Koalabirds Coloring Book coming soon! Yesssss!

So I decided, maybe last week, that I'm going to slowly put together a Koalabirds coloring book! (I can hear all the Koalabirds fans squealing with joy right now! Yay!) Well, it'll be Koalabirds and Friends, because I like to draw other critters, too. :)

I realized that I can fairly easily take about 15 minutes each day and draw a simple picture, ink it, erase the pencil (hee), and add it to the pile. When the pile gets x pages big (30? 40? I haven't decided), I'll scan it all in, configure it with technology, and create a whole nice big printed coloring book for YOU!

Here are the first few pages!

It's been fun to draw the first thing/scene that pops into my head, and keep it simple. How lovely that coloring books are a) simple and b) black and white! It plays right into a strength of mine, that is, quick line drawings. Well, mostly quick. One of the drawings I got into and took a bunch more time, but it was super fun!

That drawing, the Bakery Bunnies, is up in my shop as a FREEBIE download! So go and get it and color all those little pastries just how you like! :)

Actually, if you're reading this in the newsletter, the best would be to tell your friends to get it . . . because my freebies are also a not-so-secret way for me to collect emails for the newsletter and grow my audience! A growing audience of course leads to more overall art success for Dorothy, and we all want that, right? (RIGHT?! LOL) I'm certainly more motivated to make stuff, the more people tell me they appreciate it, heh heh.

Anyway, I'll make the printed coloring book sometime in early 2024!

Toasty and Snowy 2, OR, The book, the book, the book!

Hi! I may have forgotten to mention that I've started in on my next children's book! Despite some fans clamoring for more Koalabirds (if you haven't gotten your copy yet, GO RIGHT AHEAD!), the next adventure of our favorite owl duo has been simmering for quite some time. So, for whatever the cosmic reasons behind my creativity, I've decided now is the time to make it!

Just a quick pic of two pages I drew yesterday!

SO MUCH MORE info and process and fun after the jump!! CLICK! :D

Dinosaurs and Unicorns in Space!!

Here we have a simple raglan top I made for E. The print shows dinosaurs and unicorns in space, and really, what could be better than that? She loves it!

Otherwise, I've been busy hosting Thanksgiving, making and eating pies, painting some of my kitchen cupboards blue, reading a ton, and working on my next book! More on this next time!

Upcycled jeans and NEW top for C!

I made a long-overdue top for C., which she had picked out the fabrics for a while ago. Actually, she was going to sew it herself, but then lost interest. It's OK, I don't mind making it! ^_^

Then my jeans ripped (that's gardening for you . . . and keeping jeans for years and years and years, I mean I guess they do wear out someday . . .) so I decided to turn them into a pair of jeans for C!

First, the top. A straightforward sew from a pattern (Moto Maxx from Love Notions), although I did have to lengthen the cuffs because that cat fabric on the sleeves was a bit too short. And I fussy-cut the shoulders to feature the characters she wanted. :) I took a spare owl from the forest friends fabric and appliqued it on the front. Claire calls it the Cosmic Owl, which I love!

Then the pants! I cut my jeans up and saved the legs and back pockets. I took a pair of C's pants that fit her well (with room to grow) and laid it out to trace onto each leg of the jeans. You shove one leg into the other, with the inside out, and this gives you a "pattern piece" shape to trace. Really I winged it because the "tube" of the jeans leg was already sewn. Anyway, I erred on too big and cut my two legs.

I pinned the pockets on the front, at a nice pockety angle I thought she could easily get her hand in without spilling the contents. When I sewed these on I DID bend my needle in a totally crazy laughable way, so the lesson is, go slow on jeans material, AND don't try to get the presser foot over too much bulk, even if you're using a 100/16 needle!

Anyway, then I sewed up the rise by turning one leg right side out, and again, putting it inside the other, all lined up, right-sides-together. Typically I HATE using this method for pants, but it's unavoidable when the legs are already sewn up!! (My usual procedure is to do the rise ONLY, reinforce/top stitch, then do the legs from one ankle all the way up and over to the other. Even if a pattern says to do the leg-in-leg shove [not the technical term], I do my way instead. Because sometimes following directions doesn't matter and you can do whatever you want!)

