<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942662543924424118</id><updated>2012-03-09T15:22:41.840-08:00</updated><category term='pjs'/><category term='rag doll'/><category term='felting'/><category term='Christmas'/><category term='toddler dress'/><category term='tutorial'/><category term='holiday'/><category term='felt'/><category term='birds'/><category term='art co-op'/><category term='embroidery'/><category term='suede'/><category term='Valentine&apos;s Day'/><category term='groundhog'/><category term='craft'/><category term='clothes'/><category term='woodland'/><category term='busy book'/><category term='Easter'/><category term='crochet'/><category term='sewing'/><category term='thaumatrope'/><category term='teddy bear'/><category term='toddler toy'/><category term='toddler project'/><title type='text'>A+a=Z</title><subtitle type='html'>Adrian and Adrienne (me) are the proud parents of Z. She is the inspiration for most of the projects I make.</subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default?max-results=100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>Adrienne Doherty</name><uri>https://profiles.google.com/116912554098778421834</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//lh4.googleusercontent.com/-UVajcGcMfVA/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAbE/iSUlPBj428k/s512-c/photo.jpg'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>19</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>100</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942662543924424118.post-3761892232480703038</id><published>2012-03-09T15:20:00.001-08:00</published><updated>2012-03-09T15:22:41.856-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='art co-op'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='toddler project'/><title type='text'>Art Co-op Pop-up Zoo</title><content type='html'>&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;It was another beautiful sunny Friday and so we had a small turnout for art co-op.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z3cEkB5mKAc/T1qOAm33gkI/AAAAAAAAAfY/iRzsYCmYZIM/s1600/IMG_4712.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z3cEkB5mKAc/T1qOAm33gkI/AAAAAAAAAfY/iRzsYCmYZIM/s320/IMG_4712.JPG" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;This week we made the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://tinkerlab.com/2012/02/pop-up-paper-zoo-free-download/" style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;" target="_blank"&gt;pop-up zoo&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt; created by Rachelle of &lt;a href="http://www.tinkerlab.com/" target="_blank"&gt;Tinkerlab&lt;/a&gt;. The kids did not disappoint with their takes on the giraffes, elephants, lions and monkeys.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UNlRcV2siwE/T1qOC7Fis6I/AAAAAAAAAfg/Zm6-Vt4_aNc/s1600/IMG_4713.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UNlRcV2siwE/T1qOC7Fis6I/AAAAAAAAAfg/Zm6-Vt4_aNc/s320/IMG_4713.JPG" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9uRaQIfVDyo/T1qOEGAY0eI/AAAAAAAAAfo/ODqQzIx1lIM/s1600/IMG_4714.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9uRaQIfVDyo/T1qOEGAY0eI/AAAAAAAAAfo/ODqQzIx1lIM/s320/IMG_4714.JPG" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-np5hweAuUW4/T1qOE3KEX0I/AAAAAAAAAfw/WiYZmtZ1XGA/s1600/IMG_4715.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-np5hweAuUW4/T1qOE3KEX0I/AAAAAAAAAfw/WiYZmtZ1XGA/s320/IMG_4715.JPG" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EXu30d1CbR4/T1qOFzTHzvI/AAAAAAAAAf4/9XAozR1aqr0/s1600/IMG_4716.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EXu30d1CbR4/T1qOFzTHzvI/AAAAAAAAAf4/9XAozR1aqr0/s320/IMG_4716.JPG" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5942662543924424118-3761892232480703038?l=aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/feeds/3761892232480703038/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/03/art-co-op-pop-up-zoo.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/3761892232480703038'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/3761892232480703038'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/03/art-co-op-pop-up-zoo.html' title='Art Co-op Pop-up Zoo'/><author><name>Adrienne Doherty</name><uri>https://profiles.google.com/116912554098778421834</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//lh4.googleusercontent.com/-UVajcGcMfVA/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAbE/iSUlPBj428k/s512-c/photo.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z3cEkB5mKAc/T1qOAm33gkI/AAAAAAAAAfY/iRzsYCmYZIM/s72-c/IMG_4712.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942662543924424118.post-760485353776574009</id><published>2012-03-08T17:25:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2012-03-08T17:25:59.677-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='tutorial'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='crochet'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Easter'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='craft'/><title type='text'>Bunny Knight</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Every so often I am given a suggestion that is just to ridiculous not to do.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-77N4ttzU_IE/T1lGfybM1nI/AAAAAAAAAeg/6qhRVvloHd4/s1600/1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-77N4ttzU_IE/T1lGfybM1nI/AAAAAAAAAeg/6qhRVvloHd4/s320/1.JPG" width="165" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;This is a felt bunny in crocheted chain mail. There is no other explanation.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k408cyzYcZE/T1lIqX7IfbI/AAAAAAAAAfI/rXZ9lMTZAzI/s1600/roboBirds.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="215" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k408cyzYcZE/T1lIqX7IfbI/AAAAAAAAAfI/rXZ9lMTZAzI/s320/roboBirds.JPG" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;Adrian suggested making the &lt;a href="http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/01/i-have-never-been-all-that-into.html" target="_blank"&gt;lovebirds&lt;/a&gt; more appealing by making them steampunk. I thought this was beyond my capabilities, though I did try. I ripped apart a watch and went through all the springs and such we had, but I have no gift or true steampunk aesthetic.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Xz4LuZLaVeY/T1lGgorSdqI/AAAAAAAAAeo/SHiKWJ1SRaA/s1600/2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Xz4LuZLaVeY/T1lGgorSdqI/AAAAAAAAAeo/SHiKWJ1SRaA/s320/2.JPG" width="240" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;When I began learning to crochet, I saw that people crocheted chain mail costumes. Before I knew it, we were talking about giving the &lt;a href="http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/02/pocket-easter-bunnies.html" target="_blank"&gt;felt bunnies&lt;/a&gt; an edge.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r2c10BZnCWg/T1lGhXU1JLI/AAAAAAAAAew/siGZ3XJIZOc/s1600/3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r2c10BZnCWg/T1lGhXU1JLI/AAAAAAAAAew/siGZ3XJIZOc/s320/3.JPG" width="206" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;This guy just reminds me a bit of Monty Python and that made him rather great.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Uc2Fo8ASTyo/T1lGix_URuI/AAAAAAAAAfA/RpiFrzF-umw/s1600/5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Uc2Fo8ASTyo/T1lGix_URuI/AAAAAAAAAfA/RpiFrzF-umw/s320/5.JPG" width="228" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;I will try to give the correct pattern terminology for this below. I used metallic embroidery floss, but I also did some test ones in gray yarn. The yarn ones looked a bit more like cozy hoods.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;b&gt;Chain Mail Hood&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;Chain 2&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span&gt;R1&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span&gt;: &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;2 sc&amp;nbsp;in each sc around.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt; (&lt;span style="color: purple;"&gt;6 sts&lt;/span&gt;)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span&gt;R2&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span&gt;: 2 sc&amp;nbsp;in each sc around. (&lt;span style="color: #38761d;"&gt;12 sts&lt;/span&gt;)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span&gt;R3&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span&gt;: &lt;span style="color: #e69138;"&gt;12 sc&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span&gt;R4&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span&gt;: 1 sc over 2 st (stretched) 1 sc (repeat 4 sts), &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;1 sc over 2 st (stretched) 1 sc (repeat 4 sts) (&lt;span style="color: cyan;"&gt;10 sts&lt;/span&gt;)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;strong style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;R5 - 7&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;: 1 sc in each sc (&lt;span style="color: #20124d;"&gt;4 sts&lt;/span&gt;), chain 1&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;strong style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;R8: &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;1 sc in each sc (4 sts), chain 8, sc into starting sc (&lt;span style="color: #cc0000;"&gt;12 sts&lt;/span&gt;)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;R9: &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;1 sc in each sc (12 sts)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;I am not sure if this diagram helps:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-z0-QdV7r3RE/T1lbPdKFdbI/AAAAAAAAAfQ/R5L9fT36XMU/s1600/bunnyMail.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-z0-QdV7r3RE/T1lbPdKFdbI/AAAAAAAAAfQ/R5L9fT36XMU/s320/bunnyMail.gif" width="288" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5942662543924424118-760485353776574009?l=aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/feeds/760485353776574009/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/03/bunny-knight.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/760485353776574009'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/760485353776574009'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/03/bunny-knight.html' title='Bunny Knight'/><author><name>Adrienne Doherty</name><uri>https://profiles.google.com/116912554098778421834</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//lh4.googleusercontent.com/-UVajcGcMfVA/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAbE/iSUlPBj428k/s512-c/photo.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-77N4ttzU_IE/T1lGfybM1nI/AAAAAAAAAeg/6qhRVvloHd4/s72-c/1.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942662543924424118.post-2647276549731376287</id><published>2012-02-27T20:54:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2012-02-27T20:54:13.775-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='art co-op'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='toddler project'/><title type='text'>Art Co-op - Suns, Clouds and Colored Rice</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3iSCoddc2HE/T0xb1lzY_PI/AAAAAAAAAeQ/tZxJmYe1p7Q/s1600/20111230_pmc_art_co-op_006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3iSCoddc2HE/T0xb1lzY_PI/AAAAAAAAAeQ/tZxJmYe1p7Q/s320/20111230_pmc_art_co-op_006.jpg" width="213" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"&gt;Every Friday morning during the school year, I help run an art co-op for the local kids &amp;nbsp;(that are under five) for our mothers club. We have a fairly good regular group of pre-preschool age children that attend.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--XfEqn6WjDU/Tz8ALSO66rI/AAAAAAAAAdE/kSw5_U5u19E/s1600/artCo-op1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--XfEqn6WjDU/Tz8ALSO66rI/AAAAAAAAAdE/kSw5_U5u19E/s320/artCo-op1.jpg" width="240" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"&gt;The projects are simple. I like to choose things that are messy because we have this space (surplus school property that has become an art center).&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"&gt;Some weeks we have a great turnout, and sometimes it is sunny so only a few families show up. The kids and moms all seem to have fun and I love doing it.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DyP_PqqBd2s/Tz8AL-VkeiI/AAAAAAAAAdM/XWZUkLaqh9Y/s1600/artCoop2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DyP_PqqBd2s/Tz8AL-VkeiI/AAAAAAAAAdM/XWZUkLaqh9Y/s320/artCoop2.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"&gt;Practice with lacing or sewing&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"&gt;The mothers club started this long before I joined and I do not know why it is called a co-op versus any other name. It is done on a volunteer basis - perhaps that makes it a co-op. I just know that I started taking Z when she was about 10 months old because she needed to get out of the house and it was always rainy or foggy. We both loved it, so I volunteered the next term.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HOMd3qf15Ww/T0mQDCv2zxI/AAAAAAAAAeI/4iFKZQjyKXE/s1600/rice.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HOMd3qf15Ww/T0mQDCv2zxI/AAAAAAAAAeI/4iFKZQjyKXE/s320/rice.JPG" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"&gt;Colored rice to make pictures with or just toss around&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"&gt;She got over it. She still likes running around, but has little interest in the projects. I love the projects and thinking about what to do each week (above colored rice from &lt;a href="http://www.momtastic.com/home-and-living/home/168293-diy-kaleidoscope-rice" target="_blank"&gt;Momtastic&lt;/a&gt;). I make the play dough and have tried several recipes - currently we're using &lt;a href="http://tinkerlab.com/2011/03/rainbow-play-dough/" target="_blank"&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt; from Tinkerlab. Now I sometimes feel we go for me more than her.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XLWol4r-M-8/T0xdKtHbrlI/AAAAAAAAAeY/-lP-f3sb6n0/s1600/20111230_pmc_art_co-op_090.