I am LOVING my adult summer break. Besides regaining my sanity I've been slowly crossing things off my list. I have had a very long design project list looming over my head for years. Sometimes I would start a project and it would just sit there or I would just dream of starting it, making notes about how I would do it, sketches etc in random notebooks all over the house. But now I am dedicated to getting some of them actually started and/or finished. My son and husband have been great motivators. And my little guy is actually helping me do some which is pretty darn cool.
My two major projects are updating my online design portfolio. If you are a designer you know how much procrastination goes into this sort of thing. And when you finally start building it you most likely decided you hate the design. It's a vicious cycle but necessary for future employment.
My second is a children's book that I started writing last year, from an idea my son had one night while we were making up stories. I'm editing the story at this point but now also developing the test illustrations to figure out how it should look. I had no idea this part would take so long. Lots of redos and wondering why I decided to take this on. More to come as that project develops. But in between these major projects are all the little art, craft and home improvement things that I wistfully dream up and think I'll never actually do. The latest is my tooth pillow. Or actually, L's tooth pillow. I started this one last year way before my little guy was even close to losing a tooth. But now I'm racing to finish it since we a probably due a visit from the tooth fairy in the next month or two.
When I was little my grandmother made me a tooth pillow by hand and then started crafting them for every little one she knew in her small community. Did I mention she was a teacher? They are always thinking of little kids. A little bit of love scattered everywhere. Maybe this is what got me going. But it's such a right of passage for kids I thought it would be fun to think of a stuffy that they could use for all their toothless nights.
I created a simple tooth pattern from paper. Used white and red wool felt as the base. And set to work trimming out both layers with pinking shears so that the edges would match. I decided to use red thread against the white for extra pop. I left a small hole to push the stuffing through and tried to smooth out the lumps as best as possible. I used a natural batting to fill the pillow. Added button eyes and cut a heart shaped mouth in red to serve as the tooth pocket. Only sewing up to the two top humps of the heart so that the tooth fairy can easily get the tooth out in the dark of night. I used red thread so the stitching wouldn't stand out on this part. I plan on making more pillows now that this one is finished. Perhaps I'll be ambitious enough to get a whole set of them going.
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