The heavy lifting is done and I’m at the perfecting stage. Making lots of tiny adjustments, in the zone. This is the fun part, the woodshedding.

Captain Charmley has been through some changes since his first appearance here. The original soldier dolls sprang out of  this experiment and were much smaller. I do want him to be a companion to the elegant rag doll so his size and proportions were all re-worked. This is also known as pretty much starting over.

Through all his iterations I’ve waffled on a couple details. Expressive feet and sideburns mainly. It comes down to a balance between effort, complication and effect. Is a tiny detail worth adding steps to the pattern. I’ve decided that the sideburns and expressive feet are definitely worth it.

The other big hurdle is his lined jacket. The mechanics have been worked out and I’m super happy with the process. You’re gonna love it. PS – the fabric was a gift from artist indira johnosn  and marketplaceindia – i love it.

The Captain Charmley pattern will be available later this year. Stay tuned.

stitchbook progress

15 minutes a day is magic. One of the big lessons of this process for me is not getting too attached to previous work, not falling in love to early. Composition is king.
I post each day on instagram and here. I’ve included a 5 day page cycle below.

Are you stitching with me? Checkout out lots of reader stitchbook pages here.

PS – Happy almost daylight savings time! I sure do love March.

PPS – I usually stitch features on dolls after I sew and stuff them – how about you – before or after? Let us know in the comments.

All of a sudden there’s a real notecard department. It’s taken about 2 years of research, experiments and failures (so much failure) to put together this little collection of 11 notecards. The imagery is from the daily paintings. They’re printed on super deluxe, thick cotton paper. Totally frameworthy.

The cards a re 4.25 by 5.5 and are packaged with a heavy weight craft or natural white envelope. And you get a discount on multiple cards – 20% of 5 or more with code – artcard21

My first (and only card) last year was square. It features an interspecies friendship and I love it but it turns out square cards need extra postage. Such a pain. So lesson learned, the square card is being retired and you can get it a an awesome closeout price.

The response to the new cards has been outstanding and I’d love to add more stationary items next year with daily paintings imagery.  And maybe fabric.  After the holiday busyness I’m going to explore some hand printing methods and maybe try making some repeat patterns.

There is so much involved in choosing paper and learning about printing. I found a ton of help here.  And the paper saga continues. Did you know there is a global  paper shortage?  I bought all I could find and hopefully it will get me to next year when stuff will be available again.

find all the notecards here

Are you a snail mailer? Is there a design from the daily paintings you’d love to see on a card?  Let me know in the comments.

There is a little room at each end of the new place. The back room was the first project, a place for painting and drawing mostly. The room at the other end, the front of the building, is for sewing and shipping orders. It’s currently about half way painted and somewhat furnished…

That’s the elephant part. The saying goes:

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

I’ve been getting things done here a little bit at a time.  The pace is slow but steady and completing each little task builds momentum and helps me feel less overwhelmed by all there is to do. I’d love to show you what I’ve got so far in the sewing/shipping room, I’m super pleased with it and putting it together has been generating lots of new ideas.

Remember the pink painting table from the old place? That’s a sewing machine table now. A bunch of little projects are hanging on the wall above it. Hanging the fish and chickens and cats etc inspired idea’s for more sweet and simple shapes to sew. Groups of things you could hang together or make garlands with. I love the idea of odd, sort of random groupings and maybe others with a story to tell. I’m working on some now and I’ll share the patterns soon. It’s easy to hang them, Just a stitch of embroidery thread across the back and a little nail or tack in the wall. So many possibilities. The wall makes me happy.

You might also recall the damaged cedar chest that was repurposed as a container garden. I got it for pretty much free at a flea market.  The top has made an excellent chalkboard.

You can’t have too many chalkboards. The paint is just flat black craft paint and so far so good. If it doesn’t hold up I’ll spring for real chalkboard paint.

There is more to come, shelves and some sort of super cozy daybed situation for sewing and visiting dignitaries but the essentials are in place and I’m looking forward to lots of hours in this sunny little room making stuff. There are one million ideas percolating at the moment. All sorts of patterns and maybe some mushrooms and other little things for gifts and maybe the shop this holiday season.

Have you started sewing holiday stuff? I’m determined to be done before December.

onward,

ann

PS Did you know October 15th is international Mushroom Day? It’s a real thing, I had no idea.

PPS – It is officially soup season and this is a great one. I consider it my civic duty to remind you of it each autumn.  Have you got a favorite fall soup? I’m always on the look out.

Besides being customarily fired up by spring I’m getting ready to move again this summer. It’s a tiny move – upstairs in the same building but still – all the packing of all the things… Again. On the up side it’s going to be the sunniest and biggest place I’ve ever lived in and I’m pretty excited about that. My plants are too. And I get to keep the tiny garden.

Last year was my rookie garden year. I got a late start (after moving in mid June) and weeks in a hurricane dropped a huge tree on it. Many lessons were learned though and I’m excited about getting the full season this year. I find growing anything super exciting. Both of these little projects are in my plans:

1. Herb markers – a super sweet and simple idea from the always inspring august wren.

2. Make a harvest/ foraging apron – find a diy here and another here. I have to make it. It’s illegal to have a garden in Connecticut without one.

And of course new, upstairs me will be extremely tidy and perfectly organized at all times. I’ve got a couple projects planned in the cleaning and organizing department that involve using stuff I already have:

3. Cleaning cloths – I’m using a towel I’ve been hauling around for decades and an old sweatshirt combined with cotton and linen scraps. Find a sewing tutorial here.

4. I love this scrap rug idea but I’m not feeling rug size ambition about it. I feel more trivet size ambition about it. It would also make an awesome bag. Again though I think I’ll test drive it at a trivet or place mat size. Find the diy here.

5. You know I love a good smell. These sachets are simple and easy and I love the aesthetic choices made here. The free chicken sewing pattern would also make a great sachet. I’m going to grow some lemon verbena and dry it for filling them. Lemon verbena sachets will be great in upstairs me’s perfectly organized closet.

PS – bonus idea :
I don’t know why this reusable coffee filter idea has never occurred to me before, especially in coffee filter emergencies. So easy.

What spring ideas and projects are you fired up about? Have you got a favorite spring soup?

Let us know  in the comments please.