New thing.

I just finished the most intricate, time consuming thing I've ever made. I feel a great sense of WHOOOOSH. I don't know how else to describe it. Anyway:


I've been working on this piece for a few months now. A little bit here, a little bit there. A little bit every day. I am SO relived that it is finally done. I have two other (non-Chickenpants) pieces in progress.

The thing is, I've been feeling really creatively stymied for a long time. I've been needing a new creative challenge. I've been feeling that proverbial pull towards the NEXT THING, whatever that may be. There have been fits. There have been starts. (And lots of stops.) And then I stumbled onto this fabric collage/painting thing idea. Holy cow, it's totally taken over my creative brain. I haven't been this excited about what I've been making since I first started working on the Chickenpants.

I don't even know what to call what I'm making. Fabric collages? Fabric paintings? Is this already a thing? I have been exercising a LOT of self control and deliberately NOT googling these terms. I'm sure there are already a lot of talented people doing this. I didn't want to be intimidated by what other, more established artists who know what the heck they're doing. Instead, I'm making myself breathe and figure this out on my own. It has been wonderful. (And I don't know how much longer I can go without googling fabric collage.)

I have too much to say about all this. Time to go process thoughts into something useful.

Working on some new stuff...

Nobody intends to take a break from their craftyblog, it just HAPPENS. Or at least that's what happens to me.
Anyway, while I haven't been managing to blog, I did manage to make some stuff. Like this:
[caption id="attachment_3458" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="Willy Nilly Fabric Painting by Claire Chambers"][/caption]
I think of it as a fabric painting. Or is it collage? Or applique? I don't know. It was really fun to make, and I am really, really excited to make more. (In fact, I've got a more complex one in the works right now.)
I've had this Willy Nilly character kicking around my mind for awhile now, and fabric seemed the right way to get him out. I'm looking forward to making more images of him. And his friends. (Stella and Crackity Jones. Yes.)

A quick peek inside the crafty life of...me, actually.

I've been working like a plush making machine over here, readying all new creatures for Craftland. (Hence the lack of new Chickenpants lately.) Here's a peek:

I shot the video with my new phone, so the formatting is a little weird. Anyway, there it is. Hopefully the next one will be bigger. (Er, if I even should do a next one. We'll see!)

The Hex

Hello, dear readers. You may recall a post, not so very long ago, where I attempted to quilt. So frustrating was the process that I vowed never to quilt again. Ever. Never, ever.
I did finish that one quilt, though. It sits on our bed right now, and it is rather awesome. I love how it looks, all imperfect and handmade and cozy. Olive loves it, too. She scrunches it up and studies the patterns. It buys me up to an extra half hour of sleep most mornings.
Clearly, quilts are fantastic. I am now a convert.
A friend made an amazing hexagon quilt for Olive. It's hand finished and utterly perfect and lovely. I've been staring at it hanging on her crib for far too long. It started to look doable. I stared to visualize a nap sized quilt for Olive and I to read under. She could drape it over chairs to make forts. It would be handmade and cozy and lovely.
Thus, I began working on the Hexagon Hell quilt in early June.
I had a vast array of pink fabrics gathering on the shelf, begging for a project to be part of. I wanted great big hexagons. I went with a 5" size, because that was the largest one my ruler would make. I also wanted to make an embroidered centerpiece. I had recently finished designing the Bunnies in the Kitchen embroidery patterns, and I wanted to try them out. I figured they'd be perfect for this.
The cutting progressed perfect and uneventfully. Man, I love cutting fabric. With the first quilt I made, I started with a charm pack that turned out to be...less than square. I only found this out once all the "squares" were sewn together and the strips would. Not. Line. Up. I was determined to not have the same problem happen twice. (See The Quiltening part 1) I bought a special plastic cutting guide, and I very, very carefully cut each piece. The initial phase went so well that I pretty much failed to document it. "Wow! This is going perfectly. I don't think I'll get a blog post out of this at all. Wheee!"

