Finished Objects trickling down

 crochet cat / kitty toy  

(Available: mariemeyer.etsy.com )

'whale shark' woven sketchbook and pens pouch

I was working on keeping my mind off other things, so I started finding things that needed some work on them.

on the finishing table : crochet orange / yellow / gray striped rug (just have to tie up ends)

in progress : pink cat and grey sheep small knit toys (might be a bit on those)

When you just have to hug a Mosasaur toys

When you just have to hug a Mosasaur, it is good to have one in reach.  Or a Spinosaurus, or a Brachiasaurus...  You know I like plastic dinosaurs, well I have a soft spot for those in particular, and they are scattered around my studio having all sorts of fun.  Having a few on my desk it is a bit like that scene in Firefly where Wash has them on his flight navigation console and is having a little mini episode while waiting for orders. 

This plastic one from Jurassic World has great jaw action, I have a very similar one on my desk that chews on pencils and fingers and just is a great thing to throw around while reading articles.  Esme even grabs it once in a while and tries to feed him a seashell when she is trying to get my attention.  The other is a plush and more huggable (but still has teeth!)  The teeth are very important for this toy and being able to chew on things.  And being plush it can more easily be tossed across the room in between episodes or during Minecraft excursions.

Red love bird

 Esme's drawing

Mom's handmade toy, with some bits modeled after a red ibis (scarlet ibis)

He has a lot of personality :)

Handy Robot toy for baby (custom order) at KnitOwl Toys and bits

 A soft washable robot toy for a yet to be born baby boy.  He has a little wrench and remote control that will entertain little  hands until they are big enough to toss all of him around.

He is 20 inches tall from toe to head and 9 inches wide in the chest.

Other than that, I am preparing mentally for Esme's speech IEP coming up next week, making a few little odds and ends, knitting on the striped blanket... have another toy that is already requested but I might need to draw a bit yesterday before making that plan.

I spent a midnight hour last night making a little washcloth for the bath, it looks like a sand dollar and I hoped it would be good for scrubbing.  If it is, I'll make a few more and post some pictures.

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.

Cardboard stove

 Cardboard stove made from three boxes in our recycling pile in the garage.

Esme's sixth birthday is coming up, and I was thinking about toys or gifts.. and thought, hey - that doesn't need to be bought, or a birthday present.. we can whip one of those up tonight, boxes willing.

 A little paper, tape, a spool that is on the inside with the dial attached to it, and voila, one child sized cardboard stove.  The door handle I am a little proud of - it is from an airbed box that is the back part of the stove.  It was too perfect not to make use for something I was wondering how I would do!  Esme said no painting- because it takes so long to dry.    She wanted to play with it right away - no more of the waiting.  Then she made pretend tea and threw hot dogs in the oven.  *heh*.

I wrote her name and the year on top of it we will see how long it lasts as a toy.  Her Magic Theater Box from when we moved her to her room is over a year old and still in use,  played with every couple of days.  It is getting in rough shape - but I had been able to paint that one with semi-gloss so it has lived through a lot of humidity and rough play.

Further ideas:
pot holders sewn especially for her
used a 1/2 egg carton to make a muffin/cupcake pan for her - now she wants felt muffins as toys
felt birthday cake?  She loves to pretend to make cakes alerady
cheap spatula - she was trying to turn pancakes with a knife and having a hard time

We talked about finding a box the right size to make a cradle for her baby doll, with a pillow and the blanket I had made for it.  This is the first time she has really played with a baby doll for years - I think it is because she met a little girl at school who likes dolls.  It is really sweet though, especially since we mostly skipped over this stage before.  She named the doll Billy - and it is a boy or a girl as she wishes... we found a Duplo block piece in her collection that was perfect to use as a bottle and I took some scraps from my table to make a blanket for it.  She has insisted on tucking it in and feeding it for about three days in a row, and has been receptive on how to pick it up 'properly' and to learn not to mistreat it because you would not do that to a real baby etc.. she said 'oh, that's right', and carried it properly, set it down nicely and then pretended it cried a little while later for food.

She is also taking another try at learning the rules of checkers... played a decent game against me last night and I let her 'win' during the middle, so she did win at the end but I made it harder as the pieces dwindled so she had to really think.

sewing project for Esme

 I was sewing the little blue deer and Esme got talked into trying to sew herself a toy.  I made the knot and cut out the felt and she took great care in sewing (for a nearly six year old).. and actually did a good job with the weird bits of thread not wanting to go your way, when you accidentally catch the thread inside the loop etc.. I told her she was a natural.. barely cried when she poked her finger several times.  And she finished the project and was very proud of it!

Esme's pumpkin pillow

I was six when my Grandfather taught me to sew - a candytwist type pillow with stuffing in it.. and many after it until I finally got good at making seams that stayed... we're on our way :)

k meeting, awesome toy and purple shirt

We had Esme's meeting at school today. It was less than an hour long and quite formal. I think we got across that we are very very glad for the progress she made this past year, but that she has gotten to the point she will be 'ok' in a regular kindergarten, sans some adjusting time. She will continue to have some speech and language services, but hopefully 'screen out' of the speech after a few months in K. She had already reached 80-100 percent on all of the goals for her IEP during this year.

