Hoooot!

Hi All,
Such a busy Christmas season this year! I've been a real crafting workhorse (a crafthorse?) lately. Hmmm...I think I like that - crafthorse. I'm going to call myself that from now on. But that's not why I'm writing today. Check out the freakin' cute owl ornaments I made with another tutorial from juicybits!!!

I made this little guy first. Cute!

I made him a little guy friend next and then my 25 year old daughter got caught up in the frenzy and made a girl owl! See how the boys are both looking over at the girl and she's peeking back?

Whooooo do you think she'll choose?

My daughter gave the girl owl and the purple boy owl to her new boyfriend's parents for Xmas, so I guess owl girl chose purple!

It should have stopped there, but me being a crafthorse and all, I had to keep going! I made a boy and girl owl to represent my husband and I.

And hung them right up on the tree. Awwwww! It's love.

Edited to say: I later made an owl softie with the same pattern! Worked great.

In other news, on Gigi's party day Sunday we took the kids out to the Nature and Science Center. Absolutely gorgeous weather here in Austin, 68 degrees and sunny. Hot in the sun, cold in the shade. Gigi loves leaves.

I call this photo "the essence of boyhood". Playing so hard he stepped in the water and got his socks and shoes wet. Took them off and found special rocks to line up and sort through. Very busy. Very boy.

And Gigi loved her party! Rare to catch her smiling, notice it wasn't when she could see me taking the photo.

Hope your holidays are filled with joy and love and crafthorsiness. (Look, I just made up another word! You can use it - go ahead!)

Happy Blogaversary to Me! Giveaway Winners

Time to announce the winners! The random number generator picked #1! Who says #1 never wins?
Jenny said...
What a fun giveaway! Thanks for the chance...Id love to see something in plush my daughter would draw!!!

Congrats Jenny, have your daughter draw something and email it to me right away!

I had such a nice time reading all of your wonderful, sweet comments, especially Kathie who really touched me when she said her favorite post was the Gigi waffle post. That's my favorite too! That really was super super sweet. I was so touched I decided to give away the fabric as well. The second winner is SewCalGal!

SewCalGal said...
Congratulations on your blogging Anniversary. You really do have a creative blog that I enjoy reading.Your give-away idea is certainly fun. And very nice of you to do. I'm sure whomever wins will enjoy your prizes. I know I would.As I love to make charity quilts for kids, I'd be happy to win any fabric that would help to make such quilts. And, as I'm working on a couple of different fundraisers, I think one of your cute handmade toys would also be great in a gift basket. So, I am very flexible - if I win, you decide.Keep quilting, sewing & blogging!

Congrats winners! I wish I could give everyone a prize, I really do. I heart you all!


It's my 97th post and also my first blogaversary! It was on August 22 of last year that I posted Gigi's Heart of My Heart quilt as my very first post. It took a while to get readers, but now I've got a few (that's you)!

Of course I have to have a giveaway to celebrate! Here's the catch: the only ones eligible to win will be those of you who have commented at least once on my blog in the last year. If this is your first time here, have fun looking around and come back next time I have a giveaway! This one is exclusively to thank my loyal blog commenters/readers.

Since this giveaway is for a small group of people, I'm making the prize personal as well. Whomever wins, I will let you pick your prize!

Choice #1: A medium amount of regular quilt store fabric from my stash in your choice of color way/theme (sorry, I just can't part with my premium designer stash!). I have tons of kitties and doggies, Asian, novelty, repros, flannel, etc. All from an actual quilt store, not bargain basement.

Choice #2: A stuffed toy I will make just for you. Check out the stuffed toys i've blogged to see examples. Heck, i'll even make your toy from your own personal sketch and put your name on the back too! Such a deal, I tell ya!

So ok, start yer commenting now loyal commenters! I'll draw a winner Monday night after 7pm.

I Finally Dropped the Toys for Strangers!

