PQ 17.6 Prep Tart

 It is the last challenge of Project Quilting Season 17.  (Wow that is a big number, since I've been playing since at least season 3.)  Trish went out of her way to let me know that this one was a double dog dare.  Or something like that.  The challenge was Handful.  I had thoughts.  I had lots of thoughts.  

One was to mess with the size of the hand  I really thought about doing that.  Particularly since this had was quilted in and of itself.  (It was a prop Spud 2 rescued from his high school production of Suessical.)  

Then I thought about pushing the size of what a hand could hold.  I mean, seriously, a hand can hold a garbage bag and a really big quilt can fit in a garbage bag.  But, alas, my time is never my own at the end of a PQ season.  It is when activities for my organization pick up.  It is also when my paying job rears its whimsical head and I have to start prepping seriously for shows.  So....  I decided to multi-task. 

I'd been playing around with making more play foods.  I have been playing around with the idea of making more bag charms.  So, I made a Prep Tart.  Ya.... I am old enough.  AND my shirt was almost exactly that color.  Of course I could barely afford one so I certainly didn't pop the collar on more than one.  I wasn't six shirt Sam (why in the world did that man not sweat?  Probably something in the preppy genes or maybe a deep secret buried in the handbook.  I wasn't that fancy.)  

A guy I knew by the name of Fred had an alligator shirt.  I met him before I knew what preppy was.  Before my midwestern soul had ever heard of East Coast Money.  Before I knew what a brand name was.  I mean if it wasn't Sears, Penny's or Simplicity via good ole me....   

Well, anyway Fred had a pink one.  I really liked the alligator.  I didn't think so much about Fred.  I'm quite sure he wasn't too impressed by my middle class midwestern vibe.  But I still liked that shirt.  

A year later, I happened across a blue alligator shirt in my size in some sort of discount store in Texas.  Ya, yer girl gets around.  I think I spent $20 of my own hard earned money on it.  That was a LOT.  I wore the heck out of that shirt.  I wore it even after Preppy became a guidebook and pink and green plaid were the rage.  'Cause a $20 shirt was still a $20 shirt and I still liked that alligator.  

So.... back to the issue at hand.  How in the world is breakfast toaster pastry plushie a quilt?  Well.  The RULZ say that the project has to be made using one or more of three things, patchwork, applique or three layers stitched together.   This clearly has an applique.  It has three layers and it is stitched together.  I was gonna patchwork together some batting pieces for the filling but I really don't like stitching over naked batting.  Let alone batting that has been pieced and has extra threads and edges to catch and ruin my day.  So I left that out.  Although, like Mr Schrodinger's cat, it could be there.  It is both there and not there.  So.... who's to say, really.  

This little guy is just shy of 4" long and about 3 inches wide.  It is made from fleece, fluff and thread.  So, yeah, he fits in my hand.  You may see him in one of my shows soon.  Maybe a pink version.  Most likely some other variations of breakfast toaster pastries.  It is intended to be a bag charm.  That is kind of like a coozie for your bag, right?  

And Trish... hope this is suitably RULZ averse and coozie friendly for you!   

 

 

When Creativity Takes a Detour You Pretty Much Have to Follow It No Matter How Unhappy the Pirate Gets

 

It isn't like I don't have a plan. I do. Actually, I have some very detailed lists of what I need to get done before the next show. HOWEVER.... I needed to make a pirate doll. Because, Pirates. I mean seriously. Who doesn't NEED a pirate doll. Which of course has taken the better part of the last two weeks as my pirate needed clothes and I didn't have any in his size. But then.... Olive... I don't know why I HAD to make the first olive....

But once I did and I shared it with some friends. Well, I had to find a giant martini glass for her to swim in.

And then, well it was an olive in a martini glass, it needed a toothpick. But it was pretty angry about that.

And I shared that with some more friends. And well, I HAD to turn the whole thing in to a plushie pun. So now the olive is holding a heart instead of trying to remove the toothpick.

And so I have three new plushie denizens and the pirate still has a mullet and is getting pretty angry about that. Fortunately, I haven't made his sword yet or we would have real trouble.

And that list of things that I need to get done before the next show.... Well it is a pretty list and is has a few things checked off. It is what it is. And if you are at my next show looking for a monkey or a new fish to add to your collection... well you can blame a bit of a creative detour.

Decisions. Decisions. Decisions.

 

 

Sometimes, one of the hardest things to do is decide which path to follow. I decided to make an olive. It has silly little legs. I laugh every time I think about it because I imagine all of the olives in the Mr's martini bottle of them sprouting little legs and running around all crazy as soon as the fridge light goes out.

I posted a picture of Little Miss Oliveea on Lettuce Craft, a friendly, supportive community I've been a part of for a long time. In the comments section, it occurred to me that I have almost a complete, old school relish tray. I have carrots, pickles and now olives. All I am missing is celery, radish roses and a little glass pitcher of poppy seed dressing. And as is it's wont, my tiny little mind decided I needed to make celery. 

I started sketching. Now to fit into my vision of vegetables running around all crazy in the dark, the celery needs to be kawaii with silly little legs. That is, it is best served as the top sketch from this page in my sketchbook. But oh.... that face on little Mr Celery number two is just so hard to resist.

So now, I have to make a choice, because I don't have a lot of time to make both. Which one do you want to see first?

Of course, I still have no idea how the leaves at the top are going to work but I am sure it will come to me eventually.

 

 

Maker Life: Yetis, Patterns and Pins

 

Sometimes, I'm organized and I manage to keep my patterns in fancy labeled folders, most of my pins are in the pin box (except for the ones that inevitably escape and land under the Mr's foot) and my clips are in their fancy pickle dish. Because, if I don't use my fancy pickle dish for clips, when will it ever see the light of day? Maybe I need to get out a fancy trinket box for the pins so that they want to stay home and stop roaming.

At any rate, no matter how organized I might manage to appear on the internet, that insane fuzzy fabric the Yetis insist on flies EVERYWHERE! It is like sand on a beach. It ends up in places that are unimaginable. So the thing you don't see is the vacuum cleaner sitting next to me that I try to run like one of those fancy bags on a sander. Hey! Someone needs to invent that. Scissors with a fuzz collector.