Before too long, I had lovely stacks. I laid them out in a pleasing arrangement, pinned post its in place to guide the assembly, and got crackin'.
Super careful assembly of the long strips began. Seam guides were used. Seams pressed open. Blah blah blah.
And then.
And THEN.
I had 11 perfect rows. I was rarin' to attach them to each other. I laid the first two out and...
Drew a total blank.
How the heck do these things fit together?
I couldn't figure it out, but I found a helpful tutorial that made it click. The stitching commenced.
AND THEN.
The hexagons simply would not line up properly. I watched the video again. I ripped the seam again. I watched the video several more times. I ripped the same darn seam many, many more times.
This is where the fit of pique happened.
The sounds of angry grunting and frustrated whining brought by husband into the room.
"Why won't they line up? WHY?!?! I was so careful!"
"Hmmm...why are they so much longer on one side?"
"They're not! They can't possibly be! I used a RULER!"
I felt like such a failure. How could I have made the same mistake again? I threw in the towel for the night. But every time I closed my eyes, I saw hexagons. Gahhhh.
Throwing the towel (er, quilt top) away was not an option. Not that I ever give up that easily. (If my mom is reading this, she just said "HA!") I had used up a bunch of my favorite hoarded fabrics. Laurie Wisbrun lambs were in there! And a bunch of Japanese imports from Superbuzzy that I bought when I was pregnant with Olive. The quilt must go on.
However, it soon became apparent that doing things the "right" way wasn't going to work for me, either. I realized again that I simply do not have a straight line in me. Trying to force perfect geometric shapes out of me was making me crazy. I have such limited time to create things these days. Picking a painful project just seemed insane.
I couldn't stop thinking about those darn things. I kept rearranging them in my mind, and coming up with other ways to salvage the quilt. I even dreamed of a really fantastic quilt that night.
I had a small window of time the next day to try out some of my ideas. I stumbled upon something that worked for me. Real quilters will probably want to puke when they hear it, but I think we've established that I am not a real quilter.
I simply laid both strips right side up, and folded the second strip on top of the first. I then sewed on top of the folded hexagon. Boom. Done. It worked! I no longer felt like a looser. Nay, I was a sewing wunderkind!
I'm really pleased with the effect. The rows are layered almost like roof tiles. It makes me think of Necco wafers tiled on a gingerbread roof.
For the backing, I happened to have snagged some cute vintage-y green rosebuds at the local thrift store. A couple of seams later, and that was done.
Now, the basting. Man, was I dreading the basting. The last time I quilted, the basting went on forever. Thread and needle. Hands and knees. Pregnant lady on the ground. Fun stuff. This time, however, I took my mother-in-law's advice: I bought a basting gun. That lady knows her stuff.
Boom, boom, boom, click click click, and 20 minutes later, I was done. A revelation! One does not have to suffer to baste! Sure, this makes for a less interesting blog post, but it also makes for a FINISHED QUILT. And less pain.
Okay, now comes the part I was really, really dreading. (If I dread so many parts of this process, why was I doing it? This is a question that I asked myself a lot during the making, and one I still have no answer for.) THE ACTUAL QUILTING. I decided to bite the bullet and try to quilt it on my machine.
And...it went fine. More than fine, actually. It was so easy, and so fast. I really wish I had attempted to machine finish the last quilt.
Can I confess something to you? I actually like making binding. I spent a blissful couple of hours while the baby napped ironing. IRONING! And listing to the Judge John Hodgman podcast. It was perfect.
And thus, the quilt was finished. I actually finished it on July 17th. Not bad!
Here's the finished quilt:



And here's the embroidered centerpiece:

I LOVE how it turned out.

Okay, who's ready for a nap?

Baby Crafting - Olive's First Chickenpants

I had planned on having these done before she was even born. Sheeesh. Well, here they are, and she's 5 months old.

Black and white things are supposed to be good for their little baby eyes. Hence the all black and whiteness. I really like how the white one's face turned out. All spooky and gothy.

I scaled the pattern down a bit to be easier for tiny hands to clutch. It appears to have worked. The traditional bead eyes and button belt had to go, so I replaced them with felt.
Here's hoping she likes them!

