Gift Mascots

It was my birthday over the weekend. My daughter found a project in my felt mascot books and made this for me:

Cute! I love her running stitch in a contrasting thread! I'm wearing it on my jacket for fall. My mascot books are all in Japanese, but we aren't intimidated!

A few weeks ago I helped her make this elephant as a gift for a little sister of her close friend:

The little girl reports that she sleeps with her little blue elephant every night.

Here is the creator with her creation:

My husband and son got me some Gingher embroidery scissors and water soluble transfer pens. Husband has learned to go into JoAnns and just ask the ladies for help. He says he is totally unable to navigate the fabric, which I completely understand.

Gingher scissors are expensive, but they do seem like they are touched by a heavenly enchantment to cut fabric beautifully. I also have a nice spring green LeCrueset enamel stock pot! Yay for soup and stew!

Squirrel

Mr. Squirrel welcomes fall.



He wears a red neckerchief because, like all squirrels, he is an outlaw.



Mr. Squirrel is very small, although I have large hands.



He is from a pattern in one of my recently purchased Japanese books, ISBN978-4-8347-5728-6.
This was a very fiddley pattern. Not nearly as easy as another squirrel I made last year for a swap with Alex. Now that he is done, he is telling me that he feels lonely and needs a squirrel companion, but I may not ever get to that. Meanwhile, he'll be hanging out learning to spread agreeable happiness with with my Unazukin.

Felt Mascot Book With Squirrels

Ahh camping. No critters in our equipment, thank goodness. I didn't plan our meals carefully enough ahead of time so we brought too much food, but still had to stop at the grocery for various essentials. This time of year it gets dark a bit earlier and our kids are too old to send to bed at 8:30 so we played some rousing games of headlamp Uno: everyone needs a headlamp to see our own cards. Now we are home to piles of gritty laundry and ashy cookware, but it was a great weekend!

Here is another Japanese book I got last week at the Japanese store here in Chicagoland. This is ISBN978-4-8347-5728-6 and features my favorite, miniature felt mascots! It even says so in English on the cover:


Mainly it has these fun squirrels that adorably present the various projects throughout:


Here the squirrels seem to be having a yard sale. I like the birch tree reindeer in the background:



Here are mini bags and purses:

Fun country houses:


There are various themed dioramas. I particularly like this Christmas one because it reminds me of my favorite childhood ornament:



Your mascots can have tea with teeny tiny cakes and fruit slices:


Here are some fun refrigerator magnets. I like the jam jar and the eggs and sausage:


This book has no pattern insert. All the patterns and instructions are on pages like this in the back of the book. This might look intimidating, but it isn't really that hard if you know the basics of hand stitching and working in three dimensions:


Patterns also include felt baking equipment, garden vegetables, miniature felt flower bouquets, and ice cream treats.

I did a haphazard search and I found it at Yes Asia, so if you want to order your own and don't have a Japanese store in your city, HERE it is!

Pink and Yellow Valentines

I made this mouse last year for a swap and I can't remember if I shared her already.


My daughter stitched up this felt heart. She decorated it on both sides. She favors whip stitching, but she still gets mixed up with the way the thread is supposed to go.
Have a fun day!

Derby Win!

My son's Pinewood Derby car was fast this year! He got a second place trophy for his den (okay... so there were only six boys in his den, and 2 of those were going for style and artistry with their cars...) His car won three of his 6 runs. It was pretty exciting! Hooray! I'd say that the trick to having a fast car is getting as close to the right weight as possible and using graphite on the wheels. Our Cub Scout Pack runs a nice event without all the crazy parents you hear about at these competitions. It's all fun. That's why they allow our pre-carved car. Next month he earns his Arrow of Light and moves onto Boy Scouts. Where do the years go?

I have fair skin and a rosacea problem. Does anyone have any advice on good non-irritating foundations? I detest buying makeup more than I hate buying shoes. It always seems so expensive and fussy. At times, my rosacia gets so bad that it irritates my eyes. I rarely wear sunscreen on my face, but I do avoid the sun. I do actually wear makeup, but I hate buying it. Internet searching has not led to any definitive advice. Consulting a dermatologist is cost-prohibitive for us. My mom did for her rosacea and she has an expensive topical antibiotic she has to use forever. I'm keeping mine under control by avoiding triggers like wine and certain lotions, but I can't control the cold wintry winds!

