It's that Crafty Show time of year again!

Yes, indeedy, it's been all work and no play for yours truely for the past, well, too long! There's been a heap lot more sewing than blogging going on, that's for sure! I took some time out today in the midst of packing up for my first gig of the season to snap a few shots of my goods. 

Mostly I've been making Mitts-for-Musing Handwarmers. These babies just keep growing in popularity. I've started selling them in a few retail stores, and it's really been keeping me busy! I have a nice selection ready for my Holiday shows.

Due to popular demand, I've made long cotton Mitts

And long woolies of various designs.

These are cute little Plushies with clips on them for clipping onto backpacks or whatever you want to. The faces are silkscreened!

Here we have Snuggle Buns with their cozy little beds.

I'll only have a few Art Plush this season. 

But plenty of Pocket Sprites like these elephants

and sheep/bears.

Thanks for stopping by! Check out my Events page for details of my shows, and the Where to Buy page for store locations.

Apple Time of Year

A perfect Winesap

 We had a bumper crop of apples this year. We've filled all of these jars and more (over 50 gallons!)with two sessions of apple cider pressing. Sweetie is threatening to pick more apples, so we may do yet another pressing. I didn't take any process photos this year, but if you're curious, it looks like this

Annie T. Lopez (just to show you some Plush!)

Happy All-Hallow's!

A Home of Their Own

I found this nifty wooden play house at the thrift store. I was too lazy to take a "before" photo; it was pink and purple and covered with Tinkerbell stickers..slightly ghastly~! But it's a sturdy, well-made structure, so I re-habbed it to use as a display for my Plush. The walls are covered with indigo-dyed wool, and the floors with repurposed wool sweater fabric.

 I added some nice detail of embroidery, but made myself keep it subtle, as I don't want it to detract from my Plush!

I've been having fun doing photo shoots with it, and it's been working out well in my display.

Now I just need to sew some more creatures to inhabit it!

 Have I ever mentioned that Fall is my favorite time of the year? The light is so exquisite, there are so many colors and smells and yummy tastes from the garden.

 Since I'm such a project-minded person, along with all that wonderfulness is a to-do list that keeps growing longer the more I cross stuff off of it! It's just that I have a never-ending train of ideas of neat stuff to make & do. So amidst all of the food processing and Green Grin production work, I've been taking advantage of the last bits of dry/warm weather to squeeze in some interesting projects. Here's an experiment of some cloth bundles soaking in a tanin/iron sludgy dye bath.

I took advantage of a sunny day out on the deck and silkscreened some patches for fun and to make into herbal sachets. 

It's been awhile since I've been able to make some larger Plush pieces, and I just finished up this special order of Mama Chippy & Baby.

Cuteness does me good.

St. John's Bizarre I Love You!

Yes, I will announce it here: the St. John's Bizarre is my official favorite Portland-area street fair. Yesterday was a splendid day.

What makes the St. John's Bizarre so successful is that the streets for the whole downtown core are closed, and the fair is arranged around in a square, rather than the traditional long gauntlet of booths that run the length of a single street in most street fairs. The music stage and food court were on one side of the square, and vendor booths all around. This created a nice, relaxed mingling atmosphere.

 The parade was a bonus, with plenty of quality high-school marching bands. And the people were the best! You've got it going on, St. John's!

 Everyone was happy; here in NW Oregon, when there are too many hot days in a row folks start to complain. But the first few nice, hot, sunny days are welcome by all. I saw plenty of lovely dogs, brief sun-dress, and tattoos. 

Oh, and another super-great thing is our Portland-area community of crafters! It feels so good to be a part of that; greeting old crafty comrades and meeting new friends. 

Oh, and one more super-great thing: several of my favorite people stopped by at closing time and generously helped me pack up and wheel my gear to the car! Extra bonus!! The chocolatey frosting on the fruity tasty cake of the day.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by my little booth of Cutelandia.

Now I really need to slurp down my breakfast blueberry smoothie

and run out to the gardens before it gets too hot.

St. John's Bizarre & a Satisfactory Digression

I am constantly inspired to make stuff. As in all the time. I have sketchbooks filled with ideas; more than I'll ever have time to realize. Since I'm sort of making a living from selling my work, I feel a bit of pressure to stay focused on making things that people will buy, and to keep my work cohesive (these days it's mostly making plush toys and soft sculpture art). 

But sometimes I can't keep myself from digressing.

Way back in the day, when I was first trying to sell my work, some of the first items I marketed were little zip pouches. I love making bags. There's something so satisfying about figuring out the 3-d design and construction sequence of creating a bag. And, they are useful. When my new electronic device arrived recently, it was just crying out for a scrappy, colorful cozy. So I made this:

I love it! It makes carrying around that sterile electronic device so cozy and friendly. And it was fun to make. So fun, in fact, that I had to make these:

By the time I whipped those babies out, I was on a roll. I'd been wanting to make some more bags with the laminated-wool-scrap technique, and I like the idea of getting some of those tried and true "Mitts for Musing" appliques on some bags. 

