Crafty book review

I’ve bought a couple of new books lately and borrowed some from the library so I thought I would do a review of them. Some of them are so great, absolute must buys and only 1 is a stinker. The two I bought are:

- Sew Soft Toys by Karin Neuschutz. The Spring 09 Issue of Living Crafts magazine had a bunny pattern from this book and I liked it so much I bought the book. It’s a great book, the patterns are full size so you can just print them straight off, although they suggest reducing them to 60% if you want to make families of animals. I’ve also made the pig and piglet and an elephant (photo to come), all of which have been easy to make and look very cute. For a toymaker or a mother who likes to make her kids toys I’d recommend this. I will be making many of the toys for years to come.

- Feltcraft by Petra Berger. This book was first published about 15+ years ago and is still going strong. Very Waldorfy, lots of variety of small childrens toys to make. It helps if you have access to those small wooden doll shapes and wood and wire doll frames but there is still plenty to make if not. A few of the stuffed animals have weird designs or I found to be difficult (the seagull is just bizarre) but I still like the book enough that I am glad I bought it.

The books I borrowed:

- Sewing Green by Betz White. A must buy. I love this and really there is not a project in here that I would not make. I knew I might want to buy it as soon as I saw the leaf scarf on the cover though so I was warned before I borrowed it! A wide variety of projects from totes, slippers (made out of felted sweaters), aprons, pillowcase dresses etc. A fun sewing book. It has a section of websites and techniques and lots of eco friendly tips throughout. This book is very usable and would be a great addition to your craft library. If you only buy one craft book this year it should be this. You can buy Sewing Green and her other book Warm Fuzzies on Amazon or at Betz’s etsy store. I love the blogger as author thing, it feels so much more ‘real’. Her blog with tutorials galore is here.

- Eco-craft by Susan Wasinger. This book was a dud for me. I think it would be great to find ideas for occupying a kid during the school holidays but for an adult I felt that a lot of the projects were either amateur (paper mache bowls? I haven’t done that since I was 10! There’s plenty of nice bowls at the thrift store for very little money.) or might be good if they came out just right like the baby food jar chandelier but most likely would look cheap and nasty if they didn’t. The two ideas I did like and found ‘doable’ – LED touch light ion a bowl covered with glass pebbles and seed balls – I didn’t think particularly crafty, especially the touch light bowls. Borrow, don’t buy. Just my opinion! (I would be interested in hearing if anyone has this book and liked it)

- Sweater Surgery by Stefanie Girard. I wish I could find some decently priced wool sweaters to chop up. This book is great for inspiration. It has a lot of variety – heaps of bag styles, sweater redo’s, a cool magazine file cozy, a beer sweater, a turtle floor cushion made of hexagons that I think would be perfect for a cat bed and some cute toys. It’s light on instructions but there are patterns at the back for the toys etc and anyone with some brains and a bit of sewing ability would be fine. And it has a hard cover with spiral bound pages so it lies flat which is always nice. I really enjoyed this book and would buy it if I had spare money that wasn’t going to be missed but most likely I’ll just borrow it occasionally for inspiration. Stefanie has a great blog here with heaps of craft links.

**please remember these are just my opinions and if you don’t agree with my reviews be nice to me!! I’m shamelessly fickle and these are all just first opinions.

Piggles

I tried to call my brother at work last week but his boss said he wasn’t there. He’s off to Rarotonga next month for a winter getaway with his girlfriend (can you die of jealousy?) so he wouldn’t be on leave and he is never off sick so I was stumped. I found out yesterday he’s been home with swine flu. Oh my. For someone who never gets a little cold or flu the boy does get the big stuff. You get the runs, he gets giardia; you get the flu, he gets swine flu; you get a cough, he gets pnuemonia. Sheesh, what a drama queen that boy is. He’s fine, just a mild dose and I doubt he even stayed home in quarantine – when you work 10 hours days and suddenly have a paid week off would you? Plus everyone he knows probably has it so he can hang out with them!

Anyway I thought it was quite ironic that while he’s been all ’swiney’ I have spent the past few days working on these:

Piggles and her piglet Wilbur. Piggles because that’s what we call Rastus (Ginga is Giggles) and Wilbur because I just thrifted a copy of Charlotte’s Web and cannot wait to read it again after so many years – such a childhood classic. I am thrilled with the little piglet but the pig was a first try for sure, she keeps collapsing on her legs so I have to make a new one. Piggles can go stand collapse on the ‘first try shelf’ with the other ‘almosts’. They are from Sew Soft Toys by Karin Neuschutz which I bought from Winterwood. SUCH great service! When I sent an email asking how much it would be including postage Sandra emailed me saying a place here in NZ carries it and it might be cheaper for me to buy it from them instead! How’s that for nice? For service like that I’m prepared to pay a bit more!

