I am starting to believe I have some sort of mental illness.
Concerning books anyway. Crafting books specifically. Curse you Amazon, for your recommendations list has led to many a secret purchase...my husband is convinced my books multiply like tribbles on the original Star Trek...(if Spock was here he'd be all : "Your obsession is highly illogical." And I'd be like: "Shut up Spock and get your pointy ears outta here!" Then he'd give me the vulcan death grip for my insolence. My dying words would be: "This is all your fault, Amazon!")
Usually when he (my husband, not Spock) asks me about a certain book, I say "Oh, I've had that for a while" which is true, as a while is not any specific amount of time...a while can be two years or the five minutes since the ups guy brought the box, I opened and hid the box for later inconspicuous disposal, and started lovingly looking at my book.
For those of you who say that is devious, I have no rebuttal...to not tell the whole truth is parallel to lying...I am ashamed for that reason...but you don't understand how the books call to me! You can't hear their tiny voices: "you need us...you want us...we're colorful...instructional...you desire to feel our pages...to smell our new book smell..."
To those of you who say I shouldn't need to justify my purchases to my husband...that I am a free and independent woman with her own income...that women have equal rights...that ain't nobody gonna turn us around...women's lib and the rest... I say, in defense of my loving husband, you haven't seen my library...Gertrude Stein would be like "don't blame the man, you have a problem!" Additionally, I will admit that I tend to just look at the books. Rarely do I ever make one project from a book I own. Yet I need to own those glorious books. And don't try to justify me by saying 'oh, you have them for inspiration'...no, no my friends, the internet has taken away that means of justification! Google has rendered it obsolete! Flickr spits in its eye! Etsy and Folksy scoff at it from the other room! No, my friends, to you I admit that I have a problem...but just know that no matter how much I spend on books, a psychiatrist would cost much more. And so when I finish here, I will leave you all to go feed my addiction...curse you Amazon...curse you...
Now then, I said all that to say this: one of the best books of all the books I have in my possession (and trust me, the list is extensive) is a book called Wee Wonderfuls -24 Dolls to Sew and Love.
There are so many great things about this book. The dolls are really cute and different. The photographs are really crisp and well done. The instructions are easy to understand and duplicate. This book is easy to use and enjoyable to look at! I had seen this book quite a while before I actually bought it (saw it at Barnes and Noble...eventually bought it on Amazon). But now that I own it, I regret not knocking down old people while running to the checkout to buy it! I can't say enough good things about it.
One of the points I really want to stress is the directions are the best. I have quite a few easy sewing/beginner sewing type books and the directions in this book are honestly much easier to learn from than any of the other books I own. Plus, there are pictures that accompany most of the directions, so you see exactly what the author means. Seriously, just go buy this book!
Here are the first two projects in the book. (I am currently working on the third. This book is so good I am actually going through and making each project in order from beginning to end. There is not one of the cool dolls I don't want to make!)
So the first is Evelyn Inchworm. Here is my Ev looking at her picture in the book:
So cute! I like that she is made out of felt, as I enjoy felt to an unhealthy extreme. I use her as a pincushion. If I had any little girls in my life, I would give her away, but no such luck...this will be especially awkward in the future when I start making more of the dolly dolls...they will just have to look awesome on a shelf or something!
Next is Pixie. Here is how she looks in the book:
And here is my (blurry) version:
I gave mine little felt shoes, because my embroidery skills were lacking that day and I could not embroider the shoes like the directions said to...but I like her green shoes! I think they look extra sprite-ly! My friend Maria asked if she could have my Pixie and I agreed as I hate to see homeless dolls...Maria sent the doll to her daughter, so Pink Pixie is currently enjoying sunny Mexico!
I am only mildly jealous that my little creations get to be more well traveled than me.
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