So I made these Cozy Clutches:

Which are not the easiest things to photograph. In person, they are squeezable, textural, and quite clutchable.

Well, then I realized that I had little cozies and large cozy-clutches, but I needed something in-between, so I made these Cutelandia Zip Pouches:

I have so many different versions of these floating around the homestead. They are infinitely useful for holding all kinds of items (cozily; in style!).

After I'd made such a pile of cozy bags and bagletts, I was playing around with them and noticed that some of them made little sets:

I'll have a whole table of "Cozies and Clutches" tomorrow at the St. John's Bizarre street fair. Which, by the way, will be my first outdoor street fair of 2012!

Mostly, I'm still making plush. I've been trying out these dimensional noses on the Pocket Buns, and I think they're keepers.

Finally, I want to show you the second suitcase I've renovated.

I don't always have room at table shows to use both the suitcases, but the vastness of the 10' x10' street fair space will allow plenty of space. It's perfect for showing off Pocket Buns and Mitts for Musing.

New Lanky Friends

I'd like to introduce a couple of new-comers to my Lanky Friends series:

Sir Hare

Lady Duckness



And now, all of this sunshine calls for a Garden Party!

A Wonderful Day

I had a nice time today at the Lewis Elementary School's Garden Fair. For those of you who are visiting my little blog 'cause you picked up a business card, thanks for stopping by! This is my second time vending at a Lewis event, and I have to say that it's one of my favorite venues. The school has a great vibe, and the families and kids are so sweet. I saw plenty of familiar faces, and of course, it's fun for me to see how the kids interact with my toys. The WeeKinnie Nests  were a hit as always! 

I've been expanding the "nest" idea, and've come up with these "Napping Nests":

I brought out a new (and larger-sized) batch of Grin Kins. I think these are a fun toy, with their long, squiggly legs.

The soft Tortoise was popular with the boys. It's hard to tell in this photo, but it's about the size of a Nerf football, and stuffed quite firmly. 

I also saw some old vendor-friends and made some new vendor-friends with my friendly neighbors. That's one of the fun things about doing craft shows.

To top it all off, it was a glorious, summer-ish day, really the first one like this that we've had for many, many months. A perfect day for a Garden Fair. And tomorrow, I'll take a li'l break from sewing and have my own Fair outside in my garden!

This Rainy Morning in My Studio

Despite waking up to sunshine streaming in the window, and having a refreshing walk to the garden to pick some greens, by the time I'd finished with Sunday morning coffee and a giant Green breakfast smoothie, it had started to rain again. I shouldn't have been surprised. We've just wrapped up what seems to have been the wettest March ever recorded here in damp NW Oregon. 

So instead of spending the day puttering in the gardens with Sweetie, I'm back up here in Cutelandia, plugging away at making stuff. Here's a glimpse:

Sweetie's old Lees were worn beyond repair. After chopping them off into cutoffs, I was left with some scraps of gorgeous faded indigo denim. As my gaze fell upon the overflowing numbers of overflowing bags of tiny scraps on my studio floor, I remembered that I'd been wanting to sew myself a tuffet. Tuffets are an excellent way to use all those little bits of scrap you're saving from the landfill. The last tuffet I made was quickly claimed by the cats. This time I wanted to make a firmer, higher cushion to sit on while I work from the floor. This one came together in a flash and I crammed 2 1/2 large bags of scrap into it, making quite a firm perch. In fact, it's so firm that it's rather awkward to grasp. Next one I make will have a handle! I also have just enough of that stunning denim left to make a little zip-pouch.

I'm designing my first Duck Dollie!

This has been on the needles, hidden away for months. I finally finished the knitting part, and felted it up. Now for the fun part, which is stuffing and animating.

Here I'm working on lining this vintage suitcase to use it in my display. I use the sewing machine to laminate scraps of wool together, add some touches of embroidery and applique, cut to size, and glue it to the inside of the case. I'm trying to keep it neutralish, so as not to detract from my products, but it's such a fun technique I have a hard time restraining myself!

For some reason, ponchos are always a hit. I like to make them whenever I score large enough pieces of nice fabric. I'm in the process of composing oak leafs on this plaid wool poncho. With the cowl neck, it is super cozy and I have a hard time taking it off whenever I try it on!

A wool vest embellished with applique and hand-knit trim. As you can see, I've been getting into oak leaves lately.

Greenhouse action. Even when it's rainy outside, it can be warm and cozy, doing greenhouse work. I'll just have to save planting peas, mucking the duck house, mulching, harvesting nettles, and walking in the woods for a slightly less drippy day.

Louie has the right idea for a day like today!