Still no crafting around here, but on MLK day, Monday, I was inspired to read my languishing copy of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. It is as powerful today as it was back in 1845. I highly recommend this very readable, gripping story. I can't understand why I wasn't made to read it back in school at some point.

Happy New Year!

We are back from our post Christmas Road Trip. This year we went to Nashville and it was fun, but the Country Music Hall of Fame was a big disappointment. Can you imagine a music history museum with scarcely any music clips? We bought the audio tour and everything, but the audio tour has long (loong) speeches, and no music. What were they thinking?

We passed through Paducah, Kentucky on the way and went to the American Quilt Museum. It was lovely and is really a showcase of modern quiltmaking rather than a history of any kind, but it was nice and it had a whole exhibit on Kaffe Fassett. I found a lot of his fabrics int he remnant bin at Hancocks of Paducah.

This video cuts out too soon at the very end, but legendary Hank Williams died suddenly on New Years Day at the age of 29 in 1955. I guess he used to make the women swoon with his lanky good looks.



Of course, we hardly heard any of him at the Hall of Fame.. we had to go home and research him on YouTube....

Halloween Swap Goodies

Here's the package I received from my second partner in our Mascot Swap. Meet Jack the Fruit Bat created by Wildfyre:



Wildfyre shared her pattern links. Bat pattern HERE. Pumpkin pattern HERE.
Isn't he fab? Just when I think I'm getting better about working in 3-dimensions, my swap partners go ahead and make awesome things like this! I've always wanted to make fabric pumpkins and I even collected pumpkin colored fabrics, but I never did ever make any pumpkins with it. I'm so glad to have this. Also I do love bats.

My Mom and I once flew down to the San Antonio area to witness the emergence of the largest colony of bats in the world at Bracken Cave in Texas. Estimates are that there are between 25 and 60 million Mexican Free-tailed bats in this cave. They summer in Texas and winter in Mexico. It was a stunning and memorable experience. They all swirl out of this large hole in the ground with has a strong acrid ammonia smell from the bats. The odor kicks up when they begin to emerge and they fly off all in the same direction in one giant ribbon in the sky.


(This video has really cheesy music...)

Less than 2 weeks to Halloween! I better get the rest of our decorations out!

Halloween in Felt

Both of my partners received in our Mascot swap. Take a look at what I made:



Peihan17 got the Halloween Kitty and Ghostie. Kitty has a rempoveable leaf pile costume seen above. A leaf pile was one of the favorite matching costumes I made for my daughter and husband when she was about 3 years old:


Wildfyre got the Mouse as Pumpkin and the little acorn seen in the top photo. I've made this mouse before in Valentine's Day colors. I really like him:


I also had little stories for the mascots and I included some candy, a card, and some wooden Halloween cutouts from the craft store

Tomorrow is our meeting for the Chicagoland Craft Collective! Northwest Suburban Chicago crafters can join us at the Schaumburg Portillos restaurant . I'm bringing little mascot kits and we'll make those ghosts and the acorns as our optional craft.

Halloween Mascots

I got this sad, sad note today from YesAsia:

Change of Expected Ship Out Date
Dear Susie Ziegler,

Thank you for shopping with YesAsia.com!

With reference to the following item 'Patchwork no Nunokomono -Square Patchwork ' in your order 4------, the expected ship out date has been revised to Oct/25/2007.

Oh the agony!

Only moments later, however, one of my swap packages came in the mail! These adorable stuffies were made for me by peihan17 in our mascot swap over on Craftster. It turns out that we totally thought alike for our packages, but my items are still a secret!

Meet Paka, a cute black kitty who adores Halloween and her vegetarian owl friend, Stav. She also made a pretty beaded hairband and tossed in some yummy candy:

Peihan explains that Paka means "little cat" in Swahili and Stav means "autumn" in Hebrew. They are both a bit mischievous and love caramels and zombie movies.

Check out the cute embroidery details and the adorabel fall fabric on the owl:


Here's a picture of the Halloween card she included. On the back it says it''s made by an etsy seller


Thank you so much, Peihan! I love it all!


The kitty is a Pointy Kitty by Wee Wonderfuls. HERE
I think the owl is from a Japanese book that is out of print. I'll have to ask Peihan.