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XLWol4r-M-8/T0xdKtHbrlI/AAAAAAAAAeY/-lP-f3sb6n0/s320/20111230_pmc_art_co-op_090.jpg" width="213" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"&gt;Or we both end up outside anyway.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5942662543924424118-2647276549731376287?l=aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/feeds/2647276549731376287/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/02/art-co-op-suns-clouds-and-colored-rice.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/2647276549731376287'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/2647276549731376287'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/02/art-co-op-suns-clouds-and-colored-rice.html' title='Art Co-op - Suns, Clouds and Colored Rice'/><author><name>Adrienne Doherty</name><uri>https://profiles.google.com/116912554098778421834</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//lh4.googleusercontent.com/-UVajcGcMfVA/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAbE/iSUlPBj428k/s512-c/photo.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3iSCoddc2HE/T0xb1lzY_PI/AAAAAAAAAeQ/tZxJmYe1p7Q/s72-c/20111230_pmc_art_co-op_006.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942662543924424118.post-8808732078692653869</id><published>2012-02-25T16:32:00.002-08:00</published><updated>2012-02-25T16:32:35.323-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='felt'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='embroidery'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='sewing'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Easter'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='craft'/><title type='text'>Pocket Easter Bunnies</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fCwiEQ__vnA/T0l6BbwPsXI/AAAAAAAAAdY/J6m96hXoxDg/s1600/cuBlue.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fCwiEQ__vnA/T0l6BbwPsXI/AAAAAAAAAdY/J6m96hXoxDg/s320/cuBlue.JPG" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"&gt;These are my latest felt friends and I admit I have gone a bit nuts with them. I've been making them industriously and without regard to natural coloring.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OLV_uP7hgfM/T0l6vzKVBWI/AAAAAAAAAdg/joLNJUEJCKo/s1600/CUpink.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OLV_uP7hgfM/T0l6vzKVBWI/AAAAAAAAAdg/joLNJUEJCKo/s320/CUpink.JPG" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"&gt;They are smaller than an egg.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4buiqOtjDgw/T0l6xYFOf-I/AAAAAAAAAdo/5kfM0IcJey4/s1600/DetailBeigeBunny.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4buiqOtjDgw/T0l6xYFOf-I/AAAAAAAAAdo/5kfM0IcJey4/s320/DetailBeigeBunny.JPG" width="240" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"&gt;Each has a little pink nose and fuzzy tail.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0_fjI1CVdLg/T0l6yNwyyGI/AAAAAAAAAdw/D9Ag1jok9o8/s1600/grou1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0_fjI1CVdLg/T0l6yNwyyGI/AAAAAAAAAdw/D9Ag1jok9o8/s320/grou1.JPG" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"&gt;They're good for sharing secrets with.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VMvd8sdO2B4/T0l60AkatTI/AAAAAAAAAeA/4OuBM_2AUqo/s1600/rabbits!.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="232" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VMvd8sdO2B4/T0l60AkatTI/AAAAAAAAAeA/4OuBM_2AUqo/s320/rabbits!.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"&gt;They also like to mill about in groups. They are now &lt;a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/93844665/pocket-felt-easter-bunny" target="_blank"&gt;for sale&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;so get yours today!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5942662543924424118-8808732078692653869?l=aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/feeds/8808732078692653869/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/02/pocket-easter-bunnies.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/8808732078692653869'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/8808732078692653869'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/02/pocket-easter-bunnies.html' title='Pocket Easter Bunnies'/><author><name>Adrienne Doherty</name><uri>https://profiles.google.com/116912554098778421834</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//lh4.googleusercontent.com/-UVajcGcMfVA/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAbE/iSUlPBj428k/s512-c/photo.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fCwiEQ__vnA/T0l6BbwPsXI/AAAAAAAAAdY/J6m96hXoxDg/s72-c/cuBlue.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942662543924424118.post-8707085772493010465</id><published>2012-02-14T17:43:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2012-02-14T17:43:38.371-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='pjs'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='clothes'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Valentine&apos;s Day'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='tutorial'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='toddler toy'/><title type='text'>Valentine's Day PJs</title><content type='html'>&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-w55-RDkRIhE/TzsLCxhl9-I/AAAAAAAAAc8/8q4fnnHyYnk/s1600/loveCats.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="288" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-w55-RDkRIhE/TzsLCxhl9-I/AAAAAAAAAc8/8q4fnnHyYnk/s320/loveCats.gif" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;Happy Valentine's Day! I am humbly accepting that this can be a fun filled holiday that I once considered fluff. Actually, I was sort of told off very publicly that children love it, so I tried to embrace it - in a less fluffy way. Z needs new pajamas because hers have become "capris" and it gets chilly at night.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Up6nd4UTAwo/TzsGhvNhbFI/AAAAAAAAAbk/8VEL0e6RDOM/s1600/pj1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Up6nd4UTAwo/TzsGhvNhbFI/AAAAAAAAAbk/8VEL0e6RDOM/s320/pj1.JPG" width="240" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;I did the old trick of using a pair of Z's pants that fit to create the pattern, which I lay out, pinned and cut of some lovely pink flannel I had. Now, this picture primarily shows how very ridiculous I can be about trying to get as much out of a piece of fabric as possible. I think it's sort of wonderful that people take great pride in being frugal these days. I've heard people boasting about how cheap they are, and it's a good thing because waste is waste.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8QYAT7zT24I/TzsGi4YAqmI/AAAAAAAAAb0/2nauKtZr11k/s1600/pj2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8QYAT7zT24I/TzsGi4YAqmI/AAAAAAAAAb0/2nauKtZr11k/s320/pj2.JPG" width="240" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;I've made a lot of pants since Z came along and I still always get flipped about and mess up. I've started marking the fronts with safety pins and taking extra time to think. I sewed the legs together first - front to back, right sides together (as much as there is a right side of plain pink flannel), outside seams then inside seams. Also that blur is one of Z's dolls dancing over the project and spouting off things I say.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Wdv8u2FznJ0/TzsGjYfO0II/AAAAAAAAAb8/d14thjq9cdw/s1600/pj3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Wdv8u2FznJ0/TzsGjYfO0II/AAAAAAAAAb8/d14thjq9cdw/s320/pj3.JPG" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;I like sewing the two legs together by inserting one leg (right side out) inside the other. I get less confused this way.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7wKF8bs1-H0/TzsGj4ULGtI/AAAAAAAAAcE/DWo9TOYA5Z4/s1600/pj4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7wKF8bs1-H0/TzsGj4ULGtI/AAAAAAAAAcE/DWo9TOYA5Z4/s320/pj4.JPG" width="240" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;Next I formed the waist band for the elastic. I had to go back to her original pants to make sure I had it right, but that's the nice part of having them as comparison.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LLROfOZmoTw/TzsGkVqwTiI/AAAAAAAAAcM/i0BiDiHOSac/s1600/pj5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LLROfOZmoTw/TzsGkVqwTiI/AAAAAAAAAcM/i0BiDiHOSac/s320/pj5.JPG" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;Here is the little opening I left to insert the elastic.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p-CCb_iEWWE/TzsGkluzWyI/AAAAAAAAAcU/DOrWL_uVNMk/s1600/pj6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p-CCb_iEWWE/TzsGkluzWyI/AAAAAAAAAcU/DOrWL_uVNMk/s320/pj6.JPG" width="240" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;And the elastic going in.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uKjCwmV2VBo/TzsGk7s77TI/AAAAAAAAAcc/3hUfyGNBokE/s1600/pj7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="159" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uKjCwmV2VBo/TzsGk7s77TI/AAAAAAAAAcc/3hUfyGNBokE/s320/pj7.JPG" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;To make the PJs something special, I used a drawing I'd done earlier of two cats with entwined tails. I printed it out onto iron-on paper and planned to iron it onto black craft felt, making it firmer and help it hold it's shape. I planned to then sew this on as an applique.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-az39gCwrmpg/TzsGl4L8qrI/AAAAAAAAAck/Bu8H1yFB8nM/s1600/pj8.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="303" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-az39gCwrmpg/TzsGl4L8qrI/AAAAAAAAAck/Bu8H1yFB8nM/s320/pj8.JPG" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;The heat of the iron melted the craft felt - live and learn.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VZ7PeoMhCCc/TzsGmS7OIKI/AAAAAAAAAcs/5m7WLnsr-1o/s1600/pj9.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VZ7PeoMhCCc/TzsGmS7OIKI/AAAAAAAAAcs/5m7WLnsr-1o/s320/pj9.JPG" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;I decided to pencil in the cats and freehand it with fabric paint.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fvkIOEbESE4/TzsGh9rPcOI/AAAAAAAAAbs/sAQtZQ3TnBA/s1600/pj10.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="304" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fvkIOEbESE4/TzsGh9rPcOI/AAAAAAAAAbs/sAQtZQ3TnBA/s320/pj10.JPG" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;I haven't quite mastered fabric paint, but I still think the cats are a sweet addition. Also, those paying close attention will note that I never hemmed the pants. I have to do that by hand as I forgot to do it before sewing the inseams. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5942662543924424118-8707085772493010465?l=aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/feeds/8707085772493010465/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/02/valentines-day-pjs.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/8707085772493010465'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/8707085772493010465'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/02/valentines-day-pjs.html' title='Valentine&apos;s Day PJs'/><author><name>Adrienne Doherty</name><uri>https://profiles.google.com/116912554098778421834</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//lh4.googleusercontent.com/-UVajcGcMfVA/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAbE/iSUlPBj428k/s512-c/photo.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-w55-RDkRIhE/TzsLCxhl9-I/AAAAAAAAAc8/8q4fnnHyYnk/s72-c/loveCats.gif' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942662543924424118.post-8440532110121980582</id><published>2012-02-02T09:34:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2012-02-02T09:34:59.613-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='suede'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='craft'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='groundhog'/><title type='text'>Groundhogs are Whistle Pigs and Other Odd Things</title><content type='html'>&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;Every year &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt; right about now &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;I dust off my knowledge of groundhogs, show it off a bit and promptly forget it. My sister was born on Groundhog Day and for the past few years (since I became a stay-at-home-mom) I've made her groundhog related cards for her birthday and told her stupid facts. I don't even know if she likes them. Being a polite adult, she thanks me and we go back to talking about zombies. But I do know she feels a kinship for the groundhog, so I go on without encouragement.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Efr7OnWVNOo/TyndLZpDswI/AAAAAAAAAZ8/2mGjQ_Ucs48/s1600/MAD2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="263" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Efr7OnWVNOo/TyndLZpDswI/AAAAAAAAAZ8/2mGjQ_Ucs48/s320/MAD2.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;This year I thought that I might make a little groundhog for her. Groundhogs are ground squirrels (with rather unremarkable tails), and I'd already made a squirrel pattern for the felt woodland. With some minor adjustments - groundhog! I got some faux suede at SCRAP because the sample was rejected (? - I don't really know if that's true, it's just more interesting). So at about 5 pm two days before her birthday, in fading light and determined to photograph it, I started out.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aJdwe4PCjKw/Tynae1a_1DI/AAAAAAAAAZM/aDllmTMCH7k/s1600/gh1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aJdwe4PCjKw/Tynae1a_1DI/AAAAAAAAAZM/aDllmTMCH7k/s320/gh1.jpg" width="261" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;Faux suede is not felt - there is a right side and a very wrong side. That took a bit of remembering when cutting out the pattern pieces and I now have a groundhog and a half cut out.