From the Workbench of the Made Cozy Studio:
A Cozy Things Newsletter
February 9, 2024
Hello again and happy February! Welcome back to our twice monthly newsletter where we share shop updates and the coziest recommendations.
First things first: its almost Valentine's day and all of our pillows are 20% until we run out! Our lip pillows are perfect for anyone you would like to give a big kiss to (we have them in stock and ready to ship). I will ship them out USPS Priority for anyone who orders one.
In the studio, we're still working on warm indoor sewing projects and have made a lot of progress on our first foray into toys... a plush cottontail bunny! All the materials are sourced and I'm getting started on a small production. I decided to pull out my partner, Oliver's, grandmother's vintage sewing machine for the first time. Our industrial sewing machine is a little too heavy-duty for these small delicate projects so I thought it would be fun to try. After oiling it up and replacing some parts it's running smoothly!
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I love using a vintage machine! This is a White Rotary Series 77 from the 40s or 50s. All the knobs are so smooth and there are no breakable plastic parts. It feels perfect to sew a toy inspired by Beatrix Potter and Winnie the Pooh on a machine like this. Our plan is to have these ready to order by March 1st so keep your eyes peeled! |
Cozy recommendations from early February:
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An ode to 00 flour: If you have ever tried to make pizza crust you know it can be a delicate process that requires a lot of muscle memory to stretch the dough into a perfect shape. Last weekend we used our new pizza oven (a Christmas gift!) and had a pizza party. I used 00 flour for the dough and it was so magically flexible and stretchy and strong! I make pizza a lot so I am very familiar with pizza dough but I usually use bread flour. This dough could be stretched and haphazardly thrown into the air without it ripping at all. |
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| Flowers on the worktable: It took me way too long to consider having flowers in my workspace. I regularly pick flowers in the yard (and buy them in the winter) for our house. It's just a sweet little thing I do for myself but I had never considered putting a vase on my worktable before. Making the spaces where we work comfortable and homey is so important and I often forget to do that. |  |
| This non-AI artist created a generative prompt: Pablo Delcan is drawing (by hand!) prompts from people who go to his website. This started as a jokey response to the popularity of AI image generative sites like Dall-E and became quite a big personal project. Last I checked he was drawing 50 prompts a day. I entered my own prompt on his site, "woman sewing 100 toy bunnies," but he has 4,000 prompts in his queue so it could be a while before I see the result. |
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Native Wildflowers!: We have a section of our woodsy yard that is totally unmaintained. We like it that way but wish it had more than just grass and spikey weeds. I bought 1/2 lb of North East native wild flower seeds from American Meadows to sprinkle around. It'll look prettier and be better for bees, butterflies and local wildlife. The best time to sprinkle seeds is in the Fall and the second best time is in the Spring.
Thanks for reading. Here's that Lips pillow (on sale when you add to cart) for those who are interested.
Until next time,
Haviland