A Little Bit Hippy?

why yes, i am, actually :)

although not a true hippy since i was born about 25 yrs too late to ever be considered as such, i do like the values and lifestyle associated with that genre. i guess that's why i'm so excited to announce that the Quirky Forest is being featured this month at Roanoke's own, A Little Bit Hippy, located in the upper level of Tower's shopping center.

i met Heidi, the new owner, when i wondered into the store one day last month looking for some yummy smelling perfume oil (mmmmm, coco mango is divine) and we got to chit-chatting. it's so nice to meet another kindred spirit out of the blue and her ideas for revamping the store are awesome. there's plenty of new merchandise but she's stayed true to the central theme that has permeated the store for the last 12 yrs.

so, if you get a chance, check out her blog and stop in the store to take a gander at not only her merchandise but mine too! highlighted items include dresses, quilted bags, as well as a few plushie "wishes" for the kid in all of us.

A Little Bit Hippy blog (where Heidi says some very kind things about my items) plus info about shop hours, her goals, and mission to move into the next generation :)

settling into new space

the last few weeks have been pretty crazy... kids finished another school year, did some traveling, and finally wrapped up the great house purge culminating in a yard sale and 2 very large loads of items taken to Goodwill. my husband joked that the house rose a few inches once it was all gone, hahaha.

i had a purpose though and goal in mind besides just getting rid of unwanted things, i was able to move my craft space (which was previously in a small room upstairs) down to what was our living room. this was a scary proposal to Mike and it took me a while to convince him that i needed a larger and more efficient space to work. at last he agreed and i set to work moving all of my craft supplies downstairs. we reworked the room upstairs to become a game/music space where the boys could practice guitar and piano or just hang out. so far the swap has been working out fantastic. i don't have any "before" pix but here's a few of the new and improved home of the Quirky Forest:






afterward: woo hoo! we took down the old ceiling fan over the weekend and put up some stylish track lighting instead. it's so much brighter and friendly :)

spinning round and round and round

i love dresses which is funny because i was never a big fan of them when i was little. always more of a shorts/jeans and t-shirts kind of kid and then later a grungie teen in early 90's i was disdainful towards the overly girlie concept of dresses in general. foolishly equating them with being an archaic tradition. i laugh when i think about that now as i spend most days in either a skirt or a dress, be it spring, summer, fall, or winter.

versatile, comfy, and cool, dresses are a staple of my wardrobe and i'm always in search of new ones to buy or make. generally speaking though, the style of dresses that i'm most drawn to are somewhat hard to find and many of the fabric choices leave me feeling... well blah. i need colors, bright, happy colors in easy to care for cotton, not synthetics that are too tight or unflattering.

so, when i found this awesome book of patterns called Sewing Clothes Kids Love and the corresponding web site and flickr group i was very excited. now of course, as the title suggests, it's a bunch of patterns for kids but with a few modifications i realized i could adapt it to fit me! hooray!

the following are my first attempt at making the Feliz Party Dress, i went with the beautiful Amy Butler Soul Blossoms line:

i'm currently cutting fabric to make a few more, mixing up some old and new material and using different designers. can't wait to twirl around all summer in these!

feeling feverish...

...ok, so not like flu feverish or even my dreaded spring-allergies-which-turns-into-sinus-infection feverish (although i've had my fair share of that in the last few months) but rather that manic feeling that tends to overtake me in the spring and makes me want to wash down all the walls and start chucking unwanted stuff out the windows. i guess this is what some might call a "spring fever" and i've got it bad.

there's a growing mound of gently used toys, books, clothes, and bedding in the corner of the living room. each piece that i add makes me sigh but i hope that they will all find new homes where they're loved and appreciated.

unfortunately, all this de-pack-ratting (yes i'm in the mood to make up new words today) has left me so tired that i simply don't feel like creating anything. i have a few projects that i'm in the process of finishing up and a couple of commissioned pieces that need to be completed before the end of the month but i just can't even think about starting or designing anything new until i free my house and my mental state of all this clutter.