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I1LBLrcm1HE/Tynaf7EMhqI/AAAAAAAAAZU/ffgMFKupXn8/s1600/gh2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="261" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I1LBLrcm1HE/Tynaf7EMhqI/AAAAAAAAAZU/ffgMFKupXn8/s320/gh2.JPG" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;I sew the belly pieces right sides together, with the seam on the inside, because I like how this looks, though I think it is incorrect felt animal procedure. I do a blanket stitch up the back and around the head, inserting the head gusset.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Nwl75UN24oE/TynagdNocbI/AAAAAAAAAZc/IAZH9ZwDGEE/s1600/gh3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Nwl75UN24oE/TynagdNocbI/AAAAAAAAAZc/IAZH9ZwDGEE/s320/gh3.JPG" width="297" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Close up of the head gusset in place.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-clFJQYmR1gU/Tynag-AvHfI/AAAAAAAAAZk/dU2XM0PYF4w/s1600/gh4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-clFJQYmR1gU/Tynag-AvHfI/AAAAAAAAAZk/dU2XM0PYF4w/s320/gh4.JPG" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Stuff the little guy and add the base. Actually, it is much better to attach the base leaving a small hole to stuff rather than try to sew the base on with all that stuffing. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sE1SOWVBz9s/TynahmnmsgI/AAAAAAAAAZs/mSTH2wozbsE/s1600/gh5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sE1SOWVBz9s/TynahmnmsgI/AAAAAAAAAZs/mSTH2wozbsE/s320/gh5.JPG" width="285" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Assembled.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qkj7dmC3AAg/Tynah9CpDZI/AAAAAAAAAZ0/Y2yanV9KUSs/s1600/gh6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qkj7dmC3AAg/Tynah9CpDZI/AAAAAAAAAZ0/Y2yanV9KUSs/s320/gh6.JPG" width="229" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;Add a couple of ears, which are two half circles sewn together for each ear. Paint on some eyes and a nose. And that's him.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qGVmV8LE7u4/TynklW8DPVI/AAAAAAAAAaE/Z4_M_prcsfc/s1600/gh7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qGVmV8LE7u4/TynklW8DPVI/AAAAAAAAAaE/Z4_M_prcsfc/s320/gh7.JPG" width="213" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;I've looked at a lot of groundhog photos and drawings of them and they do have rodent front teeth. This was a bit of a struggle for me as I'm not a fan of rodents. But in the end I added some little felt teeth to groundhog him up a bit.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1mJmjUSIM5U/TyrJNqFO01I/AAAAAAAAAaM/wfn1tSKcAOM/s1600/gh8.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1mJmjUSIM5U/TyrJNqFO01I/AAAAAAAAAaM/wfn1tSKcAOM/s320/gh8.JPG" width="219" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;His prediction for the winter ... well, it is sunny this morning. But since he can't turn on his own, so he can't really see it.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5942662543924424118-8440532110121980582?l=aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/feeds/8440532110121980582/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/02/groundhogs-are-whistle-pigs-and-other.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/8440532110121980582'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/8440532110121980582'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/02/groundhogs-are-whistle-pigs-and-other.html' title='Groundhogs are Whistle Pigs and Other Odd Things'/><author><name>Adrienne Doherty</name><uri>https://profiles.google.com/116912554098778421834</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//lh4.googleusercontent.com/-UVajcGcMfVA/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAbE/iSUlPBj428k/s512-c/photo.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Efr7OnWVNOo/TyndLZpDswI/AAAAAAAAAZ8/2mGjQ_Ucs48/s72-c/MAD2.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942662543924424118.post-6405209569420544735</id><published>2012-01-31T12:33:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2012-01-31T12:34:05.390-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='birds'/><title type='text'>Murderous Birds</title><content type='html'>&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;I love a good murder mystery, and sometimes even the not so good ones. I read them and&amp;nbsp; I watch them to relax and try and solve the puzzle. What would motivate somebody to kill?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ssAF2Z9H5r0/TyhPxR8cjqI/AAAAAAAAAZE/6HZrVfrYjK8/s1600/murderingBirds1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="291" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ssAF2Z9H5r0/TyhPxR8cjqI/AAAAAAAAAZE/6HZrVfrYjK8/s320/murderingBirds1.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;Somehow while sewing all the &lt;a href="http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/01/i-have-never-been-all-that-into.html" target="_blank"&gt;itty bitty lovebirds&lt;/a&gt;, this image came to me. Instead of leaving it inside my head where it belonged, I drew it all out. For fun.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_rR5RxEqBcs/TyhEBKLTpTI/AAAAAAAAAYk/sq_OfpJFzw0/s1600/mb1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="120" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_rR5RxEqBcs/TyhEBKLTpTI/AAAAAAAAAYk/sq_OfpJFzw0/s320/mb1.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;It started with the murder of one of the lovebirds. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-04IVWK-DCnI/TyhEB7XKYtI/AAAAAAAAAYs/nJuda4faKwQ/s1600/mb2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="226" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-04IVWK-DCnI/TyhEB7XKYtI/AAAAAAAAAYs/nJuda4faKwQ/s320/mb2.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;The police (as portrayed by some glossy caped starlings) arrived to investigate, and honed in on a budgie as their chief suspect because of his questionable involvement with the grieving widow.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AW2wkonff7g/TyhECDW8jWI/AAAAAAAAAY0/mA3k55KXbJQ/s1600/mb3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="307" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AW2wkonff7g/TyhECDW8jWI/AAAAAAAAAY0/mA3k55KXbJQ/s320/mb3.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;Inspector Finch was sure the widow did it. Though there were clues ...&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rBCKKwhd84Q/TyhECgSyTQI/AAAAAAAAAY8/k00r5GF2jeE/s1600/mb4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="276" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rBCKKwhd84Q/TyhECgSyTQI/AAAAAAAAAY8/k00r5GF2jeE/s320/mb4.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;Meanwhile the canary (sang like a canary) pointed out the real culprit, the murderous crow. It's always the crow.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5942662543924424118-6405209569420544735?l=aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/feeds/6405209569420544735/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/01/murderous-birds.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/6405209569420544735'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/6405209569420544735'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/01/murderous-birds.html' title='Murderous Birds'/><author><name>Adrienne Doherty</name><uri>https://profiles.google.com/116912554098778421834</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//lh4.googleusercontent.com/-UVajcGcMfVA/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAbE/iSUlPBj428k/s512-c/photo.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ssAF2Z9H5r0/TyhPxR8cjqI/AAAAAAAAAZE/6HZrVfrYjK8/s72-c/murderingBirds1.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942662543924424118.post-341863173568996283</id><published>2012-01-24T22:17:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2012-01-24T22:17:24.119-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Crafting for Therapy</title><content type='html'>&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hDJIBjTq2Sg/Tx3dQRMGfXI/AAAAAAAAAXw/Pb4s75qObwY/s1600/momNzelda.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hDJIBjTq2Sg/Tx3dQRMGfXI/AAAAAAAAAXw/Pb4s75qObwY/s320/momNzelda.jpg" width="201" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;This has been an odd-ful time. Adrian has been working a lot at night or out of town, so I'm full-time, no-break mom. Z has been very fussy and slightly sick. I have been cranky. It has not been all Skittles and unicorns at Chateau Us. Clearly what we needed was more crafting. Actually, I just decided to throw myself into some new projects to get out of my own grumpiness.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OhiQWB-h7nM/Tx3J9MwLwII/AAAAAAAAAXg/uBNnNvUlCGQ/s1600/crochet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OhiQWB-h7nM/Tx3J9MwLwII/AAAAAAAAAXg/uBNnNvUlCGQ/s320/crochet.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;One of the moms taught a lesson in crochet this weekend. I'm so excited about learning and have visions of amazing Amigurumi animals everywhere ...&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wjVRAzCknck/Tx3gIfrvDoI/AAAAAAAAAX4/suI9Uf3qrjA/s1600/pandaDrawn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="198" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wjVRAzCknck/Tx3gIfrvDoI/AAAAAAAAAX4/suI9Uf3qrjA/s200/pandaDrawn.jpg" width="200" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt; ... once I get past the terrible mess phase. Being left handed doesn't help, though it doesn't hurt either. It just explains the hook placement. Working with yarn is entirely new to me, which is challenging and good. But I keep wanting to make terrible happy hooking jokes now.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3RAFhNJB2TI/Tx9djo5FYmI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/h7371RUDCkY/s1600/1stProject.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3RAFhNJB2TI/Tx9djo5FYmI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/h7371RUDCkY/s1600/1stProject.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;I am also fully impressed that our teacher thinks we can make this little guy from our one lesson. It's that sort of optimism that I need.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IO9j0n0z_NA/Tx3J9xpsrPI/AAAAAAAAAXo/eaWw1eNJsUQ/s1600/milkmaid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="185" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IO9j0n0z_NA/Tx3J9xpsrPI/AAAAAAAAAXo/eaWw1eNJsUQ/s320/milkmaid.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;I finally made &lt;a href="http://crafterhours.blogspot.com/2009/11/milkmaid-skirt-tutorial.html" target="_blank"&gt;this skirt&lt;/a&gt; from Crafterhours, which I have wanted to make for Z for-ev-er. I wanted to make it because it is all about having big wonderful pockets. I used to lament my lack of pockets when I wore the sort of clothes that don't (office clothes). It is my hope she stuffs her pockets full of stuff. I imagine that hope wears off once the creepy junk starts going in there.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BhW5VRgktsA/Tx-d1UvnLOI/AAAAAAAAAYY/DN2QuLkZEZE/s1600/zDrawings.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="256" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BhW5VRgktsA/Tx-d1UvnLOI/AAAAAAAAAYY/DN2QuLkZEZE/s320/zDrawings.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;I set the goal of doing some real live drawing from my real live model without thinking that she doesn't sit still for more than 15 seconds at a time. So it turned into some gesture drawing until she fell asleep.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And to round out the crafting for therapy, I made &lt;a href="http://allrecipes.com/recipe/Brookes-Best-Bombshell-Brownies/Detail.aspx?prop31=2" target="_blank"&gt;brownies&lt;/a&gt;! Because, if not chocolate, something (anything?) sweet will always soothe the savage beast.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;And now back to my usual grind:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E2_WUBesRZw/Tx3qpq6i8SI/AAAAAAAAAYI/V7OadwomZKY/s1600/debate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="101" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E2_WUBesRZw/Tx3qpq6i8SI/AAAAAAAAAYI/V7OadwomZKY/s320/debate.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5942662543924424118-341863173568996283?l=aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/feeds/341863173568996283/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/01/crafting-for-therapy.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/341863173568996283'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/341863173568996283'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/01/crafting-for-therapy.html' title='Crafting for Therapy'/><author><name>Adrienne Doherty</name><uri>https://profiles.google.com/116912554098778421834</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//lh4.googleusercontent.com/-UVajcGcMfVA/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAbE/iSUlPBj428k/s512-c/photo.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hDJIBjTq2Sg/Tx3dQRMGfXI/AAAAAAAAAXw/Pb4s75qObwY/s72-c/momNzelda.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942662543924424118.post-4936153130211416309</id><published>2012-01-21T16:43:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2012-01-21T17:15:31.837-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='birds'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='felt'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='sewing'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='tutorial'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='craft'/><title type='text'>Itty Bitty Lovebirds</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D60x0YSgRQc/TxtNbMqJ9TI/AAAAAAAAAXA/rMk1-X9WuB4/s1600/finiArty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="217" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D60x0YSgRQc/TxtNbMqJ9TI/AAAAAAAAAXA/rMk1-X9WuB4/s320/finiArty.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;I have never been all that into Valentine's Day. However, this year it is everywhere I look, and that could be because I tend to look at craft sites most of the time. So in all this looking it struck me that the thing to do was to join in. Actually, what struck me was that here I was sewing itty bitty birds all the time and there are birds that are perfect for this - lovebirds. Awww!