Yotsuba Needle Book!

Yotsuba Needle Book!

I should have made this during cute month! I've been thinking about making a needle book for my various embroidery needles for awhile, but I kept putting it off because I couldn't decide on a theme (why make a boring one?)

I finally decided to whip together this Yotsuba one yesterday - On the front, we have Yotsuba with her typical super-smiley expression. On the back we have her namesake, the four-leaf clover and the Yotsuba tag line: Enjoy Everything.

I really like the way this came out! I based it loosely on the needle book pattern from Sew Darn Cute, but needle books are pretty basic. I used a lot of that Heat-n-Bond stuff.

The snap is really hard to open, but I think it loosens with age. I had to buy a snap kit just for this - totally worth it!

Cute Month - Some Cute Stuff

Djonesgirlz Totoro Needlebook

Whenever I want to work on a project, I spend some time on flickr looking at other people's to get inspired. Sometimes it's intimidating. I need to make a needlebook so I was searching for some online and found this ridiculously cute Totoro one! And look at that sheep! Oh dear.

For the rest of you, if you're ever in need of just general cute browsing on flickr, there's a group for you! It is called (and I quote):
the CUTE THINGS EVERYTHING CUTE!! flickr pool. There are so many cute things on here! SO MANY! SO MUCH CAPITALIZATION! AND EXCLAMATION MARKS!!!!

Besides cuteoverload.com, flickr, and icanhazcheezburger, is there anywhere else online to go for super cute OMG?

Cute or Weird

Platypenguin Outside Enjoying the Flowers


I attempted to make a stuffed animal from this sketch of mine. I'm not entirely sure how successful I was in terms of resemblance, or cuteness, but I like him anyway.

He's just a prototype, so he's mostly made from scraps (old sheets, a button that fell off of some pants). He really likes flowers, though. Poking his beak in them all the time, like he's a hummingbird instead of a platypenguin.


Tune back Tuesday or Wednesday for a Real Life AstroCat
(Well, real plush.)

Kitchen Cafe Curtains

New Matroyshka Cafe Curtains for the Kitchen

Today's cute is the new cafe curtains I hemmed for above the kitchen sink. I made them, but the term "made" is only a technicality, as the fabric has a white screenprinted scallop border along the top and bottom, with pre-cut holes for curtain rods. You just trim off the fabric outside of the white scallops and hem the sides, et voila! Ready to hang curtains!

The screenprinting will prevent the fabric from fraying, so that really is all you have to do. It's just crazy enough to work!

I just love the matroyshkas (apparently, they're really coming back in style, at least for Japanese fabric designs) and the cyrillic scattered on the gingham. I got this fabric on sale from the Repro Depot Japanese fabric section (though they seem to currently be out, they have other cafe curtains, though). They still have it over at Super Buzzy, and in green!

Now I'll try and find other parts of the house to encuten. That's a word now.

July is Cute Month - Maybe?

Cute Zipper Bag for Annie

I was going to declare July a Cute Month, and celebrate things like Cupcake Week, Wonderland Week, etc. but it turns out there are already national cupcake holidays!

The difficulty, though, is that they're WAY WAY at the end of the year, with October 18th as National Chocolate Cupcake Day, and National Vanilla Cupcake Day on November 10th*. Also, there seems to be an epic battle over which day is plain ol' National Cupcake Day, delicious battalions lining up to fight for either December 15th or October 18th (battle not actually epic, sorry).
* National Food Holiday List

BUT! This can be my own personal Cute Month, which will be a vacation away from all those things I make that aren't cute... like, err...
I DECLARE IT CUTE MONTH ANYWAY!

To make it slightly different, I will attempt to make things even cuter than usual. Wish me luck!
Also, happy Creative Ice Cream Flavor Day & National Gingersnap Day!