I’ve been thinking about robots for a while- they are all over in bloggyville. I was sort of arguing with myself about making one- seemed like why bother when everyone else was already doing such great stuff? The thing that pushed me forward was rather odd. Husband was browsing the TV channels and all of a sudden I hear him yelling- come here! There is my brother Paul, on the History Channel show of Failed Inventions. He was the expert they were interviewing between every film segment. Of course we had to watch the whole thing… and there was a segment that showed black and white film footage of a person in a robot costume advertizing a store opening. It was a great costume, a great robot- probably early 60’s. Anyway, that’s what stuck in my head and gave me the push to finally make this one.

(btw- the one in the show didn’t look anything like this)

He has a zipper mouth- no it doesn’t open. Felted wool beads for his ears/antennae. His shoulder joints are also felted wool beads. His hands/claws are the hook parts of a hook and eye set. He is all wool and 17 1/2 inches tall.

I had so much fun making this guy that I am onto my next robot already!

first things first- HAPPY BIRTHDAY PETER!!!!!!

Okay, did that. Now onto the next item on the list of things to do-

I finished miss kitty today-

Her dress is a vintage poly/cotton print. I have a lot left if anyone wants some.

Spring is really here and there are lots of distractions. I’ve been working on getting the garden cleared up of the winter mess and also cleared of all the stuff I should have taken care of last fall but didn’t. Also, we have moved ourselves out of the bedroom so the paint job that I started 3 1/2 years ago might get finished. Every paint job in our house is a huge production and I no longer have any enthusiasm for doing them. Paint has to be stripped, plaster patched… ugh. Well, I’ve done the first step anyway and the room is almost cleared out. I guess that is progress.

This has been one of those freak-out weeks. I am leaving today to teach my workshop on Cape Cod. I will be gone for a little more then 2 days, but getting ready for these things makes me stressed for weeks beforehand. The good thing is that I’ve done it once before and so have notes and a little bit of experience. The other good thing is that it motivates me to finish up all kinds of other stuff that has nothing to do with the workshop- my crazy deadline reaction. I had to get these atcs done and in the mail today for Amy’s Spring swap.

I made little envelopes out of my mom’s old Vogue magazines. Fun!

I am contemplating putting the 5 that I don’t swap up for sale on ebay, but that seems like a sin somehow…. I’m thinking about it…

I finished my hat pin cushion-

I asked the other day if anyone had suggestions for how to attach the wool to the glass. Thank you so much for all your suggestions. It helped me think about the problem more clearly. I ended up using FabricTac. I might try something else next time. It is working well enough, but I think I could peel the entire pin cushion off the glass if I tried- is that good or bad?

I put a thick line of glue along the top of the glass and pressed the pin cushion into it. I stuck some long pins through the wool and looped some elastic bands around to hold everything tightly in place until the glue was dry. I didn’t do anything to weight the base and left the glass part empty.

I was thinking of a Protea while I made it, but wanted to be working from a vague notion rather then anything specific. After I finished, I went and looked at photographs.

Close-up-

I finished my hat pin cushion-

I asked the other day if anyone had suggestions for how to attach the wool to the glass. Thank you so much for all your suggestions. It helped me think about the problem more clearly. I ended up using FabricTac. I might try something else next time. It is working well enough, but I think I could peel the entire pin cushion off the glass if I tried- is that good or bad?

I put a thick line of glue along the top of the glass and pressed the pin cushion into it. I stuck some long pins through the wool and looped some elastic bands around to hold everything tightly in place until the glue was dry. I didn’t do anything to weight the base and left the glass part empty.

I was thinking of a Protea while I made it, but wanted to be working from a vague notion rather then anything specific. After I finished, I went and looked at photographs.

Close-up-