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z34_SGnNh2I/TxooGHOaxfI/AAAAAAAAAWA/pxS6Y6iZrGo/s1600/Love-Birds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="276" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z34_SGnNh2I/TxooGHOaxfI/AAAAAAAAAWA/pxS6Y6iZrGo/s320/Love-Birds.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;Lovebirds are a sort of social and affectionate parrot (thank you &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovebird" target="_blank"&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;) and there are a number of varieties. They are monogamous and they are often seen cuddling which gave them their name. They are also a key element in the movie "The Birds" so it a natural evolution of my &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/01/itty-bitty-bird-tutorial.html" target="_blank"&gt;itty bitty birds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pzr3dsmHh34/TxooHBaUzWI/AAAAAAAAAWI/HLd4ZTcZIno/s1600/paintedFaces.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pzr3dsmHh34/TxooHBaUzWI/AAAAAAAAAWI/HLd4ZTcZIno/s320/paintedFaces.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;I started making the rosy-faced lovebird as seen above, using green felt for the bodies. I tried painting their faces, which wasn't so good.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b_qhUy2qAvQ/TxooFzDQGtI/AAAAAAAAAV4/0CofJZTMYGo/s1600/feltFacesOverPencil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="235" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b_qhUy2qAvQ/TxooFzDQGtI/AAAAAAAAAV4/0CofJZTMYGo/s320/feltFacesOverPencil.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_VGMxeLz30U/TxooFigj54I/AAAAAAAAAVw/_5jjGJiZxfc/s1600/feltFacesKissy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="238" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_VGMxeLz30U/TxooFigj54I/AAAAAAAAAVw/_5jjGJiZxfc/s320/feltFacesKissy.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I tried felt applique, which was better. And from behind their faces made a little heart.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TBTpvNVJKSA/TxooFLsY9AI/AAAAAAAAAVo/42KeENMZtR4/s1600/embroideredSingle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="244" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TBTpvNVJKSA/TxooFLsY9AI/AAAAAAAAAVo/42KeENMZtR4/s320/embroideredSingle.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Then I tried embroidering the red bit, and that seemed best to me. But when I showed them to people, nobody could tell what sort of birds they were - it wasn't clear. Since I don't expect people to go off researching lovebirds simply because I'm interested in them, I went ahead and made some in a more seasonal color.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RzWqH5GO7k4/TxooIK7tWcI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/hVpkQgeVJcw/s1600/tute1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RzWqH5GO7k4/TxooIK7tWcI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/hVpkQgeVJcw/s320/tute1.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;The thing about lovebirds is that you sort of want to make them in pairs. So I cut out a set.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KToMAFC1yCQ/TxooIpHKhgI/AAAAAAAAAWY/SUAhEoGTeK8/s1600/tute2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KToMAFC1yCQ/TxooIpHKhgI/AAAAAAAAAWY/SUAhEoGTeK8/s320/tute2.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;I drew a vague half heart shape in pencil and then satin stitched it in red. I whip stitched on the wings.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4iqIUsIDwv4/TxooJbsBxFI/AAAAAAAAAWg/ab4IMzsvUqM/s1600/tute3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="223" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4iqIUsIDwv4/TxooJbsBxFI/AAAAAAAAAWg/ab4IMzsvUqM/s320/tute3.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;Whip stitch the back seam...&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DZYqBbbp1AA/TxooKOjsHGI/AAAAAAAAAWo/AlOpofh5v_g/s1600/tute4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="291" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DZYqBbbp1AA/TxooKOjsHGI/AAAAAAAAAWo/AlOpofh5v_g/s320/tute4.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;... and the belly. Now, this is pretty much the same process as the &lt;a href="http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/01/itty-bitty-bird-tutorial.html" target="_blank"&gt;itty bitty birds&lt;/a&gt;, so I was a bit slack in documenting it. In fact, I used different birds. I admit it. I'm still making them.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XuhxtA4NKKQ/TxtE4sV0A8I/AAAAAAAAAWw/-usSiQ3x0ys/s1600/tute5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XuhxtA4NKKQ/TxtE4sV0A8I/AAAAAAAAAWw/-usSiQ3x0ys/s320/tute5.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;Stuff the bird, sew up the belly and paint eyes. I've tried to get the shut eyed look of the cuddling birds above on several of them, but I'm still working on getting it just right.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BnbtAz5hRA0/TxtE49gl3UI/AAAAAAAAAW4/ZMULJCe0En4/s1600/tute6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BnbtAz5hRA0/TxtE49gl3UI/AAAAAAAAAW4/ZMULJCe0En4/s320/tute6.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;This part is sort of humorous to me, and that shows my humor. I sew their beaks together in a kissing position.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-y265saOJ3CU/TxtNbgW-G_I/AAAAAAAAAXI/OHRg-aOD-mo/s1600/tute7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-y265saOJ3CU/TxtNbgW-G_I/AAAAAAAAAXI/OHRg-aOD-mo/s320/tute7.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;I added some jump rings and memory wire I had to give them a little space of their own. I'm not sure what to do with them now, as our home becomes increasingly full of 1.75" long birds, but they make me happy and I will wear them out on a chain or something. And sure, I'll "&lt;i&gt;sell&lt;/i&gt;" some on &lt;a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/91125557/itty-bitty-felt-lovebirds" target="_blank"&gt;Etsy&lt;/a&gt;. Does anybody buy there???&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ApIqwp7dYzY/TxtbOtV6ZdI/AAAAAAAAAXY/x3YlLULKl0g/s1600/REDBOIDS.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="225" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ApIqwp7dYzY/TxtbOtV6ZdI/AAAAAAAAAXY/x3YlLULKl0g/s320/REDBOIDS.JPG" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;Of course, by the time I finished the red birds they were the new favorites.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5B2yGWxnFvg/TxtbOEkUriI/AAAAAAAAAXQ/JLMC7NUeeAk/s1600/patternz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="232" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5B2yGWxnFvg/TxtbOEkUriI/AAAAAAAAAXQ/JLMC7NUeeAk/s320/patternz.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;This is the template for both the lovebirds and the itty bitty birds.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5942662543924424118-4936153130211416309?l=aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/feeds/4936153130211416309/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/01/i-have-never-been-all-that-into.html#comment-form' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/4936153130211416309'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/4936153130211416309'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/01/i-have-never-been-all-that-into.html' title='Itty Bitty Lovebirds'/><author><name>Adrienne Doherty</name><uri>https://profiles.google.com/116912554098778421834</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//lh4.googleusercontent.com/-UVajcGcMfVA/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAbE/iSUlPBj428k/s512-c/photo.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D60x0YSgRQc/TxtNbMqJ9TI/AAAAAAAAAXA/rMk1-X9WuB4/s72-c/finiArty.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942662543924424118.post-3918505488719167731</id><published>2012-01-18T16:51:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2012-02-01T22:24:05.660-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='sewing'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='clothes'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='toddler dress'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='craft'/><title type='text'>Snap Wrap Kimono Style Dress Part 2</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TAUeQs0SR-A/TxTmxAIeKRI/AAAAAAAAAUY/TmSibSYwTOw/s1600/cherries.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TAUeQs0SR-A/TxTmxAIeKRI/AAAAAAAAAUY/TmSibSYwTOw/s320/cherries.jpg" width="292" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif; text-align: left;"&gt;After a brief regrouping from &lt;a href="http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/01/snap-wrap-kimono-style-dress-part-1.html" target="_blank"&gt;constructing the dress&lt;/a&gt;, I started drawing. I thought flowers would be nice, and then cherry blossoms. I got stuck on cherry blossoms pretty quickly.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif; text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif; text-align: left;"&gt;I've never used fabric paint before, but it was on sale and I am a complete sucker for a sale. Also the images of cherry blossoms I liked the most were painted ones, so it worked. Now, cherry blossoms are one of the more forgiving things anybody can draw. They are easy to recreate - simplicity and beauty, what more could I ask for? &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif; text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif; text-align: left;"&gt;The idea of decorating the dress was to draw attention away from my sewing mishaps.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif; text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A30qbNZIobI/TxXGAF29CaI/AAAAAAAAAUk/gT4VGbTILzs/s1600/paint1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="319" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A30qbNZIobI/TxXGAF29CaI/AAAAAAAAAUk/gT4VGbTILzs/s320/paint1.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;I only used 2 colors (pink and black) of fabric paint to keep it simple, and kept the pictures I liked close by for reference.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cGshw_-9x_I/TxXGA6TOyNI/AAAAAAAAAUs/taKhD4Y97fk/s1600/paint2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cGshw_-9x_I/TxXGA6TOyNI/AAAAAAAAAUs/taKhD4Y97fk/s320/paint2.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;First I squirted the paint directly from the bottle in some lines - some longer lines and then a few shorter lines.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eXAsFVt6aBU/TxXGBTQ9L3I/AAAAAAAAAU0/S7d-004qtwo/s1600/paint3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eXAsFVt6aBU/TxXGBTQ9L3I/AAAAAAAAAU0/S7d-004qtwo/s320/paint3.jpg" width="274" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;The brush lines appealed to me more than the squirted lines, so I used a paint brush to smooth them down. That's just my preference, and isn't necessary for nice cherry blossoms.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Qg4OEj-ctNU/TxXGCcHz8oI/AAAAAAAAAU8/gexUDRxxMHQ/s1600/paint4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Qg4OEj-ctNU/TxXGCcHz8oI/AAAAAAAAAU8/gexUDRxxMHQ/s320/paint4.jpg" width="240" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif; text-align: left;"&gt;Then I put pink dots at the end of each branch. That's it. Lines and dots. Some of the dots got smushed together to make flower shapes.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif; text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif; text-align: left;"&gt;And the end result? Well my model went on strike so it was not the end.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif; text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bP-zVx023IU/Txdm12dl5mI/AAAAAAAAAVI/TKSqj8wkyVc/s1600/fini%253F.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bP-zVx023IU/Txdm12dl5mI/AAAAAAAAAVI/TKSqj8wkyVc/s320/fini%253F.jpg" width="240" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;I had a chance to look at the whole thing, often trouble.&amp;nbsp; I added some darker pink acrylic, which probably won't last through washing. And then...&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Hj2rZ8db7bI/Txdm3FMp7WI/AAAAAAAAAVY/-oFKt5VPqj4/s1600/finiPlus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Hj2rZ8db7bI/Txdm3FMp7WI/AAAAAAAAAVY/-oFKt5VPqj4/s320/finiPlus.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;I cut several small circles of tulle, which I snapped up at one point to make a tutu - whenever she gets into tutus. I layered three circles and sewed them together to add to the blossoms&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LLGB-JiuqjM/TxhM1zOwjgI/AAAAAAAAAVg/KZCkgc33wXM/s1600/finish.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LLGB-JiuqjM/TxhM1zOwjgI/AAAAAAAAAVg/KZCkgc33wXM/s320/finish.JPG" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jTNzj_qR__Y/Txdm2YwivFI/AAAAAAAAAVQ/zXHyFPxpkho/s1600/fini.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jTNzj_qR__Y/Txdm2YwivFI/AAAAAAAAAVQ/zXHyFPxpkho/s320/fini.jpg" width="240" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif; text-align: left;"&gt;And ta da! &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif; text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif; text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;a class="pin-it-button" count-layout="none" href="http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=http%3A%2F%2Faplusaequalsz.blogspot.com%2F2012%2F01%2Fsnap-wrap-kimono-style-dress-part-2.html&amp;amp;media=http%3A%2F%2Faplusaequalsz.blogspot.com%2F2012%2F01%2Fsnap-wrap-kimono-style-dress-part-2.html"&gt;Pin It&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;script src="http://assets.pinterest.com/js/pinit.js" type="text/javascript"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;a _mce_href="http://www.thetraintocrazy.com" href="http://www.thetraintocrazy.com/" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;img _mce_src="http://i874.photobucket.com/albums/ab308/thetraintocrazy/buttonstripefeaturedon.