finally...

I'm back! I've missed you California. First major stop: Joann's. Never thought I would say this but I felt like I died and went to heaven. Nick, the kiddies and I are together again after 4.5 long months. I can't wait to get my crafting juices flowing again and to update my shop. I had to bail out of the hug-able luv-able exhibition this year due to some postal issues but I hope I will be invited to participate next year.

Hope to have some craftiness to share with you guys soon!

xo

a little bag for a little boy

"I love clouds mummy. And I love rain."
"Why do you like the clouds and rain, little C?"
"Because I am English!!"

Made for my all of a sudden grown up, soon to be 4 year old little boy. Who started preschool 5 days a week yesterday. To be hung on his hook at school.
Made of cotton and wool, hand embroidered with split stitches, raindrops filled with polyfill.
He loves it.

love at first sight

I had a nice suprise waiting for me in the garden yesterday.

A 70's vintage Bernina Record 830, on loan from a friend. And it weighs a TON. It is so lovely to work with such a solid machine, very advanced for it's time and so unbelievably quiet and smooth.

I went to a fabric store in London last week and found some small floral quilting cotton for a littlest C's quilt. I want to try and tackle a twin size quilt for her, inspired by the lovely Pip Studio. The biggest quilt I have made is a cot size so wish me luck on this one. I am still undecided on prewashing vs. no prewashing. I usually always prewash but I will include some precut liberty squares that are unwashed..would love to hear what you do.

I visited Liberty as well. What a treat to see and feel those lovely tana lawns. Picked up a large remnant for my stash. I loved the vintage look and the yellow and dark greys together.

English seaside

Hello friends. Thank you all so much for your sweet comments regarding my last post; they meant a lot to me and motivated me to get my creative mojo back too. Now if only my borrowed singer would stop acting up!
It looks like we are likely to stay here until late October for sure, and we will probably know by the beginning of next month whether we are here for good or not for the next few years. Little C will start at a great nursery (preschool) on Friday, he is very excited and best of all it's FREE!!! Considering how hard it is to get him into a decent preschool back home, this is a strong selling point for staying.

We managed to get to the Hampshire coast for a mini break before the end of the summer. Lots of time at the beach and walking along the coastline. This is the first time I have seen the English coast on a beautiful sunny day and the sea was a breathtaking aqua blue.

there is hope for me afterall

I feel as if I have been in creative hibernation; the unproductive kind. It's been so long since I have picked up a pencil, paper and drafted a new pattern. Or since I've sewn anything really. I miss making my bear girls and wonder if I can even sew. Missing all my crafting material back home. Self doubt about my creative abilities. Do you ever feel like this?

When an inspiration or a design idea hits me, my wheels start churning and sometimes I can't even sleep well. I don't usually sketch my ideas first (not a good idea!), I just start cutting out pattern pieces and usually have to tweek it a few times before it looks vaguely acceptable. This is where for me I find plush making to be challenging. Flat pieces or ideas sketched can look so different once stitched and stuffed. Even the way it is stuffed can alter it's appearance quite a bit. Having the discipline to complete each version and give it a decent chance before I bin it takes a lot patience and I find this the most difficult part. Once I feel a pattern is complete the feeling is amazing. I get so excited about making them in the right fabrics, with all the little details that make each piece special.

This has happened to me a few days ago. I have been invited to particpate in an exhibit this year (more on that later) and it forced myself out of this hibernation and I think I'm pretty happy with my new plush sculpture. It is to be called "hunted fox" and she will adorn a little cloak scattered with leaves which will help camouflage and blend her into the forest. It still needs a bit of work, ears to be designed, complete hair embroidery on legs and the cloak needs to be designed and stitched but I'm pretty happy with the way she turned out. I hope you like her too.

done and dusted

I finally finished my first ever mohair teddy bear. Well almost. I'm still waiting for black embroidery floss so I can add claws. I have been really wanting to make for one for some time, and have several pieces of mohair back at home, some even hand dyed but I was always either too busy with the shop or afraid to cut into the expensive fabric. As I do not have any of my sewing/crafting supplies here (even yarn and needles) it's become the perfect craft project for me. I ordered the kit from here and just held my breath as I cut into the beautiful mohair fabric. A friend kindly lent me her mother's old singer and so I used a combination of machine sewing and hand sewing. I realized at the beginning of the project that I did not have a seam ripper and had a mild panic, but managed to finish her without needing it once! Not perfect but pretty good considering. Making her made me wonder just how teddy bear artist can take all the abuse your hands and fingers suffer while making one after another. Even turning the cotter pins in all the joints took quite a bit of effort and my hands were sore for a couple of days. So fun though and I can't wait to draft a new pattern with a more triangular head and slightly longer and thinner muzzle like the old vintage bears of the early 1900s.

