Gettin' the Old Hairy Eyeball

In retrospect it has been a great and productive week during which I hardly noticed. My mind has been spinning lately with overwhelm. I'm traveling back to NY state this Tuesday for a week to visit my family. This is always an anxious event for me. I have to drive to Portland in my questionable vehicle. I have to fit all my stuff into a carry on and all my liquids into less than 3 oz. I have to be nice. I must forgo my comfy home, boy, and kitties. I'm a privileged white woman with not nearly enough to fret about, obviously. It's only a week and I haven't been back to see the fam in nearly 3 years. It's barely enough time to say hello to everyone. Guilt, worry, tension, chardonnay. Last night I came up with a way to describe the ridiculous amount of guilt I conjure: It's a back lit cross, boulder to the stomach kind of guilt that sticks like cheap perfume. I know better. I know it helps nothing to worry or feel guilt. It doesn't change past events or feelings. The only thing it does is frazzle the air around me. I know all this and I wasn't even raised catholic yet somehow this Love's Baby Soft never goes away for very long.

But let's get back to business. My wonderful friends, Kris and Scot, commissioned me to make a Star Bellied Sneetch for their son's Birthday.

I loved the design process. The beak is a little oversized but I think it adds to the comic cuteness. I hope Kris and Scot agree.


I've been wanting to design something inexpensive so I came up with the Hairy Eyeballs. They do not have pockets. This is a first for me. I may add pockets later. I considered making the pocket right in the middle so one could use it to make a finger puppet. That's them at the top of the page. I'll make some pairs on a string to use like fuzzy dice too. Nothing like gettin' the old hairy eyeball from your own rear view mirror.

Yesterday I indulged a bit. I made my first ever doll. I'm not sure why I have been dying to do this. I've been putting it off because I'm not sure I can make them at a reasonable cost. I did a lot of hand stitching which takes time. I could do less by hand. I could simplify. I've got ideas.

It isn't quite finished but you get the gist. It isn't my intention to make only white females. I can't wait to make all varieties of race and sex. Interplanetary baby dolls even. Cyclops dollies perhaps.