Clara Clodhopper

Clara is the youngest of the Clodhopper clan of Bigfoot. Like all Bigfoot, Clara has a weakness for toe socks. Unfortunately it's rare to find two that match. As long as she can scrounge up ones with pink or purple in them, she's happy. Clara always has a flower with her because her favorite hobby is to go off into the forest and pick wildflowers to press into her journal.

The Tiki Boys

The Tiki Boys belong to a gang of tikis that like to call themselves "les Primitives". They meet on alternate thursdays and drink punch out of coconut husks while discussing cubism. The debates can get pretty heated, and they've been known to make it rain or thunder depending on who loses the debate.

Lavender's off to Canada

A cousin of Tilly and Blu, Lavender has chosen to move from sunny California to the snowy winters of Calgary, Canada. She looks forward to doing some skating and skiing, and curling up by the fire when it's too cold to go outside and play. She had one last day of basking in the California sun and climbing her favorite tree before heading off to a new adventure in Canada.

Chuck the Cluck

Chuck is a rooster who likes to be "in on the action". Chuck has moved to Culver City, CA with his friends BJ, Sara and Logan, and plans on getting a job as a stunt rooster for the entertainment industry in LA. He hopes this photo of him in a tree (roosters don't fly, remember) will help prove how daring he is.

Finally finished!

The final steps on the tiki piece, at last. The first images are the BG pieces sewn onto the backing fabric, and the last few are the final images, with the tikis and all the other elements sewn into place. It was a long process, and I learned quite a bit. It feels great to be done, now onto other projects!

Shield

This is the sketch and process of creating the anniversary shield for the back of the tiki piece. I wanted to incorporate on the back some of the colors used on the front of the piece. It was actually fun to create and cut out all that lettering. I used fusible web ("Misty Fuse") to iron the letters on. I thought that would be easier (less time consuming!) than trying to sew around each letter. It was the first time I used the iron on technique, and it works really well. I will definitely consider using it on other projects. I did sew all the green border work on, and in the final image the shield is sewn to the fabric.

Bottom tiki

This tiki had elements that made it necessary to work back to front, as you can see from the photos. It was a layering process, and it was oh so fun to sew on the lips and border around his face. I don't think I'll work on something that skinny again. Phew! Now to start sewing on the background elements that border all three tikis. Getting closer to the finish line.

Middle tiki

These are images of the middle tiki- all the remains to do with him is to attach him to the background fabric and stuff him. He was a lot of fun to work on, and is my favorite of the three. There was a lot of detail sewing with this one, smaller pieces to sew to larger ones, which causes me to lose my patience normally. This time I actually enjoyed it. I guess that's another good thing I've learned from this project- I can cope with fussy details. (Not that I'd want to do it all the time...)