Last week I found myself with more green wool than I thought,  so what could I possibly make……….

It’s my favourite Mario game character Yoshi!!!  He was very, very fun to make,  I almost didn’t want to call him finished as I was enjoying making him so much,  but he is and I LOVE him  I added him to the shop already.

So in Stabby news I am in full on crafting panic mode  in preparation for my first summer show on Saturday in Cleveland.  We are making a long weekend of the trip so I am looking forward to that almost as much as the show.  But seriously I am freaking out about wether I have enough critters……..or maybe I have too many? maybe there the wrong critters?……..should I make (fill in blank) instead?  and I have so much organizing to do maybe my time would be better spent getting on with that……..gaaaaaaaah!!!!  Just need to take a breath and go with the flow…………….

I thought I’d share a fun piccie from this weekend in Chicago

It’s Sally my mini cooper in front  of the one and only Superdawg,  this was our first trip to Superdawg despite living in the Chicago  land area for almost 4 years but I doubt it will be our last as the dawgs were pretty darn tasty………and the supercute packaging had me  hooked before I even took a bite………mmmmmmm the first bite yummmmmmm

Ok back to full on panicking………I mean stabbying.

Yes I am officially a terrible blogger………but I really was referring to the fact that as of today Summer is here,  yaaaaaaaaaaaaay finally.   Now if only someone could pass the information to the gods of thunder and lightning that seem to have taken up residence in the Rockford area I can get to work on my tan,  and finally wear my new Liberty sundresses  from target without looking like an over eager idiot.

So glad summer is here as I finally bought an ez up canopy for outdoor summer craft shows,  eeeeek!!!! and it’s kinda bizarre just how excited I am to own one……..is that weird?

I got this one from northlineexpress on a pretty great deal and  I just love it and can’t wait to use it…..which is good as it’s first outing is soon (gaaah) July 3rd in fact for the Bizarre bazaar Summer Show in Cleveland and then August 15th it will be in Madison for the Summer Craftacular.  Hopefully it will get more summer outings so keep your fingers crossed for me.

A new critter showed up this week too….

It’s Frances,  he’s looking forward to the outdoor shows too.  He’s heard so many good things about being outside for big events but he’s stocking up on the sunscreen….. he really doesn’t want to roast  and is definitely not keen on frying to a crisp in the sun.  Still a lot of people are very excited to have him attend the shows,  Frances just can’t work out why his sunscreen keeps getting replaced for barbecue sauce………

The circus is starting to arrive in  Critterville…….first up Nellyphants

They are kinda tricksy to take piccies of as they are so well trained they go into incredible stacks of amazing wonder as soon as you point a camera at them………but I’m glad they are here and that the circus is coming together……they will be appearing in the shop asap too.

Yesterday we went to Chicago to see She and Him in Millenium Park,  it was crazy busy in the way a free concert in Chicago can only be.  But they were really, really great……not as great as how cool the Geary stage is surrounded by the big buildings though

The park really is a lovely venue for a show,  and it was a brilliant way to spend a sunny Monday night.

It must be as the temps are finally hitting the 90’s here……..I love the sticky hot of summer,  nothing better than sitting outside and getting some rays enjoying an ice coffee or 4, which I guess means you now know how I spent the last week.

Although Connor bounded into our lives in the meantime

He’s a sweet if rather timid lil’ fella and he will be heading to the shop soon.

Meanwhile my head is buzzing with sewing projects……always slightly dodgy for me,  as I always think big when it comes to sewing projects but my skill set is always a damper to my plans.  Regardless I shall be heading of to the fabric store a little later today to purchase the required fabric…..let’s just say lots of red and white pinstripe,  and that’s the only clue you’re getting.  I’m so excited to start but scared of the possible outcome if I can’t follow through on my grandiose plans.

Can’t wait to show you what I’m up to but I’d better get back to it………….

Alrighty I told you I was working on a sweet commission and here it is…

A lil’ cutie cupcake…….I couldn’t work out how to do the cupcake paper for the longest time,  I even bought real cupcake papers but didn’t like how it looked………. then at about 2 o’clock in the morning it struck me how to do it,  it was all I could not not to leap out of bed with scissors and felt right then and there but somehow I managed to restrain myself to wait till morning.  I am really pleased with how it turned out especially as I had some pressure on who it was going to,  you see the person who requested it is the incredibly talented doll artist Jen of Nanassisters…….I have been in absolute awe of her chibi juice dolls for a very long time,  they are sooooooo good there isn’t a word for how good they really are.  Take a look at the doll she made for me

and of course I couldn’t have Alice without the Cheshire cat

They are so perfect and wonderful it’s as if they came straight from Wonderland to hang out with us.

