Bird and Little Bird

Adopt a Fox.

This fine fellow is officially looking for a new place to call home.  He was originally intended to be sent to the winner of the Wise Craft giveaway that took place last month, but when I was finishing up work on him the other day, I noticed a small hole in the fabric on the side of his nose.  I can't repair it.  He is still a perfectly serviceable fox, but he is no longer quite suited to being sent off to someone expecting to receive a better than serviceable fox, you know?  He is now the stuffed animal equivalent of one of those wild animals that goes to live in the animal refuge because it had an accident or was handfed by campers or something.  In other words, I am giving him away to someone who doesn't mind that this particular fox is quite especially less than perfect.

The hole is actually really small, probably less than an eighth of an inch in diameter, and it isn't even totally clean through the fabric; there are still a few threads of linen there.  So, if you are the sort that doesn't mind a little hole in something otherwise reasonably attractive, or if you are living in the sort of household where gaining holes is something that happens to new things rather quickly anyway, this might be the fox for you.  It is free, after all.  Just leave a comment here.  Oh, and to make it interesting, use your comment to tell me what your favorite animal is and why.  I'll pick a winner round about Tuesday or so.  Well, probably Mariam will pick a winner.  I'll ask her to yell out a random number or something.

I'll start:  My favorite animal is the Great Blue Heron because it is very, very large, it is incredibly beautiful and graceful and also, it is surprisingly fierce. 

Take Two.

This rabbit is a custom order for the shop that I finished up over the weekend.  It took me a couple of tries to get this one right.  Erin, the very nice person who it is for, had basically told me that she trusted me to come up with a suitable fabric combination on my own and that the only thing she really, really wanted was a pocket with carrots.  No problem.  Well, except that I then proceeded to stitch up a nice fat rabbit with no pocket.  Genius. 

  Anyway, take two went quite a bit more smoothly and there is now not only a pocket but a pocket with carrots both inside and out.  Extra carrots make everything better, right?

Creative Impulse.

I've been feeling like it has been a really long time since I've worked on a new animal.  Mostly Marvelous Ms. Rabbit is about to turn one, actually, so I guess it isn't just a feeling- it's true.  I've done a little playing around here and there with making a raccoon, but I'm still out of the wool fabric that I really want to use for that particular project and I can't quite seem to get motivated to do the harder parts of designing the pattern if the final result isn't going to fit my vision.

I think I've been somehow feeling pressure to have my next animal be something unique, or at least less common than the rabbits, cats and bears that dominate the stuffed animal kingdom.  But, I really want to make a cat.  Even if it seems ordinary, I just really do.  So here is the beginning of what is very likely the next Bird and Little Bird pattern; an as yet unnamed feline friend.  I do much, much better when I just give in and follow the creative impulse whichever direction it leads. 

In other news, I've built up a mass of open browser tabs full of delightful finds from the interwebs that I think you might all enjoy.  Here are a few:

- This website is so full of amazing, beautiful stuff that I can't really describe it adequately with my post-dinner, weekday evening vocabulary.  If you like Japanese influenced craft and fabric or have any fondness of linen, beware.  Sigh.

- Speaking of linen, this is pretty sweet too.  What could I make with it?  I'm definitely open to any good excuses to buy a fat quarter.

- I am weirdly drawn to the work in this Etsy shop. I'm not sure what that says about me but then again, I do have a baby blue faux jackalope taxidermy hanging on the wall in my dining room. 

- In honor of Earth Day, you can download these free labels to help organize your recycling situation.  Ours is beyond hope and mostly hidden from sight, so I probably won't bother, but they are cute just the same.  

- I recently came across A Foothill Home Companion when Molly signed her daughter up for the bookswap.  I now find myself clicking over to it immediately when I notice a new post in my feed reader.  Love it.

Full Bloom.

This tree is right outside the window of my classroom.  I'm not completely sure, but I think that it's probably a magnolia.  As in steel, or sugar.  Pretty much everyone who comes into the room each day goes over to the window and spends a few minutes looking at it before they continue with whatever business brought them in the first place.  This includes the children, which is pretty sweet to see.

In other news, I forgot to mention yesterday that there is a Bird and Little Bird giveaway happening over at wise craft for the rest of this week.  Blair's post also includes a not-very-secret discount code so if you are itching to get your hands on a fox or rabbit (or the materials to make one) this may be your big chance.  

For those of you who might be new to wise craft, I feel compelled to mention how very much I like it.  I definitely read a lot of blogs, and my relationship with any particular one seems to shift depending on my obsession du jour.  Sometimes I'm really into nerdy animal science type stuff and read birding blogs for a week.  Sometimes parenting.  Often crafting.  However, I've consistently read just about every post at wise craft for as long as I can remember knowing it was there.  Blair mixes up her post topics a lot and includes enough that is new and different to keep even short-attention span me interested.  Plus, she has really good spelling, which is actually more important to me than you might expect. 

