All the Owls in my stores have just been marked down by 30%.  The Give a Hoot sale lasts until Monday evening.  This will be your last chance to get your hands on a The Two Windmills Owl as I won’t be making any more, so snap one up while you can!

Rachel

If you live in Dallas or will be lucky enough to be visiting this weekend, come on  down to Southside on Lamar on Saturday and shop at The Dallas Flea. I’ll be there with my critter creations, so come on by and say hi. Hope to see you there.

Okay, let me first start by saying if you are in my family and have already read the DO NOT VISIT MY BLOG email, then SHAME on you for peeking.  Look away now before any harm is done… go on now… you will see soon.  Hugs to you, but go… go now!

Okay, now to you my lovely blogsters… I thought I would start showing you some of my handmade holidays that I am embarking on this year in hopes to inspire you to do the same.  I made these cute headbands for all the little girls.  I love how they turned out.  I just got several stems of silk flowers and promptly yanked them all apart and then hot glued them all back together until I felt like they were full enough for my liking.  Then I hot glued them onto an elastic headband.  I tried sewing them on, but they were just too thick and I nearly lost a finger when I tried.  Seriously.  It wasn’t pretty.

I stumbled on this (the giraffe at the bottom) not long ago and thought is was just oh so cute and would be totally fun for my little girl.  So, I am trying, but not sure if I am thrilled about it so far.  I mean… that lady’s is so cute and adorable.  Mine is just… well… you can see for yourself…

So, what do you think (note: the ear is not attached and the snout is not attached or stuffed yet… they are just on there with pins.  The eyes are just pins too.  Really only the tail is attached and the body is stuffed)?  Do I keep on it and see how it turns out, or do I stop before I get in too deep?  My husband says that he doesn’t think it looks like a giraffe at all and is calling it a “gironkey”  (cross between a giraffe and a monkey… he thinks he’s so funny).  I can’t seem to finish her off.  I tend to lose steam on a project when I’m not in love.  So, I need some encouragement… or an excuse to quit.

So, on a side, but also related note… I haven’t been able to sew as much because an old shoulder injury has been acting up.  Boo!  BUT, I found this amazing Kinesiologist/Chiropractor.  I went to see her today and I am totally PUMPED that she is going to be able to not only help me with my shoulder, but also my knees and just all around healthier life style.  So, maybe I’ll be back at it full force before long.  Whew Hew!

Anyway, be back on Wednesday because I am going to be having a GIVEAWAY!  See you then.

Ta for now!

Durante o dia corto, coso e prepro encomendas e presentas de natal! As bolsinhas tem sido um sucesso!

À noite, sento-me no sofá a ver séries e a coser efeites de Natal cá para casa! Acho que estão muito giros, agora só falta a àrvore, espero rapidamente tratar disso!

During the day, I cut, I sew and I prepare the Christmas orders and presents! The pouches are a success!

At night, while watching some tv shows on my coach, I sew my christmas ornaments for our tree, which I hope to have really soon!

As always this week I am working on Cowies.  These are some of the last ones you are likely to see because after this batch is complete I won’t be making any more for a while.  The vintage red and black scarf and foam balls are going to become a new necklace.

In the boys’ creative space today is playdoh.  I suspect there is also some in H’s stomach as well judging by the green around his mouth.  Oh well…

Happy Thursday Creative spacers…

Thanks also to Kirsty as always for hosting.

Rachel

En este tutorial, Revoluzza no explica con todo lujo de detalles como crear este encantador monstruito.

Os recomiendo que visitéis su web y su tienda, tiene unos muñecos monísimos.

This one didn’t come out quite right, I’m pretty sure the ears should be higher. The directions were for machine-sewing, and had all this stuff about basting and seam allowances, and I just went “fuck it” and tried to figure it out myself. But except for the ears — which can be fixed — I think it looks pretty good for something with so many pieces that was sewn entirely by hand.

This is the last design in this particular book that I’m going to make. There’s a few more that I don’t want or have a need for: A Happy Birthday banner, one that just looks way too impossible to do by hand, and an iPod case. I don’t have an iPod, my mp3 player is a lot smaller (and I already made a case for it). …However, there are some members of my family who do have iPods, so it might do to keep it in mind for a Christmas present.

But me and felt aren’t finished yet! Yesterday I bought this book at Borders, and every single design in it looks insanely cute. I also want to get this book eventually; Borders did have it, but it had been opened and looked pretty beat up and I didn’t trust that all the patterns were still there, so I think I’ll buy an untouched copy from Amazon. There’s one duplicate (the little happy tree guy on the cover) from the book I just finished, but the rest are new to me.