Leslie Hall - patron rock star of the crafters

Mother Gem. Keeper of the Gems. Crafty, be-stretch-panted diva. In other words, Leslie Hall.
Perhaps the best way to explain Leslie Hall is to let her do it. For those not yet initiated, here, watch this:

Aw, yeah.
She's been dancing and making the world a sparklier place for years now. I was first introduced to Leslie's music through a Felt Club newsletter back in 2008. I was immediately hooked. (And yet, it's taken me how long to write this post?)
(It was this video!)
She even has a gem sweater museum.
Imagine my pants-wetting when I actually got to meet Ms. Hall at Felt Club. Holy cow, she's even more glamorous in person. And craftier! She gleefully walked up and down the aisles before the show began, squealing over the goodies and talking to the crafters.

(Yes! She is holding a Chickenpants!)
One of the recurring topics in her songs is craftyness. By all means, treat yourself to at least one of her albums. They're the perfect jams to craft to.

Maker Faire 2011 Recap

Maker Faire San Mateo 2011 was wonderful! I'm positively infused with inspiration and a sunburn.
This was my first year attending as a free, non-table bound person. It was so weird for me to not be vending! Honestly, I didn't know what to do with myself. And I sort of missed having a table I could duck behind when things got overwhelming. (Which happened at about 12:57 pm. I overwhelm easily.)
This is one heck of a link-heavy post, so you may want to grab a cup of coffee and a snack. (Don't worry, all links open automatically in new tabs.)
So, what did I see? Let's start with these amazing costumes for the Venice Carnival:
They were made by Erin Mahoney. Amazing, right?


I was lucky enough to snag a dress by Field Day. (photo to come soon!) Perhaps I can start living the Summer of No Pants, after all!

Bug Under Glass was there with his super insect displays. He even had some of the bugs posed on mini-bikes displays. LOVE those!
You guys, if you're thinking of starting a bug collection, start with this guy. His pieces are amazing. And he has a baby due in two weeks. Just so you know.


This fantastic coat was made by an artist as part of the Redux Studios and Gallery in Oakland. Oh you guys, I want this coat. It's exactly how I want to dress. *ahem* Anyway, coat lust aside, the artists make amazing things out of cast off stuff. It's recycling at it's finest.

I totally regret not snagging something by Village Clayworks. Oh, those darling plates!

Also in the "I regret not snagging it when I had the chance" category: the Miyazaki Club shirt by Martin Hsu.

Amazing woodblock artist Ayu Tomikawa was there. I seriously wanted one of everything at her table. He work is so precious!


Also, anyone know which company made the fabric on this skirt? So perfect.


I was delighted to see Motormouth Press and her food-y cuteness. Laurie is one of the sweetest makers I know! Annnd I managed to not take a photo. Nice.
*No, wait! Okay, here she is. Waaaaay at the left side corner, next to my table. That's Motormouth Press' table! And Laurie herself. And it's only...3 years old! I really need to take more photos.

I feel like I'm forgetting to mention a million things. (Like these guys! And this!) And I also feel a bit overwhelmed again. I suspect you do, too. Let's wrap this up:

Naps for everyone!

J is for Joss Whedon

Have you seen most ABC books? Yawn. I wanted to create a book for Olive that would be tactile and interactive. Also, awesome. I wanted to show her things that mean something to her father and I. Important things, like trademarked characters and ice cream.
Thus I raided my stash of felt and set to work with scissors and a hot glue gun. And a gob of fake hair. (See page H.)

I cut every piece by hand, thus the general wonkyness. I created a few pattern pieces, but mostly it was just easier to cut them free hand.

Here are a few of my favorite pages:

S is for Sun and Stars, T is for Totoro. The T page is actually the first one I made.

I'm happy with how Zelda here turned out:

She's one of the few princesses who don't make me want to throw up. Even if she is mostly just baggage to be saved for most of the video games. She really comes into her own around the Majora's Mask era, however. But I digress.

I incorporated a few photos, too:

O is for Olive, of course. The photos turned out being some of the simplest pages to make. Photo, thin sheet of plastic, felt, glue, go.

