aMAZING

This blog post is being delayed. You will see it after July 13th. I am writing it on June 6th. That is because the items shown here are going with me to Germany as gifts and I don’t want the recipients to see them till I gift them. These pillows are for two young ladies that have graduated from high school and both are very much into theater and drama.



I have a tendency to make Sybil (from the movie with Sally Fields) pillows. That would be a pillow that has two opposite sides and yet have a theme or a message to portray.

Both pillows have the Drama masks on them, these are appliquéd wool onto cotton.
With the first phrase from the Shakespeare quote created through an printable iron on transfer.
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and entrances. And one man in his time plays many parts.”





The opposite side has a hand embroidered celtic knot that is actually a maze. The material the mazes were worked on are actually linen napkins from the Captain’s mess from the US Navy decommissioned carrier USS Chicago. I have had these napkins since 1979. I knew I would find a use for them.







The mazes are then appliquéd onto wonderful printed cotton with puzzle or maze print. The trim around the edge was built up with two trims, the black is gimp and the red is very small red rick-rack woven into the gimp.



Both sides of the pillows should give the young ladies a thought provoking moment. Of how life is a maze. . .and it is a play. . .and they will play many parts in their lives.

So profound. . . don’t you think.

Tooth, Teeth, Dentures

Tooth Fairy Pillows. silly, right? We all just stuck our tooth under our pillow and magically the next morning there was a quarter under our pillow. Sometimes we wrapped the tooth in a hankie/kleenex but the results were the same. MONEY!

Seems in the crafty world there is a trend to make toothfairy pillows. That way the toothfairy doesn't have to slip under the pillow and possibly disturb the the sleeping toothless giant.
Some of the pillows are cute and very feminine. But there is also a trend to make more masculine ones. Monsters are the most popular. Here are a few of them.



Now I have nothing against these artists. I found them all on Etsy. And you know I really like Etsy.
I just know my grandsons and their friends (4-7 year old boys). And those pillows don't really speak to a boy's idea of a tooth fairy.
then I found this artist and I was inspired. SkellytonArt
Take this face and hide something in it.


Are you with me? This artist does many cute things with skeletons. and they are all cute not gruesome.
So here is the prototype. It is between Baseball and Softball in size.


I like the face but the fabric was not working. and the hat was way out of scale.
I wanted a kind of coin purse feeling to it. Where you could turn the face around and put the tooth/money in the back. I tried using velcro for the opening and I really didn't like the puckering.





The purpose of the "tooth fairy pillow" should be two fold. To use for the tooth and to hide things in. I always wanted a place to hide stuff from my brother. I ended up using the sleeves of the kimono to my Geisha doll. He never found stuff there.
Anyway. This character who I have dubbed Smilin' Jack. Can be used for hiding things beyond tooth time.

Here we have Smilin' Jack in his almost complete front face. His Rastafarian hat is custom for one particular grandson (Kentucky). I will be making other colors.





Now pop Jack out and turn him around and you see Grim Jack. Grim Jack has a "hidden zipper" for a mouth. Closed he looks grim. Unzip it and you see his tongue and he is not so grim. This is the pocket for the tooth/money.
I used Duck cloth and painted it with sealant then did the face with a sharpie pen. The cap was crocheted with cotton. I am going to try a different zipper on the next one.


With a hanger to loop onto a bedpost Jack will be ready for the Toothfairy delivery.
My camera tends to make the white more yellow. sorry. gotta work on that more.

I would love some feedback on what you think.