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i874.photobucket.com/albums/ab308/thetraintocrazy/buttonstripefeaturedon.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5942662543924424118-3918505488719167731?l=aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/feeds/3918505488719167731/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/01/snap-wrap-kimono-style-dress-part-2.html#comment-form' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/3918505488719167731'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/3918505488719167731'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/01/snap-wrap-kimono-style-dress-part-2.html' title='Snap Wrap Kimono Style Dress Part 2'/><author><name>Adrienne Doherty</name><uri>https://profiles.google.com/116912554098778421834</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//lh4.googleusercontent.com/-UVajcGcMfVA/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAbE/iSUlPBj428k/s512-c/photo.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TAUeQs0SR-A/TxTmxAIeKRI/AAAAAAAAAUY/TmSibSYwTOw/s72-c/cherries.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942662543924424118.post-1972607367240911741</id><published>2012-01-16T16:53:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2012-02-02T16:11:15.025-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='sewing'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='clothes'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='toddler dress'/><title type='text'>Snap Wrap Kimono Style Dress Part 1</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;Months ago, I made this dress for Z. It's a kimono style dress that pulls over her head instead of wrapping around. It's a pretty good play dress. And I thought it was so clever.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9hCcB1cfyDE/TxONcEfrRGI/AAAAAAAAASo/M1FcbQtljvI/s1600/0firstKimono.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9hCcB1cfyDE/TxONcEfrRGI/AAAAAAAAASo/M1FcbQtljvI/s320/0firstKimono.jpg" width="206" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;Some time later I fell in love with and made a &lt;a href="http://www.prudentbaby.com/2010/09/snap-wrap-dress.html" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" target="_blank"&gt;Snap Wrap Dress&lt;/a&gt; from Prudent Baby. It is not only a great looking dress, it's easy to get on. Little Z hates getting dressed and I appreciate anything that makes the task of clothing her easier. However, the dress is not always suitable for our weather, which is mostly foggy with a chance of heavy fog. With the optimism of not knowing what I was getting into, I decided to make a snap wrap kimono dress. And by make, I mean make up from the cobbled tutorials of others. Not realizing that this was simply a kimono dress - a pattern that's been around for probably a thousand years or so.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;Below is how I made the dress borrowing from some great tutorials. If you want a simpler kimono, Habitual made this &lt;a href="http://habitual.wordpress.com/kimono/" target="_blank"&gt;lovely one&lt;/a&gt;. The end result is still a kimono dress, which I made rather overly complicated. It's sort of funny when I remember thinking it was going to be the &lt;i&gt;greatest dress ever&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-py3FChA-bsE/Tw4vq2srQlI/AAAAAAAAAQA/oQTh0JcXF2s/s1600/1tracePattern.jpg" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696542991954166354" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-py3FChA-bsE/Tw4vq2srQlI/AAAAAAAAAQA/oQTh0JcXF2s/s320/1tracePattern.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 212px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;I started with making the pattern on some paper recaptured after our last art co-op. For some reason the kids did not spill much paint all over the paper we cover the tables with and it felt wrong to just chuck it. I've seen this method of getting a basic pattern on several sites. Using a shirt (or dress) that fits, I traced it onto the paper and then added some length because it's going to be a dress. I also tried diligently to follow along when &lt;a href="http://www.ikatbag.com/2010/08/drafting-part-v-drafting-basic-sleeve.html" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" target="_blank"&gt;ikatbag&lt;/a&gt; had a series of tutorials on drafting patterns. I think some of it stuck as I bravely/foolishly attempted a 3/4 sleeve. Z likes to stick her hands into everything and her cuffs are always getting ... well ... icky.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eQHyw6qpxN8/Tw4vrMl9dbI/AAAAAAAAAQM/FMGlRhgzGr8/s1600/3Pattern.jpg" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696542997831579058" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eQHyw6qpxN8/Tw4vrMl9dbI/AAAAAAAAAQM/FMGlRhgzGr8/s320/3Pattern.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 320px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 242px;" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The I traced the full front and the back of the shirt on the fold. The process for this is amazingly well spelled out on Craftiness is Not Optional &lt;a href="http://www.craftinessisnotoptional.com/2011/01/rachel-wrap-part-1-pattern-and-pieces.html" target="_blank"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. The idea is to get two almost full front pieces to wrap around.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YZzDbTtrbTw/Tw4vrVOzp7I/AAAAAAAAAQY/3BDDVzDAcOc/s1600/4curling.JPG" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696543000150386610" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YZzDbTtrbTw/Tw4vrVOzp7I/AAAAAAAAAQY/3BDDVzDAcOc/s320/4curling.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 264px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;The fabric I chose for this is a stretchy knit which should be good for playing and is in a color I love (I like purple). It is challenging fabric as seen by the curling at either end.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8ducbdvaD6g/Tw4vr-GkkEI/AAAAAAAAAQo/ACvXRo7ZDNk/s1600/5machine.jpg" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696543011121696834" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8ducbdvaD6g/Tw4vr-GkkEI/AAAAAAAAAQo/ACvXRo7ZDNk/s320/5machine.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;I do not have a serger. Frankly I am intimidated by them. I've read a lot about sewing knits. I like knits. I got out the ball point needle and trudged forward. I also hate my sewing machine. The machine knows this, and it doesn't help our relationship. The manufacturer knows this, because I've gone to them asking for help.  I bought it due to some very good reviews, only to find that it has the worst tension problems I've ever dealt with. The kind people at the Brother corporation told me to always set the tension to 5 and make sure I'm threading it right. I'm going to chuck it out a window and get a machine I like as soon as I can. Anyway, at some point in every project I throw in the towel and just hand sew the rest. I like hand sewing and find it therapeutic.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--Mrw62-9Cbw/TxCqZkZU4iI/AAAAAAAAAR4/jVfLrStYevY/s1600/machineSnarl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--Mrw62-9Cbw/TxCqZkZU4iI/AAAAAAAAAR4/jVfLrStYevY/s320/machineSnarl.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;This was a good day with it.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5LehrWfGmDY/Tw4wwL6tIoI/AAAAAAAAAQ8/oXZd3jwz5WA/s1600/6sewing.jpg" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696544183061127810" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5LehrWfGmDY/Tw4wwL6tIoI/AAAAAAAAAQ8/oXZd3jwz5WA/s320/6sewing.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;I like sewing in the sleeves this way because I admit to a lot of trouble getting them to work. Most of the things I make for Z are sleeveless because of that. I saw this method and thought it would end my troubles. And keep a little girl's arms warm.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1FCyf57nB8w/Tw4wwVdI3EI/AAAAAAAAARE/m1d6uOe_VRc/s1600/7sleeve.jpg" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696544185621470274" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1FCyf57nB8w/Tw4wwVdI3EI/AAAAAAAAARE/m1d6uOe_VRc/s320/7sleeve.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sew the shoulder seams first. Pin and sew sleeve in place.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hRJ493czFnc/Tw4wwWUXCRI/AAAAAAAAARY/ilFyKZmK2bY/s1600/8sideseam.jpg" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696544185853085970" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hRJ493czFnc/Tw4wwWUXCRI/AAAAAAAAARY/ilFyKZmK2bY/s320/8sideseam.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;Then sew the side seam and sleeve seam in a straight shot. I lined up the seams where the sleeves meet the body at the underarm.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LGOmFVaklH0/Tw4wxJL7qzI/AAAAAAAAARg/fa8HsVKRU8Q/s1600/9neckline.jpg" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696544199507946290" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LGOmFVaklH0/Tw4wxJL7qzI/AAAAAAAAARg/fa8HsVKRU8Q/s320/9neckline.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;This is where it was to get some style in the form of bias tape. In this case stretchy knit bias tape because I'm a glutton for punishment. And I thought it would look nice.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M_TRK3A5Tt0/TxCqa3a4rOI/AAAAAAAAASI/oznwF2rVw8I/s1600/NeckFini.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M_TRK3A5Tt0/TxCqa3a4rOI/AAAAAAAAASI/oznwF2rVw8I/s320/NeckFini.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I was wrong. The combination of stretchy material and stretchy bias tape gave me a sort of warped neckline. It is easy on the neck as it is soft, but it doesn't look wonderful.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6w1gUCNb0ek/TxCqaZNba3I/AAAAAAAAASA/9CXnu_3N7Kc/s1600/modeling1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6w1gUCNb0ek/TxCqaZNba3I/AAAAAAAAASA/9CXnu_3N7Kc/s320/modeling1.jpg" width="211" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Z also seemed a bit small for the dress (not that I made it too big) and less than thrilled with wearing it. So I decided to spend her nap reworking it by first adding a panel to help the neckline. I am sure this is bad sewing form, but it did help. And I'd already ripped out and replaced the bias tape.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YiVZP8ODjYI/TxONc3yFpkI/AAAAAAAAASw/bacsG0WMXkg/s1600/rework.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YiVZP8ODjYI/TxONc3yFpkI/AAAAAAAAASw/bacsG0WMXkg/s320/rework.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif; text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif; text-align: left;"&gt;And then I decided it could work if I made it snazzier.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif; text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ic5edFUPfq4/TxR0U9VCHhI/AAAAAAAAAS4/TFMr64kDOpg/s1600/model3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ic5edFUPfq4/TxR0U9VCHhI/AAAAAAAAAS4/TFMr64kDOpg/s320/model3.JPG" width="240" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;Now, Z will wear this dress and not care because she's two and clothes are just something mom makes her wear. The next steps are simply to make me happy with the dress.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So back to the drawing board... &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-17TCGcn3p3Q/TxTGU6OIfvI/AAAAAAAAATA/_lfENO6TkQg/s1600/sketch1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="232" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-17TCGcn3p3Q/TxTGU6OIfvI/AAAAAAAAATA/_lfENO6TkQg/s320/sketch1.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And onto &lt;a href="http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/01/snap-wrap-kimono-style-dress-part-2.html"&gt;part 2&lt;/a&gt;. &amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5942662543924424118-1972607367240911741?l=aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/feeds/1972607367240911741/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/01/snap-wrap-kimono-style-dress-part-1.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/1972607367240911741'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/1972607367240911741'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/01/snap-wrap-kimono-style-dress-part-1.html' title='Snap Wrap Kimono Style Dress Part 1'/><author><name>Adrienne Doherty</name><uri>https://profiles.google.com/116912554098778421834</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//lh4.googleusercontent.com/-UVajcGcMfVA/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAbE/iSUlPBj428k/s512-c/photo.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9hCcB1cfyDE/TxONcEfrRGI/AAAAAAAAASo/M1FcbQtljvI/s72-c/0firstKimono.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942662543924424118.post-4887610345426731365</id><published>2012-01-13T18:00:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2012-01-24T13:31:46.298-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='thaumatrope'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='tutorial'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='toddler toy'/><title type='text'>Thaumatrope How To</title><content type='html'>&lt;iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="248" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/35040190?title=0&amp;amp;byline=0&amp;amp;portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="440"&gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;A&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;Thaumatropes were popular toys in the Victorian era. We had a lot of fun making some and I wanted to share them. But I wanted to share it in my own camera shy illustrator way.