a pirate ship, fishing boats, a book, and a castle

I found Ann Wood's blog, last month and instantly fell in love with her beautiful creations with paper and fabric. I find her work to be both rooted and airy - pure magic! Ann lives in Brooklyn, and makes art for a living. Most of the materials she uses are salvaged. You can purchase Ann's creations in her on-line shop.
She has posted a free boat pattern, with great in-depth instructions. I can not wait to make one! Her boats are so dreamy. They remind me of my all time favorite children's book The Maggie B by Irene Haas. Below is a review of the The Maggie B. I hope you find it enticing enough to read the book, if you have not already!

The plot of this story is summed up by the Library of Congress like so: "A little girl's wish to sail for a day on a boat named for her `with someone nice for company' comes true". Maggie's little brother is that "someone nice" and the two of them spend the day on their little boat living the sea life. The boat is fully equipped with an apple, peach and orange tree bearing fruit (and a beautiful toucan). There is an abundance of fresh eggs and milk to be had from various chickens and the goat. Maggie herself fishes and serves up sumptuous meals of lobster and peaches with cinnamon and honey for dessert. The day is simple and homey, the only real source of concern a thunderstorm that crashes and booms towards the end of the day. Even then, Maggie thoughtfully battens down the hatches and plays her fiddle to her brother, tucked snugly in his bed. E.R. Bird

And I really really want to make one of these too!