Move rapidly approaching...

Our movers will be here on wednesday! I wont be able to write in a little bit, since it will be a long drive from GA to WA. Hopefully we'll get internet set up at our house within a week or so when we arrive.
I packed my sewing machines yesterday, so I concentrated on some art for a change today. I did a demo on some lithography plates last week, and got inspired to make a set of three little "hut" prints. (You can see the video on my art blog http://www.mirka-h.blogspot.com/)
While I was drawing the prints, I would think back to my childhood. Building little huts was one of my favorite activities growing up. Even when the other kids would come and break our hut down, we would always build a new one trying to make innovations as we scavenged for supplies.
I think after our move, I will put a couple of prints on Etsy to see if there is any interest.

Owlets

I finished a set of five owlies for the Shiny Squirrel Boutique (see link on sidebar)yesterday. It was a fun pattern to come up with, and a fairly easy one to sew.
I used some brown courdroy and a wool tweed for the front. The little creases on the bottom give the impression of a little tail in the back. Here are some of the little ones ready to be stuffed, put their eyes in and sewn together.

It took me 5 tries to figure out the pattern this time. You can see the practice ones in the front. The first one is on the left and then progressively to the right. You can see that I tried a completely different pattern for the last one. The funny thing is that I ended up liking the first one the best with just a tiny tweak.

Here they are, ready to be shipped to their new homes!

Awesome links!

Oh, I can't describe how excited I am. I have been thinking about making little soft houses for my stuffed animals, and happened upon this blog with a tutorial for one. I have to share it here with you. You can use buttons, velcro or ribbon to close it up! I can not wait to make one! I had thought about just making a soft one with batting for walls, but Dawn had the great idea of using some of the plastic canvas used for cross stitching for support.

She also has a great blog and some other tutorials.

For all you looking fo rnew project/gift/craft ideas for 2009. Visit TheLongThread's blog. They have a list of "Top 100 Tutorials of 2008" . The list is even conveniently sectioned to baby, kids, home, clothing, etc. Too many cool things to do, so little time!

I also need to mention my Christmas present. I got a book titled Two-at-a-time Socks. I already completed my first pair! Now let me tell you why I like this new way of sewing: First, I normally dont use a pattern and just knit trying to socks on for size every once in a while. That normally backfires by the time I get to the second sock, since I am constantly going to the first one and counting rows and stitches. They always end up being slightly different sizes.

Second, before, after I had finished the first sock, I had no inspiration left to make the second one. Third, this book has very clearly written directions, so everything was easy to follow.

To start my socks, I first knit them regularly on 4 straight needles, about 3 times around, before transferring them onto a single long needle. After I got the hang of it, knitting this new way a as easy as a snap of a fingers.