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;You will need:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;ul style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;li&gt;Thaumatrope template&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Glue&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Scissors&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Hole Punch&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;String&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Decorating stuff (paint, crayons, glitter, etc.)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MoURVkxwitg/TxDfdg2smqI/AAAAAAAAASg/Yzr3lWsGye8/s1600/ThaumatropePatterns.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="248" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MoURVkxwitg/TxDfdg2smqI/AAAAAAAAASg/Yzr3lWsGye8/s320/ThaumatropePatterns.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;You can download the template by right clicking the image above.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;ol&gt;&lt;li style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt; Print the template onto card stock or heavy paper&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt; Cut out the circles&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;Punch holes&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;Decorate&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;Glue the blank sides together, making sure to note the tops on the templates and line up the holes&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;Add a string to either side&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;Twirl&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: &amp;quot;Trebuchet MS&amp;quot;,sans-serif;"&gt;You can view the online exhibit of optical toys &lt;a href="http://courses.ncssm.edu/gallery/collections/toys/opticaltoys.htm" target="_blank"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A special thanks to Suzanne.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.makeandtakes.com/"  &gt;&lt;img src="http://i747.photobucket.com/albums/xx120/makeandtakes/mt-button---featured.png" border="0" alt="Featured at Make and Takes" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5942662543924424118-4887610345426731365?l=aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/feeds/4887610345426731365/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/01/thaumatrope-how-to.html#comment-form' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/4887610345426731365'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/4887610345426731365'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/01/thaumatrope-how-to.html' title='Thaumatrope How To'/><author><name>Adrienne Doherty</name><uri>https://profiles.google.com/116912554098778421834</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//lh4.googleusercontent.com/-UVajcGcMfVA/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAbE/iSUlPBj428k/s512-c/photo.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MoURVkxwitg/TxDfdg2smqI/AAAAAAAAASg/Yzr3lWsGye8/s72-c/ThaumatropePatterns.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942662543924424118.post-2557305608651690481</id><published>2012-01-13T14:43:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2012-01-13T14:43:42.163-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='teddy bear'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='sewing'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='rag doll'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='craft'/><title type='text'>Homemade Holiday</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;This year I tried to make some gifts. Simple things. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Slr8FmoTNgw/TwSSYBqmSyI/AAAAAAAAANc/9uWS_jI68Eg/s1600/ragdolls.jpg"&gt;&lt;img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5693836770364771106" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Slr8FmoTNgw/TwSSYBqmSyI/AAAAAAAAANc/9uWS_jI68Eg/s320/ragdolls.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 320px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 226px;" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Z likes dolls, dolls of all sorts and sizes and shapes. So I looked at about 10,000 different styles and patterns and somehow morphed them into these two. There is one sitting in my drawer that Adrian refers to as an alien autopsy, so there were a few mishaps along the way.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zOGRFpCpfRA/TwSSX5HXpEI/AAAAAAAAANQ/N9HnXPL9g0U/s1600/ragdollDetail.jpg" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5693836768069526594" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zOGRFpCpfRA/TwSSX5HXpEI/AAAAAAAAANQ/N9HnXPL9g0U/s320/ragdollDetail.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 320px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 240px;" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I recycled some of Z's baby clothes for the dolls, which made me feel better because I'd made the clothes and some things she wore once.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YTKw3pvWkgc/Tw-iysg74SI/AAAAAAAAARw/w0DjbntdPlA/s1600/bubblewrapNecklace.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="233" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YTKw3pvWkgc/Tw-iysg74SI/AAAAAAAAARw/w0DjbntdPlA/s320/bubblewrapNecklace.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;This &lt;a href="http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2011/05/book_excerpt_bubble_wrap_neckl.html" target="_blank"&gt;bubble wrap necklace&lt;/a&gt; was for Z's big sister who respects a well recycled item.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w4mkn9OS3a0/TxCyoXQjYoI/AAAAAAAAASQ/8Y4tXXopIKo/s1600/goldfish.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="276" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w4mkn9OS3a0/TxCyoXQjYoI/AAAAAAAAASQ/8Y4tXXopIKo/s320/goldfish.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;I made the odd goldfish out of felt for Z's stocking inspired by an episode of Kipper the Dog. It was quickly adopted by the cat and everybody is happy.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M8B_Y3kGdYI/TwR7FeHhrNI/AAAAAAAAANE/kxOBmF0hUXU/s1600/zCdress.jpg" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5693811162817342674" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M8B_Y3kGdYI/TwR7FeHhrNI/AAAAAAAAANE/kxOBmF0hUXU/s320/zCdress.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 228px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;By far, my favorite thing I made for her this holiday season was this.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;All Z wanted from Santa was another teddy bear. She said it over and over, and we let her because we already had the teddy bear ready, so it was cute and not annoying.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oP2dRAImZ-U/TxCypFDWe5I/AAAAAAAAASY/LzmqkA2JH9k/s1600/skirt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oP2dRAImZ-U/TxCypFDWe5I/AAAAAAAAASY/LzmqkA2JH9k/s320/skirt.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;I had some teddy bear print fabric which I thought would make a great addition to this theme of a teddy bear Christmas. This dress was inspired by Me Sew Crazy's &lt;a href="http://www.mesewcrazy.com/2011/11/pr-tutorials-week-5-fishtail-circle.html" target="_blank"&gt;fishtail skirt post&lt;/a&gt; which I was crazy about from the moment I saw it. The bears are the lining of the skirt and I added some gold stars and a little teddy bear charm at the neck. The rain boots were her idea and proved to be essential as she found a great big puddle that needed splashing.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5942662543924424118-2557305608651690481?l=aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/feeds/2557305608651690481/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/01/homemade-holiday.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/2557305608651690481'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/2557305608651690481'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/01/homemade-holiday.html' title='Homemade Holiday'/><author><name>Adrienne Doherty</name><uri>https://profiles.google.com/116912554098778421834</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//lh4.googleusercontent.com/-UVajcGcMfVA/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAbE/iSUlPBj428k/s512-c/photo.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Slr8FmoTNgw/TwSSYBqmSyI/AAAAAAAAANc/9uWS_jI68Eg/s72-c/ragdolls.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942662543924424118.post-7284609719122385960</id><published>2012-01-03T11:02:00.001-08:00</published><updated>2012-01-08T14:24:23.700-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='felt'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='embroidery'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='sewing'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='busy book'/><title type='text'>Busy Book for Z</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;This past summer we planned a fairly big trip which involved an 11 hour plane ride. Z was 20 months at the time and could sit still for about 12 seconds total. I had read about busy books and thought making one for her would be the perfect answer.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It was not.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;She hated the book. She would cry or throw it across the room whenever I showed it to her. Perhaps it was too advanced. Perhaps she resented the time I invested into it. I don't know. She just wasn't going to be calmed on the plane by it. At the time it was a bit heartbreaking, but it's pretty funny now.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And now she likes to rip it apart so it does keep her busy.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;This is how I began my collection of felt. I  used white denim as the base for the pages and brown denim for the cover because I had it. I tried to  spice it up with little embroidered designs here and there. Overall, I think it's a nice distraction.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VqLjFPreX3w/TwOPrwTMAxI/AAAAAAAAAM4/cc8kGJhxJNI/s1600/busyCover.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 286px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VqLjFPreX3w/TwOPrwTMAxI/AAAAAAAAAM4/cc8kGJhxJNI/s320/busyCover.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5693552335788966674" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The unfinished cover.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1YgmQuS6Kys/TwNRjjgDdSI/AAAAAAAAALA/G-HTLN42pkE/s1600/01.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 264px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1YgmQuS6Kys/TwNRjjgDdSI/AAAAAAAAALA/G-HTLN42pkE/s320/01.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5693484025193395490" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Button on Flowers.&lt;br /&gt;This is one of the pages that I saw others had done and thought it was brilliant. The little red planter is a pocket.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-g2RO_DIZniY/TwNRj1Y-vbI/AAAAAAAAALM/lRe3UQqkNn0/s1600/02.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 197px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-g2RO_DIZniY/TwNRj1Y-vbI/AAAAAAAAALM/lRe3UQqkNn0/s320/02.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5693484029995564466" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Velcro Shapes and Fasteners&lt;br /&gt;We practice the colors and names of the shapes as she throws them. She's shown no interest in the zippers, hooks or clips.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ln0oDMLTNkM/TwNRkSjDEgI/AAAAAAAAALY/Wk1FIk5bEqI/s1600/03.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 203px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ln0oDMLTNkM/TwNRkSjDEgI/AAAAAAAAALY/Wk1FIk5bEqI/s320/03.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5693484037822419458" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Counting and Tie a Shoe&lt;br /&gt;I made the&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt; first three&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt; counting squares primary colors and the next three secondary colors to sort of subliminally get that information into her. It fell apart on the third set as I didn't find felt at SCRAP in tertiary colors. I don't mind if that didn't work. She likes to untie the shoe and try to put her foot inside.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6iUdwy8Po2U/TwNRkks4m0I/AAAAAAAAALk/CYlPy3uCp1E/s1600/03a.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 247px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6iUdwy8Po2U/TwNRkks4m0I/AAAAAAAAALk/CYlPy3uCp1E/s320/03a.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5693484042695514946" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Close up of the counting page&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n228bDFUef8/TwNRlfIKbGI/AAAAAAAAALw/6PsmF7j5Xtg/s1600/04.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 197px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n228bDFUef8/TwNRlfIKbGI/AAAAAAAAALw/6PsmF7j5Xtg/s320/04.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5693484058379185250" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This page is about finding things.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q2v5Bw_6jYU/TwNiubqW6sI/AAAAAAAAAL8/Mqtjfsg3WL8/s1600/04A.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 192px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q2v5Bw_6jYU/TwNiubqW6sI/AAAAAAAAAL8/Mqtjfsg3WL8/s320/04A.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5693502903765363394" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Some of the things hidden around. The cloud hides an airplane. The kite has a hanglider behind it. The ducks are held on by fishing line which allows them to "swim" back and forth. The water comes off to reveal fish. All the leaves have birds or bugs hidden underneath, and that black circle in the trunk of the tree hides a squirrel.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s_Pr3vQ9drM/TwOPrQkcKWI/AAAAAAAAAMs/16fWhCkHSNc/s1600/busyBestBird.