citizens of make believe

So far there are seven citizens of Make Believe but I'm sure over time their population will grow. Today I would like to introduce you to five of the happy friends.

Meet Turnip. He's Make Believe's founding member. He looks young but don't let that baby face fool you! His wisdom makes him a perfect friend for whispering your dreams and secrets to at night. He gives good hugs and loves having his belly button tickled. X marks the spot!


This is Bruce. He's contemplating a nose ring and tattoos to spunk up his style but I'm trying to convince him he's perfect just the way he is. He loves The Ramones and listens to Rocket to Russia incessantly. He sometimes gets into scraps on the playground but underneath his prickly exterior lies a heart of gold.


Oh Marjorie... what can one say about Marjorie? How about mammas lock up your sons! This one loves to dance and leave lipstick on collars. And those eyes... yes those eyes can soften the hardest of hearts and wrap the sternest of men around her coy monkey fingers. Marjorie loves martinis and her new iPhone.


Don't let Richard's bandanna and country bumpkin guise fool you - this frog has hopped all over the world from Australia to Zaire. He loves trying new food from different cultures and is particularly a fan of Indian and Thai. The spicier the better! His most terrifying moment was falling into a giant crevasse on the peak of Mount Kilamanjaro but this one has more tricks up his sleeve than Go-Go Gadget and used his extra-sticky tongue to pull himself to safety. His stories will keep bonfire gatherers entertained for hours.


Lastly, meet Gnash. It's a silent 'G' and he hates it when it's pronounced. It's Nash not G-Nash! This horse has a propensity towards meloncholy and can often be found off by himself writing poetry or contemplating the meaning of life. He's got little arms so he's not a great hugger, but nothing makes him glow more brightly than getting one. He will nuzzle his muzzle into your heart and you'll never want to let go.

greetings from a make believe world

My friend Elaine was visiting a few weeks ago and when we're together, sparks fly. For two full days my living room "looked like Christmas" with buttons and thread and fiber-fill spread over every available surface. And to what reward! Check out the amazing group of friends we created from socks and gloves!

At first you think you're going to make a little dude with a certain personality but soon you realize you have no control over how your creature will turn out - their personality bursts through with very limited coaxing from you. It's amazing to see them evolve before your very eyes!

Here are a few group shots from their photo shoot one sunny and cool afternoon. Soon I will be posting their individual portrait shots as well... and even a few romantic images of Clementine and Dill Pickle who have quickly proven to be inseparable. :)


It's a little hard to tell, but here they are waiting for the bus. The #7 actually. They were going on an adventure.

From left to right: Richard, Bruce, Dill Pickle, Clementine, Marjorie, Turnip and Gnash.

procrastination

This is what photographer's do while procrastinating...


And this too. (Yep, that's my bedroom door... happiness bursting out of a wooden heart that was lovingly hand painted by my friend Merrick). I'm not gonna lie... I love it. :)

more front door love

Why hello friends. I know, lately my posts have been few and far between, but I have had a rollercoaster couple of weeks. I miss my sweet little dog dearly and have had some trouble adjusting to life on my own. Consequently, I've been spending as little time as possible at home and that means no creating, no blogging.

But I am feeling sturdier than ever as the days roll by and have once again turned my eye towards the front door. I agree, I do have an inexplicable fascination with my front door and hallway.

A few weeks ago I picked up three Martha Stewart hole punches because I simply couldn't walk away without them. I immediately saw white, delicate garlands criss-crossing my front door just in time for Spring. My snowflakes were so vibrant and colourful that I felt it was time to take the door in another direction.

So I set about punching out bunnies, birds and butterflies and ended up with this:

Individually the garlands are darling but with nothing else on the door, they looked stark and uninviting. A piece of fabric I've been saving for a long time jumped to mind and I thought, "Ah Ha! A curtain!" So I ran down to the sewing room and started making a panel for the front door.

Ta-Da! I quite like the results. It's soft, flowy and feminine - suitable for Spring and my new found independence I suppose. The curtains also provide a nice backdrop to my lovely garlands.

I smile every time I walk up the front steps. I'm pleased with the results!

A Bird On A Towel

I can't seem to get enough of the bird theme lately. Here are two tea towels I stitched for my sister. How can drying dishes not be fun with towels like these?! Also, the applique inspiration came from my very dear friend who is proving to be no slouch at applique herself. xo.

Weally Wonky Wabbits

Well, I just gained a whole new appreciation for those talented sewers out there who can sew circles and curves. Whew. It ain't easy and boy am I humbled.

I was flipping through one of my new books, Last Minute Patchwork & Quilted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson, the other night and came across the cutest pattern for Peanut, the Wee Elephant. The design was credited to Hillary Lang of Wee Wonderfuls. So of course I had to run to my laptop to check out her site... lo and behold she was offering free patterns to download and I immediately decided I needed to make a wee bunny.

I was very enthusiastic at first! I printed out the pattern and picked out my fabric. (That was definitely the easiest part!).

I cut out all the pattern pieces and I made the ears about 1.5 cm bigger all around because I thought I would like them bigger and floppier. You can see in the picture above the original line on the inside of the ear. In the end I'm glad I did because they would have been itty bitty I think.

Next I made the ears and pinned them on to the solid front piece. Easy peasy!