A forest log playset for Esme, based on something we saw online. The bunny can fit inside the log to sleep.  She says it is an awesome toy - and all of the scraps were already in my workstation. The green is the skirt cut off of her daffodill dress from a few years back - which was almost entirely recycled into other projects. Other toys she wanted me to make : a 'fireplace' set with logs and fire. A whale with a stomach cavity that could swallow things and cough them back up. We bought her lincoln logs a while back but she wasn't interested in them then - but she is getting very interested in them again, now.

This is more of a tunic shirt than a dress - but it is the same as the last few I had made - Butterick 3600 circa 1960s with a 10 inch skirt instead of 20... seeing how tall she is getting I should advance that up to about 14 inches for the next thing I make for her.

My Kingdom for a Box

Or is that my kingdom as a box? Remember that awesome box I scored at work the other day? We finally got to working with it. It is the perfect castle shape, so I gave it a drawbridge.


Welcome to my Castle


Interior decorating


a little Tom Sawyer


C'mon Mom, you can do it, come in!


Odd little curious George smile she does

In other News
The Mayflower beans are about to give two seed pods and the Shackamaxon have a handful of swelling pods waiting. And on top of those I am 'reserving' there are pounds and pounds of regular beans coming in! With gallons of soup frozen already, I need another way to use these without having to blanch them the regular way (getting them cold enough afterwards is the part we keep failing on).

This recipe looks good!:
Scalloped Green Beans originally from easy southern cooking, converted to what I have on hand:

Gallon ziploc bag full of beans, trimmed and washed
1 onion, diced up
2 hard-boiled eggs, sliced
1/3 c. diced up Cheddar cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup
Half the soup can milk
crushed up crackers or toast crumbs

Combine all ingredients except crumbs in greased casserole; mix well. Top with crumbs. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes or until bubbly.

Other recipes for using up the harvest(s):
saucy green bean bake probably without the 'processed cheese' though...
walnuts, onions and cheddar cheese over olive-oil steamed green beans (my thought)

Other 'other' recipes that peaked my interest:
lemon yogurt cornbread, odd but intriguing
Lemon ginger carrot cornbread idea
Lemon cornmeal cookies<--- gotta try this!
Crown Jewel patties, carrot and onion patties covered with cornflakes and baked

Main street toy

I knew she'd love it because it has a 'slide.'
It is supposed to have another one on the other side - but it is remarkably complete for something found in the back of a thrift store. I remember having something like this as a kid - but my people were made of wood and there was a school, as well. They put so much detail into these toys back then, the little payphone booth, mailslots on the doors for little plastic letters lost from this set, holes in the cars for 'gas' pumps, pictures on the inside of the shops, a 'manhole' that opens up that toys can drop inside the fire station through... etc... The thing that sticks up in the back actually drops down to enclose two of the rooms for holding items safe while being carried by the handle. What kind of forethought is that? Good, that's what ;)

White puppy soft toy 9 inches tall

I'm getting back in my old groove again. I sat down last night and cut out a 'sample' pattern from scratch for this little guy. Originally supposed to be a kitty - kind of looked like a bear, but upon seeing the pictures of it Esme said 'white doggie!' She also tried to put a dog leash on it and drag it off but I didn't let her. It is safe in a mailing box waiting for a new home and new adventures to go off to. Decoration only, stays sitting up position 9 inches tall. Hand embroidered face with black thread and black felt eyes and nose.

in the shop

Sluggish around here? No not at all!

Custom slug order for JB - here they are!
One is a little longer than the other and has a bigger mouth - but every toy has its own unique personality, even when they come from the same pattern!



Sluggish? Actually we've been quite busy!

Our Thanksgiving was simple, at home and relaxing. We had a 'traditional pepperoni pizza' as CarrieK said. We took Esme up to see Grandma and Grandpa for about an hour, but she was more interested in tromping about their house getting into things than actually visiting (she is one after all). We went home and made pizza and watched a movie, then tired Esme entirely out so she would go to sleep early. I had to work on Black Friday at 6 am. That actually wasn't so bad, but then I have five years of experience under my belt and I didn't have to open the doors -- that poor guy in New York!


Slug with carrot
He has finally come back from St.Louis
He'll be in the shop

The toys all came back finally from the Crammed Organisms show in St.Louis. Some of them were just a little worse for wear. It took them a long time to turnaround the shipping (which I had to pay for both ways and that sucked) and they didn't do very well on getting pictures of things while they were at the show. I saw Bumblephant in just one photo out of the twenty some they took. I was glad to be invited to what was a wonderful and original idea but was kind of left wanting for more. Maybe they'll do better next year, as this was their first try at anything this large.