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 277px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s_Pr3vQ9drM/TwOPrQkcKWI/AAAAAAAAAMs/16fWhCkHSNc/s320/busyBestBird.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5693552327271393634" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;An extra close up on this, my favorite bird.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TV36jSgu_i4/TwNiuqwidRI/AAAAAAAAAMI/NRDPmOYp5PI/s1600/05.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 199px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TV36jSgu_i4/TwNiuqwidRI/AAAAAAAAAMI/NRDPmOYp5PI/s320/05.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5693502907817817362" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Textures and Snap on Balloons&lt;br /&gt;Soft, smooth, silky, bumpy and scratchy (a scouring pad). I tried to make a little carnival by the balloons.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b3bbmvFClS8/TwNivHyfb7I/AAAAAAAAAMQ/wQlEiIa-kEY/s1600/06.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 206px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b3bbmvFClS8/TwNivHyfb7I/AAAAAAAAAMQ/wQlEiIa-kEY/s320/06.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5693502915610636210" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Eddie's Garden&lt;br /&gt;Z loves a book called Eddie's Garden, so this was my homage to the illustrator. The carrots snap on, as do the peas and the pumpkin. The corn, the chard and the sunflower are velcro, and there's a little rabbit hidden near the peas. Lots of busy birds and bugs populate the book, so I tried to copy that (with some problems around the border).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6RBZt0zu1FI/TwNivUDnRRI/AAAAAAAAAMg/q0fXbWKTFEw/s1600/07.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 261px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6RBZt0zu1FI/TwNivUDnRRI/AAAAAAAAAMg/q0fXbWKTFEw/s320/07.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5693502918903678226" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A little pocket to hold all the bits that fall off.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5942662543924424118-7284609719122385960?l=aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/feeds/7284609719122385960/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/01/busy-book-for-z.html#comment-form' title='8 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/7284609719122385960'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/7284609719122385960'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/01/busy-book-for-z.html' title='Busy Book for Z'/><author><name>Adrienne Doherty</name><uri>https://profiles.google.com/116912554098778421834</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//lh4.googleusercontent.com/-UVajcGcMfVA/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAbE/iSUlPBj428k/s512-c/photo.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VqLjFPreX3w/TwOPrwTMAxI/AAAAAAAAAM4/cc8kGJhxJNI/s72-c/busyCover.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>8</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942662543924424118.post-3400003874475343756</id><published>2012-01-01T20:26:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2012-01-08T13:44:45.560-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='birds'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='felt'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='woodland'/><title type='text'>Itty Bitty Bird Tutorial</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SYSiL0MtZnA/TwenIifLpTI/AAAAAAAAAPI/MAGfcB2CvXY/s1600/birdsInTree.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SYSiL0MtZnA/TwenIifLpTI/AAAAAAAAAPI/MAGfcB2CvXY/s320/birdsInTree.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694704018971665714" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;For most of my life, birds have creeped me out - I've  never been a big fan. Not only because of the movie "The Birds" (which I just learned was based on &lt;a href="http://www.freep.com/article/20111228/NEWS07/111228018/Alfred-Hitchcock-birds-mystery" target="_blank"&gt;a real incident&lt;/a&gt;) after which I could never view any group of birds quite the same. But also because my dad liked to describe them as filthy creatures, full of diseases which takes the romance right out. However, picture books are just full of them, and they  can be very pretty. Also, Z loves them, even pigeons, which I cannot  abide. So I recently got excited about making birds.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Woodland pictures are chock full of birds. I don't seem to be getting over making small felt animals, so why not add in some birds. The problem of course is scale. The &lt;a href="http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2011/12/this-year-while-looking-for-some.html"&gt;little animals&lt;/a&gt; are .. well ... little - Mr. Deer towers at 6" tall. The birds have to be itty AND bitty to work in this world. Oh, and I had to start with robins. Why? I think robins are the most woodlandy. All of which makes a nice little intro into this - the itty bitty bird tutorial.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jooCUsZzhKE/TwYomXpKUzI/AAAAAAAAANo/DP-f2OtNnSg/s1600/bird1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 206px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jooCUsZzhKE/TwYomXpKUzI/AAAAAAAAANo/DP-f2OtNnSg/s320/bird1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694283418503369522" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I have made a LOT of birds in the past few days. Little difficult birds. They do require good felt and good light. And patience.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gKbwDgRsqXU/TwoN7cG0L7I/AAAAAAAAAP0/rb9D2HpsctM/s1600/bird1gry-blue.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gKbwDgRsqXU/TwoN7cG0L7I/AAAAAAAAAP0/rb9D2HpsctM/s320/bird1gry-blue.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5695379993571635122" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;With a lot of that practice and my own growing prop house for a felt remake of "The Birds", I landed on the pattern I like best. Some aspects were inspired by things I've seen and patterns I've downloaded. I can't thank the kind people who post these things enough.  There are pictures of a few different birds being constructed because some of the photos are better on one or the other. I cut out the birds from the best felt I had.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k-s6uUwosFk/Twel7XDjW7I/AAAAAAAAAOI/yR7bm_952ws/s1600/boidieTute2.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 263px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k-s6uUwosFk/Twel7XDjW7I/AAAAAAAAAOI/yR7bm_952ws/s320/boidieTute2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694702693053062066" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;First I sewed on the wings. This is good planning, and has nothing to do with my desire to hide casting on and off.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BOdhcIvQ0zY/Twel7hkGuLI/AAAAAAAAAOU/aXL6JQCRKbg/s1600/boidieTute3.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 263px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BOdhcIvQ0zY/Twel7hkGuLI/AAAAAAAAAOU/aXL6JQCRKbg/s320/boidieTute3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694702695873951922" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Then I sewed the back seam.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Al5eaQ83oK8/Twel8TrV6FI/AAAAAAAAAOg/C8lAVdmpN34/s1600/boidieTute4.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 263px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Al5eaQ83oK8/Twel8TrV6FI/AAAAAAAAAOg/C8lAVdmpN34/s320/boidieTute4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694702709326080082" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This is where I think I am so clever. I twisted the tails to line up and used the decorative straight stitches to hold it in place.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iEep3H3KVU4/Twel86Eo1TI/AAAAAAAAAOs/4tIAPijRxCY/s1600/boidieTute5.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 263px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iEep3H3KVU4/Twel86Eo1TI/AAAAAAAAAOs/4tIAPijRxCY/s320/boidieTute5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694702719632725298" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sew on the belly.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oVmugoYEDPM/TwenIO9CUZI/AAAAAAAAAO4/R6QxIUYq_84/s1600/boidieTute6.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 263px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oVmugoYEDPM/TwenIO9CUZI/AAAAAAAAAO4/R6QxIUYq_84/s320/boidieTute6.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694704013728174482" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Stuff her up. That odd tool is something of Adrian's that he lent me and is never getting back. He claims it is a dental instrument.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6CRgMU6mfv8/TwoMuU2-wJI/AAAAAAAAAPQ/_eofgspKf_o/s1600/grybirdCU.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6CRgMU6mfv8/TwoMuU2-wJI/AAAAAAAAAPQ/_eofgspKf_o/s320/grybirdCU.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5695378668776243346" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On these birds, I've taken to painting the eyes and beaks. I don't know if that is cheating, but it looks better.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x1H_nUeEEwo/TwoMuhGITJI/AAAAAAAAAPg/heGjJCPEGyg/s1600/newBirds.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x1H_nUeEEwo/TwoMuhGITJI/AAAAAAAAAPg/heGjJCPEGyg/s320/newBirds.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5695378672061009042" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I've expanded to the gray birds, canaries and briefly to a bird with open wings. I've even got the little blue bird to add. So the little tree is filling up slowly. Just like in the movie.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WGR6Tjg4XbM/TwoMvLdFWWI/AAAAAAAAAPo/8G_Ali7XpYc/s1600/birdTreeEnd.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 271px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WGR6Tjg4XbM/TwoMvLdFWWI/AAAAAAAAAPo/8G_Ali7XpYc/s320/birdTreeEnd.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5695378683431573858" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5942662543924424118-3400003874475343756?l=aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/feeds/3400003874475343756/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/01/itty-bitty-bird-tutorial.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/3400003874475343756'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/3400003874475343756'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2012/01/itty-bitty-bird-tutorial.html' title='Itty Bitty Bird Tutorial'/><author><name>Adrienne Doherty</name><uri>https://profiles.google.com/116912554098778421834</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//lh4.googleusercontent.com/-UVajcGcMfVA/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAbE/iSUlPBj428k/s512-c/photo.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SYSiL0MtZnA/TwenIifLpTI/AAAAAAAAAPI/MAGfcB2CvXY/s72-c/birdsInTree.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942662543924424118.post-6159147210255186590</id><published>2011-12-30T13:48:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2011-12-31T05:52:40.371-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='sewing'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='felting'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='craft'/><title type='text'>Nothing Says Festive Like a Felt Jellyfish</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;This is my first tutorial, and my first real attempt to blog and I'm new to the art of felt critters, so bear with me.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The jellyfish, like all the felt things I make, is created entirely from stuff I got at SCRAP (&lt;a href="http://www.scrap-sf.org/" target="_blank"&gt;www.scrap-sf.org&lt;/a&gt;).  They do not label the felt, and I'm just learning to tell the wool  blend from the acrylic, though I can usually tell the good pure wool. The  felt here is probably wool blend and obviously wrinkly, but, because I  wasn't completely sure, I didn't iron it. I also hate ironing. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cdyGxMIoO_Y/Tv4yB4eLMbI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/o1oZg4jKNNA/s1600/jelly1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cdyGxMIoO_Y/Tv4yB4eLMbI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/o1oZg4jKNNA/s320/jelly1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5692041986963091890" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;At this point, I lay out the colors and pretend that I actually keep my embroidery floss remotely neat. It really lives all bunched up in a pouch with a Snickers bar, but perhaps organizing it will be a resolution. I've tried to pin pattern pieces to the felt in order to cut them out, but it seems when they are this small (these are 2 1/2" long by 1" wide) to be easier to trace the pattern directly onto the felt.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sixyhsQ3cjc/Tv5ObOTWs_I/AAAAAAAAAHc/hZjwmviv9r8/s1600/jelly2.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sixyhsQ3cjc/Tv5ObOTWs_I/AAAAAAAAAHc/hZjwmviv9r8/s320/jelly2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5692073208645596146" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Cut out six pieces of the body shape (&lt;a href="http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2010/09/jellyfish-template.html" target="_blank"&gt;template&lt;/a&gt;), and begin to sew it together.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l-VyeatTA9s/Tv5XUylkXmI/AAAAAAAAAHo/8sBAg_ZXfdg/s1600/jelly3.