little birds handmade

my college major was anthropologie

My collection of vintage cups from Japan. My kids drink out of these. They're hard to topple and easy to hold with the two-finger grip. I was noticing that Anthropologie is featuring a new version of these. Really cool designs, but I've never paid more than 69 cents for any of mine, so...

Reader lisa sp was also pointing out to me yesterday that Anthropologie is featuring soft trees on their home page. I'll have a tree pattern for you sometime over the weekend.

right now

I am loving yellow.

Purse from Blair. Mohair scarf from an estate sale this morning.

More estate sale finds.

settling in

New cushion covers for fall/winter made from a Vera tablecloth I found while thrifting with my sister.

Feels so good to tackle a few things around the house (I hung some art work too) after a super busy start to fall. New cushions do not fully distract me from (still) wanting a new sofa (or that the perfect, but out-of-my-price-range, one is at the mid-century shop just down the block), but it helps.

What great suggestions you guys had for the pirate party! Thanks mateys!

repetitive stress

I have a pinched nerve in my neck which was probably caused by some sort of repetitive stress. Was it hand sewing all those tiny hats last week? Sifting through and attempting to answer the hundreds of emails I have received this week? Rocking out to Sufjan Stevens at the Crystal Ballroom on Friday night? Cutting out and sewing strips of wool for the scarf I made my mom for her birthday? Cleaning out my basement? Hemming 70 napkins (with my mom's help) for my daughter's school? All of the above? Who knows, but it's causing me a lot of pain and trying to ignore it isn't working, so I'm going to take it easy on the sewing and computer stuff (the most likely candidates) for a few days. I thought I'd feature a few things from my archives in the meantime.

I made this tooth pillow for my daughter in August 2005 when she told me her first tooth was loose. Well, 14 months later, that tooth finally fell out this morning at breakfast (after dangling there and grossing us all out for weeks), so we'll put this pillow to use tonight. It lost an eye, so I'll have to fix that. It's made of wool felt and vintage fabric. My daughter designed the heart pocket, I embroidered the word, she sewed it on the tooth. What is the going rate for the tooth fairy these days?

I've received quite a few emails letting me know that people are being asked for a password at the new little birds location. I have no idea why this is happening as I have no password associated with this blog. Maybe something from your cache? Apparently, if you hit "cancel" it disappears, so try that. I'm guessing that with time, this problem will go away, but I thought that about my neck too...

Fixed, I think! Thanks Hillary!

the unhappy hippopotamus

Thank you so much to everyone who has emailed me with hugs and support. It means a great deal to me. I want to clarify that my children were never in any direct danger. However, the trust that I had put out there when I post photos had been broken. Photos had been stolen and used out of context in inappropriate ways. It sucks. It's shocking really, and I have to do my best to insure that it won't happen again.

Let me change gears and show you something that made me really happy:

I had about five minutes to browse at the Goodwill the other day, and I chose the kid's books. I'm so glad I did, because I found this incredible book, The Unhappy Hippopotamus. It's about a depressed hippo, people! Look at some of these incredible illustrations (by Edward Leight, 1957). Harriet the Hippo is sad and tries all kinds of ways to make herself smile. She has a party, but still can't smile:

She tries reading, but still can't smile.

And dancing. Still no smile:

Finally, she goes to see a wise old owl who gives her the advice, "You've got to be YOU!"

She goes to wallow in some mud, and:

Harriet inspired this pink hippo:

Folks, you've got to be you. (Smile).