Meet Wedgehead the Ugly Doll

A few years ago my son spied these little monsters in one of the catalogues we get in the mail...

"Ugly Dolls"

And I made a couple for him out of felt.  

Out of the blue the other day he announced that we were going to make another one for him because he needs---
and I quote...."Like 25 of them, Mom to make a whole family!"

So we looked them up online, and I have to admit they're really fun for boys...cute but not girly.  So he chose the two I sketched out above and we made "Wedgehead" 

I freehanded my pattern (I do half of it on a fold) right onto the fabric.  But you can use wax paper to draw it out on first...
then pinned the front to another piece to cut the back of him out...

He's around 18 &1/2" long and his head is about 10" wide.... I used felt for his face...

My circle template for his eye...you could trace the bottom of a jar or cup...

I lay it all out and glue it with fabric glue before I sew to keep it from wiggling around.  These pieces are small and hard to pin...

Sew his face on first then pin him together with wrong sides facing each other...

I use a little french knot with embroidery thread for the center of his eye...

Sew him together and don't forget....

to leave an opening to get your hand in to stuff him and turn him right side out...

Always clip your curves---

All your curves--it makes it all turn right side out so much better and the curves don't pull and bunch up.

Then I pinned up the opening after turning and stuffing him so I could sew him up...

I always start the needle from inside then you come up and stitch across the top edges...

the idea is to make the beginning of your next stitch right across from the end of your previous stitch....

Then when you pull your thread it comes together and is totally hidden in the seam...

Knot your thread when your done and you have your very own Ugly Doll!!!

He's really kinda cute.....

I used wool coating fabric which I had on hand but you could use fleece or even terry cloth would be fun....these little guys would make good gifts!!!!

Strawberry Freezer Jam

 Oh they taste just as good as they look!!!!

One of my husband's most favorite things in the whole world....

strawberry freezer jam

Which he usually bums off of his sisters.

We had a showing Friday and needed to be out of the house for a few hours anyways....

AND the strawberries were ready to pick this week!!!!

My beautiful son...he had such a great time picking strawberries and hunting for "the BIGGEST strawberry EVER!"

Of which there were many :)

We had a lot of fun...the weather was warm and it was beautiful out...a great place to be on a Friday in May with my family.

We went with the intention of picking a few quarts and ended up with about 13lbs...some of us get a little carried away....

So needless to say my husband had to make a run to the store to buy more sugar, sure jell and canning jars.

We made 23 pints of freezer jam and I have to say it's a pretty easy process...

we followed the instructions in the Sure Jell box

2 cups of hulled, crushed strawberries

4 cups of sugar

1 package of sure jell 

So very worth it!

We've already eaten half of one of our small jars and the rest are stowed away in the freezer....

23 pints should last till next summer but I have this feeling we'll be out much sooner....

Dresser with Handpainted Design

 My most recent piece of artwork...

this little dresser with an attached mirror

Here she was before....

You can't tell in these photos but she had a couple of spots where the veneer was chipped or missing....but overall a very nice little solid piece of furniture.

 I knew I wanted to use the green Antibes color and originally I had a plaid design in mind for the drawers....

  Then my sister-in-law bought Mighty this cute little shirt with a blue, flowered pattern on it. 

You never know when inspiration will strike....

 I decided to paint the body of the dresser Antibes and then dry brushed a light coat of Old White over that before distressing it.

On the drawer front I only used the Old White since I planned on adding the blue design...
I free handed a flower shape on some heavy tag board, cut it out and traced it onto the drawers

The photo above is the flowers before I added the centers. I used two different blue colors.  One for the flowers themselves which is more of a navy and then a brighter blue for the lines and the centers of the flowers.

 Added a little green dot at each intersection to tie the drawers together with the colors on the rest of the piece....

I decided not to paint the hardware.  On this piece it would have been really distracting if they were painted white.  I used some red scotch brite to clean them up and now all those beautiful little details pop back out... 

It also reminds me a lot of the Annie Selke slipcovered chair I did for my friend this winter...
This little piece makes me long for a room for Mighty that I can decorate just for her!!!

Sign and Flea Market

This past week-end was the big Springfield Extravaganza at the Clark County fairgrounds here in Ohio....it's huge...over 2000 vendors this year I think....

 And this sign is my Mother's Day gift!!!  How cool is it?!?!??!  Someday it will be Mighty's ---

the child has whole obsession with shoes and she's not even 2 yet....

It was even one of the first words she said really clearly...

 We are in love with old signage like most other people out there who decorate with vintage bits and pieces
----it's usually way out of our price range.

 We mostly just Oooo and Ahhhh over the really cool ones, but this one caught my eye because it was not the typical "old sign" you usually see..... and it's for shoes...so how can you go wrong?????

 The price tag said $50 which was making me really think about it and the gentlemen that were running the booth said "what are you looking at or thinking about there?" 

When we said it was the sign, one of them said "Let me help you decide--I'll take $30 for it"

SOLD!

 I also bought these numbers and letters...

That's the year we got married 

and the first letters of my kids' names which I have another idea for....

 They were 2 for $1 and pretty sticky but I used some WD-40 and they cleaned right up....

I'm in love with my sign though...

I could've painted one to look old, but you just can't replicate REAL patina....

Love the style of her, the colors, the lettering...

she's a keeper!