More baby ninjas

Tiny ninjas on silk from spoonflower plus purple minky equals a blanket fit for a baby ninja girl.

clothing little ninjas

When little ninjas are very tiny, they still need to be clothed properly as a true little ninja. I completed this project on the long weekend (Victoria Day in Canada), but I’m using WordPress’ handy scheduling feature to make sure that the recipient doesn’t see this post before he returns to work next week and I can give him the gift.

How did I accomplish this feat of ninja mastery? The first thing I did was search for “ninja silhouette” in Google Images. I actually traced it right off of my laptop screen (I have a hard screen cover that lets me do that, it’s the easiest way because I can easily adjust the size on the screen before tracing). Then I went to Walmart and found plain one-sies and fabricland to find pretty fabrics and Heat’N’Bond lite. Keep in mind that I did all of this in Lloydminster!

I’ve used Heat’N’Bond before, but never anything this complicated before. I found out from my last project that if there is any webbing peeking out from behind the applique, it will get all over the iron and make a sticky mess. So after I got the fabric pieces all cut out, I set the fabric on chunks of Heat’N’Bond and thought to myself “How on earth am I ever going to cut out an identical shape?!”

So I took the iron and “tacked” the fabric to the Heat’N’Bond – I heated up dots near the end of each limb of the ninjas to hold them all in place, and then cut around the fabric shapes and continued on as before. This method ensured that each part of the ninja – even the tiny little ties of his belt – were firmly attached to the garment. When I got home I stitched around the edges of each of the ninja – I’ll wash them and I hope that they’ll fray around the edges, and that the washable quilting marker comes out!

As usual when I go to Lloydminster, I came out of Fabricland wanting to punch the lady behind the counter – she didn’t want to sell me the glow-in-the-dark machine embroidery thread that I found. She started off by asking me if I knew that this wasn’t normal thread. I tried not to be insulted, since I had been standing at the till, had squealed, and then dashed over to get some, and came back to the till – anyways, no harm on that one. I replied “Yes, it’s glow-in-the-dark machine embroidery thread. I’ve never seen anything like that before, I’m quite excited to try it out!” She then asked me if I knew that it was expensive, and I got very slightly insulted… I replied “Yes, it’s right there on the shelf, it’s 8 something a spool”, which I realize is a lot more expensive than your run-of-the-mill thread. Then she went back to look at the box on the shelf to check the price and came back and said “They’re $8.98 each”, to which I nodded. She asked me if I still wanted them, and I nodded and said yes. Then she asked if I really wanted two of them – now I was starting to get annoyed. I nodded and said yes. She said “Two of them, at 9 dollars each, that’s $18!” I nodded and said yes. She said “You really want both of them?” Now I was starting to get angry. I wanted to asked her “Do you not want me to buy your thread? Just ring in the freaking thread!” But I didn’t say that… I didn’t even raise my voice – much. I just nodded and said yes and ignored the flabbergasted look of confusion on her face.

I can sometimes get this sort of attitude because I don’t look very old – I’m 29, but I don’t look very 29 – I get ID’ed at bars, liquor stores, and restaurants often, and the legal age here is only 18! I’ve encountered this before too, and I find ageism not only frustrating, but insulting. I make a decent living and I have no children, so I spend money on things that I enjoy, like sewing and embroidery, and I don’t appreciate people that assume for whatever reason that there is anything of which I’m incapable.

a true ninja

a true ninja laughs in the face of that which is difficult, rejoices in the impossible, thrives in that which mere mortals insist cannot be done.

what have you ninja’d today? (yes, that’s totally a verb.  now.)

NIT… ninja in training…

ninjas don’t come out of the womb as full fledged experts in all things ninja… they need to be trained.

my favorite part is the throwing-start detail in the rattle.  and it’s for a girl so it’s in pink, and it’s backed with a pink zebra-stripe fabric.