Once I had most-of-a-pair-of-pants, I trimmed the top to some semblance of regular pants (more on this later). Then I needed a waistband!

With C's waist measurement, I fit my band to the fabric I had, which turned out to be about 28" by 8". I wanted a nice fat yoga waistband she could fold down if needed. I wanted it to be roomy, because when all the fabric is folded over, and then (maybe) folded again, it does get a little smaller/tighter.

Then I worked some sewing magic and had a waistband! (no magic, just boring to describe if you know how to make a waistband. I could be on the Great British Sewing Show technical challenge if the instructions said, "make a knit waistband". I got that, EASY!! Not that that show exists, but I'd watch it if it did.)

I only basted the waistband on in case I needed to alter things after she tried it on. And I DID need to! The pants were really baggy because I had left so much room in the rise. That's OK! I eyeballed what I needed to do, and took them back to the machine. I cut off about 2" height all around the top, and reattached the waistband permanently.

Pro tip: knit waistbands like these NEED TO BE TOPSTITCHED/REINFORCED (stitching the hem down to the pants), or else the seam WILL get all holey and start falling apart. At least, my kids somehow move around so this always happens. But if you topstitch the seam down, your life will be trouble-free. (Maybe not in every respect, but your pants won't fall apart.)

She tried them on again and they were STILL very roomy, so I accordion-folded over a section of the waistband to make it tighter, and zigzag-stitched it in a baste-y way I can easily take out again later. Now they fit her fine and she even wore them to karate, no problem. When the band gets too tight, I can take out the stitching for bonus room!

I think she'll wear these pants for quite a while! She looks so cute in them, because to me, she looks like me. She's wearing my pants! :) She's wearing them in the top photo with the new shirt, too!

How to make a garden gate for free!

I recently decided that my new veggie bed, with its simple low chicken wire fencing, needs a garden gate! I was able to make one for free, out of an upcycled picture frame I found in a free pile! Read on! (click for full detail!)

My new gate is not a fancy gate, my posts might become a bit wobbly, but all in all it makes me very happy and definitely does the job! I love the look of creative, cozy homemade non-standard, colorful stuff in the yard! The gate itself, with the mesh, hinges, and latch, looks AWESOME.

If you want to do this, too, you may of course decide to hang your picture-frame gate on some pleasingly straight 4x4 or other posts, and that would be lovely as well. I think my posts match the rest of the fencing! :)

Some areas of the (mix-and-match) surrounding fencing need some tighter mesh overlaid, since the holes are plenty big enough for chipmunks to get in. But, I'll get there before the spring!

I'm going to add a lot of pinwheels, too, to scare critters away. Thanks for the tip, Sana! ;)

Is anyone else already thinking of what you'll plant next Spring? For me, sugar snap peas and Sungold cherry tomatoes are a MUST, and I haven't decided on anything else. I'm more than happy to let the girls plant whatever they want. Let me know your 2024 ideas in the comments!

Sewing a reversible patchwork girl's wrap dress! Process and finished!

Hello hello! It's been a busy, sidetracking summer as usual, and I'll be back soon with more updates. But look! I made this super-fun reversible patchwork dress for C! Come see how I did it!

The first step was "making fabric" by piecing together charm squares (and other prints I cut to 5"x5" squares -- thank you, 5"x5" sewing ruler!! So handy!). I made the pieces juuust to the size of my pattern, for less waste! (Pattern is Violette Field Threads Olive wrap dress) 

Child's Apron with Charm Squares: process, and finished! Finally made this food fun apron for C!

I've had this idea for a kid's apron made from charm pack squares for a very long time, and I finally made it for C!

I had a charm pack of Robert Kaufman's Farm to Table, from which C had selected her favorite prints for this project. This was maybe . . . a year ago? Fast forward to last-ish week, when I decided it was time to DO IT!

I designed the pattern myself, which I had initially traced off an anonymous handmade toddler apron that both E and she outgrew. I enlarged it to fit her, and to play nicely with charm squares. ;) I like this design a lot, so I plan to (eventually) offer the pattern in three sizes in the Dorybird shop! THAT will take more work, so it's not happening just yet!

Let's look at how this apron came together!