J wound up being for Jetpack, but I like to imagine that it's Joss Whedon wearing a jetpack. (A million thanks to the lovely people on Twitter for helping me out with J. Other honorable mentions: Jabberwocky, Joule, Jellybelly, Jawa, Jabba the Hutt, and Jock Strap.)

You can check out the whole book here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/smallchick/sets/72157626558378113/

I wanna blog!

I've been a terrible blogger lately, but I have the very best of excuses.
I had a BABY!

and
I have writer's block!

For awhile I was convinced that no one would want to hear what I have to say anymore (see BABY, above). Or that I had nothing to say. (Again, BABY.)
It turns out that I want to hear what I have to say. And really, isn't blogging just shouting into the void, anyway? In all honesty, it feels like there's a step missing when I make stuff if I don't post about it online somewhere in hopes of having someone say "Ooooh, pretty."
All this is just to say hey, I'm not going anywhere, it's just taking me awhile to get there. Ooh, there's a depressing turn of phrase.
AND!
If you're a crafty/making stuff kind of momma, I want to hear from you. I'm planning a new interview series. Email me if you want to be featured! absolutelysmall {{{at}}} gmail.com

Baby crafting, the first three months

It took me awhile to get my crafty mojo back. Actually, I'm still working on getting it back. Ideas and motivation aren't lacking, it's simply lack of time that's the problem. Oh, and energy.
Anyway, I did manage to squeeze a few projects in here and there. Such as these little shoes:

The pattern is from Making Children's Clothes by Emma Hardy. I'm not usually one for using or following patterns, but the pattern for these shoes was super easy to use. I can't wait to try out more patterns from this book.

The top fabric is from my beloved Superbuzzy, and the polka dot lining is vintage. (Another under the house find!) The soles are made from suede.

These shoes went so well that I decided to make a dressier pair out of pleather.

Yeah.
Ahem.

This pair went fine until the strap. Okay, sleep deprivation + inside outy lefty righty shoe construction = misapplied straps. Ooops. I'm too embarrassed to let her wear them in public, actually.

Here's hoping the next three months will contain a little more time and energy to make stuff.

A Peek Inside the Creative Life of Michal Wright-Ward

First off, a little backstory. Who are you? What do you make?
My name is Michal Wright-Ward, I've been making plush for about four years now. I make plush monsters, animals, and other silly creatures. I also draw, design and illustrate - cute/silly critters, of course.

What projects are you in the middle of right now that you should probably be working on instead of doing this?
Oh, there's always something cooking up in the studio. Right now I'm making plush and Christmas ornaments for my new online shop Mystic Forest Dwellers (www.mysticforestdwellers.com), and working on plush a gallery show I'm participating in this December. The sewing machine beckons (oy...).

Where do you primarily create?
Everywhere, in our little half-room studio, on lunch break at work, in the living room... Pretty much everywhere except for the loo. Don't ask what my husband said when I was hand sewing in bed one time.

Where do you find inspiration?
Everywhere, mostly in children's books and in nature. I find that my fellow plush makers friends inspire me a hack lot too. There's just so much imagination at work out there, so cool!

Do you have a favorite book/blog/movie/etc you'd like to recommend?
I love theneedle.org, seeing what people are up to. Also Craft Magazine's blog and Whipup.net and Craftster.

Where can readers see more of your work?
I always post stuff on my blog http://yarn-n-coffee.blogspot.com, and flickr, but mostly lately - on facebook.

Thanks for sharing a glimpse of your creative lie with us, Michal!

Boom!

Oh dear. I appear to have run out of maternity leave posts. I wrote a bunch of them (though not nearly as many as I'd hoped) and scheduled them out, and they have run their course.
Baby Olive arrived four weeks earlier than expected, and that blew my carefully crafted schedule to smithereens. I am totally okay with that.