Then I stitched the two patterned back pieces on... it was at about this point I realized that I can't sew curves. I think I read somewhere that having a walking foot really helps with the whole curve thing. Um... okay, I admit it, I'm looking for excuses. I know what helps with curves: PRACTICE! But you know what? I wasn't daunted. So my wee bunny would have a wonky seam, big deal. Adds character right? (Meanwhile I'm nervously eyeing that round bottom piece...)

I was so preoccupied with sewing curves and circles that I forgot to leave an opening in the back for stuffing! Oooooops! Where's my seam ripper again? (aka my very best friend). That was a pretty easy fix.

Now it was time to line up the bottom with the rest of the body. I was pretty excited and needed to start getting ready for work in 20 minutes. I tried pinning it together and the darn thing wouldn't fit. In fact, I had about an extra inch of circle and not enough body. So what do I do? Decide that I'll make it fit at the sewing machine. I sit down and sew away, casting pins aside.

The result?

Not so good. I've managed to create the wobbliest, ugliest, most puckered bunny bottom the world has ever laid eyes on...

So what do I do?

Throw some stuffing in there anyway!! I can't wait to see what my "completed" bunny looks like!!

If you look closely you can see a bottom gone horribly wrong.

I left it as is and headed off to work. I thought it would be kind of fun for Dennis to come home to a silly rabbit sitting on the kitchen counter. He said he thought it was really cute, God love him.

While at work I processed my bunny bottom predicament. I knew I wasn't going to learn how to sew curves and circles tonight so I needed to think up an alternate plan of attack... the bunny has three sides... what else can I do? AHA! A triangle!!

Yes, I made the bottom into a triangle. Hindsight is always 20-20 and this was not actually as brilliant an idea as I had thought. Obviously. Or the original pattern would have come with a triangle.

Oh, and I also deviated from the pattern (again - such a bad idea) by sewing on the eyes and embroidering the mouth and nose before adding the stuffing and sewing him up because I couldn't really imagine how to do that without having access to both sides (Please remember, I'm new at this!).

And then I realized that I didn't have a tail so I improvised and made my own. And when hand stitching the back closed, I sewed the tail on. And didn't really give much thought to placement because I already knew this wee bunny was beyond all hope. So I popped it on and now my ugly, deformed bunny looks like he has a hideous wart growing out of his back. Poor wee bunny. :(

Can you tell I'm delaying the unveiling?

...

Okay... prepare yourself!

He's drunk!

Note the wart... :)

He looks best from behind!

I've since removed him from my computer desk and put him on my sewing table. Wanna know a secret? I love him!! I laugh out loud every time I look at him and that deserves a whole pile of love in my opinion. I think I will keep him on my sewing table for a long time... for now as a reminder of "there's only one way to go from here... up!" and hopefully in the future as a reminder of just how far I've come.

Happy Accidents

I haven't written in 5 days so I have lots of news. Okay, I have three things to tell you. But that's two more than usual.

The front door curtains are... drum roll please... finished! And guess what? I like them! Cutting them into two parts was a life-saving maneuver. I was nervous that by splitting them I would lose width to the point of not having enough material to cover the window. But it magically worked out and I am pleased. This was my second (well technically my third) attempt at making curtains. Last year when I took a sewing course at NSCAD I became over-zealous and tried to make curtains for my bedroom window. They ended up 2 inches too short and were so wonky that when pulled to, there were one inch gaps between the panels. I've learned a few things since then it seems.

Once I decided to turn my single panel into two, my next idea was to tie the curtains during the day. But when I did that, I thought they looked too much like candy - and not in a good way. Also, on a practical level, having them tied 10 hours a day makes them rumpled and they don't hang properly when you let them down. So now I simply push them to the side and it's working for me. The little ties that I made? I think they'll make lovely scarves for a plushie some day... :)

***

Today was my day off so I made my way down to Fabricville. All the quilting fabric was 50% OFF!!! In my opinion, this was nothing short of amazing. I had one particular project in mind (that's foreshadowing tomorrow's post, by the way) so I had a loose idea of what I was looking for. But mainly I just walked round and round the quilting section and picked up any of the fabrics that called my name.

At the check out I crossed my fingers that it wouldn't be over 100 dollars and luckily it was only slightly over 60. Whew! I think triple digits would indicate a problem... happily, I'm not afflicted. Although I did warn Dennis that it might not always be a good idea to let me go to a fabric store alone from here on in! :)

***

I started a photography class this past Thursday. It's called Photo 101 and is being offered by Carsand-Moshers. I took a black & white film course last fall and it really got me turned onto taking pictures. Although I absolutely adored being in the dark room, I decided it would be wiser to invest in a digital camera. I bought a second-hand Nikon d70s and was stoked to finally own a digital SLR.

Well, there is definitely a difference between shooting film and digital. I know the basic rules are the same, but a digital camera has so many settings and buttons to fiddle with. Even though I had this awesome new-to-me camera, I found the quality of my photos was sliding. So I signed up for this course so I can unleash the power of my SLR. I've never been worried about the content of my photos, but I am always worried about the technical side. In ten weeks time, this shouldn't be a problem - hah!

This week we're only allowed to shoot on automatic. And never, ever with a flash. And of course, absolutely no computer alterations - not even cropping! I need to have 30 prints by this coming Thursday so today I was out and about with my camera. In fact, I intend to have my camera with me everywhere I go for the next little while... this will be a grand adventure!