i would post a pic of Mt. It-Must-Go but i'm kinda embarrassed about the size of it already and know that there is still the attic and basement to go through... oi vey.

twirly, whirly hoop dreams

i'll confess that the ability to hula hoop has always eluded me. fairly certain that i tried to figure it out when i was a kid, but for whatever reason, could never quite get the hang (or swirl of) it was one of those things that i simply chalked up as something that wasn't meant to be.

as an adult, i assumed it would be something that i didn't really need to know how to do and subsequently pushed the thought aside but lately i've been curious and a little intrigued with the hooping lifestyle. a few weeks ago i picked up a lightweight hula hoop at the toy store, thinking i would give it a whirl. even if i didn't like it, i knew one of my boys would claim it and either learn to do it themselves or use it to try and teach the dog some new tricks. $5 and a few days later, i was shocked that hooping wasn't as hard as i remember it being, in fact, it was pretty fun!

this of course led to a search for online hula hoop info and what i found was a whole community of people who LOVE their hoops. intrigued as i read more about the different sizes, weights, and designs, it was natural that i should decide to try and make my own. (as it turns out, that cheapo one from the toy store is actually a little too small and light for my body) so, off to Lowe's i went yesterday on a quest for supplies.

pvc tubing- check
duct tape- check
tubing connectors- check
electrical tape- check
pvc pipe cutters- check
play sand- check




spent the afternoon reading through some of the online tutorials and watching a youtube on how in the world i was supposed to use my handy dandy new ratcheting pipe cutter, by the time the kids arrived home from school, i had 1 brand new spiffy hula hoop to show for my efforts. unfortunately, it was still a little small for me, but keegan gladly claimed it for his own and i attempted to make another one for myself, finishing it after we were done with dinner.


so, here's my preliminary thoughts on the process... i don't like duct tape. it's bright and pretty and it's amazing all the wonderful colors they make now, but wrapping the tube with it was a gigantic pain in the butt. it didn't lay right, was hard to get it to stay on a nice angle,and when it overlaps too much, the results are just not pretty. i had better luck with the electrical tape though but realized very quickly that this is one of those things that takes practice to get good at, kinda like hooping itself. i like that i will be able to remove the tape and update it if need be, either with better tape or new colors :)

... and with that, my hooping journey begins, time to get those hips moving!

bangles never FELT so good

so, i've always liked the look of bangles but the clack, clack, clack of them banging around as i moved always threw me off. i think that's why i find wearing these felt bangles to be so much more my style. they're soft and quiet, extraordinarily durable and the bright colors add a "pop!" to my favorite outfits.



it's easy to mix and match them too, depending on my mood and what colors i'm feeling like on any given day. all one color, complimentary colors, triadic color scheme or the whole rainbow, the possibilities are endless!
sometimes i just wear one, other days, 5, but i usually stick with odd numbers. (matches my quirky, asymmetrical demeanor, i guess)

seeing red

red, red, red
everywhere i look i'm seeing red. most likely because it's february and we get bombarded with pink and red decorations, cards, and clothing but i've got red on the brain for other reasons too and find myself drawn to this bright vibrant color like a ladybug to a tomato.

so inspired, i started a few red projects. the first is a knitted wool hooded cape, a la little red riding hood, but as i quickly realized, i really need to order more yarn cause there is no way i currently have enough to even come close to finishing it. knitpicks must surely love me, it's a shame i can't get any kind of frequent shopper discount...

today i attempted to make a pom pom from an old t-shirt. results were so-so but not bad for a trial run. need to make my cardboard pattern a little bit bigger and take better care when trimming it up at the end, but the color is pretty and it's making me smile hanging from the window in the laundry room :)


i've also started writing, revisiting an old idea that i began outlining over a year ago, which is coincidentally a new version of an old favorite fairy tale. yep, you guessed it, little red riding hood strikes again! she's permeating my every day life in more ways than i care to admit, lol.