Anyway I highly recommend that when you check out Jen’s shop you look through her sold items I promise you’ll be blown away by her talent.

Meet CC

He’s called CC for his chubby cheeks ……I think it’s from his constant smiling,  as I’m sure you can tell he’s a pretty sweet guy.  He’s made entirely from alpaca wool which is a lot softer than the corriedale and although this sounds like a silly thing to say more hair like than sheep’s wool which means it requires quite a bit more stabbying.  But as you guys know I love the process so it was fun to work with something different,  makes the ole’ brain have to rethink things to make ideas work……I will of course add CC  to the shop.

I got a super sweet custom order that I’m working on at the moment…….I would give you a hint as to what it is but I think I just did,  I’ll share as soon as it’s done of course.

Have a great weekend

Ok so everyone loves the weekend…….that’s kinda  a no brainer right?  But this weekend I especially love as I’m going to see the rather brilliantly funny Joel Mchale at the Chicago theatre.  I Love Joel Mchale his comedic timing on the soup always has me in stitches, no one can say chicken tatrazini and make me need to weeeeee quite like Joel (in a good way).  And for the longest time I’ve always wanted to see something at the Chicago theatre so this really is a win win weekend……..plus we are staying at the Palmer hilton hotel for the night so we don’t have to endure the late night drive back to Rockford yaaaaaaaaaaaay life is good.

I have a new critter I’d like you to meet too

THis is Smithy,  and he’s a bit of a scally wag…….he is looking for a forever home though so I will add him to the shop asap.

Have a great weekend.

Like you didn’t know already huh?  Well I guess not what with my love of all things Mario related,  I just had to add Bullet Bill to the collection

I made a couple of these guys as this weekend is the Spring Fling Craftacular at the High Noon Saloon in Madison Wisconsin.   If you are in the Madison area you should come check us out,  lots of great crafters and artists and the first 25 shoppers get a free goody bag wooohooo you may even find a little stabby goodie in there……..(hint you will).

Anyway going back to the geekery theme of this post I also made Pacman

Growing up my sister had a pacman game where the whole game looked like pacman and it was soooooo awesome I was forever borrowing it,  so I figured pacman could really be awesome to add to my geekery line……..I can’t stress enough how tricksy he actually was to make though.  I know, I know he’s just a ball with limbs as Mark kept helpfully pointing out, but the importance of making him completely round and getting his mouth just right was shockingly difficult.  I figure he’s totally worth it though as he’s very cute and of course I’ll add him and Bullet Bill to the shop later today.

Bob Omb has finally arrived to add to my stabby homage to Mario……

He’s a fun guy to make, and one of my favourite characters to play……..remember in Mario cart when you lost,  you could control Bob to bomb your opponents?  aaaaaaaaah good times.

So he will of course be added to the shop later today.

Tonight we are heading back into Chicago to see The xx at Lincoln Hall,  which should be great as the venue is brilliant…..although I have a feeling we may be the oldest people in the room……..(not difficult when you consider the fact that the 4 members of the band are only 19).

So back to stabby frenzy for the upcoming Craftacular………Gaaaaaaaaah only a little over 2 weeks to go before the show………busy, busy,busy!!!!

This Saturday (April 3rd) the amazingly talented  plushie maker Heidi Kenney (I’ve gushed about her here before) is coming to Chicago to exhibit her work at Renegade Handmade.  I am so excited about this I decided to make her a present

I just though of the things I think of when I think of Heidi,  donuts and mushrooms were definitely at the top of the list,  so I hope she likes them.

And a new critter showed up this week……

He’s a bit of a boffin is Boris,  in fact he’s been called a knockout by the boys in the lab.  Although Boris doesn’t let it go to his head…..probably because his head is too full of mazes and equations.  It’s lovely having him around though as he’s so smart,  I may set him the challenge of figuring out my taxes.

Oh and in other news the Glitterworkshop is having another Craftacular (yippppeeeeeee) and I just found out I’m in!!!  It’s going to be at the High Noon Saloon on Saturday April 24th which isn’t long away…………….waaaaaaaaaaah I’m going to have to be very busy for the next couple of weeks.