Shhhh! Here they are!!

So these guys got their photo shoot today - and they had fun. They're a bunch of hams I'm telling ya! They're out with a few testers as I type - and hopefully will come back with a clean bill of health quickly so they can make their official entrance!

Still looking for an official name... I have had a few suggestions and I'm leaning towards one that was made.... I'm still entertaining other names though! Let me know what you are thinking!!

Second Sight Thrift Store

I have been missing in action for a few weeks and I'm sure there are a few that are wondering if I fell from the face of the earth in to some unknown cavern transporting me mysteriously to some dinosaur filled land that is way cooler than Will Farrell's version of a nifty netherworld...

But the kids are out of school... then I went on vacation for a bit.. but I'm back and will be coming back strong! Look for new designs on the site to roll out the end of the month and
throughout the upcoming months!



If you have made a CraftyDeb.com creation - please email me pictures! I'd love to post them up in the Gallery of Greatness!!



Anyhooo.... I wanted to show off some pictures from my trip!
I went to a great thrift store Called the Second Sight Thrift Store - it specializes in FABRIC!! whoo hooo! Here is their fabric department - okay, I'll come clean - they also have clothing - fancier stuff for formals and whatnot from the looks of it but I don't go to that area.. I go to the fabric area.... no surprises there, aye?


The Second Sight Thrift Shop, operated by volunteers of Visual Impairment & Blindness Services, is now located at:
The Trolley Station Mall
Lower Level–Rear Door
224 Nazareth Pike
Bethlehem, PA 18020
Hours of Operation:
Wednesday-Thursday-Friday: 12:00 am to 5:00 pm
Saturday: 11:00 am to 3:00 pm

Build a Buddies and Killdeer chicks

I wanted to let you all know right off the bat that I made a big change to the Perfect Sized Stuffie series - the name has been bothering me from the get go so I up and changed it. That is not a normal thing for me to do and yes, it is rather unprofessional. I feel like Ford changing the Windstar to the Freestar... but I did it... You can still find them - but look under Build a Buddy since that is so much more appropriate!



The killdeer's eggs have finally begun to hatch! Buster has let them be fortunately. I'm glad he did. I don't know if I could have handled him destroying more of her eggs... So without further ado - a few pics of the proud mama and her babies!

Killdeer in my Pepper Patch

I have had a returning killdeer since we moved here 3 1/2 years ago - and each year she tends to build her nest in the middle of the grass - which is not like the normal killdeer - they lay their eggs in gravel...

However this year she decided to do something different. She must have remembered Buster chasing her away each and every time last year - so this year she laid her eggs in the mulch around one of my almond trees.. Buster did finally find her nest and that was pretty much the end of the story.... until I spotted her hanging around my garden....

When I put hte garden in a bit ago she had already taken up residence - she somehow indented last year's newspaper weedblock and she moved in some wood chips for decoration and laid 4 more eggs...


She has been becoming more and more tolerant of us in the yard and she doesn't seem to mind th sprinkler in the garden although the first time or two it really freaked her out. Yesterday she was actually walking with the water drops looking like she was taking in a bath. It was really adorable and I regret not getting it on film....

But here are pics of her and her nest. Her babies should be out soon. It seems like forever since she laid them!

Perfet Sized Stuffies are up on the site!

Last night I released the Perfect Sized Stuffies to the site.
The headhunter, hula dancer, devil and the base pattern of course are up on the site very reasonably priced. I do try to keep prices on the low side.

I am starting to work on more scalps/hair for this series as well as removable clothing. I'm hoping to get some ready for next weekend. I have a few testers with several of these dolls already made up and just waiting to be finished off.

I will say that within minutes of the Perfect Sized Stuffie series going live I had my first sale with them. That did not take long. I'm not sure if the purchaser just happen to be on the site and said oh my! Look at that! of if they saw pictures on Ravelry, crochetville or Craftster... who knows.

