(re)Purposely Playful

After eight years (and much nudging from my mother), I'm finally releasing my patterns + instructions for d.i.y. repurposed sweater-sleeve stuffed animals to the public!  So if you're keen to get your upcycle on, or work through your scrap-fabric stash, I'm pleased to introduce:

The (re)Purposely Playful—Woodland Pals collection

The seven page downloadable PDF includes a materials list, instructions, and the pattern pieces you need in order to create your own adult, and baby sized stuffed friends in three animal versions: Faryl Fox, Rikki Raccoon, and Willie Wolf.

*Note: You are purchasing a downloadable PDF pattern only.  Adobe Reader is required to view, and print this pattern from your home computer.

Don't forget!  Grab your free knitting-crib-sheet, below, so your (re)Purposely Playful Woodland Pals are the best accessorized critters in the forest...

Click to embiggen, right click & save image as!

Take heed: The critters, and accessories created through the (re)Purposely Playful collection are keepsake toys, and intended for supervised playtime, or for youngsters who are not tempted to chew off, or swallow buttons and other small pieces.  Please use your judgement when making (and especially gifting) your Woodland Pals toys.  Thank you!

xoxo

Let's Learn Something Today!

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.

- Mark Twain

The rain has been pouring non-stop all night, and it sounds magnificent!  I love a good rainy day, not a misty-can't-make-up-my-mind-if-it's-actually-gonna-rain type of day, but a true rainy day -- the kind with the drops big enough to soak you with just a couple of their friends.  The rain has brought with it the beginning of another school season for many little children this week, and with that I thought I'd play teacher for a minute, and lay out some instructions for a little project that results in flirty, fluttery, and fabulous flowers (too much?).  Apparently I'll be teaching a side lesson on alliteration, and the abuse of it too!

Ok, so here's where we're going with this.  Once they're finished you can decide to make them into
hair pins, lapel pins, gift decorations, whatever!  You can sew buttons, beads, or a series of french knots in the centers for little spots of pollen, or think of something wild I haven't come up with, there's really no messing these up -- and even if you think you have, just start over!  They're so easy, and quick to make you won't even care.

So, where do we begin?  What you need is a good (cheap) synthetic fabric.  Synthetics melt, and curl when heat is applied, and that's what you're after for this project.  I used some organza scraps I've been lugging around for ages that I really dislike sewing with.  It ravels, and slips under my sewing machine's presser foot, and wrinkles like nobody's business, so while this isn't the first time I've considered burning it, at least this time I could burn it AND make something out of it at the same time! 

I Rock Rough and Stuff with My Suffolk Puffs

We can thank Lady of Rage and her obscure early 90s song Afro Puffs for my title today, oh and a little place called Suffolk, and its patchwork technique used by its peasants a long, long time ago ... and this is pretty much where the history lesson ends.

There are some theories as to how the name came about ... I'm thinking, where's the secret? They're puffy, and apparently popular in Suffolk (once upon a time) enough for them to absorb the name. They made a come back in the 1930s and 1940s thanks to a little something we call a depression, and the convenience of these stylish little puffs being created out of rather small pieces, and scraps of fabric. We may be seeing them make another come back if the economy keeps it up (Dow up a hundred points? Heh, we'll see). Ok, enough mini-rant. Anyway, somewhere along the way they picked up the name Yo-yo ... which I found confusing the first time I heard it, I guess I'm too literal. I mean, sure they're round like the two outside pieces of a yo-yo, but lots of things are round, and there's no middle thingy, and where's the string?

As you can see I only got so far with my research on the origins of Suffolk Puffs. Really, I should be satisfied, but I somehow want more. But that's not important, what is important is the fact that I need about 974 more puffs for the future quilt I plan to make (at the rate I'm going, I may have that done by the time I'm 60. Perhaps that's a slight exaggeration, ok, I'll only be 59 by the time I'm finished). I'm kind of excited about this undertaking, even though I'm approaching it with the vigor of a garden slug, I like the idea of taking something traditional but doing it in unexpected materials, or more lively colors to get a different result. I hate to say it, but I find a lot of crafts, or projects extremely doubty, and tired looking, and completely uninspired. So that's why I've decided to rock some Suffolk Puffs ... my way!

She's Here, She's Here, She's Finally Here!!!

Spring that is. I just hope she's really ready to come out and play, and give poor PMSing March a break. Her nerves must be shot by now, with what her mood swings have been doing to my internal clock, surely my little bi-polar bear of a month needs a rest! Snowing one minute, 50* the next, a Pacific Northwest version of a monsoon the moment after that ... girl, I need a break, and frankly you do too.

So here's the deal. I'll stop talking about you behind your back, if you just promise to tone it down a little with the weather. I'm not asking you to move mountains here, just pick a season already. Truce?

I'm sorry, I don't have an olive branch, will these do?

Heather Bailey™ Bitty Booties™ Pattern: Here

*Edit: I don't exactly know which part of the truce thunder, hail, and sunshine is, but I do admire your sense of humor.