Go Bears!

The Bears beat the Green Bay Packers yesterday. I'm the bandwagon sort, so I'm pleased that they won, but not so interested that I actually watched the game. Last year when the Bears were in the Superbowl, I was unhappy with the t-shirt choices for girls. We also purchased a cheap t-shirt that was the wrong size for every person in our family . I decided to cut out some of the elements of that bad shirt and applique them onto this orange shirt for my daughter.


Working on t-shirts is tricky. You have to be very gentle and keep a looser tension on the thread to accommodate the stretchiness of the t-shirt fabric. I think it would be a good idea to use a hoop. I didn't, but I cross stitched for years and years with no hoop and, well.. old habits die hard...


Here's Toothless! She has been "Cutie Snaggletooth" for a couple of weeks while she had one front tooth that refused to fall out. It finally came out just as our pew was getting ready to go up to the altar for communion on Sunday. She's been leaving the Tooth Fairy notes asking for more money for her teeth, but the Tooth Fairy is not budging. She actually knows the truth about the Tooth Fairy, but she's playing along because she really wants the $1.

FInally, I'm doing the craft in a few weeks with the Chicagoland Craft Collective. We'll be making these ghost mascots (not the felt envelopes)

and this acorn which I made into a barrette for Toothless:


I'll provide little kits that will be $1.00 each. If you plan to come, bring some scissors if you can. The lighting is terrible at our meeting place, but the food is delicious!

Felt Fast Food

I've got lots of things to blog about, but we got a computer virus last week and when my hubby cleaned out the computer, he messed up our internet connection... We are at a bit of an impasse about whose responsibility it is to call tech support. He says I can do it because I'm home all day. I say the one and only thing he is actually able to fix around here is the computer and he should do it. He actually agreed with me about that... At any rate, we both caught monster colds and he keeps putting it off...

I get to use his laptop and the cellular dialup connection he has before he goes to work, so that's what I'm stuck with....

So those little guys above were my angel package in our mascot swap on craftster. They are very tiny, so that's why I did three. Our usual swap requirements are one mascot under 6 inches, an extra, and an introduction card. I can't claim to be fully responsible for their undeniable cuteness. They are from THIS BOOK which I've been using a lot lately.

Check out the swap gallery HERE.
People made really cute things! Felt is so much fun to use.

Giraffe Mascot and Tree

This is the Giraffe mascot and little tree I made for Christina in our swap on Craftster. The giraffe is from this book, ISBN 4834755894:

The giraffe is a pattern, but I worked out the tree myself.

I have this hammer punch made by Sizzix (but discontinued) to cut out the little leaves. I wanted to use those heavy plastic beads that you use to weigh down stuffies, but I don't have any at home and I really wanted to finish sewing this, so I put a little stack of coins in the bottom and that worked great and the tree can pretty much stand up on it's own.

Check out our swap gallery HERE. People make the cutest things!

Star Party

Yikes! It's been awhile since my last post.

I've been busy getting ready for my daughter's birthday party. She wanted an astronomy theme and so my mom and I worked out some activities to do a Wish Upon a Star party.
Here's the birthday girl:


Whenever I volunteer at her class, the girls want me to bring them little felt critter barrettes, which I obviously can't do. I did make this batch for the party though. Mascots always look great in a big pile all together don't they? I finished the last one about 15 minutes before the first guest arrived.

Here's the treat bags I stitched up. They have star themed treats like Milky Way candy, Starburst, Twinkies, Orbit Gum, Glow Bracelets, Sparkley stickers and Glitter Glue.


We started off with wishes for all the girls like: "I wish that your favorite color markers never run out of ink." and "I wish that pizza will always come with your favorite toppings."



The real Star of the party, was my mom. Grandma is an exceptional teacher (with a book to prove it) and she ran all the games and had a terrific starmaker activity where we learned about the legend of Ursa Major and the North Star and then made these really cool constellation makers that project the constellation on the ceiling in a darkened room. I didn't get a good photo of those, but I had painted oatmeal boxes black and the girls decorated them with those metallic gel pens. We also played "Pin the North Star on Ursa Major" Really, it was a simple party. I didn't even get a special decorated cake and the girls didn't care.

