faking water samples to cover up fertilizer runoff into the Everglades, a wife he tries to kill, a large hairy giant who's addicted to painkiller patches that he steals from nursing home patients, and an ex-cop who's retreated to a private island in the keys. Unfortunately I accidently check out the abridged version of this book (why do they even make abridged versions of books--how can they decide what parts I don't need to know about?!!) so I missed HALF the book, but I still enjoyed it.

Fade by Kyle Mills.  This is not a book I would have chosen for myself, but Mills is the author for this month's Crafts and Conversation at the East Grand Rapids Library (this Thursday at 6:30 if you feel like stopping by). I actually turned Fade off after the first five minutes, during which several people had been shot and a woman almost raped.  I forced myself to turn it back on and listen to the whole thing (to my relief it was another abridged edition), but I can't say I've become a huge fan.  I know we're supposed to sympathize with the physically and emotionally damaged government assassin who's been tossed aside by the US government, but it was a little too dark for me.  Or a lot too dark.

I saved the best for last: One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson.  Atkinson won a Whitbread for her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, and she keeps getting better.  One Good Turn is the second in a series centering around the English detective Jackson Brody (the first was Case Histories, the third, When Will There Be Good News, just came out).  I hesitate to call the Jackson Brody books mysteries, because that doesn't take into account plots that are full of coincidences that, in the end, aren't; varying viewpoints that let us gaze deep into each character's past, and Kate Atkinson's amazing skill with the English language. The audio edition of One Good Turn was book was 12 compact discs long, and it was hard for me to let go when it ended.

Well, I just loaded Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner on my iPod, and I'm about to start a new project with my new book.  Multitaskers of the world unite!