squirrel momma

Moving Right Along, Folks!

I hope your Christmas was as wonderful as mine!  We managed to keep things calm and low key, which is nice, although both Squirrel Man and I grew up with huge family gatherings on the holidays and we both kind of miss the whole Crazy Uncle Larry showing his schrapnel scars thing. Although, now that I think of it, maybe not so much...

And as Santa has come and gone and I'm settled into my new studio (pictures, I promise, after the holiday mess is cleared up!) I am ready to get back to crafting.  First up is this great little project that Santa Squirrel brought for me from September House:

 

Naturally I'm going to embroider it with this squirrel I found via Floresita's Vintage Transfer FInds: 

 

Of course, I could work on packing up the mountains of gift bags and bows for next year...

Nah.

Upcycling Fireworks

For one week out of the year, in early July, our family gives in to barely restrained pyromania.  This year, however, we were bothered by all the plastic trash left over from some of the fireworks, especially the "champagne bottle" poppers.

  

Nut Boy was the one who came up with the genius idea of turning them into robots.

He's even got a name for them: Pyrobots!

No. 69

Squirrel Girl and I were out doing some girlie shopping, and she purchased this:

"But!" I protested, "I can make that!*"  And just to prove it I ran out and bought 1/3 yard of this:

And then I dusted off this:

And that was things began to get a little dicey.  Truth be told, I use the "Roll and Shell Hemmer" foot for my sewing machine once every, oh, millenium or so.  And it's a slightly tricky to use.  Actually, it's extremely tricky to use, as it involves growing a third hand, for starters.  But after sacrificing a swath of fabric to appease the Sewing Gods, I finally achieved this:

Hmm...must clip those loose threads, though...

*The woman at Field's Fabrics confirmed that the words most dreaded by any child of a mother who sews are, "I can make that!", because that means that they will then get dragged on a long, boring trip to the fabric store. But why can my children not understand the giddy joy of a fabric store? Why?!

Boxing Day

I just thought I would post on here one last time before I probably lose my mind.  I try to be a good mommy, I really do, and apparently that means completely sacrificing my mental sanity by agreeing to allow Nut Boy, aka my Little Evil Genius, to have three of his evil genius friends over this evening for a sleepover. Which will bring to the evil genius total at my house to four (not counting yours truly, of course) which is about three more than the maximum allowed by law.  Squirrel Man (god bless that man) has taken them out to the local university to watch the First Robotics Competition, then it's back here for pizza and ice cream, then out to the movies to see Monsters vs. Aliens.  Hopefully by the time sleeping bags are unfurled at 10 p.m. they will be exhausted and ready to sleep, not lay awake and plot world domination!

So, quickly, before the horde returns: I have felt like I needed to take a short break from sewing, and I have been playing around with painting wooden boxes.

  

I did the one with the giant carrot on it first, my initiation to the world of acrylic paint and unfinished wood. First thing I learned was that that wood is thirsty! Boy did it slurp up a lot of paint--I bet I put at least three base coats on before I got to the carrot. I'm not sure yet what purpose a box with a giant smiling carrot may serve; I'll keep you posted. The little shadow box will probably end up in my shop, because it's just the right size to put a bunny in.  And the robot, which is a flip top pencil box, was for Nut Boy's tenth birthday yesterday.

Evil geniuses approach. Must flee!   

Last Minute

This is one of those brilliant last minute projects--quick, doesn't require a trip to the craft/fabric/grocery store, and uber cute.

This little Jingle Mouse is from a tutorial at PimpStitch. You could even embroider her nose, if you don't have any tiny bells on hand and don't want to run out to the fabric store. But now that I think of it, fabric stores are deserted two days before Christmas...what a great place to hide and avoid wrapping presents! Hmmm...

It's Crunch Time

Crunch Time (slang):  The interval of time immediately before a project is due, when it becomes apparent that the schedule has slipped and everyone is going to have to work like dogs to try to complete the project in time.

Well, that definition just about sums it up.  And besides working like a dog to get The Project (otherwise known as Christmas) done on time, I have been cursed with a couple of smaller projects that were, well, cursed.

For example, there was the garment that was requested by Nut Boy.  Sigh...

Feeling oh so thrifty I print a free pattern from Burda Style, assemble the 40 bazillion pieces with scissors and scotch tape, eyeball the completed pattern, and trot out to the fabric store. Where I proceed to buy exactly half the amount of fabric I need.  

On the second trip to an entirely different store I buy an entirely different fabric.  But only half of what I need.  Again.  

When I get home and realize this I pound my head on my Bernina for awhile, then think, "Oh, I'll just alternate two different fabrics for the front/back, left/right." 

Then I cut out everything, and see that one of the pieces has a hole in it, smack dab in the middle. 

I cut out another piece, using my last bit of fabric, but cut it backwards.

