We are officially chicken people. This is our first farm animal experiment. Previously all the animals in our household have been cats. The chicks are here with a job to do: in about five months they will lay eggs. (It would be unfair to say that the cats are not as useful. They may not produce food, but they manage to fulfill their roles as lap warmers and comic relief.)

The chicks are funny. The red one (a Rhode Island Red) is sweet and friendly, the black one (a Barred Rock) is a little stern, and the brown one with fluffy cheeks (an Ameraucana) is worried. I did not expect them to really have personalities, but they do. When they get big enough, we are going to tractor them around the yard. They can find delicious bugs that way.

I didn't think I would have chickens. I though I might have any one of a number of other farm-type animals, but not chickens. I think it's because my BFF is chicken phobic and I love her. But Elie was really down with the idea of chickens and they're a pretty practical animal to keep, so here we are. (Plus, said BFF lives halfway across the country.)

It's been a weekend of food for thought, much of it thanks to Lisa, our local food diva. She had chickens and demonstrated how not hard or weird it was, and she also posted links to all the local CSAs, which was so nice because I thought there was only one and it was sold out. I joined up and am now thrilled about the idea of my veggies arriving once a week in a box, not in the least because this means that I won't have to think about what to buy. It is lessening my domestic thought burden. Back to this weekend. So then to top that all off, my friend Joe got me into the sold out Ebertfest showing of Farmer John, which was just oh so good.

Also this weekend, a tiny bit of crafting for another tiny person. Bibs for baby showers. I swear, there are as many babies as bunnies this year!

Actually, that's a fairly good-natured face-making. The quilt is moving along, and it's nice to have someone to hold up the chained strip flags for a little photo as I go.

The above helper also lost a front tooth today. It has given her a lisp, which is funny because she's always had really good diction for her age. It's also funny because it brings up questions about whether or not the Easter Bunny will meet the Tooth Fairy in the middle of the night. Who can say? I suspect that at this point it's more of a funny idea than an actual wonder.

I have been loving all of moonstitches' in-progress shots of her quilt-to-be. The progress of quilts, particularly block quilts, is so interesting because while the beginning might be simply beautiful by itself, the mystery of the placement, arrangement, and size of the growing and final quilt is fabulous. I guess I love a reveal.

I'm starting a quilt. (See?) I've also been working on Beebs' quilt enough that I have sore hands. I don't think I will ever hand quilt another bed quilt, but I am glad I am hand quilting this one.

This picture is just so I can show how how much Beebs' cat loves her. She likes to sleep on her neck, especially when Beebs hasn't been feeling well. Oh, terrible cuteness.

My friend Lisa shrunk a sweater and was nice enough to give it to me. Accidental felting is not nearly as much fun as purposeful felting. Even though I was glad to have some new material, it really sucks when you wash yourself out of a sweater. I wanted to make Lisa a bag from her sweater. Here it is!

Lisa likes yellow, so I decided to do the the fabric accents in fabulous Denise Schmidt yellow. The wise craft flower is on a pin so it's removable, just in case Lisa isn't feeling quite so frou-frou. (I think I am often feeling more frou-frou than my friends.) This fabric pattern makes good flowers--Erin has a pretty one using the same pattern but in blue. I put a zipper in this bag because it's smaller than the other felt bags I've made and it seemed like there was a good chance that stuff would fall out of it otherwise.

Lisa is the same friend who got the kettle pot holder from a few posts back, and really I have to share some of the design credit with her there. She wanted something that looped around and tied on a button or something, and kindly suggested two of my favorite colors to work with. There will be more of these potholders in the future!

Merry Christmas? Joyous Solstice? Happy New Year? Well, let's just say I hope things have been happy and festive with you while I've been away. I've got a lot of handmade blog action to catch up on. You folks have been busy!

To make up for lost time, I'm going to do a 12 days of Christmas recap. Today, day 1, we have the small object's stackable trees. (Aside-It just started snowing!) Eva made these ones for gifts for grandparents, & I have to say that they were a really wonderful, doable project for her. She was thrilled that she got to use the iron on the interfacing and pick from all my fabrics, not just the scraps.

She also made one for her teacher, who has really been great. We all know a teacher can make or brake a school year, and this one is moving along really well. Her teaching style is something I haven't seen since Eva's preschool. They cover all the required facts of second grade, but the teacher also lets the class lead the course of study a bit, and fills in with extras based on the topics the kids have been interested in. So cool! The class is also doing this pen pal project with a quilter in California who is making them a class quilt. When the quilter writes, she tells them not only about their quilt, but about what she's seeing and doing in CA. At one point this included the oil spill which prompted lessons about endangered species, water conservation, etc. I so appreciate that.