David will be working on more improvements on the site in the upcoming weeks as well. He has several things on his to do list - some of them are technical requests from me and others are things to make surfing the site easier - like the ability to have one item in two different categories. I know it seems like a trivial thing and those of us that do not work with computers much but apparently it is a big thing with writing perl and websites. He is working on it though!

Spring fever has hit me as well and I have been gardening like a madwoman! I'll be taking some pictures today to show off what all is in bloom. I promised to make this a not always business blog! I regret that I missed taking pictures of the flowering almond when it was in full bloom. That is such a beautiful shrub but my variegated weigelia is gorgeous! I'm so happy it is doing so well!

Perfect Size Stuffies Nearly Ready!

You guys are probably starting to wonder if I have been sleeping on the job - but I assure you I have been working - and working hard!

I have a new series of upgradable amigurumi dolls - and I'm kicking them off with a bit of heat! Some from way down under and some from an island or two...

Here are a few sneak peeks!
They will all be available shortly! They are out with testers as I finish up a few more accessories for the hula dancer and the head hunter....!

On the Cover...

So I knew I was going to be on the cover of Creative Home Arts Magazine - which is sadly not available on the news stand... You have to have a subscription to get the magazine but it is only $12 a year so it's not too bad. I just subscribed because of my Rainbow Bunny being on the cover...
Over here on the left is the cover shot... so sweet!

But who knew that this bunny should actually be on the next season of Top Model? Strike a pose!
How on earth did they get him in to those positions??? I can't find anywhere the size of this bunny but it is HUGE. We are talking like 30" long huge!

So here's one of the other shots of him in the magazine. I am beyond proud of this guy!

I just had to share my wanna be skier Rainbow Bunny hot off the presses! Even cooler - I was sent three copies of the magazine! When I subscribed I told the woman that I was the designer - she must have sent me a care package! Very cool indeed.

It's Notta Cat Monster

So I have to say It's notta cat okay?! lol.
Seriously. I created a monster and it does kind of remind me of a cat - a rather mutant one with an extra bit on the top of his head but I do love him. I did not intentionally make him in orange and blue being all yeah for Auburn University and all. I have to admit to a bit of total laziness... Here I am on the couch.. and I wanted to add some facial embroidery - well, the burgundy just did not pop.. there was no black to be seen so I spied at the end of the couch a skein of blue. sold! Blue embroidery it was! So sorry to any Auburn fans - it was not intentional just looked good together so I flew with it!

He will soon be out for testing and hopefully be up on the site soon.

And then the dinosaurs marched in.....

I am nearly completely done with a dinosaur. All I can say now is that he is pretty darn cool. He is just a stegasaurus but he is my stegasaurus. It isn't the first one I have designed though - and is loosely based on the previous one that was published in Creative Home Arts Magazine - although he is much smaller - more like half the size.

I did not just resize the pattern... I did start from scratch but when you have a style things just are very reminiscent no matter what you do to them. I'll post up pictures after I get all those spikes sewn on to his back and complete the second one. This one will have two different ways to finish it off so I get to do double duty with the hook and yarn...

OH Bull!

The second in the Bevy of Bovines set is completed... I will be working on the final one soon - maybe even today. We shall see.... I am a bit hoarse today. My throat is scratchy and froggy and my face feels a bit warm... I am not feeling the healthy love today... so we shall see how much I actually get done!

I got the ears the way I want them and I am pleased with the bull....! How often can you actually say you are pleased with a bit of bull?

He's roughly 6" tall and 6" long - just a good size over all!

I am not sure what is next on the design couch after these guys. I am still in the middle of a set of Russian stacking dolls... I really need to get them done... but I also have some fabric crocheted baskets that are ready to get remade and edited. So many projects... so little time!

A Bevy of Bovines is pulling out of the corral soon!

The first in a trio of cows is done - and the other two are soon to follow! The first one is a longhorn steer! I just had to come out of the rodeo cage just wild! I'm smitten with him!











But before that cow moves in to your heart check out this cat! El Gato is out for el testo and will be up sooner than the cows! Look for this feline to debut in the next week...!












