The Naked Fox

Ha, I have an old roommate with the last name Fox - I hope I didn't give her a heart attack with my title. It's been a while since I posted, but contrary to what you might be thinking, it has NOT been due to a dry desert of creativity around here.  I feel like I've got about five crafty things going on right now.  And of course they're all strewn about the same table, so I'll be applying a snap on my fox dress, see my bunting thread that I couldn't find yesterday and switch projects until I remember the iron is hot for the quiet book project and then the baby coughs herself awake, and I spend the afternoon fantasizing about what's next while I stroll through Target, because that's really the only "fun" thing to do with a baby sometimes.  Let me know if you need me to pick anything up for you.

My current flurry of craftivity started at the Boston Modern Quilt Guild meeting last weekend that  featured a tutorial on free motion quilting (a skill that would revolutionize my quilting, if I could even begin to master it).  I love seeing what experienced quilters can accomplish, but the great thing about this week was that the woman giving instruction has only been free motion quilting for a year (and she was GOOD - you can see her stuff here).  I find it so inspiring when someone masters a technique in such a short time, it totally gives me hope.  Let's face it, I'm pushing up on 40 and am a total jack of all crafts, master of none.

So true to form, THIS weekend, before the silicone quilting mat was even out of the package, I switched gears and took a two day workshop with Mimi Kirchner, an artist who makes amazing dolls (the traditional kind and the tattooed carnival kind... just check it out), foxes, kitties, owls - you can learn all bout her here.  Smash was a little weirded out by what I brought home the first night:

But he warmed up to her:

That was just the first day though, and while different from what I'm usually doing, it wasn't HARD.  The second day however, involved clothes.  I've given up on making them for real people so I'm not sure why it didn't occur to me they would be even harder in miniature.  It's not like she looks so bad au natural.

I gave her green eyes, so I ransacked the fabric stash looking for things that would match them.  I was tempted to buy some fabric with foxes frolicking on it, but decided that was a little too cutesy.  The funny thing is the part I'm most proud of is that her chin is a perfectly centered cable-knit, a detail only I will ever notice (unless you get a chance to see her in person, and then I would appreciate it if you would remember to compliment her chin).

I love five hours a day of uninterrupted craftiness, especially two days in a row.  I capped off the weekend at a guild sew-in on Monday night where I got started on about 62 yards of valentine themed bunting with a glass of wine and the company of three lovely quilters.  And today I decided it was now or never with the damn fox clothes, because there are too many things on the table and none of them are getting finished.  So here you go, something that is all done!

Aw, fox girl, are you waiting for Smash to come take you out on your date?  I really like those pearlized snaps on your dress, sorry I hammered them so hard they cracked!

Yes, you're right, that ribbon detailing really makes your dress!

Don't you think you should wear your jacket?  It may be warm outside but it's not THAT warm.

Don't forget your purse, Smash likes to go dutch (and I didn't give you pockets!)

Nice.