Felt airplanes ready to zoom off

An order for the toy shop, ready to zoom off in the mail tomorrow

Esme quotes:

So, you are working for the toy aisles at the (WM) now, instead of for the (store)?

Are you making the toys for children, like Santa does for Christmas?

They have two children, not one, right?

I don't like the boring over there (at the sewing table)...(after seeing them packed away and she didn't get to play with them).

List of new toys she would like.. and I might get time for them...

A set of three baby ducklings for her duck, preferredly green and yellow.

A pink unicorn hand puppet with a white belly and horn (she was specific.. apparently she has seen one)

One of these planes in pink and purple, but mostly the purple.

The list may sound a little demanding, but I get really good ideas from her.. she endeared me to the thought of the ducklings by saying they should be just the right size to tuck under the mama duck's wings.  And all this time making him I was thinking him the bachelor.. even the tailor sometimes is unawares, huh?  (Too much Pratchett)

I have been having a completely unfounded hankering to make an 'old style' rag doll again with old fashioned embroidered hair and face... I remember the one I made when I worked at Michaels and embroidered my name across the back and the date - and then gave it to a little girl of a lady who worked there who fell in love with it.

She was home today and was a ball of wax, as usual... Kindergarten has really changed her attitudes to nearly everything, and some of it not for the better.  But, she turned around pretty well at least by noon - and stopped being such a drama queen.  She brought me my glasses when I was sewing and made several comments... played Minecraft and tried to build a zoo (when she was still in her cranky stage) and even told me at one point that she loved green beans (by which I wondered if I had a changeling!) which precluded her walking dinner drinks upstairs for us and being quite lovely most of the rest of the night...  She read her Spiders book Grandma gave her for her birthday and did extremely well.  It is Lexile 380, and she only had a word or two she didn't know.

Just ducky

 It was my first day of vacation - and Esme asked to make a bird.  I told her she would have to find a bird and draw it first - which she did, and it turned out to be a duck.

Then about two hours later, Ducky was here and she was giving him aerodynamic tests.

I used scraps in my table in the colors she had used and she popped back and forth from the tv to the sewing area to check on my progress and ask questions.

Daddy getting an action shot :)

It passed the 'sniff' test, too for the calico coonhounds, Sweetie (back) and Spud (front) who are both growing up!

Handmade Bed Bug Back Pillow in Use with the Wii

Caterpillar Back Pillow
Shown in use while Mark plays the Wii.

They say sometimes your back hurts when you play the Wii. Mark has this game 'Rampage' he has been playing for a few days, and the Bed Bug is getting some use as a back pillow.


Esme watches intently as Daddy plays 'Rampage' on the Wii.

Esme LOVES to watch the game as the creature tears up buildings in a city. There are lots of noises and the monsters have silly antics.

Custom Soft Toys available at KnitOwl shop

Custom make-to-order baby toys in the KnitOwl shop.



1. Mousebears : Machine washable soft baby toys
2. Custom rag dolls for babies in your choice of hair color
3. Custom horse softies and zebra toys
4. Choose your own colors pairs of Alien Monster dolls
5. Machine washable cotton bunny toys

Hippo Toy and Captcha

Mark read today that Google Blogger is now requiring TWO captchas (image verification stuff) to make a comment to a post. SHEESH! How hard do they have to make it to read blogs anymore?

---

The other day at the fabric counter I bought a bolt of nice grey cloth. I was thinking elephants. Mark suggested hippos or rhinos. We were talking about a hippo mouth (kind of like the dragon) full of big flat teeth. Today I was over at Two Little Banshees and she is talking ab out making a hippo as well. It got me to sketching tonight about how to do that open mouth... all those teeth showing interest me :) Here is what I came up with.


Happy Toothy Hippo

Miscellaneous working sketches I like
Click to Enlarge

Bearmice

More 'bearmice' (mousebears)

I'm not that obsessed with Mousebear, not really... but these are very fun to make especially in batches. These are two sets of 'twins' ;) although no two ever turn out the same (see the blue ones?) One 'set' is for the toy shop and the other is for the MamaMade box.

I spent most of yesterday down with one of my sinus migraine headaches but it seems to have released me during the night. It's been a long time since I had one of those old headaches and I hope it will be another long time before another one. Especially when Esme needs me, headaches like that SUCK.

I need to start gearing up for handmade easter toys for the shop as well. Bunnies, you ask? Oh yes. It's been a while since I made lots of little rabbits ;)

Strange Toys off the Cuff

Esme's new strange toys
I was watching the way Esme was using her fingers around one of her fuzzy blocks yesterday and got this idea. She needed something with lots of corners to grab and turn around in her hands. Something soft and colorful, that she could bounce around in her seat, grab and smack etc...

My first thought was to make some big felt shapes - cone, ball etc... but when I sat down at the sewing machine I just went 'off the cuff' with my felt scraps bag and ended up with these.