In other news, yesterday I got There Will Be Blood from Netflix, and ho. ly. SHIT. it was amazing. When my brother David saw it he said it was like Daniel Day-Lewis was like “Oh, you thought I was a talented actor before? *mimes rolling up sleeves* STAND BACK, BITCHES.”

I am so going to shout BASTARD IN A BASKET at the next person who annoys me.

Wow, that’s really not in focus. I could tell ’til I’d uploaded it. Oh well, you get the idea. The pattern specified fuchsia and white, but fuchsia just doesn’t seem like a very penguin-y color. Yet, light purple does. I don’t know why. I used purple quartz beads from an old busted bracelet for the eyes. I knew I was keeping those for a reason.

Okay, so I know I said I wasn’t going to make any softies this weekend and work on my grandmother’s Christmas present instead. And I did, I worked on it Friday evening and nearly all day Saturday. Then I started to hate it, so I took a break and made this little guy.

In other news, I got the bill from Washington Hospital for my bronchitis-inspired trip to the ER last month, right before I got axed at work. Insurance is paying for everything except $100. Which is a huge relief, because the way my life is going lately, I totally expected them to decide they weren’t going to pay for any of it. My PPO has a committee that decides whether and how much they’re going to pay for ER services. Theoretically they could have decided it wasn’t an emergency and billed me the entire amount. I can see some bunch of suits sitting around and going “Well, she was basically drowning every time she lay down, and had been delirious with 102 degree fever for 5 days, but that’s not an emergency! She should have just had some chicken soup!!”

So while that’s good news, I can’t help but wonder what the fuck the other $1268.73 was for. Here’s what happened: The triage nurse took my temperature and blood pressure and asked some questions. Then I was admitted to the ER and the ER nurse gave me some Tylenol and asked some more questions. The ER doctor listened to my chest, had me walk around the room, looked in my ears and eyes, asked some more questions, and wrote me some prescriptions. Which I paid $10 each for, by the way — and they were generics! I probably could have gotten them cheaper if I DIDN’T have insurance.

That was it. No X-rays, CAT scans, or MRIs. Dr. House and his team of highly-qualified assistants did not show up and put me through a battery of weird tests and exotic drugs. $1368.73, please. Fucking ridiculous.

But it has inspired me to continue my insurance through COBRA. It’s only about $28 per month, and god forbid I relapse or get sick again. I’d have to pay the whole thing.

I love soft things.  Toys.  Cuddlesomes.  Here is Blueue:

Oz the cat and Blueue the teddy

with my cat.  I was 4 when Blueue came into my life, I found him at my school jumble sale and he’s been by my side ever since.  See – I was a second-hand shopper even then!  He’s had his foot eaten off by a hamster, been held over a candle by a very mental ex-boyfriend and accompanied me on many trips into hospital.  So as you can see, I’m a fan of the cuddly things.

So today I’m going to be blogging about plushes and softies made out of recycled materials – and believe me – there are a LOT out there.

Firstly the wonderful work of melbangel – the reason why I love her plushes is because they are so obviously made out of recycled materials.  The bold patterns and weird shapes make these creatures marvellous to behold – and I LOVE their names. Weirdoo Megan and Weirdoo Moochie are by far my faves – I LOVE Weirdoo Moochie so much!  SO CUTE!

Weirdoo Moochie

Weirdoo Megan

I really hope that melbangel makes some more of these as they really are so original and so adorable.

Leah Riley is a true inspiration – and is mostly the inspiration for this blog.  She’s apparently ‘embarrassed’ by the amount of t-shirt material she has built up, so she’s been creating a plush-a-day.  They range from skeletons to birds and each one is highly original and a great use of leftover bits of material.

Abigail the goth bunny

I guess I love this one because of the hidden goth within me.  LOVE the stripes (I love nothing more than stripes and polka dots) and bunnies just do it for me (although Anya may disagree – I’m SUCH a Buffy geek!)

I can’t wait to see what else she comes up with in her desire to use up all that material.  Leah – you are truly an inspiration to this hoarder of material!

Lucy Kate Crafts creates beautifully crafted and unique pieces.  I’m in total awe of her photostream and virtually drool over the plushy wonderfulness that abounds.  This little fox is one of my favourites.

Fox Softie

It’s unusual to see a fox – and I think that’s why I love it so much.

