thank you

Thank you to "dualie" at Etsy for your purchase!

just when i thought nothing was happening

___Yippee! I traveled to Notre Dame and got adopted!

Well, I had just about decided to put robot and monster making aside for a while because it was seeming like a chore instead of fun, when someone who saw my very first monster came up to me out of the blue and said she would like to order a monster toy from me, to to be a baptism gift for a boy who is being baptised at Notre Dame. ...so yippee! Hopefully I'll make one more that will be red with lime green polka dots, then my friend can pick one of three that are done. I love it when my creations get to travel!
It sure is nice to get a little feedback in person, and it keeps the creative energy going. Thank you.

my freaky robot disaster

I have been trying my hand at something new for me, which is trying to make some dolls, and I think I'm going to bag it, and go back to what I like better. In an attempt to get ready for some fall and Christmas time street/craft fairs, and in response to some positive feedback about my tiny felt microbots I made recently, my sister and I deciced to make some monster and robot toys. Her former employer was a preschool, and she thinks we could display some prototypes for sale there to get some feedback from kids and parents. She and my mom are successful dollmakers. I, on the other hand, have never been motivated to give dollmaking a try before now.

Thanks to a patient mom and a creative childhood, I do know how to sew pretty well, and I've done some pretty complicated projects in the past ( ...a wedding dress for a family friend when I was fairly young...and a bogus, silly family crest flag complete with two beavers and a great big heart made to fly over our old hippy bus camper...to name a few), but I have never made a real kid-friendly, washable, loveable toy. I rarely sew at all any more. It seems cheaper and faster to just hit the thrift store for what we need.

Well, I have two monsters and one robot done, and I've got to say, I'm just not feelin' the love for this project. The first monster was the best, the second one was a little overworked which is true to how I operate, and the third is a robot which turned out to be so freaky looking in a bad way that she would probably frighten any young kid who saw her. So now it's about ten days later, and I'm putting all that on the back burner for a time, while I decide what to work on next. I know this is my first attempt. Somehow I always expect perfection on the first try, and then reality is something else altogether.

I could fill a room with supplies for projects that go just about like this....

the strongest storm ever

Wow, central Phoenix got hit by the strongest storm I've ever been in a few days after my last post. We had winds up to 100mph at times, combined with thousands of lightening strikes, rain and hail. Thankfully, our home and immediate neighborhood came through OK, with only minor damage to the roof being our issue. We lost some clay tiles and one of those whirly vent things, and my husband spent the next day getting loads of pine needles and debris off the roof. Others nearby lost power for about 48 hours, and so many big old trees snapped. I'm sorry for that, and for the damages some have suffered. I've lived here for more than 45 years and I've never been through one like that. It was actually scary to go through, and it was weird trying to tell the kids "It's OK, we are lucky to be inside a safe, strong house," while in my own head I felt like, "whoa, this is a bad one, and I'm not going to stand next to this big glass window in case it blows out." A mile away, my folk's neighbors pulled together, sharing a generator for power, pot-lucking it for a front yard BBQ to cook up all that defrosted food, the ones with gas stoves cooked for those with electric only, and they helped each other with repairs to damaged property. Police and city workers were great. It made me feel proud of my community, my family, and my city to see how everyone responded. We were safe. We had a warm, dry house with power. We had food and services. We are so-o-o-o lucky. More than ever, I'll do what I can to help victims of adverse circumstances elsewhere, even if the way I am able to help seems small.