hooker's block

oh no! i've hit a hooker's block! i'm working on a few projects but i can't seem to get them right. i just keep crocheting then taking everything apart. now i just have piles of yarn and random limbs everywhere. my sister got me ana paula's ami book for my birthday so maybe i'll just play with other people's patterns for awhile. i'm especially excited to make a pear... which is odd because i really don't like pears at all.

kappa!

i spent a day making and re-making his limbs then attaching and re-attaching them to his little body. i'm really picky about limb placement. and some how, even if i pin everything into place and then sew them on, sometimes they all end up crooked! oh well. at least he turned out just as i had hoped :) for those of you that don't know what a kappa is, here's a little introduction: kappa are water imps in japanese folklore. as you can tell from our little friend above, they're kind of a human/duck/frog/turtle thingy. the little crown on his head surrounds a water filled dent from which they get their strength. they also have a deep sense of etiquette so a sure fire way to defeat one is to bow and he will bow back spilling the water from his head. kappa love to eat children (!!!!) and cucumbers. ever play harvest moon? toss a cucumber into the pond and a kappa will appear and give you a gift :)

birds come from clouds

i love the way the cloud came out! i'm tempted to make puffy clouds to hang all over the place. it's just so squishy and nice to hold :) i like having an excuse to buy ribbon... you can't see it in this picture but the cloud hangs from the cutest bright blue polka dotted ribbon. it took forever to hand sew everything to the ribbons and each other... ack! but the end result was worth it :) it'll be in the shop soon!

melting...

holy heatwave! my favorite weather is about 60-70 degrees. once you hit 80, it's too hot for me... so 100 is simply madness! thankfully it's supposed to get cooler as the week goes on. poor waukegan... she must be so hot in her fur coat. lucky for her she's going through her yearly shed. but that leaves me to chase her around with a lint roller trying to catch it all before it flies all over the apartment.

"oh hi... can i come out now?" some shop news... pies and cakes! these two are in the shop. there are more on their way :)