Baby Bird Ball and Ziggurat
These are some of the strangest and alien looking baby toys I've ever made ;)

However, what they lack in sophistication they definitely make up for in baby approval. Esme loves them already. She squeals at them just because they're colorful, and bounces them around with her legs and squeals some more because she can make them move. I'm going to try to perfect the ideas and make them a bit more regular, better constructed etc...

PDF pattern for Horse or Zebra softie now available

PDF pattern for Horse or Zebra softie (soft stuffed toy) is now available at KnitOwl toys with electronic delivery. Great for making Christmas gifts for your friends and family :)

Arrr! Pirate LOLrus says Where's Me Bucket?

Pirate LOLrus says: Arrr! Where's Me Bucket? I'll keelhaul the blighter who stole me bucket!

Another Farkism collaboration from Mark and I ;)

Complete with hat, eyepatch and parrot

Don't worry Pirate LOLrus!


Nobody stole yer bukket silly lolrus - here it is ;)

This guy will be at KnitOwl custom toys shop!

37 weeks and more sock walruses

37 weeks
Doctor said it can be any time, or up till the middle of November - very obtuse, you think? I hope it's sooner, as she is putting a lot of pressure on my pelvis now! I look so huge - and yet most of the time, I only feel slightly awkward. Getting out of the bathtub is still fairly easy, although getting out of bed quickly is a thing of the past...


More Sock Walruses

The original LOLrus the sock walrus was sold quickly! I'm working up a few more in a different style. No button eyes on this one, so a fairly little kid (3 and up) could play with it. I hope to send one of them to the art show next month.

Rocky the Ferocious Sock Dachsund

How Dachsunds See Themselves : Ferocious!

Lolrus the Sock Walrus and his bucket

In the grand Farkism tradition of lolrus comes this sock walrus, made from a lonely singleton argyle knee sock. He has a bucket, so he is a pretty happy walrus compared to the ones in most of the Lolrus pictures. He even has a few fish to munch on.

I was halfway through making this guy's body when Mark suggested what he would be - and here he is, our very first sock walrus. Quite the endangered species, you think?

Check for more handmade LOLrus toys in our shop!




SOLD

I'm A Toy Artist at Heart:
I really love to make these custom toys, the one-of-a-kinds that get such a life of their own. I'm boosting that part of my shop a bit, on Etsy, Google, Flickr etc... It is so much nicer to know that something is being made for someone, and not just wondering if anyone will like what I happened to think up that day. There is a pleasure in seeing toys I felt like making get good homes, too -- but it isn't quite the same.

Some super-cool toys I saw on Flickr today:

• Electric Rhino made from a six-year-old's drawing, this rhino packs one HUGE horn. Interesting construction as well.


• weirdbuglady's five legged frog. Her construction techniques have really become professional looking and she has some neat 'two-headed' creatures as well.
  
• girlsavage has some beautiful deer in her shop with very interesting ears. I love how she takes external seams (which are usually ugly) and makes them artful.

Green Aliens

They look like the friendly type...

Green (female) Alien Monster Doll with babies for Mrs.Pao's nephew :)
Custom toy shop

More KnitOwl toys and more dreams

That is a newborn size pacifier next to the tiny green kangaroo!
I still use tweezers to turn and stuff these little guys.
I've reserved the pink Mama kangaroo and joey for a lady in Canada who contacted me yesterday. Her nice comments on that toy have spurred me to make a few more baby kangaroos. I hope they would make good baby shower gifts. I'm sure another set will be in the shop soon as well.


SOLD

This black cat stuffie was made with the same pattern as the rag rabbit dolls. Alee at Stuffed made a rag rabbit from my PDF pattern and it is really cute! She did a great job on the face especially, using tiny stitches. I really appreciate her testing it out for me! I'll have the .PDF up in the Etsy shop for sale soon.

More Pregnancy Dreams: Again, my brain is working on things at night that I barely think about during the day. We were talking about how soon after Bazooka is born I'll be physically ready to do even light desk and counter type work. I don't think I'll know that until about 3 or 4 days after she is born, at the very least.

Last night I was dreaming about her already being here and taking care of her -- but my mental 'image catalog' is weird, and it kept bouncing between a lifelike doll I had as a kid and my sister's daughter when she was two. I knew I was dreaming and that none of it was like it will be - but some part of me wants to 'practice' maybe... subconscious wondering if I'll know what to do with her, etc... My dreams are always very real - like I'm actually there, doing those things, until something seems 'out of place' and because I know it's a dream then it usually breaks apart and I wake up.

Friendly Snakes around here too...

Mark had a great idea for a 'huge' toy for the shop. This friendly 'rattle' snake is 80" long, nearly seven feet! He also has a small rattle-box sewn into his tail.


Stuffing him was quite a challenge!


Much better than scary copperheads, eh?

Halloween

Well, I might not be ready for Christmas to come yet, but I can get a few things ready for Halloween.