Wow, I hate this quilt! No wait, I love it! OR: Moda Blockheads 4 Quilt Progress and Completion!

Hello again! I have finished the Moda Blockheads 4 quilt!! *applause* In truth, it's extremely wonky on the top, which at first made me super irritated so I plowed through without trying to fix anything. But seeing the finished result on my bed, in all its wonky adorableness, makes me love it. I DID make that intricate quilt! I spent months making each block during the sewalong, and here it is all together! Woot!

Here is my helper, deciding to come over and chill while I was pinning it up.

 

This is the completed, wonky-as-hell, excitingly colorful, fondly memory-filled, creative lesson-giving QUILT! I have a lot more process photos and real-deal creative process musings after the jump!

Quilt Progress 2: Moda Blockheads 4! Marimekko has left the building.

I'm still working on this quilt, and today I finished the quilt back! It's pieced, like the front, just not as complicated. :) As you can see, I did decide to toss that section of Marimekko(-esque? I got it secondhand) knit fabric, in favor of a different print. Two prints, actually!

Amusingly, the floor of my art studio is barely big enough to lay out this quilt!

Summer Stuff: cats, compost, radishes, chocolate . . . .

I just thought I'd post a little bit of life from the past couple weeks, especially for my longtime readers. ;) Don't worry, I'll pepper these posts in from time to time! Read on for some summer fun....

Here are my little porcelain cat friends and (resuscitated!) orchid on a sunny evening. A. got me those cats; they're two of a bunch of cats in different poses. They're supposed to be chopstick rests but they live in various nooks and corners all over the house. :)

Quilt Sewalong Progress: Moda Blockheads 4!

Remember the sewalong I was doing last summer/fall? I'm finally sewing all the blocks into a big quilt! This post will show you my progress -- I'm still not done yet, but it's looking good! Read on!

Making homemade ice cream!

 As you know, I love my "does everything" ice cream maker. I've been experimenting lately!

First up is a batch of chocolate chip. I cut up a Lindt 70% cocoa bar for the chips. YUM! More ice cream after the jump!

Lots of nature, including a Girl Scout campout!

So, I've been busy with a bunch of things lately. One of those was a secret project I just finished, and in a couple weeks I'll be able to tell you about that!

A fun iris in my yard

Otherwise, I've been GARDENING because it's that time of year, AND the weather has been lovely!

Recent cooking fun!

I've been getting back into fun cooking projects lately. I used to cook interesting recipes all the time, but in the recent past it's been more about just getting dinner on the table. But I love the creativity of cooking -- and eating the results! :)

This is my black tea (Yorkshire Gold) ice cream with shortbread bits!

Since I got a fancy ice cream maker for my birthday (with compressor; it freezes everything!!), I've had a lot of fun!

Cyanotypes on Earth Day!

One thing that Claire and I enjoyed on Earth Day was doing a cyanotype workshop at a local farm. I'm glad we did! It included a nice informative tour of the farm, and then making not only cyanotype postcards, but a cool bandanna!

It was a fun process! Read on to see more!

New work underway! (drawing some hedgehogs and plants!)

 I thought I'd show you a bit of what I just started in on!

Don't be fooled, it's a bit different than just hedgehogs!

Book Character Costume

Claire had a special costume day at school, dress up as your favorite book character! I was unaware of this, so we didn't plan anything ahead. The morning of, C announced that she needed a costume. She pulled this one together!

She decided to be Orson Abbot, from one of my favorite books, The Paintbrush Bunny by Adrienne Adams!

Koalabirds are here!

After working on it for over a year, I'm happy to announce the release of my new book:

Koalabirds and the Butterfly Birthday!

You can get a copy on Amazon right now, and in a few weeks I will also have limited signed copies to send to you!

Welcome!

I've been blogging for a very long time, but here in the freshness of Spring 2023 I thought I would start a new home for even more of my creative projects, musings, and adventures!

You can sign up to get this blog in your inbox (see sidebar) so you never miss a thing!

If you like what I make, you can shop Dorybird.com for all kinds of goodies!

In addition, the Dorybird Designs blog is a log of all my personal sewing. I have a bit of a backlog there, but you'll see it get up to date over time! ;)

I'm glad you're here!