Here are the two little chickies I made for the toy society toys for strangers project! I'm finishing stuff like crazy and crossing things off my list. Yay! I bagged them up according to the directions and took Wolf out to drop them. I'm trying to teach him a lesson in giving by having him give toys to strangers on his birthday.


I let him choose the locations. He first chose a low-income apartment house complex and we tied it to a fence. Some ladies across the street were watching us and when we left I saw one of them head over there! Next he really wanted to put one at his old preschool, so we did, though we were watched by a gaggle of kids in the front window. As we got in the car the owner came out with about seven kids and was reading it. I yelled, "it's safe!" and she seemed relieved. I didn't hang around to see how she'd split one toy among them all!

Yay for paying it forward!

Going Batty

Okay, I'll admit, I've gone a little batty lately making toys, but I really like it! My 24 yo daughter Heather asked me to make this bat for her.


See, here is her sketch of what she wanted me to make.


....And here is what I made! Pretty close! I think it was drawn as a bat ninja, hence the sash tie on the right and the crosswise thing (a bow case strap?). I was going to add the cross strip in felt, but it interfered with the bat signal detail at the waist.


He's coming to get ya! The only thing I would improve is the stumpy wings. She had them drawn stumpy and I am running out of felt, so I only could make stumpy, but I feel like the body needs bigger wings to balance it out. Next time.


The end.

Enjoy! Wendy

A Monster in My Closet (Plus a note about the Monster in My Closet quilt pattern)

Who's that peeking out of my son's closet door???


AAAAAAAGHH! It's a monster! A monster in the closet. I had such fun making the birdies that I decided to just cut out what I thought a monster would look like without a pattern and see if it was a disaster. I gave him some scary teeth and a belt buckle (?). I have to say, I'm very pleased!


My son is also very pleased! I told him that it was a monster whose job it was to scare away bad dreams, but he would only go to work for the person whose name was written on his back. My son said "but that's my name!" I also love the tail and the blockiness of the letters.

Edited to say - If you're looking for the quilt pattern for the "monster in my closet quilt", I noticed a lot of people were finding this post while searching for that pattern, so I scanned in my copy I'd saved from years ago and will send it to you. Just click on my profile to get my email. I'm glad to help!
Edited to say - It's 2016 and i'm still getting requests for this pattern : ) It's still available btw.

I Made Toys!

Look at me! I'm a toymaker! I didn't know I had it in me. You know, the inspiration from all of you out in the blogging world is really opening me up creatively. I was only a quilter until I started reading blogs and now i've made pot holders and toys too. I'm slowly branching out.

I promised twohippos that since she paid it forward to me with the beautiful apron, I would pay it forward to others by making toys and leaving them for strangers. I chose an easy toy to make from this great tutorial. I love the blog I found it on, mollychicken. I liked that it had some felt and some fabric, plus the interactivity of the baby in the egg in the pouch.

I'm pretty proud of it! It's so cute! Here is the baby out of the pouch...

And here is the baby out of the egg. Well, I loved this little birdy, but she looked pretty lonely sitting there in her tree...

So I made her some family members! I enlarged the pattern and made bigger ones. That's daddy in the blue on the left with Junior in the front carrier, and that's mommy in the middle. I'm going to enlarge the pattern even more and make one medium teddy bear size! I can't seem to stop making these!

The End(s).

Free Toys for Strangers

I just found this blog for The Toy Society! Anyone can join. You just make a stuffed toy and leave it outside somewhere for a stranger to find. You also include a note to email the site when it is adopted. I think that is a really sweet piece of public art and I want to join, but I've never made a toy before.

I will try to make something though. I've thought about it some and I think i'd like to make this chick, it seems easy enough (famous last words, right?). I'd like to make this mousie or this scotty dog, but they seem to be patterns for people who know what the heck they're doing! So yeah, not so much.

I just think joining this effort would be a good lesson in giving for my five year old. What do you think? Will you join?