However – there is one of her softies that I would LOVE to have on my shelf.  As some of you know I LOVE peacocks, in fact I have an art deco style one tattooed on my back.  She has created this beautiful upcycled softie:

Peacock

How beautiful is this? I love it so much.   So gorgeous.

What I love about Loopy Dolls is that you know one of their pieces as soon as you see it.  I think that’s the strength of their design and imagination.  The faces are so cute – I could imagine a whole range of Loopy Dolls postcards, t-shirts etc.  They could take over the world!

Octopus

So there you go – some truly inspiring plushes/ softies that will hopefully inspire us all to go out and use up those scraps of material and create cuteness.  You can see my gallery of other cuties here – and I promise – that I am going to try this right now.  I have these two books (one I was given by my old school library when they were chucking out a load of books and one I got from Deptford Market for 50p):

Toy making books

and they have some great patterns in them so I’m going to try now to create some wonderful plushness.  In the meantime I’ll leave you with a family of plushes I created a long time ago called OOOOkies:

La Famille OOOOkie

created using upcycled velvet, buttons and t-shirts – however the felt and hearts were bought

You were born with potential

You were born with goodness and trust

You were born with ideals and dreams

You were born with greatness

You were born with wings

You are not meant for crawling, so don’t

You have wings

Learn to use them and fly.

- Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī

Eee, I like this one a lot because it’s 3-dimensional. Instead of being just a front and a back sewn together, this one has 2 sides, a front, and a bottom. I stuffed a layer of weighted plastic pellets on the bottom, so it will stand up nicely. It’s hard to make out her white hat against the white wall (some photographer I am), but it’s very jaunty.

This weekend I have to force myself to take a break from these addictive little critters and get more work on Christmas presents done. Most everyone is going to be getting handmade gifts, it’s going to be a lean few months until I can find work (or start mooching off my parents).

ETA: Because several people have asked: No, I am not going to be selling these on Etsy or anywhere else. I did not design the patterns used to make these and it wouldn’t be ethical to sell them for profit, much as I’d like to since I know there’s a market (and could use the $$$). Strictly speaking I think it’s also illegal, copyright violation or something.

I have finally finished my entry for the Folksy Christmas Upcycle Competition which is being run to raise money for the Sue Ryder Care Charity, with all the entries being put into an auction to run from 7th – 13th December.  I had hoped to make something different to my ‘usual’ work, such as re-blocking and decorating an old felt hat or making some new/old clothes (I don’t get to use my millinery or pattern cutting skills very often), I even considered making a corset based on a period pattern.  Could have, would have…but didn’t.

My final decision was largely influenced the materials I found in our local village charity shops plus I have foxes on the brain at the moment as they keep wandering around our garden.  So, here we have the Foxy Twins, Florian and Florence.

They started life as a polyester fleece shirt, a rather lovely floral cotton lawn shirt and a blue cord skirt all from the ‘Heart of Kent Hospice’ charity shop, bought especially for the occasion (£5 + £3.50 + £3.50).

To this I added some floral fabric bought last year from the ‘Mind’ charity shop  (£3.50…I think most things are priced £3.50!), polyester stuffing from an old cushion, which meets safety regulations I should add and some wool on the tail from my scrap box.

Florence has a cute dress with straps and blue shirring running along the top and a cape with collar made from the cord skirt, lined with the floral fabric and old Laura Ashley ribbons stitched together for ties.

Florian has smart trousers made from the cord skirt in a sailor style, with shell buttons taken from the shirt (the popper fastening came from a stash belonging to my Gran so must be rather old).  He also wears a top made from the lovely (honestly, I didn’t really want to cut it up) blue floral shirt with bias binding trim.

There was a lot of morphing along the way, the original foxes were front facing and I had planned a skirt for Florence with a shirring top, but I am happy with the result.  It was a fun project and it is after all for charity!

I’m really pleased with this one. I used the pattern to cut out and assemble the pieces, but the colors and embellishments were my own ideas. I made the hangers out of 20-gauge wire. A lot of the pieces are glued on with fabric glue: the collars, and the petticoat and scalloped bottom, and and the belts on the orange and royal blue dresses. And the bottoms are glued together and only stitched up the side, because real dresses wouldn’t have stitching showing along the bottom.

These are both small — would fit in the palm of your hand — and were each one evening’s work. I especially like the little dog.

In other news, I guess I’m going to Louisiana for the holidays. I was kind of dithering over whether I should, but Mom started nagging me and I got the feeling she really wants me to come. No one is saying anything out loud, but Granny has been in the hospital twice since her 90th birthday. Neither time was serious, except everything is kind of serious when you’re 90. Plus, I really do want to go. I spent one holiday alone in California since they moved down there, and it was pretty depressing.

