artful thursdays #23....emilee the tiny stuffed kitty tutorial

ok, so i was totally wrong about this whole summer thing...

i thought that once the long lazy summer days arrived i would have the whole day to post my artful thursdays projects and tutorials. i guess i didn't remember what summer was like having 4 kids home all day (3 teenagers!) with friends over, eating constantly, needing a ride here and there, staying up late talking and watching movies. i must have forgotten how fun it is and that i would want to be doing everything with them.

so i am giving myself a break, letting myself off the hook a bit and will just decide to be happy with posting a photo of what i am working on instead of feeling like i have to photograph and post a complete tutorial every thursday. there you go, i now have permission to have all kinds of fun these last 3 weeks before i am back teaching again and having thursdays to myself again.

it is very hot here, nearly 100 degrees every day. july really feels like a desert. it is cooler downstairs and a great place to sew. my daughter marina has been sewing a stuffed army of these little guys, i had to make one.


the supplies are so simple to make your own tiny stuffie:
a piece of cotton fabric, some stuffing, and embroidery floss. it is fun to add beads and other little bits like ribbon and a little pink balloon. dig through your stuff and use up whatever you have left over.

step 1. draw a little outline for your animal on tracing paper. everything shrinks when you stuff it so plan for a little shrinkage.

step 2. sew around your outline leaving a little opening for turning the thing inside out. cut out and tear off the tracing paper.



step 3. turn you little guy inside out and stuff with stuffing. sew the opening closed with a needle and thread



step 4. with a needle and embroidery thread sew on a nose, mouth, whiskers, add eyes or use beads with little french knots in the centers.


step 5. decorate with a collar, ribbon, balloon, birthday hat, or tiny sundress. have fun!

happy summer wishes, julie

a blossom passing fair

from a line by william shakespeare in one of his sonnets....a blossom passing fair.

my favorite pale green cotton stemmed millinery flowers, tiny composite buds, velvet blossoms line up their stems. embroidered with hand dyed threads on a linen ground.

in the evening felicia would don her blossomed bonnet tied with a large bow beneath her chin and stroll hand in hand with eugene under the sycamore trees.

'thy sweet graces'

summer evenings on the porch swing, ruffled aprons, and tall glasses of lemonade. flowery tablecloths hanging on the line to dry.

a charming piece of a vintage quilt is the background for 'thy sweet graces'. the quilt pattern is called postage stamp as even the smallest squares of cotton were sewn together and quilted. old dresses were cut apart after they were worn out and the pieces were shared with friends and made into quilts.

even after this quilt was worn to shreds, this piece remains to remind me of the sweet graces that are found in everyday beauty.