Whee! It was much fun to make these 5 little things in my shop. It was therapeutic even.

There are 2 mama cat's (with skirt-dwelling kittens). I love making these. I especially loved stuffing the linen one because linen is so different from cotton. It's firm, but it gives in that special, squirmy linen way. The construction of mama cat's dress almost drove me nuts, though. I kept sewing the armholes shut. Molly Chicken's doll dress tutorial helped me work it through. Thank goodness. Thanks also to Kristin who, in a fit of sweetness, sent me the rosette buttons you see popping up the the projects.

There are also two fun little needlebooks like the one in the last post, and there's a belt. I quite possibly have a new favorite notion. Vintage belt buckles are awesome. I am just now this fall getting used to the idea of wearing belts. They don't have to squeeze your middle and they are actually functional.

So, the shop is here if you want to take a look.

Thanks!
-Dorie

I really wasn't sure if it was "needlebook" or "needle book". The dictionary has "needlebook", so I'm going with that.

I made this little needlebook as a birthday gift for a friend. I like this construction a lot. It's the result of many months of trolling through the blogs and flickr, mentally noting what I thought was cool about everyone else's needlebooks. The binding stitching idea definitely came from Bella Dia. It has front and back fabric covers (all the pretty fabrics came from Erin in the scrap swap), and the back cover has an inner pocket. The "page" part, where you put the needle, has a flannel layer and a stripy green wool layer. There will be more of these, probably a couple in my etsy shop. I know someone in particular will be getting one for Christmas.

Dang, Lotta, your book is good.

I finally got Jeanne, now of Texas, as a partner in the CU later swap. She was my very last partner. The swap is now over. This bag went to her. The fabric showed up on my doorstep like six months ago, a generous little gift from petulant feminine, who was destashing. (She's not blogging now, but I owe her a postcard if only I knew where to send it!) Anyway, this fabric has been softly chanting Jeanne's name since the moment it arrived. It's been telling me things like, "Make me into something and I will be sweet plum pudding love!" Seriously. And now all its dreams have come true. It is the Lotta Jansdotter all-day tote, and it is in Jeanne's hands.

I only made one change to the bag, which is lengthening the handles. It needed to be a shoulder bag. Bags are generally more useful if they can be both toted and shouldered. I love the side pocket, and the bottle pocket. I also really like the little clippy key thing. I may someday make myself one of these. It would be really good for Saturdays when we leave the house early and come home late.

When I think of fall, the first thing that pops to mind is a maple tree covered in firey orange leaves. I'm guessing this is similar for a lot of other people. No matter how many wonderful fall memories I have, this is what springs to mind first. So when I started thinking about what to make for Chara's fall swap, the orange leaves were right up there in my brain. But, I've never been a huge fan of the color orange, the ubiquity of which in local culture makes it even less fun.

Enter fall thought #2: apples and apple pie. I have no problem with these whatsoever in any way, so I created for Stacey an apple-themed swap. Some cutie superbuzzy apple fabric played a starring role. It's stuck in the pincushion above, and in the patchwork pocket of the green recycled sweater tote below. I also sent Stacey a bunch of tiny white pumpkins (not orange!). I tried to photograph them, but I didn't really get a good one, so instead you should look at Sarah's gorgeous pic if you want to see what exactly I'm talking about. (I know you've all seen these, but go look at the photo anyway. It's nice.)

Stacey and I were on a similar wavelength while crafting up our swaps. We sent each other very similar bags--both green wool with a little something. She also knit up a warm brown scarf, and made this cool little notebook with a cork cover. Very cool! Stacey, you should do an instructable on that.

or, Why I Will Never Stop Loving Bitty Booties.

I think this is the sixth pair of booties I have made from Heather Bailey's Bitty Booties pattern. They are just so sweet and simple and warm and fun to give. I hope I have occasion to give a zillion more! These ones were made from the same felted cabled J Crew sweater as Jocie's bag. It's kind of hard to tell in the photo, but I used a pale, pale blue-on-white print for the yo-yos. Brown and blue is always a winning combination.

Halloween was fun. Eva was a skeleton. We made the costume using every crafter's favorite medium--freezer paper! I chronicled the process in my very first Instructable ever. Check it out if you're interested.

Dorie