A 'nice' witch with her broomstick

She is a re-interpretation of my old Madeleine / Lady Doll pattern

Speaking of Halloween, we went to the doctor again yesterday to get a check-up on Bazooka. He said we're at the point where things are getting close! He told me to start watching out for contractions! I haven't felt anything like one yet, he said 'I'll know' when it's a contraction, but that doesn't convince me yet. I'm only at 31 weeks, but most babies come between 36 and 40 weeks, so she could be here in as little over a month, or show up as scheduled around Halloween. That would fit right in with the name we've chosen, which is also one of the witch's names in a Terry Pratchett book, but that wasn't why we chose it ;)

The bassinet came in the mail today, such a big package! We haven't put it together yet. There will be pictures. I've also started washing things and hope to slowly get through the pile we've accumulated.

I'm starting to feel much more 'whoa, slow down' from my body lately. I get up and start to move and then suddenly I have to change my plans about how fast and how vigorous I can be at whatever task is at hand. I'm holding on to my stomach more, as well - as if there is more there that needs to be supported in all those twists and turns ;) The one foot that swelled last month or so is keeping up the habit, and I'm having a really hard time keeping it elevated, as that means staying in one place for long periods of time, not really my forte!

Christmas Toys already?

It's just one day after Labor Day and it seems people are already thinking about the holiday season. I saw lots of Halloween stuff being sold, and when I checked my mail today I found an inquiry about making some toys for a Christmas showcase. Christmas toys already? Well, I'm ready as soon as she tells me the quantity and color. In that same vein, I started gearing up for more production by buying some new fabrics and a new iron. I was using Mark's mom's old iron but it was time for a new one.

Mark also had the idea that I could make little reindeer with some alterations to the horse pattern. I tried the first prototype today, and although this try isn't quite right the idea is sound. I'll take this one apart and try again.

Reindeer Prototype - try 1

So happy with this rabbit fabric I bought from a lady on Etsy. Her shop is in China, but it arrived here relatively quickly and much bigger cuts than I expected. They are both Japanese import fabrics I've seen elsewhere, and will be used in another quilt for Bazooka.

Links:
It's been forever since I've been to either of these blogs below, but ran across them again lately...
Bella Dia
Dacia Ray

Bubblehead babies and puppies

Puppies: We won't disturb DeeDee for a little while, she is pretty nervous normally and we have been worried she would get more nervous during/after the delivery. She is doing awfullly well for doing it all herself, and besides a few little check-ins by Mark (At 30 weeks pregnant I can't crawl under there too well, but I can see a few noses and tails) we'll leave her be unless it rains. Mark says there are seven survivors of three different colors.

Sewing: Trying out another new pattern, using a new head construction I saw in an internet group on Flickr. I like how bubbly they are!


The prototype needed some changes but was a good start!

Much closer, a happy Bubblehead baby ;)

How to Sew a Hooded Towel

Kelba unwillingly models a hooded towel

Click here for Instructions and more pictures on how to sew a hooded towel.

I made two of these towels last night! Kelba has become the 'clothes model' for anything medium sized ;)

Baby Update: At nearly thirty weeks I've finally reached that 'Uh-oh really can't bend/roll like that' phase - and sometimes she gets wedged uncomfortably in my right side and I have to lay down for a few minutes to try to coax her to the left. But she is active, especially in the morning and just before bed. Mark said she felt like she was 'dancing' in there last night as we were watching a movie.

And more little horses come clopping in:


Punk Rock Zebra!
Mark said one needed purple hair ;)

Green Theme

A while back I picked up a box of fabric at a garage sale and there were some really great patterns in it, particularily these greens.


Another little horse in green.

Changing Pad in green flowers. This one turned out best of all three of them.
I might have jumped the gun a little when I said we had _everything_ collected.. not quite. We still have to get the crib here (it's in the mail) and set up, and then the next thing is the changing table, then bottles/pump etc. And of course, there might be something that I've missed on my list that I've yet to realize.

Obsession du Jour already had her changing table set up at 29 weeks... wow, she really was nesting!

We visited our county fair yesterday, which is very small compared to the fairs I'm used to in Minnesota. We saw a guy with a tiny baby raccoon he said he had rescued while on the road last week. It was on a leash and very happy, bouncing around and talking to him, obviously he has a talent! It reminded me of a fat kitten with hand-like paws, so cute! There was also a pet monkey someone else had that was bouncy but only towards his owner, he was shy to everyone else.

Also coming in the mail: a large lot of Agatha Christie books! They're good 'put it down and come back to it' reading, not too complicated and I used to keep one around for when I needed something lighter. Latest reads: a few stories by 'Lewis Padgett' (moniker for a husband/wife writing team) out of one of Mark's anthologies. Mimsy were the Borogroves, The Proud Robot, The Bough Will Break...also slowly going through James Blish's 'The Devils Day'