Smithereens, I tell you!
Things have naturally been a blur since then (January 13th), and I'm just now starting to put the pieces back together. Things have changed dramatically, and I don't want things to be the same as they were pre-Olive, anyway. Honestly, I'm not sure what this means for the blog. Yes, I just reformatted it. Yes, I spent tons of time and energy on that. And yes, now I am thinking of scrapping it all and starting over. Or stopping. Whatever.
Not that I have any intention (or indeed, ability) to stop creating stuff. I've been working on a new collaborative project over at The Year of Living Sketchily. The Etsy shop is back up now, too.
I need time to figure out how all these older pieces fit into my new, busier life. Traditionally, taking time has sent me into a panic. I need to be doing! Constantly! Or else! Olive, however, is forcing me to take a different approach. "You need to hold me! Constantly! Or else!" And I am happy to.
All this is really just a long winded way of saying that change is afoot. Silence in the meantime. Bear with me. See you soon.

A peek inside the creative life of Lorri-Marie Jenkins

First off, a little backstory. Who are you? What do you make?
my name is lorri-marie.
my passion is creating art with the cast offs from other people. i love found object work...metal, wood, doll parts, fabric. there is something deep inside me that hates to see things go unused by our society. it is hard for me to buy new art/craft materials, when i can find such a juicy treasure chest in the items that people are throwing away!

What projects are you in the middle of right now that you should probably be working on instead of doing this?
right now i am getting ready for several art/craft shows in berkeley. i have created many, many, mini-monster key fobs that i will sell there (and some are listed on my etsyshop). these fun little monsters are very useful in locating your keys...and entertaining others! they were published in 'stuffed magazine' not too long ago. i am still left with lots of fun colored pieces of fabric, but the inventory of the mini-monsters is plenty...so i have started to make some fun flower pins. ordinary? that just will not do...so i am singeing the edges of the fabric first...love it! i have a passion for well loved blue jeans too.....i take old, well loved jeans and patch them up...i will be published in the february edition of'greencraft magazine' with some of these delicious jeans. i also have some small artworks that have been created on abandoned flash cards. these will be for sale in berkeley as well....that is what i should be working on now...tee hee.

Where do you find inspiration?
i have a play group that gets together once a week, and another play group that gets together once a month. female artists are so darned juicy and inspirational...i just show up and i am both inspired and nurtured by their creative ideas!

Do you have a favorite book/blog/movie/etc you’d like to recommend?
i am not one to spend a lot of time with books, movies or blog searching...my attention span is too short....so i rely on the face to face inspiration!


Where can readers see more of your work?
i have an etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/LorriMarie
and a blogspot http://wingingit-wingingit.blogspot.com/
i do my best to keep up with these connections....but as a woman with family, a full time job...and lots of fun to be had everyday....i am not as diligent as some others!

Thanks so much for giving us a peek into your creative life, Lorri-Marie!

A peek inside the creative life of Mary Casher

***Special note! It's not too late to enter the Road to 500 Giveaway!***

Today we get to talk to Mary Casher, the creator of LEFTZ plush creatures, and owner of one amazingly organized studio.



First off, a little back story. Who are you? What do you make?
My name is Mary and I punch stuffed animals... As a child I was a collector of all things fuzzy.
It wasn't until I was laid off from my job as a baker that I discovered sewing. After the initial shock of losing my job, I realized that it had given me a great opportunity to freely express my creativity. My mother helped the process by cleaning out her craft room and giving me bags of fabric. Previously, I had tried sewing quilts and a few pattern dresses. I failed horribly, so the thought of sewing was far from my mind. But I gave it another shot, this time without patterns. As I let the designs freely flow I become intrigued with how creative I could be. During the time I was testing the waters of design, I started shopping at the local thrift stores for fabric. To give a little more spunk to my designs I decided to "punch out" all of their left eyes and stuff them with recycled plastic shopping bags. Thus, LEFTZ was born.


What projects are you in the middle of right now that you should probably be working on instead of doing this?
Ha! Well I just finished up a large order for the Young Blood Gallery & Boutique. I'm also working on plush for the upcoming gallery show at HotPop in Milwaukee, while trying to stock up new designs for Christmas. Then before I can relax I plan on submitting to Stuffed Magazine & Green Craft. So, I should be doing a lot of things at the moment, but this is a welcomed break!