The other Rastus

I’ve been thinking a lot about our Rastus lately as he struggles to come to terms with Ginga’s return and the other local cats and it reminded me of his namesake who I thought I would tell you about. Kiwis will know of him and his owner Max Corkill and some Canadians may too as they started out over there.

Rastus was a motorcycle riding cat. The name Rastus is traditionally a black cats name and Rastus was a silky jet black cat, sleek and perfectly shaped for riding on the fuel tank of Max’s motorcycle. He wore a little black motorcycle helmet, made especially for him, and at Christmas Max would dress at Santa Claus and Rastus would don a helmet with red antlers. They had a joint cheque account (Rastus signed with his paw) and he was fond of a drink of tea (milk, no sugar) in a cup and was not pleased when you took the cup away. They rode around the country fundraising for charities. After a while Max met a woman, Gaynor Martin, who joined them on the bike as they did good deeds and spread a smile at the same time.

Sadly, as is often the way with these stories, it didn’t end well. In early 1998 their motorcycle was hit by a car and all three died instantly. Max and Rastus shared the same coffin and were cremated together. Even last night 11 years after their deaths the thought of that wonderful little black cat perched on the motorbike brought a smile and a tear or two to my eyes.

Bridled freedom

More than 2 months after my grandmother paid for it I finally finished the hobby horse she bought. It was becoming a real pain in my backside but because the little girl it’s for is having her birthday in a couple of weeks I had to sit down and ignore everything else until it was finished. So after I vacuumed, mopped, did the laundry…and the dishes, tided the house and generally dicked around for as long as possible I finished the horse including a bridle as per my grandma’s request. I had never made one before and the horse design didn’t really suit one so it’s a little wierd but it’s for a 2 yr old so I think the fact that it is pink will be the only real issue for her.

And now it has ridden out of my life I am free at last to make things I am not sick and tired of seeing for 2 straight months. Always a Very Good Thing. And just in case my WIP was in danger of getting smaller my swap from bookwormbethie arrived today with goodness destined to become a softie and a cat bed. So while I love what she sent it seems I have crossed one WIP off my list only to be replaced with TWO. Oi.

Improving

Thanks for the colour advice for the tablecloth. I’m thinking blue, green, yellow and white/cream. The pink is quite bright deep which is a tricky tricky colour to work with. But we all need a challenge sometimes.

I am so so happy to write this bit: Rastus is improving at long last. The last couple of weeks have felt like months and he seemed to be getting skinnier by the day, more aggressive – unbelievably so and staying away alot. He clobbered my face twice leaving me with wounds and a fair few tears. We googled everything we could think of and wished it was payweek so we could get him to the vet but all google told me was that he’s possibly pregnant. Thanks. We wormed them both because Ginga had worms and a big potbelly but we don’t know if Ras had them cos his jubbly tummy was vanishing. Can 2 cats in the same house have different worms at the same time? I wouldn’t have thought so but maybe because we gave him a follow up pill 10 days later and it was instant. Rastus was back, he’s 95% normal again. No face clobbering, no lunging, no hissing and only a tiny bit of growling at the front door and Ginga. I’m on tenterhooks in case he snaps again but so far he’s been nothing but affectionate, smoochy and adorable.

PS. ignore the ugly foam he’s sleeping on, we got it to make a chair cushion and Rastus found it and claimed it. We are of course too soft to take it away and replace it with something fit to be seen in public.

She who waits

This was in a thrift store for 11 months! Why? Because they wanted $25 for it! But I waited and waited (and waited) and they finally dropped the price to $5 so of course I nabbed it. I am going to try stitching it. I don’t even have a dining table to use it on but since I reckon it’ll take many many years at my snails space that’s okay. But I’m not sure what colours to embroider it in, pink is a tricky background colour for me. Any advice? Maybe the flowers in each corner a different colour?

By the way the buttons go to Amy of Seven Stitches. Amy, my emails to you keep bouncing but I’ll try be in touch asap.

