making stuff

I've been working on some new stuff for the shop. Christmas is coming, right. I could tell this morning because we had a slight dusting of snow. The whole balcony was convincingly white and the Little Dude was very, very excited. He had big plans to play in the snow. We got out boots and snow pants for school and off he went. He was rather disappointed when I picked him up at the end of the day, to hear that the snow was gone. I can remember that feeling from when I was a little kid. How the first smidgen of snow filled your head with dreams of snow forts and snowball fights and snow men and then you went outside and there was literally nothing to work with. You'd make such a good effort, scraping handfuls of it together, trying to get it to pack into a ball. But you'd just end up with wet mittens and a laughably small, crumbly ball of snow which fell apart when you tried to throw it. Such a bummer. 

Anyhow, I'm getting distracted. Its very late and the time change is still kicking my ass as it seems no one informed my children that they could get up an hour later than normal. The Little Dude is ok with it, but the Baby is all like "Whatever, its morning, are you awake? Where is my Bup?" ('Bup' is his word for breastfeeding. I love it.)

So my point is that I'm making some new stuff and its really fun. I'm going to town on my collection of vintage kids bed linnens, and making these quilted wall-hanging things with a sort of an "Eye Spy" theme. I have three of them cut out and have finished piecing one and started quilting it tonight. I love how (comparatively) quickly they are coming together. Compared to full sized quilts that is. 

Here's the first one I did.  These are the cut pieces all laid out and ready to sew. 

Here's a close-up on the piecing after I sewed it together. 

And another close-up. The idea is that you hang it above your baby's changing table or their crib or something and then when they are the age that my Baby is now (year and a half-ish) its kind of a talking point thing. My Baby just LOVES to point and name things right now, and as I'm getting ready to put him to bed these days, he likes to go around the room and say "good night" to things. Good night to all the pictures of things especially. Anything with a face. So he'd love one of these. "Say goodnight to Luke Skywalker. Say night-night to Mr. T!" Its the sort of nostalgic humour that I like too, getting to show your child all the things you liked as a kid. 

Anyhow, I'm making three versions of this. A "boy" version, a "girl" version and an "everybody" version. You know I'm not a huge fan of gendering a child's experiences and things (as in "these are boy toys and these are girl toys" That always drives me nuts.) But that being said, I do love these old kid's cartoon characters and I am aware that most of them fall squarely into one gendered box or another. Spiderman is for Boys and Strawberry Shortcake is for girls we are told. Now of course, if I were just making this for me, I'd have all the things I liked as a kid, which means that Darth Vader would be hanging out right next to My Little Pony. But as I will be attempting to sell these things, I realize that a lot of parents do have nurseries that are blue or pink. And for some people seldom the twain shall meet. 

Anyhow, the one above is the "boy" version of course, with the A-Team, Star Wars, Batman, Pac Man and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles etc. But I also cut out a "girl" version.  See? My Little Pony, Rainbow Brite, Strawberry Shortcake, Bambi, Care Bears, etc. Though it is worth noting that I consider Star Wars as gender neutral, or should I say, relevant to both genders even if you ascribe to a traditional view of gender roles. After all, they had the most kick ass princess in all the galaxy, so Leia gets two blocks of her own in this quilt. Also, Smurfs are both for boys (most of them were guys) and girls, so there are in both the girl themed one and the boy themed one too. 

And this last one is the party to which everyone is invited. Mr T is here, and so is Strawberry Shortcake. Bambi and Spiderman. Smurfs and Droids. Elmo and Pac Man. etc. I know this is the one I would buy, but I'll bet you anything its the last one I sell.

Anyhow, I'll be getting them sewn up over the next week or two, and then hopefully into the shop. I think I might try and take some step by step photos so I can post a tutorial about how to make one, if you are so inclined.

Comments

[Brandy]

I would actually be interested in the last one! How much are you thinking of selling them for?

[Zonnah]

I love that you added Star Wars to the girls one!

[finger thumb]

Thanks Zonnah! I think Star Wars is so awesome it transcends gender. And Brandy, I'll have them at the Movies and Makers Craft show in Toronto on Dec 15th (Fox theater in the Beaches) If I still have it when you get there I'll make you a deal.