What do you primarily create?
Animals are my primary plush. I did create a limited edition collection called Tribals, which consisted of  plush tree people with various accessories such as spears, fish, or fire pits. There are such a variety of animals to choose from, that I am never lacking inspiration. My new collection is called Mini Monsters, they are mainly created with faux fur that I have cut from thrift store stuffed animals. I must admit, I do feel a little bad cutting them up but I love bringing new life to something old.


Where do you find inspiration?
Everything and anything can be inspiration but nature is my biggest inspiration. The colors are always changing and the slightest thing can spark my imagination. Other times I will be standing in front of a rack of clothes at the thrift store and a pair of pants are instantly transformed into a plush cat.

Do you have a favorite book/blog/movie/etc you'd like to recommend?
My favorite blog is www.forgottenbookmarks.com Michael owns a used bookstore. Through his purchases of books he's discovered a lot of fun and interesting things that have been left inside. The photos, notes, and documents left behind are priceless glances into the history of the book's owner.

Where can readers see more of your work?
You can find more of my work in

• my Etsy shop www.arttales.etsy.com

• my blog arttales-leftz.blogspot.com

• or in the July 2010 issue of Stuffed Magazine.

Thanks for giving us a peek into your crafty life, Mary!

Don't forget to look for a selection of Mary's plush in the Winter 2011 issue of STUFFED Magazine!

Crafty Kitchen - Indian Tomato Soup

One recent cold and wintry evening, I found myself craving some manner of tomato soup (with grilled cheese sandwiches on the side, of course!). A quick search online revealed that tomato soup could be so much more than just, well, pureed tomatoes. I'm a huge fan of Indian food, and a huge stockpiler of Indian spices. Using what I had on hand, I threw this together. And what do you know, it actually worked!


What you'll need:

• 1 - 28 oz can whole tomatoes


• 2 potatoes, peeled


• 1 celery stalk


• 1/2 onion


• 2 cloves garlic


• 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds


• 2 tab. butter or ghee


• 2 tsp. black mustard seeds


• 2 tsp. garam masala, or to taste


• 1 tsp. powdered ginger


• 1 cup milk


• cilantro

In a large saucepan or dutch oven, melt the butter over med. high heat. Add the cumin seeds, and cook for a few seconds, until fragrant. Brown the onion and garlic together. Add the browned onion, garlic, celery and tomatoes to a food processor, and puree them together. Return mixture to pan. Add potatoes, garam masala, mustard seeds and ginger. Simmer, partially covered, for 35 minutes. Add water as needed. (I wound up using 1 1/2 cups.) Add the milk, and remove from heat. Garnish with cilantro.

4 - 6 servings, reheats well!

Crafty Kitchen - Actually Edible Gingerbread!

It's a family tradition. Every year, I make gingerbread cookies. My cousin brings enough candy and frosting to build a life-size Hansel and Gretel trap. And then all the cousins get to work, elaborately decorating things no one will ever eat.
Why?

Because gingerbread cookies, at least the way I make them, are hard enough to chip a tooth. Or dense enough to make your jaw hurt just thinking of all that chewing.
But not this time. This time, I managed to make soft, chewy, delicious gingerbread cookies. Which no one but I ate. (Can you blame them? The last several years have not been kind to their teeth or taste buds. Also, I think I need to accept the fact that my family does not like gingerbread.)

Two things to note: these cookies are a *little* hard to decorate. Their soft spudgyness means arms and legs are going to break off. Also, rolling the dough between two sheets of parchment? BEST THING EVER. Imagine yourself not covered in sweat and flour, and not thrashing the entire kitchen to make these stupid cookies that no one is going to eat anyway, why do I keep making them?

ANYWAY. Want to make your own actually edible gingerbread cookies? Here's the recipe!

Best Gingerbread Cookies
(Adapted oh-so-slightly from the November 1999 issue of Cook's Illustrated)

3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces and softened slightly
3/4 cup unsulphured molasses
2 tablespoons milk

1. In bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, stir together flour, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, and baking soda at low speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Stop mixer and add butter pieces; mix at medium-low speed until mixture is sandy and resembles fine meal, about 1 1/2 minutes. Reduce speed to low and, with mixer running, gradually add molasses and milk; mix until dough is evenly moistened, about 20 seconds. Increase speed to medium and mix until thoroughly combined, about 10 seconds.

