Squirrel Puppet

Alec and I have some grand plans to start making puppet show videos.  Both of us have a lot of ideas,  but we also have a lot of higher priority projects.  It may take awhile before we're making any videos, but the first step for me is to start making the puppets.

My first try is this squirrel, a simple hand puppet.  Made of fleece, faux fur, and wool tweed.  I made him a wool, cable knit sweater to prepare him for the coming fall.  I think this guy is cute, but needs some work in the actual puppeting part.  He can move his arms and head but in a limited fashion.  At least he can always be a backup dancer if he can't cut it in a starring role.

Lilly Pulitzer Jacket Re-mix

I recently took this awesome, bold printed Lilly Pulitzer Mens Stuff jacket and cut it down so that it would fit me.  I used the same pattern set that I used for the color swatch dress, this time following the jacket pattern.  The choice of pattern was determined by whether it used the same or less fabric than the original.  The original jacket is classic men's single breasted style with a two-part sleeve.  The new jacket style is a loose, boxy shape with a low yoke that shapes the bust.  I made a point to keep as many of the original's details including the flap pockets and the awesome gold lion buttons.  The original jacket was only partially lined,  so I did have to purchase new fabric for the lining. Amazingly, even though the new jacket is a lot smaller, I used almost all of the original fabric.

History of the jacket:
Last year,  Alec's grandfather,  E. Howard Goodwin passed away.  He was a very sharp and classy dresser during his life.  Alec inherited his grandfather's amazing tie collection along with a couple bright suits from Lilly Pulitzer's Mens Stuff collection dating from the late 1960's to early 1970's.  Since Alec is not one to wear bright, bold prints he gave the pieces to me to do whatever I wanted.  I only met Howard through video chat before he passed,  but now I have something to continually remind me of him.

 

Inside the jacket was this neat, old tag from the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America union.
A nice touch from times past.

Dana & Jon's Wedding Quilt

This past weekend,  my friend's Dana and Jon got married in Seattle.  I made them a quilt as their wedding present.  I looked at many existing quilt designs for inspiration,  since a quilt for a wedding is somewhat of a tradition.  Instead of tackling a traditional quilt like double rings,  I made up my own pattern.  I used Illustrator to create a patch that could be repeated and rotated to make an interesting design.  Since I currently live in such a small town I ended up picking up fabrics whenever I went on trips so the materials were collected in New York and Portland, OR.  The quilt measures about 78" x 78" and is 100% cotton, including the batting.  There are 2,400 individual pieces making up the full pattern and it took me 130 hours from start to finish.

Front

Color-wise I hadn't been to Dana's house in awhile so I wasn't sure what to pick. I did know she likes yellow so I made that the connecting color.  Since blue is a complementary color to yellow I chose a couple different patterns and shades to create the background.

Back

I incorporated a zia symbol into the quilting since Dana loves her Santa Fe hometown. The interconnected rings in the center are trying to really drive home the marriage part.

Check out more photos on flickr