hello kitty

Home today. I had to take care of some errands that required a visit to a government agency office so I took the day off from work. The errand didn't take as long as I thought it would (all day) and so I have the rest of the day at home with m and the cats. I love these kinds of days.

Now that we've had lunch and cleaned up in the kitchen (dinner fixin's are bubbling on the stove), I can spend the rest of this lovely day indoors with my computer and sewing supplies. Here are the six Hello Kitty characters that I chose for the finger puppet birthday gift:

I found the character images on their website then traced and filled in the lines on Illustrator. (Doesn't Merry Melodie look like she's giving you the bird? I can't decide if I'm going to keep it that way and pretend innocence: What? I she's giving you the finger?? Well, I'll be! Or if I should adjust it to protect the innocent.) I printed out the illustrator file and took it with me to the fabric store last night to pick up the supplies:

The puppets will be made out of felt with embroidered embellishments for the eyes and whatnot. That cute chicken print and the polka dots are for the little pouch that I want to make to house this menagerie of Hello Kitty critters. I think an orange zipper and green ric-rac trim will be cheerful and fun. And if I have enough time, I'd love to embroider the birthday girl's name on the pouch a la Liesl's diaper case/food bag series. I love looking at these supplies. They are so bright and colorful, they make me happy.

And then of course I couldn't resist checking out the rest of the fabric selection so I picked up these guys:

I think I gasped out loud when I saw the orange flowered print on top. Luckily I was alone in that aisle of the store. I LOVE it! I'm thinking maybe a dress for me. And because they were having a sale (40% off Keepsake prints) I basically bought myself a dress for nine bucks. Gotta love that!

The second print with the smaller flowers is going to a project that I keep calling Angry Chick in my head, but really it's called: Don't Care Much For Chardonnay. More on that later. The ticking is going to be a shopping bag. I'm thinking I'll make a bunch of these for my regular trips to Trader Joe's. I like that the ticking fabric is dense and sturdy. I'll likely line the insides with some fun prints for contrast. And yay, good for the environment!

And the bottom two fabrics are canvas for lining the pouch and finish up the couch that I started weeks ago.

Now I must fly if I am to get any further on my craft projects.