a Robot, a Spider, a Postman and Pumpkins

Mad-seamstress that I am, I worked feverishly in my lab this week to transform one sweet little boy into an angry robot:


Ingredients include lots of silver vinyl, red, blue and bronze vinyl, a fake brain in tupperware, telephone cords, calculator parts. . .


. . . an empty beer box, the top to a salt shaker, polyester stuffing and cotton batting, elastic, an plastic placemat, Sharpie ink and about a pound of hot glue.

On their way to the Atwater Village trick-or-treat event on Friday, Sage and his friendly lion friend (kind of Wizard of Oz-ish but with a demented Tinman):


Last week at a Halloween party Erik went postal and I went as a spider. It's kind of hard to see my legs here but they were three pairs of black tights stuffed and hanging by strings from my wrists.

Lovely couple, aren't we?

Tonight we carved pumpkins. When I picked these two out at the pumpkin patch they just screamed Bert and Ernie to me. It's hard to ignore a screaming pumpkin.



Erik's pumpkin - evil, of course:


and Sage's pumpkin - cute just like him:

Happy Halloween!

buzz buzz

Felt Club was last week. Here's a picture of my booth, er, middle-of-the-room installation:


As always, it was a blast. I sent some monster pillows to some loving homes and the tie accessories were a hit. More than anything else it's great to get feedback on your work, hang out with other crafty folk, read BUST magazine and eat cupcakes. The next event is November 12th at the Echo. I won't be there, but I'm planning on being a part of the holiday event in early December and sewing like mad to stock up for it, as well as Bazaar Bizarre at the Shrine Auditorium on December 16th. Whew. December's going to be a crazy crafty month.

Speaking of crazy crafty, this past Saturday I attended an estate sale in Burbank and hit the motherload. Vintage embroidered linens, doilies, upholstery samples, embossed vinyl, a vintage dress and apron, vintage stickers from 1952 that say, "I made it myself!", buttons, fringe. . . you get the idea. I never found out the story of the woman whose house it was I sifted through but she obviously had good taste. I only hope I can make her proud but giving her old stuff a new life. Like this:


Vintage embossed vinyl is bee-utiful.

Speaking of beautiful, my wee viking:



I didn't make that crazy hat. I do need to get crackin' on his Halloween costume though - a robot! An "angry robot" to be exact. This should be interesting. . . stay tuned!

A woman's work is never done

Long time, no blog. I'll try to write more often, it's just, sometimes life gets so busy that it's hard to find the time to stop and write about it.

Work is a bit consuming, but in a good way. I keep being drawn back to teaching. The truth is, I love it. There's nothing better than looking in to a crowd of 15 or so kids and seeing them excited about a particular novel or suddenly getting a particular aspect of grammar or suddenly becoming aware of a new way of looking at the world. Witnessing those aha! moments is what makes it all worthwhile. Sure, there are times when they make me want to pull out all my hair, but at the end of the day it's more fulfilling than anything else I've ever done.

That's not to say I've abandoned kokoleo. I've still been making stuff out the wazoo, I just haven't been able to update my website as often as I used to. I'm trying to stockpile my wares for a few big craft shows coming up this winter. Lately I've been on a necktie kick and have a whole slew of new necktie accessories that should be on the website soon along with a bunch of new embellished tees. I've also been accumulating more needlepoint and embroidery pieces like these that I got at the Melrose Trading Post last weekend ($7 for all):


Sometimes I think I'm the only one who appreciates them. Erik looked at them and asked me why I'm so attracted to dirty laundry. Pshaw. I mean, come on! Who can pass up an embroidered rooster!?

In other kokoleo news, yesterday I had an order all the way from Paris, France. Ooo la la! Also, Felt Club is tomorrow at the new venue in Echo Park and I'll be there. Come on out! I'm sure it will be a blast as always.

Another thing that's been keeping us busy is our backyard. The past few weekends have been spent digging, planting and generally sprucing up our little lot of land. Here's a before picture:


It's kind of hard to see but there was a big dusty bare spot where the previous owners had an above ground pool. There was some decorative trim that randomly cut through the middle of the yard and against the wall was just bare dirt and rocks. Here's an after picture:


You know you've become a grownup when you enjoy watching grass grow. And look! Herbs!



There's basil, oregano, thyme, cilantro, rosemary, lavendar, sage, dill, parsley, spearmint, pineapple mint, peppermint and catnip, plus snapdragons, cala lillies, tomatoes, snap peas, and to make us official Californians - a tangelo tree, lemon tree and avocado tree. Whee! Who wants to come over to our house for a big plate of leafy greens?