More Cotton Slug Attack pictures

More pictures of Mark and Esme with the cotton toy slug the other night. I really need to make more but won't get more time until this weekend. I've also got a request to make a 'plush foot' for a sandal company... which I've done one mockup for and need to make another.

Crafting365; day eight: On my Desk and Dachshunds

Back to your normal toy blog.. at least for a little bit :)

On My Desk
This is what is 'On My Desk' today, the Wednesday meme sponsored by Kootoyoo. Today there is a dog toy, drawings, pattern pieces, miscellaneous tools, yarn, threads, scraps and some rabbit and alien friends waiting to be finished in a box by the wall. There are also the heads of five small rag dolls that are still awaiting the rest of their bodies cut out... poor things.



Let the Dog In!
At the Shop
The dog toy is a first attempt towards Carrie K's pit bull toy. It's not a pit bull. More like a fat squat dachshund, and houndstooth at that. But it is a nice pattern and I'll be making more of them :) Back to the 'drawing' board...

Jhoanna posted a link to Crammed Organisms, a plush show that has a deadline of March 29th. Their theme is 'Fairytale, Folk and Fable' .. and I'm drawing a BLANK! Besides the dragon, everything I have is not exactly fairy tale... and everything else I can think up is boring. I want to find something I can get excited about making but for some reason I just keep coming up with nothing but air... *sigh*

Notes: Esme was four months old yesterday. I had a postpartum diabetes test last week and it came out normal.

Crafting 365: day four and Homefront

Homefront
Esme loves to play with Daddy while he reads.


A big smile for Daddy

Crafting365: day four. I picked up a coloring book yesterday for ideas. After we had looked through it, Mark drew me a small slug picture and asked how that would be made into a toy. An hour later we had the beginning of an invasion of giant felt slugs ;)


At the Shop
Cute Giant Slugs!
We'll try to keep them well-fed on felt leaves so they don't
go after the poor bunnies anymore.

Crafting365, day 3: Horse gets a Rider and neat things on Flickr

Ride 'em!
I was watching Time Bandits the other night when I made the first red cloth horse. I had accidently cut out two horse bodies going in the same direction... which wouldn't work, so I ended up cutting out two horses the same pattern. When I was sewing the second one yesterday I couldn't get out of my mind the horse and rider that come through the kid's bedroom. So, a quick sketch and some scissor snippings later, this horse got a bowlegged rider. He isn't quite a cowboy, but they are definitely fast pals already.

Today I am making up lots more baby rag dolls. One needs to be a redhead. My niece Elizabeth is growing in lots of RED hair, surprising to everyone in the family ;) as the hair she was born with was brownish.

Neat things I saw today on Flickr:

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Woolly_Fabulous' felt fish brooch
Shebrews seems to have quite an infestation of sock dogs.
LittleGirlPearl shows off beautiful dresses she has made for her daughter. I hope one day to be able to make just a simple sundress for Esme :) But I am always so picky about the details when it comes to clothing, which is why I usually never finish anything even for myself. But then.. I was told the other day that it doesn't matter as much on kid's clothes because they're always in motion and no one ever sees the tiny mistakes as long as they hold together!

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?

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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

Almost Done Giraffing

Here is the finished giraffe. I need to write the pattern instructions now. If I had to rate him on a scale of 1 to 10 for difficulty I'd say a 4.5. However, I'd rate the toy horse pattern at a 2.0 on that same scale.

I had to put the ears in an extra seam sideways down the head (see illustration below).


I hate putting ears in sideways. It's probably a pet peeve, but I think it's bad design *most* of the time. In some cases, like this one where it was such a small head and a tight seam, it becomes necessary. Giraffe ears kind of stick out like that anyway.

Swingin' Esme

Baby Swing
We got Esme a little swinging chair that she can sit in while we work at our desks. This doesn't count as a Christmas present, unless you factor in that Mark read instructions and put it together ;)

Grandma and Grandpa watched her yesterday while I went to the store to look at all of the baby swings. As usual, she was a little angel for them. I have told them they must have a 'baby sleeping potion' in their house somewhere. She gets really fussy, usually soon after eating, because her tummy hurts. Not much helps at those times except holding her and/or bouncing her, which is tough when we have time-constraints like bank and post office.

I had been rocking her carseat carrier with my foot at those times she was cranky and I really needed to get something done at the computer. That worked pretty well, but when I get up to get a label off the printer or wrap a package she would often start to fuss again. When I have to get up I can set this swing on slow rock (which I think is kind of fast). I have to say this is a really good buy. Esme is nice and secure in it and you can turn the music on or off independent of the motion. I was worried she would be too young for a swing because she can't hold her head up continuously yet. However, this swing is for birth to 25 lbs - and cradles her just like a car seat does.

It also has a little mobile with two brightly colored stuffed creatures that hang from it. I wasn't going to hang the mobile up on the swing at all but when I tried it Esme was 'talking' to the creatures and wiggling all over.

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 :)