There is still some minor touch-up required (the water around the big bear most obviously) and of course it needs a frame, but I think this is coming along quite nicely. You can click it to zoom in to a higher resolution version (although it looks better in person — my camera just can’t capture the subtle tone gradients, as well as the fact that you can’t really get just how textured it is).

To those who’ve been asking I’ll probably set up an online shop for both originals and prints soon. Thank you for the support in this!

Well, I started this project a long time ago, had all the pattern pieces and eyes picked out, plastic bead stuffing bought and everything pinned together…and, well, put into a bag and stashed in my closet. Then I finally set up one of my sewing machines to make a blackout curtain so I decided to get to work.

I love the pattern, but next time I will alter it a lot, as there are lots of problems with it, notably the arms and legs are too skinny (and I couldn’t even turn the ears right way out) and there isn’t any neck to attach body to head. The solid pink fabric is wool, the floral body is print cotton, vintage fabrics from my costuming days.

I do like her, and she will find a home somewhere in this house.

Oatmeal Coconut Cookies

2 sticks butter (yes, a whole cup), softened
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups Quaker® Oats
1 cup coconut
1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350.

In large bowl, beat butter and sugars until creamy.

Add eggs and vanilla extract; beat well.

Add combined flour, baking soda and salt; mix well. Add oats and coconut; mix well. Add raisins, combine.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

I considered adding chocolate chips or cinnamon, but I really like how they are crazy buttery and awesome.

Make them, eat them, try not to cry tears of utter joy.

Work continues… (click to zoom)…

I’m working on a painting based on the song “Tiger Whitehead” from the Johnny Cash children’s album that’s also a loose fantasy self-portrait of Caitlin and I. The lyrics to the song continue above. I have a really nicely prepped canvas I’m doing it on — here it is sketched out roughly in marker. Click to zoom in.

Wild blackberries bloomin’ in the thickest on the mountain
Sheep shire and water cress are growin’ round the fountain
Where a big black bear is drinkin’ lappin’ water like a dog
Tiger Whitehead’s in the bed sleepin’ like a log
Tomorrow he’ll see bear tracks seven intches wide
And by sundown he’ll be bringin’ in the hide

Pretty Sally Garland comin’ down the mountain side
Where Tiger Whitehead’s tryin’ to nap a mill at the mill
She sits down on a bearskin and she says you’ll be my man
I’ll have me the best bearhunter in the hills
A wild child was Tiger Whitehead and they say he killed
Ninety-nine bears before he went to rest went to rest
Once he left two bearcubs orphaned but he brought ‘em right on home
And Sally nursed the two bearcubs upon her breast

Tiger now is eighty-five and he lay upon his bed
And the bears he killed now numbered ninety-nine ninety-nine
Some fellers trapped the bears but Tiger said just let him go
If he ain’t running wild he won’t be mine
But at night when the wind howls cross eastern hills of Tennessee
And when the lightnin’ flashes there’s the strange thing that the people say they see
An old grey headed ghost runnin’ through the mountains there
It’s Tiger Whitehead after his one hundredth bear
Wild blackberries bloomin’ in the thickest on the mountain
Sheep shire and water cress are growin’ round the fountain
Where a big black bear is drinkin’ lappin’ water like a dog
Tiger Whitehead’s in the bed sleepin’ like a log
Tomorrow he’ll see bear tracks seven inches wide
And by sundown he’ll be bringin’ in the hide

This painting is finished off and hanging in my hallway now. You can click to zoom in. The panels, clockwise from top-left are:

1. The sun and moon.
2. The house that we all built ourselves.
3. Me, Caitlin, and Nefarious.
4. A princess being scared by a werewolf (not sure how this fits into the story).

A few days ago Nefarious hid under the table (which is where she goes to draw when she wants it to be a surprise) and created a four-panel drawing that turned out really wonderfully and I’ve been working on finishing for her. Panel #1 (top-left) is the sun and moon:

Panel #2 (top-right) she tells me is a house that we built ourselves:

Panel #4 (bottom-right) is me on the left, Caitlin in the middle (wearing a black nightgown), and Nefarious on the right.

Panel #3 (bottom-left), which I haven’t had a chance to fill in for her yet, is a princess being scared by a monster…