After ironing mending tape over the hole and finally sewing everything together, I was very, very glad to see the end of that little escapade. And so, by last night when we decided to make Christmas cookies, I was feeling more than a little slap happy, and not inclined to don a startched white apron and attempt being Martha Stewart.

In my own defense I actually began by hauling out dozens of cookie cutters and oodles of holiday sprinkles. But everybody--especially me--decided they just wanted to eat cookies, using the icing as dip and red sanding sugar to add that extra sugar crunch.  'Cause we're all about healthy snacking around here.

And if you're wondering the reason for all the pigs, according to my son it's "Hey! They're Christmas pigs!"

Like I said, we are so over being perfect around here.

Wednesday WIP and Chips

Whilst I am waiting for my Choco-Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chipsters to emerge from the oven* I thought I would lead you on an excursion deep into the savage interior of my WIP bag.  Layer by layer, counting down, we have...

 

1.  Eric, who was created by the amazing Diane Koss.  He got a little too wild with the monkeys and elephants, and needs minor horn surgery.

2.  One completed red capped mushroom, and two more awaiting their stems.

3.  Two naked and shivering Hedgies, hoping I will remember to sew their bristles on.

4.  Pattern pieces, along with brown and pink felt, for the new squirrel design I am prototyping. 

5.  My "toolbox", which has everything I might possibly need, including needles, scissors, pencils, blue water soluble markers, and thimbles.

6.  Small bag of fiberfill.  Because you never know when you might need to stuff something.

7.  Reading glasses, both regular and sun (should it ever be sunny and warm enough to sew outside again).

8.  Hand cream and hand sanitizer, one of which is going to eventually pop open in there and make my life misery.

9.  The compost (bottom) layer: business cards, labels whose graphics I like, a fortune from a fortune cookie ("Keep it simple. The more you say the less people remember." Hah!), a cardboard coffee jacket, the aluminum spikes from Squirrel Girl's racing shoes (I wondered where those had gotten to), and several lint balls.

Okay guys, I bared my soul (or at least a very scary tote bag).  So what's in your WIP bag?

*An extremely yummy cookie from Baking from the Heart, which is, sadly, out of print.  I had to make cookies today because the dessert situation in our house is at an emergency level, with only vanilla ice cream and Halloween rejects left.  To top it off, last night my spouse tried to tell the squirrelings and I that ice cream was not a healthy food!  I had to inform him, because he obviously had not heard, that when the US government came out with the Food Pyramid several years ago there was a printing error. The base of the pyramid should, in fact, be ice cream, while the basement should be shown as chocolate, and the subbasement should be correctly identified as all other desserts.  Hence my need to cook the healthy CPBOC's, which have peanut butter and oatmeal, plus the all important heart friendly cocoa powder and mood enhancing chocolate chips.  You bet those babies are good for you! 

First Day of Advent

Nut Boy has been reminding me constantly, for the last two weeks, that the first day of Advent was coming.  In other words, he has not so subtly been telling me that I should stock the wooden Advent calendar with candy and little gifts.

Uh huh.

I wasn't getting too thrilled about this, because the last thing my house needs is 24 times 2 equals 48 more little toys and/or pieces of candy.  That is, until I stumbled across this great little project on My Little Mochi.

It's a really clever, simple project.  Basically, you're taking 2 (12 count) blister packs of Dentyne Ice gum and making new cardboard sleeves for them (those elves are actually gift tags, a free download from Laurie Bertrand over at LiquidPaper). Then you write the numbers 1 to 24 on the back of the gum, and presto! you have a little countdown to Christmas, with one piece of gum for each day.

I ended up making one for Squirrel Man, too, and by the time I was done I had gotten my holiday groove on. There was something about cutting and folding shapes out of red and green paper, and gluing them together, that reminded me of all those Christmas craft projects I did as a kid. And that reminded me that "Christmas is the day around which the whole kid year revolves" (to quote Ralphie from A Christmas Story), and if I jumped on, I could enjoy the ride, too.

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.  

Alien Fabric Excursion

I set off to the fabric store today because Nut Boy and his buddy have come up with the idea of being aliens for Halloween.  And although they produced some wonderful drawings, I was forced to bring their plans crashing back to Earth because while I am, of course, Super Squirrel (or perhaps supremely squirrelly), I have only a limited amount of time (and money!) left until October 31st.  (Not to mention I don't want to torture the other parent involved.)  To make a long story short, the costumes are still under negotiation, but will probably NOT involve silver space suits or giant tentacles.

So.  This first run to Field's Fabrics was just to purchase a cape pattern and 8 yards of metallic turquoise fabric.

But then I just happened to wander down the flannel aisles.  And I saw this.

I'll admit it--I am completely gaga when it comes to pink flannel and bunnies.  In my mind, they are the perfect combination, and should never be passed up.  So I had to buy some.  Even though I don't need it.  But I HAD to.

...

Does anybody know if aliens wear pink flannel pajamas?