2. Scrape dough onto work surface; divide in half. Working with one portion of dough at a time, roll 1/4-inch thick between two large sheets of parchment paper. Leaving dough sandwiched between parchment layers, lay flat in fridge for 15-20 minutes.

3. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

4. Remove one dough sheet from freezer; place on work surface. Peel off top parchment sheet and gently lay it back in place. Flip dough over; peel off and discard second parchment layer. Cut dough into 5-inch gingerbread people or 3-inch gingerbread cookies, transferring shapes to parchment-lined cookie sheets with wide metal spatula, spacing them 3/4 inch apart; set scraps aside. Repeat with remaining dough until cookie sheets are full. Bake cookies until set in centers and dough barely retains imprint when touched very gently with fingertip, 8 to 11 minutes, rotating cookie sheets front to back and switching positions top to bottom halfway through baking time. Do not overbake. Cool cookies on sheets 2 minutes, then remove with wide metal spatula to wire rack; cool to room temperature.

5. Gather scraps; repeat rolling, cutting, and baking in steps 2 and 4. Repeat with remaining dough until all dough is used.

Makes enough cookies to fill a gallon sized ziplock bag. I really should have counted. Trust me, this is plenty.

I think I need to go eat one of these cookies right now. Excuse me.

A peek inside the creative life of Kaeti Lindquist and Tyler Poncho

Today's interview is a special one. After all, it's not often that a creature gets to be part of an interview.

First off, a little back story. Who are you? What do you make?
We are Kaeti Lindquist and Tyler Poncho. Kaeti lives in Madison, Wisconsin and loves to sew, draw, paint and make up silly stories. Tyler Poncho originally was born on Peacock City Planet. A few years ago, he teleported into Kaeti's head and gave her instructions on how to recreate his body and bring his visionary toy business to life. In his true birth he was cut by turtles, sewn by birds, and stuffed by bunnies to form the true sentient being of Tyler Poncho as he exists on Peacock City Planet.
Click here to see Tyler Poncho's birth!

We make many distorted Teddy Bears and other monsters. Our favorite is our two-headed bear, the Double Bear. We also have a series of toys based on Kaeti's childhood, Stuffed Animal World. These animals are slightly less frightening than those from Tyler's Amalgamated Menagerie.

What projects are you in the middle of right now that you should probably be working on instead of doing this?

Right now we're making a Tropical Joseph Petticoat for Soft Serve at OhNoDoom! in Chicago. I also have to put together at least 9 pieces for a gallery that is opening down the street from our home. On the 27th we have a Red Heel Sock Monkey workshop at the Overture Center! We're really excited about this, we have reference books prepared (all filled with gorgeous monkeys!), our kits assembled, and Tyler's got his sewing paws ready to show the monkey enthusiasts how to make there own Red Heel Sock Monkey. Seriously, I should be sewing instead of typing.


Where do you primarily create?
I primarily create on my couch. I cut out all the animals, and machine sew their parts up in my work/storage room. I love to do all my embroidery, hand sewing, stuffing while listening to Pandora, or watching some instant movies on Netflix. Last year I made a Where the Wild Things Are full body costume and won a kick-ass LED TV, so I watch that while I make my toys.

Where do you find inspiration?
I love zoos. Right now my favorite animals are camels, alpacas,flamigos, giraffes,....there's a bit of a trend of similar features, so you get the idea. I love awkward looking animals, and always strive for silliness in my designs. My favorite book and illustration of all time is Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne, especially the original illustration by Ernest Shepard. I get a lot of inspiration from my childhood, characters and places I made up, and books I read.

Do you have a favorite book/blog/movie/etc you'd like to recommend?

HyperboleandaHalf.blogspot.com!


Where can readers see more of your work?

• tylerponcho.com

• Kooky at the Shops at Northbridge, 520 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago.

• Tyler Poncho's Amalgamated Menagerie
  is available on Amazon.com.

Thanks for giving us this peek into your creative life, Kaeti (and Tyler)!