I spent way too much time on the computer today trying to make a change to my Wordpress theme. I was on the computer so long researching, I actually feel nauseous. And the change did not work to my liking. Sucks. And because of that, my plan to scan pictures of the one of the Japanese craft books I got ages ago, ISBN 978-4579110438, didn’t happen. Oh well…maybe tomorrow.

This tank top is from that book. It’s too small and pushes down on my boobs. I’m so disappointed.

But here are some pictures of Isabelle that make me happy.

We were drawing with Crayola 3-D sidewalk chalk. It comes with glasses and when you draw with both sides of the chalk, and then look through the glasses, the colors pop out all 3-D like.

I thought it was very cool. Alan thought it was very cool. Isabelle? Didn’t notice at all.

She just had fun drawing outside on the sidewalk, on her face, and on her clothes.

Posted by Kuky at 12:01 am in: Crafting Japanese, Family, Finished Project, Sewing
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I’ve been feeling a bit scatter brained lately so this post is all over the place.

How was everyone’s weekend? We didn’t do anything except buy toilet paper and stuff like that from Target. Wow, how exciting huh?

Well we did play with binoculars.

They’re screaming fun! (Well for Isabelle)

Oh and I did get sewing done! Not this one but a tank top.

This one is the alteration on the pattern I showed before, in muslin, from ISBN 4579111494. I liked the band at the bottom but wanted it a little thinner than my test shirt. But I went overboard and made it too thin. I still love it. Well except for the color. What can brown do for you?

Oh and because this post isn’t random enough, here’s the drawing:

And also to make this post even more random and all over the place, here’s a video.

We were in the car and Isabelle was singing “Happy Birthday” and “Itsy Bitsy Spider”. It was so cute that I grabbed Alan’s cell phone and started recording. But when we got home, I checked the clip, and realized you can’t hear her. So I edited it just to the last bit where I’m singing and Isabelle is doing the hand motions. (Password: izzybear)

Itsy Bitsy Spider from Kuky Ideas on Vimeo.

Posted by Kuky at 12:05 am in: Crafting Japanese, Family, Finished Project, Illustrations, Isabelle Video, Sewing
3 Comments

Thank you everyone for the recipes!

And look! I’ve been drawing again…finally. I have another one all drawn up and ready to go for tomorrow (or whenever I get to posting again).

Yes. I know, I just went to the fabric store last week. But really, if you were me, you wouldn’t say no either.

And plus, I got to take pictures like this when we were there.

And I came home with….FABRIC! Bwa ha ha ha!

It’s linen. I had in mind to make more tops like the green top and the blue top with some alterations.

Alterations like this. No, I haven’t gotten back to sewing. I’m just playing catch up with pictures. This is the same pattern as the blue shirt from ISBN 4579111494. I just altered the hem. It has a wide band on the bottom. I don’t know if you can see that from this picture.

Yeah, so the plan was to make more of these shirts. That is until I remembered that we’ll be getting very hot weather in the summer. Then I thought maybe I should be making tank tops. No shirts. Tank tops. Shirts. Tank tops. I’m wishy washy like that.

Ok. Off I go to not sew with my new fabric or patterns, but to argue with myself on what to make. Have a good weekend and may you be more productive than me!

Posted by Kuky at 7:11 pm in: Crafting Japanese, Fabric love, Family, Finished Project, Illustrations, Sewing
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Meet Isabelle’s new dolly, Maggie! She is inspired by Maggie and the Ferocious Beast. Remember my original idea was to use felt for the hair? Well that didn’t work out. Isabelle kept kept taking it off, calling it a hat. I don’t know what she did with it so I went the yarn route. The strands are all painstakingly sewed down. It was hard work but absolutely worth it, it’s a better fit.

I remember when I was little, I loved playing with dolls with removable clothing. So with that in mind, I made this dolly with removable clothes, using velcro.

I also did removable shoes. That might not have been the best idea. Isabelle keeps taking the shoes off saying, “oh no!! HELP! Shoooooes!” and wanting me to put them back on.

Isabelle likes her Maggie doll. But she doesn’t see it as Maggie. She just says, “dolly”.

Back to the drawing board? Ahh…forget it. Isabelle likes her fine enough to dance with her even though she doesn’t call her Maggie.

Posted by Kuky at 12:29 am in: Family, Finished Project, Sewing, Softies
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Isabelle quite adores Maggie. Have I ever mentioned that? She used to adore George and I’m sure she still likes him but she’s over the moon about Maggie. She always asks for her, “Meg-gie! Meg-gie!!”. Then she’ll sit there watching and repeats what they’re saying. I can’t blame her. Maggie is adorable and I do love the ferocious beast with his big red removable spots.

So I thought I’d make her a Maggie doll. I didn’t want it to look just like Maggie, I just wanted her coloring. The doll was quick to make. I used some flesh colored cotton fabric I had laying around and some wool felt for her hair. I haven’t decided if that’s the way I want to go or instead use yarn for the hair so I didn’t sew it down. Clothes are trickier for me to sew so I tested with muslin and this is what I came up with.

It doesn’t look like Maggie at all! But actually, I quite like it the way it is, faceless and everything.

Well Isabelle took a look at her and didn’t say Maggie but she did deem her worthy to dance with.

I’ll just need to sew down her hair and give her a yellow top and a blue skirt and some shoes and socks and see if she’s Maggie enough for Isabelle. If not…back to the drawing board and something more Maggie looking.

Posted by Kuky at 11:22 pm in: Daily Comic, Family, Illustrations, Sewing
5 Comments

I almost didn’t draw today. I was too distracted taking pictures of Isabelle with spaghetti on her nose. And her face. And all over her hands.

And busy making her a doll.

But draw I did. I rushed this out. I think I’ll experiment with my drawings when I have more time and not at 11:30pm at night.

Posted by Kuky at 11:37 am in: Daily Comic, Family, Illustrations, Sewing, Softies
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So I ended up cutting a pair of socks up, not the ones I took a picture of, but one of the pairs I drew. I cut them up and turned them into a sock elephant. I had a hard time taking a picture of him though, because Isabelle was running off with him. I’m going to say it again but wow it’s hard to take pictures of soft toys with a toddler around!

I did manage to finally get this picture of him by himself but it’s not quite accurate. He’s falling over so you can’t tell he’s all wonky.

His head is too small for his body. It’s not noticeable in this picture. I probably didn’t cut in the right place. And I should have stuffed his head more before I sewed it up. I didn’t notice though until after I made up his body. Then the size difference was waaaay obvious. And his ears are funny. I took such care with his arms and legs and ran out of steam with his ears. They’re not tucked in and just funky.

But Isabelle likes him and that’s all that counts.

Posted by Kuky at 11:18 pm in: Crafting Japanese, Daily Comic, Family, Finished Project, Illustrations, Sewing, Softies
13 Comments