New this week? Monoster and the first set of Smidgens! The Smidgens are a trio of cuties with jointed arms and legs just waiting to be posed and played with! Monoster also can have jointed arms and is not going to take no for an answer! Check them out in the Creatures & Monsters category and the Animals category - the Animals category is new and already getting filled in the upcoming weeks!

Buster Bunny is just around the corner!

Buster Bunny is hot off the design couch! He is already in the trusted arms of one of my testers and hopefully he will be unleashed to the world by the end of the weekend - just in time for him (or her) to be created and hidden until the Easter bunny leaves him (or her) in some soon to be spoiled kids!

Now my kids would much rather get an Easter robot, bent on world destruction as opposed to a mild mannered rodent with oversized ears but hey... boys will be boys!

Of course I will let you know when he is available...

Also in the hands of my trusty team of testers is Monoster... the one eyed monster. He will be making his debut on the website sometime next week...

I have also begun to work on a new series of creatures where the placement of arms, legs and tails will be history! The Perfect Placement series are one of my next visions to make it to paper and yarn.

My husband has requested that in honor of Google indexing quite a few of the pages of my site I should create a Googlebot which I will - of course I can't use the name Google in it so I will be a bit creative with naming it as well.... but that might actually get put above the Perfect Placement series just to make him happy. Gotta make The Man happy ya know. He is after all the computer brains behind the operation and if he requests something, better snap to it!

My most recent quilt

I never thought I would like quilting. When I used to think of quilts I would think of the stuffy boring grandma looking stuff that I remember when I was growing up - but man! I tell you what I like it! I like it a lot! I really do! I have only made a few so far but I really enjoy it. In fact.. I *should* be doing some quilting right now. I have a Craftster swap coming up and I want to include a little something something in that package - and it is due on Monday! But alas. I have a sick child at home - two days in a row now. Yesterday I sat on the couch next to him as we watched hours of Animal Planet's Most Extreme and a variety of History Channel shows on ancient worlds, battle tech and whatnot. He is a boy through and through... I do have something up my sleeve for the site though - no, I can not stop thinking about designing. It's what I do. It's what I am ... Let's just say it involves a dowel possibly... and some plastic canvas which I would normally say yuk to (I am not a fan of plastic canvas. No sir, I didn't like it) but it will be hidden - completely hidden and only used for its plasticky ridgidness. I might just use plastic canvas all around instead of a dowel - although the dowel might still come in handly....

Oh! the suspense! I think it's going to be a hit with Collin. Okay. I know it will be a hit with him. It might bring some smiles to others too.... I'll be getting on that while he's not at home. It will be very culvert. I don't want him to know what is up my sleeves!!

Oh! Quilts! Here is a picture of my most recent one!

I made this for my son's teacher's son. He has stage 4 Hodgkin's and is going to be having a bone marrow transplant soon.

I wanted to make something to make his stay in the clean room a bit warmer - and not so hospital like. He is a HUGE LSU fan and with the help of some online friends I was able to obtain a bit of LSU material which I transformed in to a not so stuffy quilt.

I used my embroidery machine to do the stippling - a football design that I poorly digitized with the help of Embird... I will digitize more stippling designs now that I have found the tutorial on how to do them properly! I know he liked the quilt a lot - a picture of him holding it up was posted on his blog.

I'm really happy with the end result - oh and yes that is fleece on the backside. I used fireside fleece to be extra warm and snugly!

Smidgens!!!

I finished up the first set of Smidgens yesterday! I think they are just too adorable - but then I am biased! I have had a lot of positive feedback from those that have seen the pictures - they are only about 7" tall from top of the head to the tip of their toes..... and you can make them jointed so they sit!

So far there is the dog, bunny and cat - want to name each one of them?

In the works? A set of monster smidgens! Monsters and robots are a hit so they are next on the to do list after I finish a request from one of my testers... which I will keep as a surprise until I have pictures!