Finishing Up.

This fellow is the last in the set of the wool and vintage cotton rabbits that I first wrote about back in January. 

Like the other three rabbits before him, this guy has the initials of the recipient (a baby boy to-be) on his pocket.  And carrots.  Carrots in the pocket are a must have. 

He also has remarkably perky ears which I have to say, I'm really happy with.  I love it when the ears turn out just so. 

So now I'm all caught up on shop work.  Not to worry though; I still have about a thousand other unfinished projects calling for my attention.  Plus the whole parenting gig.  I'll be plenty busy.

New Project Kits in the Shop.

I'm taking a quick break from the regularly scheduled programming of pre-birthday sewing to mention that I have updated the shop with a few more Mostly Marvelous Ms. Rabbit project kits.  Beige linen, quilting cotton, some Japanese prints by Lecien and of course, just a bit of the magical Heather Ross double gauze (which is getting harder to find by the day... ack!).  Good stuff for stitching, if you are so inclined.  Also, the beige linen can be easily replaced with the lighter colored natural linen if that strikes you as a good idea.  

Carry on, then.

Trio.

Apparently there are any number of somewhat weird sounding names for a group of rabbits.  I think that "herd" is the least strange of them, so I think that's what I'll go with.  Plus, it seems that you are supposed to call a group of rabbits a herd if they are the domestic variety and I definitely consider Ms. Rabbit and her compatriots to be domestic.  They aren't so much wild animals, if you know what I mean.

So, this herd of rabbits is all boxed up and ready for mailing off.  They are being sent to a herd of children, who I hope will like them very much.  

This is the first time that I've made patchwork scarves for the rabbits, instead of using felt.  I kind of squealed a little bit when I put them on.  Out loud.  I guess everything is super cute when you put a bit of patchwork around its neck.  I should extend this logic to making patchwork scarves for my own little rabbit.  Mariam's sixth birthday is just a couple of weeks away and I'm trying to go entirely handmade with her gifts this year.  I've already got a couple of really good presents hidden around the house (I told her that I hid them in California so she shouldn't even bother searching for them- I think she believes me) but maybe I should get unlazy about garment-type sewing and make her a scarf or two.  Oh, and maybe one of these too. 

The Wool Flannel Fan Club.

I finished up work on the third of the vintage rabbits this week.  I'm aware of my personal bias in this situation, but I still think he's super cute.  I think I'm allowed to say that, right?

This is the last of my long-hoarded stash of wool flannel and I am already kicking myself for not having gotten more when we were in California for the holidays.  So. Not. Smart.  It is the best stuff ever and stitches up like magic.  Plus, whenever I make something out of it, Dan invariably says "Wow.  That's a really nice one."  This probably doesn't sound like the ultimate high praise to most of you out there, but it should be said that under normal circumstances he has his nose buried in a medical textbook and doesn't have a whole lot of mental energy for my endless crafting madness, let alone commentary on the results.  Like I said, this wool is magic fabric. 

I also managed to get most of two other rabbits put together this weekend; part of a custom order of three that I'll share photos of when I have them all finished.  Mariam and I listened to cooking podcasts (more about this later- they deserve their own post!) while I stitched away and she played with her farmhouse on the floor next to my project table.  Pretty enjoyable weekend, actually. 

However, a problem has now arisen.  I'm not a doctor, and I don't play one on television, but I'm pretty sure I've got strep throat.  Awesome.

Errata.

Thanks to a very good question that I was asked the other day, I now realize that there is a mislabeled pattern piece in the Semi-Fantastic Mr. Fox pattern.  If you've got either a PDF or hard copy pattern that you ordered in the last week or so, you're golden.  Because I fixed it. 

However, if your pattern is older than that, please take note:  The "head back" pattern piece mistakenly says to cut two.  The tutorial instructions say to cut one, on the fold.  Ignore the labeling on the piece itself and follow those in the tutorial.  You want to lay the head back piece on the fold of your fabric and cut one piece (that will be twice the size of the pattern piece itself when you unfold the cut fabric).  Okay?  Good then.  

By the way, if anyone notices other mistakes in the pattern or instructions, feel free to let me know.  I'd be most appreciative and it won't hurt my feelings at all.  Promise.

Birthday Fox.

This fellow was a custom order for the shop, completed last week and subsequently mailed off to become an eighth birthday present.  I decided to post this picture because Mariam thinks that the foxes are super funny when I stand them up like this.  She doesn't generally pay all that much attention to the never ending parade of Mr. Foxes that get made and mailed around here.  However, for some reason, whenever she sees them standing up like this guy, she starts doing this funny voice and saying what she thinks is on Mr. Fox's mind.  And then, whenever I see them standing up like this, I think of her doing her goofy Mr. Fox voice and smile.