Cling-ons

These are the window clings I made at my mom’s request.


These window clings were made by the older boy. The younger boy has never gotten into arts and crafts, so I don’t have any to show from him.



My favourite one is the Tooth Fairy, which we call the "Pants Fairy" because as the spouse pointed out, the little tooth looks like a pair of pants.

He made this almost 3 years ago, and says it’s life-sized. His grade 1 teacher explained that the Tooth Fairy needs the teeth to build models of dinosaur bones, such as the ones you see in galleries. Because someone with such authority said it, he believed it whole-heartedly, and we always swap his baby teeth with coins. To make it more convincing, we use coins from abroad (that broad being my sister in the UK). Sometimes he keeps them, but more often he exchanges them for Canadian money.

Tea For One

The knitting of the niece's tea set begins...

I apologize for the distracting junk in the background. This is where I do my sewing.

These are the pieces being blocked. I include this picture for the benefit of my sister, as the set will be squashed flat when it is shipped. To re-shape the pieces, place them over cans and spritz all over with water (and starch if you like). Let dry completely and they should hold their shapes.


This is for my nephew, so that he doesn't feel left out of his sister's tea parties.


More artsy stuff. My mom asked me to make a window cling for her, from an old drawing I did of my oldest when he was a toddler. My parents kept low-tech toys for the kids - toilet paper rolls, plastic cups. The boy is holding one of each. The funny thing is, anyone who knows my folks and sees the drawing can identify the objects right away.

I also managed to meet the deadline for the next "Tales from the Front Lines" cartoon feature I do regularly for the Ontario Library Association's Access magazine. If you have a membership, you'll be able to see it online at their website.

More swap stuff.




And of course, not every project is destined to be. This was supposed to be a fortune cookie purse, based on a wristlet pattern I bought. Problem is, it only looks like a fortune cookie if it's stuffed with something squishy. Otherwise, it takes on the shape of whatever is in it, which in my case is unfortunately rectangular (i.e. wallet, cell phone). Even with squishy stuff, it's more spherical than cookie-like. I hated making this - too much hand-sewing required. In the end, I took it apart to re-use the zipper and trashed the rest.


The kids again, in their pyjamas (long underwear, really). They stopped playing with their wooden Thomas-the-Tank-Engine train set years ago, declaring that it was for babies, but after seeing one at a store, they asked me to pull it out again. I was storing it for grandchildren, but I'm glad the kids are making use of it. They still think Thomas is for babies, but they like assembling the track.


My dad is okay. What a relief. He had some outpatient surgery done, and is on the mend. We saw him yesterday and he looked well, although judging by the medication he's taking, he must be in a lot of pain.

Anyway, I expect my knitting and sewing to slow down once aikido lessons go back to the regular schedule next week. I was able to do more stuff this month because they cut back to only 2 classes a week in August. It was a nice break, but I miss aikido!

More Sewing

Just aikido and sewing. I haven't been knitting or reading lately. Don't even ask about yard work or cleaning!

The felt cakes for my niece are multiplying.


I'm also making sushi toys for my nephew. Here is a hand roll, and a keychain version for his mother.


More swap stuff: a fortune cookie pin cushion.


And the boys - always the boys...


My dad goes to the hospital tomorrow. My cousin saw him this week and thought he looked gravely ill. More news later.

Food

I started making my niece's toy set in earnest. Here is what I made this evening. The cake is tall because it covers a large CD spindle. After I sew the other cakes and knit the tea set, they'll be stored inside the spindle for shipping.


This is another tote for a craft swap. I also made a matching zippered bag which is not pictured.

The lining is plain gingham, but the outer fabric has a restaurant menu theme.


In family news, my father is quite sick. He's seeing a specialist tomorrow, and will likely be scheduled for surgery soon.

Baby Photo

Presenting the new niece, with her big brother.


Here is the older boy with more Lego creations.


Aikido goodness - we ordered name patches for our dogis! In other aikido news, it was senpai RG's birthday, so we took him out for dinner (forgot to take pictures though). :-(


I did some sewing this weekend. My cousins asked me to make two these Kool-Aid Jammers bags for them.


Here is some stuff I made for various craft swaps.



Not made by me, but this is a sweater my mom made long ago for my youngest child. He was too big for it (plus it's a bit too "girly" for a boy), so it was never worn. I've mailed it to my sister for the new baby. The buttons are little watermelon slices!

Cute Book

I'm going to start making things for the new niece. I plan to knit this tea set, and I'll also sew some pastries to go along with it from this Japanese pattern book I picked up.

Purse Experiment

But first, my oldest boy and his latest freeform Lego invention, an elephant.

I had to include that picture. I love the ears and tusks!

I'd been seeing book purses on various craft sites, and thought I'd try making one. I used an old hardback book with an interesting cover, and a belt I never used which came with a skirt I bought.
Here's the front and back of the finished product.




It's not very roomy, nor very secure. You can see that the closure is only a D-ring, and the few contents you could cram in would be totally exposed.

So I'm done with making this style of purse. It was an okay experiment though.



Oh, here comes the boy with another creation...

Pillows

I decided to recycle some of my old clothes, so I made this "Ugly-doll" style pillow from an old sweater and shirt.




Of course, it was claimed by one of the kids right away, so I had to quickly make another for the other child. This one is made of orange polartec and the spouse's worn pyjamas.


I did manage to make a pillow for myself from a threadbare towel and quilted jacket - a rice cooker! I immediately claimed this one as mine when one of the kids asked if he could have it. I had to say it was mine so that I wouldn't have to make another rice cooker in a hurry for the other boy.

Yes, that's a little label on the side. It says, "Handmade by Eva". I bought some labels thinking that I'd make pillows for Christmas gifts (the labels are a nice touch, I think), but it seems that everything I make gets claimed right away by the children. I guess I'll have to do all my sewing secretly, if that's possible, given how loud the sewing machine is.

Guess What This Is?

Though it looks like a stack of woolly plates, it's actually a spiral scarf made of super bulky yarn.


The pattern is from the book Scarf Style, which I got at the library. I modified it to suit this yarn. It's quite thick, as you can see.

The modifications are:
Set-up row: Change "k10" to k5, and change "p11" to p6.
Row 1: Change "k8" to k4.
Row 2: Change "k6" to k3.
Row 3: Change "k4" to k2.
Row 4: Change "k4" to k2. Delete the "k1" in the square brackets.

My sister named the baby. Her name is Jasmine Evelyn. She says she and her husband have always liked the name, long before that Disney movie.

For my last weekend of vacation, we took the kids to see the Feathered Dinosaur exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum. Whenever we go to a local tourist attraction, I feel lucky to live here. As a kid, my family used to drive 4 hours to this city a few times each year to go to the zoo, the Ex (a.k.a. Canadian National Exhibition), the science centre, the art gallery, the amusement park, and the museum. For our boys, it's only a 20 minute drive or an hour-long subway ride and best of all, we can sleep in our own beds that night.

Back to work tomorrow - ugh!