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 169px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l-VyeatTA9s/Tv5XUylkXmI/AAAAAAAAAHo/8sBAg_ZXfdg/s320/jelly3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5692082993731231330" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I am a fan of the blanket stitch. I've tried whip stitch and it's a good stitch, but I'm not good at it. I also sort of remember reading somebody else say that the blanket stitch was a bit "country" which works for me. I could have it completely backwards and she might have said whip stitch is "country", but I'm doing blanket. Somewhere I envision camps of whip stitchers battling it out with blanket stitchers, but this is just fun to imagine while I'm stitching. Both work.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HRnUxQvu2vs/Tv5moZPJVyI/AAAAAAAAAH0/WQQIe_YdB1A/s1600/jelly4.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HRnUxQvu2vs/Tv5moZPJVyI/AAAAAAAAAH0/WQQIe_YdB1A/s320/jelly4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5692099823198099234" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;More stitching&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nETYhCqXHJs/Tv5movxQQVI/AAAAAAAAAH8/YXXJ7tbgmek/s1600/jelly5.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 310px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nETYhCqXHJs/Tv5movxQQVI/AAAAAAAAAH8/YXXJ7tbgmek/s320/jelly5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5692099829246738770" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;At this point it looks a bit like a star fruit or something organic. I think.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4x8kTM3UT1g/Tv5moxNvfmI/AAAAAAAAAIM/l8verfDh5QE/s1600/jelly6.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 206px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4x8kTM3UT1g/Tv5moxNvfmI/AAAAAAAAAIM/l8verfDh5QE/s320/jelly6.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5692099829634661986" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now it is time to stuff it. Yes there is a bit of excess thread I didn't cut off, but the legs will be there and my laziness pays off.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FnSk0dB3lo8/Tv5rCugAblI/AAAAAAAAAIw/hG6FJPDi-qM/s1600/jelly7.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 234px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FnSk0dB3lo8/Tv5rCugAblI/AAAAAAAAAIw/hG6FJPDi-qM/s320/jelly7.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5692104673629072978" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EAy6Q4S4xeY/Tv5mpZyVpyI/AAAAAAAAAIc/OtEyq6ESJCI/s1600/jelly8.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 221px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EAy6Q4S4xeY/Tv5mpZyVpyI/AAAAAAAAAIc/OtEyq6ESJCI/s320/jelly8.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5692099840525575970" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I pull the extra thread through the body to create a bit more of a jellyfish shape.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kH9LH5KfHT4/Tv5mqumP9JI/AAAAAAAAAIk/CLI-9dniN0Y/s1600/jelly9.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 258px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kH9LH5KfHT4/Tv5mqumP9JI/AAAAAAAAAIk/CLI-9dniN0Y/s320/jelly9.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5692099863291884690" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I tie off the thread at the top. Now the body is sewn.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-32DYfL3rz3I/Tv5rC5pic2I/AAAAAAAAAI8/cHQ0ba1jDXY/s1600/jelly10a.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-32DYfL3rz3I/Tv5rC5pic2I/AAAAAAAAAI8/cHQ0ba1jDXY/s320/jelly10a.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5692104676621841250" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here I've decorated the body with a bit of super simple stitching - one straight stitch on either side of a lazy daisy stitch toward the top &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;center &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;of each panel.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Fy-dHSxYt88/Tv5rDMCwwMI/AAAAAAAAAJI/asDmr2kZZqQ/s1600/jelly10.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 281px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Fy-dHSxYt88/Tv5rDMCwwMI/AAAAAAAAAJI/asDmr2kZZqQ/s320/jelly10.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5692104681559474370" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Time to add some legs! This is really a choice thing. The legs can be a single color of floss using all 6 strands about 8 inches long, and separating them at the end for fuller looking legs. I chose to make them 5 strands of different colors. Yes, 5 not 6. I also chose to use silver metallic floss, which is just a nightmare to work with. I love the look, but it never cooperates.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m74D4OSf49E/Tv5rDoQLRbI/AAAAAAAAAJY/_aFKqGuth4s/s1600/jelly11.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m74D4OSf49E/Tv5rDoQLRbI/AAAAAAAAAJY/_aFKqGuth4s/s320/jelly11.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5692104689131931058" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Tie off the legs with a simple slip knot.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WqXBgtSAud8/Tv5rELjj1XI/AAAAAAAAAJg/5Lu2fLrj-QQ/s1600/jelly12.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WqXBgtSAud8/Tv5rELjj1XI/AAAAAAAAAJg/5Lu2fLrj-QQ/s320/jelly12.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5692104698608473458" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I try to make two rings of 6 legs each, which sort of gives it depth. The outer ring (green circle) I place at the seams for no other reason than I like it. The inner ring (red circle) I put towards the middle of each panel.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YJpXaxrwBY0/Tv6AOob9ONI/AAAAAAAAAJs/7e2ZbUqnF6g/s1600/jelly13.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 281px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YJpXaxrwBY0/Tv6AOob9ONI/AAAAAAAAAJs/7e2ZbUqnF6g/s320/jelly13.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5692127967904086226" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And there you have it! A jellyfish or something that looks like it would be perfectly at home inside I Dream of Jeanie's bottle.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-c9xzRiIe6pc/Tv6D84IrK2I/AAAAAAAAAJ4/Sf-rS3Ndj10/s1600/bottle.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-c9xzRiIe6pc/Tv6D84IrK2I/AAAAAAAAAJ4/Sf-rS3Ndj10/s320/bottle.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5692132060927044450" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You can add a nice ribbon or cord tie to hang it, or you can accidentally leave it lying around for the cat and the toddler to argue over.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bZYrnEfkQEQ/Tv8TR5ki_mI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/qRC1qWHzzhg/s1600/kidVsCat.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 128px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bZYrnEfkQEQ/Tv8TR5ki_mI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/qRC1qWHzzhg/s320/kidVsCat.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5692289652252409442" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5942662543924424118-6159147210255186590?l=aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/feeds/6159147210255186590/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2011/12/nothing-says-festive-like-felt.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/6159147210255186590'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/6159147210255186590'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2011/12/nothing-says-festive-like-felt.html' title='Nothing Says Festive Like a Felt Jellyfish'/><author><name>Adrienne Doherty</name><uri>https://profiles.google.com/116912554098778421834</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//lh4.googleusercontent.com/-UVajcGcMfVA/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAbE/iSUlPBj428k/s512-c/photo.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cdyGxMIoO_Y/Tv4yB4eLMbI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/o1oZg4jKNNA/s72-c/jelly1.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942662543924424118.post-8181981859365070296</id><published>2011-12-30T07:11:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2011-12-30T07:34:25.331-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='sewing'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='felting'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='craft'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='holiday'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Christmas'/><title type='text'>Sewing Strange Felt Friends Since Christmas 2011</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-flYUylSzBdg/Tv3Uw5Lz4JI/AAAAAAAAAG0/gM3w98Pqwj4/s1600/seaFelt.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 247px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-flYUylSzBdg/Tv3Uw5Lz4JI/AAAAAAAAAG0/gM3w98Pqwj4/s320/seaFelt.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691939440515342482" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;This year, while looking for some projects for the art co-op I help run, I found some little felt seahorses. It was an ornament created by Futuregirl (futuregirl.com) and I was in love. These would never work for the pre-preschool crowd that comes to art co-op, but it was my holiday project to make them for everybody I loved. However, her patterns are for more skilled craftsmen than me, with better quality felt. I modified/simplified the pattern and then made the jellyfish. Nothing says festive like a felt jellyfish.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-es9FQletMTk/Tv3UwiC2Z4I/AAAAAAAAAGs/0W8DUBSHXwY/s1600/animals2.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 270px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-es9FQletMTk/Tv3UwiC2Z4I/AAAAAAAAAGs/0W8DUBSHXwY/s320/animals2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691939434303743874" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Then I met Ms. Cynthia Treen's adorable reindeer, and so I left the world of sea creature felt for a felt woodland. I could barely get the stuffing down those skinny legs, so I made all my creatures a bit chunkier. If anyone wants to make a felt jellyfish of their own, I'll post the pattern.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5942662543924424118-8181981859365070296?l=aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/feeds/8181981859365070296/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2011/12/this-year-while-looking-for-some.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/8181981859365070296'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/8181981859365070296'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2011/12/this-year-while-looking-for-some.html' title='Sewing Strange Felt Friends Since Christmas 2011'/><author><name>Adrienne Doherty</name><uri>https://profiles.google.com/116912554098778421834</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//lh4.googleusercontent.com/-UVajcGcMfVA/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAbE/iSUlPBj428k/s512-c/photo.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-flYUylSzBdg/Tv3Uw5Lz4JI/AAAAAAAAAG0/gM3w98Pqwj4/s72-c/seaFelt.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942662543924424118.post-4145951751555004262</id><published>2011-12-13T12:01:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2011-12-13T12:01:51.705-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe: Hand Dyed Floss Give-Away for Christmas!</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://victorianmottosamplershoppe.blogspot.com/2011/12/hand-dyed-floss-give-away-for-christmas.html#comment-form"&gt;Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe: Hand Dyed Floss Give-Away for Christmas!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5942662543924424118-4145951751555004262?l=aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/feeds/4145951751555004262/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2011/12/victorian-motto-sampler-shoppe-hand.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/4145951751555004262'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/4145951751555004262'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2011/12/victorian-motto-sampler-shoppe-hand.html' title='Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe: Hand Dyed Floss Give-Away for Christmas!'/><author><name>Adrienne Doherty</name><uri>https://profiles.google.com/116912554098778421834</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//lh4.googleusercontent.com/-UVajcGcMfVA/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAbE/iSUlPBj428k/s512-c/photo.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942662543924424118.post-7443600669582422965</id><published>2010-09-17T18:00:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2011-12-31T04:54:01.897-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Jellyfish Template</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OwGKP3QvQ_s/Tv8F4EItl-I/AAAAAAAAAKE/AjnfV323HV0/s1600/jellyfishTemplate.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 108px; height: 216px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OwGKP3QvQ_s/Tv8F4EItl-I/AAAAAAAAAKE/AjnfV323HV0/s320/jellyfishTemplate.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5692274914760693730" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5942662543924424118-7443600669582422965?l=aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/feeds/7443600669582422965/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2010/09/jellyfish-template.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/7443600669582422965'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5942662543924424118/posts/default/7443600669582422965'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://aplusaequalsz.blogspot.com/2010/09/jellyfish-template.html' title='Jellyfish Template'/><author><name>Adrienne Doherty</name><uri>https://profiles.google.com/116912554098778421834</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//lh4.googleusercontent.com/-UVajcGcMfVA/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAbE/iSUlPBj428k/s512-c/photo.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OwGKP3QvQ_s/Tv8F4EItl-I/AAAAAAAAAKE/AjnfV323HV0/s72-c/jellyfishTemplate.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry></feed>