I can also do these sorts of activities with children, but it's so great to have family nearby to make it a success. Last year, we did a Rainbow Party, and used lots of food coloring in our activities. One of the little girls told her mom, "Emma always has the best parties." That just makes us feel all warm and fuzzy.

Timothy Teacup

Oops! I forgot to share the awesome mascot/stuffie made for me by Peachcake!

Here's Timothy Teacup:



And the whole package:



She added some yummy teas and a delicious walnut chewy chocolate candy. Thanks, Peachcake! She even came to my meeting of the Chicagoland Craft Collective so we could exchange in person. At the meeting, we practiced some of my personal fave embroidery stitches. I prefer doing the chain stitch, while Donna is a master stem stitcher. French knots are tricky too, but once you get the hang of them, they are awesome. Here's a post from one of my new favorite blogs about french knots.

I got wrapped up in a giant project uploading all of our family photos onto flickr. Good Heavens! We've taken a LOT of photos! It could be that we've actually taken a normal amount of pictures, it's just that uploading them all makes it seem like more.... I ordered one of those bound books you get from those publishing services with some of our pictures from this year. I hope it looks good, I'm not so much into organizing photo albums and scrapbooking, although I do like to page through pictures.


And totally outside of crafting and collecting: I came upon this article in Slate. So do you know the Aunt Jackie dance? I guess it's the latest thing in Harlem. Last year's big craze was the Chicken Noodle Soup("with a soda on the side".) I totally missed that one, which is not surprising, since I'm a 39 year old housewife in the middle of outer-suburbia. Those kids are really having a blast. Here's a school principal entertaining his school last fall with the "let it rain" move. That's probably the only move I can do too. I need a very supportive jogging bra if I really want to take up this sort of dancing, but my daughter is trying it out. My son is getting to that middle schooler age where he is too cool for silly moves like these. I have very few opportunities to test out dance moves since we only go to weddings every couple of years, and I'm of the "Love Shack" era. These songs with their "old school flow" are really stuck in my head now.

Felt Squirrel

We had a great vacation up at a cabin in the northern coast of Wisconsin at the Apostle Islands. I brought some felt and stuff to make mascots for a swap while we were gone. Nana even made a cute little hamster and my daughter did a flowery heart. My son did not suddenly decide to become crafty, he was pretty interested in rock collecting and rock skipping with his dad.

Here's what I made for Peachcake. I was inspired by our northwoods surroundings on our trip. Every morning I was awakened by the chattering of a squirrel in a beautiful pine tree outside my window. I'd peek out at him and see our little cove on Lake Superior.... Ahh.....


Here's his bio. My daughter thought up all the details:

I drew the tree myself, but Mr. Squirrel and his mushroom are from this book ISBN 4834755894:

Japanese Felt Mascot book

I made piles of these cute felt robots. They were a big hit and I swapped most of them. I knew that I was going to be making a lot, so I figured out how to use my sewing machine on them. My machine is a very good one that has a steady blanket stitch. Of course, the details are hand embroidered. I had to sew on his antennae by hand too.

I know.. he looks a bit like a robot snowman. These are done in the flat, mascot style which is lots easier, especially when you are cutting out the parts.

Here are his rockets. I did promise my daughter that I'd make her a rocket "bow" for her hair.. I still have to get to that... (That's a knit cap underneath, knit for my daughter by her Nana.)

Those fun robots are from this Japanese mascot book. I have several felt mascot books and the fact that they are instruction books written in Japanese isn't nearly as scary as you might imagine. I've crafted several things from this one ISBN483472378X .

This mousie was also from that book. When I finished her, my husband said that it was the cutest thing I ever made. I'm not sure about that, but the embroidery on her ears and body do add something extra...She has a little gray companion and I sent them both out to my friend novastarlet in a swap.
I order Japanese books from YesAsia. I browse all over, particularly on ebay where the sellers post pictures of the pages. You have to be a bit of a detective, but once you know an ISBN of a particular book, you can do a search for it on YesAsia. In the USA, Yes Asia offers free shipping of orders over $25 and the prices are excellent. Some smaller books are under $6 and are still packed with ideas. Expect your order to take a month or more to arrive.

Possibly you live in a city with a Japanese market. Here in Chicagoland, we have Mitsuwa. It's a bit of a haul for me, but I did check it out once not long ago and got a crochet book.