Mostly Marvelous Ms Rabbit

Earlier this month I was the very lucky winner of a sponsor giveaway byAnnie of  Bird and Little Bird on Meg’s blog Sew Liberated. I love her blog, her new baby Finn is the cutest baby called Finn I have ever seen. Admittedly also the only baby called Finn I have ever seen but still. Anyway a large box arrived this morning and under several layers of tissue paper I found a beauty with a shiny pink nose and pretty pretty fabric. Winter sun is patchy at best so the photo doesn’t capture her full sweetness but she is still undeniable cute:

You can buy a ready made Mostly Marvelous Ms Rabbit or a Semi-Fantastic Mr Fox here but possibly the coolest thing is that she even sells Ms Rabbit patterns for you to make your own.

It’s the little things

My hiatus was only little but it was enough to make me a lot happier and I was able to make a few decisions. It’s a slow process but I feel like I am more on track now.

- I finally bought earplugs. Why oh WHY did I wait so long?? Best sleep I have ever had since I met The Man And Cat Who Snore.

- A change of direction. This is the big issue that was bugging me 24/7 for a while. I wanted to make new things, learn something new, change where I was headed. I couldn’t figure out how to start the process and it drove me nuts. I’m not there yet but I am finally heading where I want to head again.

- Part of that process involved closing my etsy shop for a while and finally opening my Felt.co.nz shop here. Because it’s NZ based and the NZ$ is so rubbish right now it means much cheaper prices for overseas customers. I am still slogging through making a hobby horse my grandma paid for ummm 2 months ago but as soon as that $#&@*%! thing is finally done I will be loading the shop with new things. I was actually on the verge of giving up crafting but this new direction has made me feel great.

- We should have an appointment to see a fertility specialist within the next 3 months. I could be pregnant before I turn 31. Ok, public health system so make that 32 but still…the day is drawing nearer.

- Dave’s mother has been given 3-6 months to live. It’s nice to have a more firm time frame on that, since we were so worried she was at deaths door right now.

- The one really upsetting thing for me is Rastus has developed mental problems. He was handling everything so well for so long but it all suddenly got too much for him. A new cat downstairs, Ginga coming back, the neighbours cats picking on him so much. Between our property and the one next door there are 6 cats and something snapped in Rastus’ brain and he’s become….scary. He still has these moments of smoochy loving cuddles but then in the blink of an eye he can chjange and fly at your face. He’s growling and hissing, not just at Ginga but at us too. And the front door. He suddenly hates the front door. I did a little research and it’s all to do with losing territory. Apparently it should die down within a few months to a year but a year of having my beloved cat fly at my face….and I also worry about what having a baby would do to him. So now moving to a new house is the #1 priority to give him and Ginga equal territory with no horrible neighbour cats. Until he is better it means that putting clothes on him has to stop

- It’s not much but I decided to have a teeny tiny weeny little giveaway. I have tried to sell these buttons on Trade Me but I cannot do it. I love them that much. Selling them feels wrong. I bought them for…well I’m too embarrassed to say how much I spent on them but they are some of the most expensive buttons ever made I’m sure. So rather than have them sit there unused forever I thought that somebody might like them. So if you want them leave a comment and I will pick a winner on Tuesday evening  US time.

Hiatus

I’ve decided to take a wee break from blogging, flickring etc. As usual this may turn out to be 3 days or 3 weeks or who knows how long. I can feel the need for change in my life building and building in different ways. I want to make different things, I want to move to a house where my cats are happier, I want to finally get an appointment to see a fertility specialist (2-6 month waiting list and we’re at 3 months so it’s driving me nuts). Dave’s mother is back in hospital and fading fast. Poor Dave acts all tough about his crazy family but I know he’s upset. Luckily his boss said something about a pay bonus recently so we will have just enough money for him to fly down for the funeral.

So it’s time to take a break and work on our life in private. If you should happen to get the urge to support our little family most things in my shop are on sale in preperation for a change of direction and I’ll still be replying to comments. See you soon.

Oh no she didn’t

Oh yes I did. I really did have my mum knit this pattern and I really did make my cat wear a cat hoodie. It’s not like it’s the first time I’ve put stuff on him. I had to take the photos fast (for obvious reasons) so they aren’t the best quality and my favourite photo was on the wrong colour setting. Oh well, it just means I’ll have to try take more photos another day. Poor Rastus, I’ve told him time and time again: if I come at him with stuff in my hands RUN AWAY! He really should listen!

This is where he sat still with this resigned look “fine, just take the damn photo and then give me back my dignity”.

This is where he tried to eat it to get it off.