Oh, the past two days have been cooler here, with a little rain at last. Sunday morning; strong coffee, thin red cotton yarn, graph paper.  Wash some dishes, knit for a bit.  Load of laundry, knit. Tidy and dust.  Knit.  I really should do some mending  as well... funny how I love sewing, just not the utilitarian stuff.  Even if fixing a little seam rip will only take a minute, even if I already have the right color thread loaded and my machine is out right next to me here on my desk right now, it still always seems like a pain.  I need to get over it!  

The bit of sky outside my apartment window is gray, overcast; I swear this red yarn warms me up.

This little guy has a new home with a newborn baby boy... I had planned on making him a teddy bear, but when I saw this super-soft tiger print at Gypsy's Palace, I knew I had to make the kitty from the Wee Wonderfuls Put-together Book. I thought the black velvet would be nice for the little baby boy to touch, but there was a moment while in progress that it looked very stern, like I was making a Tiger Pilgrim, or something.  I think the lopsided tie makes him kind of friendly and silly, though... he's huggable! The put-together stuffies I made before have become favorites of my youngest cousins (The four-year-old sleeps with "Cookie" every night... awww... and also yes!),  so these patterns are not only fun to make, but also officially kid-approved to me.

grr!

Embroidery.  Instantly I remember a pale blue hoop; refuge from humid August afternoons; Mam-maw showing me her needle-threading trick. I love the need to be precise, to focus.

Wee Wonderfuls Stitchette pattern by the always inspiring Hillary. I backed her with some passamenterie pack fabric that I love.  I mean really, really love it.  Lots.  I picked embroidery floss to go with the fun floral pattern; purple, red, and yellow are colors I rarely use, but now I can't figure out why on earth I avoid them. While in progress, I had a hard time deciding what I wanted the embroidery to become... torn between putting it in a frame and making a sweet, simple stuffie, I decided at the last minute to blanket-stitch a circle of wool felt to the open bottom of the stuffed doll. A display doll; with the felt bottom and some interfacing, it stands up straight, but is still soft enough for a toddler to run around with.

Sunny Saturdays, spent wandering the Downtown LA Fashion District with a friend.

City sounds (traffic, helicopters, electric buzzes).

Janet's recent posts on creativity, the artistic process, and staying true to yourself.

Yoga.  Mmmmmm, yoga.

Designing (even with all the furrowed brows, missteps, the deadlines... when a pattern finally works, it is so satisfying!).

My newly sofa-less living room... we're being bohemian with floor pillows now.  I love it.

Setting up camp in the corner, stitching on a Sunday, with the wind blowing the palm trees outside. 

Simple dishtowel apron pattern; very good "sorry pal, been missing ya" kind of project to keep the sewing machine from feeling lonely.  You know, because it has feelings.

I clicked on this Martha pattern long ago while clicking around at Tie One On, and thought it seemed like a good sturdy choice.  Dishtowels from Target; one in the pack had a nice waffle texture for the bottom part of the apron, good for damp hands.