I missing home and Nick. And I even miss Joann's! I miss being able to drive for 10 minutes and grabbing a whole load of notions for half off. Craft supplies kind of suck here in Cambridge and I am bit down about that. But thank you for the suggestion of heading down to Shepard's Bush in London for fabric. I have an appointment with Embassy this coming Friday and will spend the morning there. I've done some reading on the area and it sounds really promising.

We have had a really hot heatwave here in the UK a couple of weeks ago and the thunder flies were out in full force, I mean crawling in your ears, face and everything. So glad that's over!

Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday. xo

extended stay

It's been about a month and a half since my last post. How awful. Thank you for your helpful suggestions on flying to the UK with two young children. We managed to survive the flight without any disasters. I went to Cost Plus and loaded up on little toys and got a bunch of coloring books and crayons too. Turned out that we didn't really use much of these on our flight out since the flight was at 5:30pm and once the initial excitement wore off, it was bedtime for them anyway. I have learned a couple of lessons though. First, the car seat decision. We went back and forth on whether we should install a carseat on the plane for our 3.5 yr. old son. I must have read a dozen forums on this topic. We decided to take the carseat for him and since our DD was a lap baby didn't need one, we strapped his car seat onto our carry-on bag and put her in it for getting around in the airport. She loved being in it and she usually hates the stroller. This freed us up considerably and since our car seat is the Radian and it is quite narrow, we would have had no problems getting through the airplane aisle. Once we got to the gate, we were still debating whether to take it on board or not. I have read that most parents don't use a car seat on the plane once their child is 3.5 or over. I didn't see anyone else with a car seat either. So we decided to gate check it. Big mistake. Poor little man was pretty uncomfortable sleeping in his seat. Because there is no crotch strap, he kept slipping down the seat which put his neck in a really awkward position. And since he is not used to sleeping in my arms, he didn't feel comfortable sleeping on me either. We were also in the bulkhead aisle which meant that the arm rests don't go up so he couldn't lie across two seats. If we had to do it again, I would definitely take the car seat on. Our daughter was fine in the infant seat and although she only really slept for 4 hours, she was pretty content to wake up, smile and doze off again.

Double flowering Poppy in our garden

Life has been really wonderful for the last month. Weather in England has been brilliant and it is really really lovely to see both of them enjoy my mother in law's great big garden. I have been sleeping in most mornings and Jenn (my MIL) takes them out quite a bit so Nick (my husband) and I have had a lot of time to ourselves in Cambridge. It's been really lovely. I don't even remember the last time we had a day to ourselves. We also went into London and I went to the Cloth House which I really was looking forward to. I only bought some yardage of dark navy purple gingham because the fabrics there wereon these super long bolts and since I mostly make dolls now I felt a little awkward asking for less than a 1/4 of a metre. But they had the most amazing cotton velveteen I have ever seen. I couldn't believe it was cotton, it was so soft. Only downer of the day was that Nick and I missed the last off peak train out of London and it cost us an additional 29 pounds. That's right, 29 pounds so if you tally up what we paid for the off peak return tickets and the additional 29, it costs us 120 dollars to go into London and back to Cambridge. I was in total shock. Apparently, England's rail system is the most expensive in Europe. I guess I won't be going into London again for a while!

News to share with you is that I'm still here. With the kids but minus Nick. During our absence, we finally managed to sell the house back in the bay area. We decided that it would be best if he went home alone to sort out the house because, well I'm sure most of you know how hard it is to get anything done with two little munchkins. That was a hard decision. We have never been apart for more than a week during the 8 years we have been together. Seeing them so contented and happy here, to take them home where they would be couped up indoors most days while we scramble to get everything packed seemed so unfair. And....one of the things we really started to entertain for the last few weeks is the possibility of us moving to the UK. Life in England is starting to appeal to me. And to him a little. Don't get me wrong, I love living in California and I've been there for 20 years plus but the sad state California is in at the moment is really making us think deeply about where we want to for the next few years. In England our son would have free preschool in a highly regarded school. We would all have free health care. Plus we would be close to Nick's parents who have missed out on so much of our children's lives. If we do end up in Cambridge, I would even have access to a Korean and Chinese store so I would still be able to cook Asian dishes. The pros are piling up and I'm starting to imagine a little life out here for us. I would miss my family and friends like mad though. And since I have quite afraid of flying, seeing them regularly would be a bit of challenge. And the biggest con would be: fabric.
Yes, fabric. Why the heck is fabric so expensive here? I almost fell over backwards when I saw a bolt of Windham quilting cotton in John Lewis for $23 a metre. What the??

A little alley in Devizes. I went to an amazing antique and collectible shop

Anyway, I am planning on having some of my fabric and notions sent here from home and I have managed to borrow a sewing machine. I am really missing sewing right now. I've got so many ideas and projects in my head dying to be made. Does anyone know how I would go about sending a big box here? I am figuring that USPS, FedEx and UPS are too expensive but I can't google any US parcel delivery services here. I keep getting UK companies.


In the meanwhile, I will be working on a mohair teddy bear. Something I have wanted to make for a long time.