So I don’t think I’m really going to look for work until after the holidays, because I don’t know how it would look to end an interview with “I’m ready to start right away!… except for the 2 weeks I’ll need to have off because my plane tickets are non-refundable.” Maybe during the holidays I can snoop around and get a better idea of the job market down there, in case it comes to that.

Yesterday I decided on more or less of a whim to go to the California Academy of Sciences, since it’s right across from the deYoung Museum and I knew just how to get there. I couldn’t have picked a better day, because apparently every 3rd Wednesday is free admission. Adult admission is $27.50, so that’s nothing to sneeze at.

In a way it really took me back; but in another way it was like I’d never been there before because it’s changed so much since I was a kid. The only thing that was exactly the same was the Foucault’s Pendulum. I used to watch that thing with rapt attention, and when it finally knocked over a pair of steel pegs it was like I’d won the lottery. Ah, to be an easily-excited child again.

I’ll have photos whenever I get around to uploading them.

I am now on my brief sabbatical, of undetermined length, between jobs. So my time is designated for resting, being healthy, and naturally doing creative things. I saw an awesome baby card yesterday with an octopus on the front knitting socks with a few different sets of legs and finished socks hanging out on a few of it’s other legs. The inside of the card said something about getting ready to be busy with baby. I’m trying not to be like the octopus right now, even though there are so many things that I want to sew and knit with my “free” time right now. I have told myself to enjoy this time and that there is nothing that must get done before the baby arrives. Which is true since the only this the baby really needs are the parents not cute mobiles and burp clothes (however I plan to finish both eventually).

One thing that I did feel like I needed to finish before the arrival were the goodbye gifts for my co-workers. I made a bird (above) for each of my colleagues with a tag that reads:

“It is a fact that in the right formation, the lifting power of many wings can achieve twice the distance of any bird alone.”

It’s a fitting quote since the team works closely together and is truly a wonderful group because of all of the qualities that everyone brings to it. Leaving my co-workers was the hardest part of leaving work and I was happy to make a little something to give showing my appreciation for all of their support over the years. And to be honest, giving gifts is often more about the person giving them than the recipient, and these gave me closure from the team and the job as best it could.

The pattern is a hybrid that I made up based on the Spool bird pattern and the bird pattern from Last Minute patchwork Gifts by Joelle Hoverson.

Desde el 2003, Esther Schuivens diseña juguetes y muñecos basados en sus propios dibujos de la infancia. Simplicidad, humor y  juego de proporciones son las características distintivas de su trabajo. Un mundo compuesto por muñecas, cajas de música y libros de fieltro. Mira donde puedes encontrarlos.

I did most of the tree (the pattern calls it “Treeling”, but probably only because calling it “Treebeard” would be a copyright violation) on Friday and only didn’t finish it because of the polyester batting/fiberfill debacle. I went to Michael’s yesterday and remedied that, and all I had to do was stuff the two pieces and sew them together.

I’m really pleased with how this one came out, it looks just like the picture on the instructions, except my colors are a little different. I used brighter colors for the leaves, and they used turquoise felt for the treetop. Also part of it specified machine stitching, and mine was all done by hand. I think it looks pretty damn even and neat for hand stitched, I’m proud of the work.

The chick was easy, I banged it out while I was watching television. The hat is removable and using seed beads to hold the flower onto it was my own idea. Also the pattern said to use pale yellow for the body and dark yellow for the beak and feet, but I liked the idea of having more of a contrast so I used orange for the beak and feet.

I’ve already cut most of the pieces for my next project and I hope to finish it tonight. But it’s 3 separate pieces, so it may take another day.

I also found the perfect Christmas present for Mom when I was buying the fiberfill, which I will not mention here because I think she sometimes reads it.  I’m on to you, Mom! I also have Granny’s present picked out (and I made a decent start over the weekend, since I couldn’t work on my softies). And I think for Phil I’m going to get an 8×10 of the photo I took of him walking Jamie down the aisle at her wedding last year and put it in a nice frame. I always like to make as many of my Christmas presents as possible.

I’m reducing my Swap bot list down further and this was one of the few remaining swaps on my list. Based on a pattern from Squawfox.com, it’s a softie Christmas tree.

I’d highly recommend this pattern, it’s free and highly adaptable. I chose to make mine in green felt and add red and white buttons, but you could easily make it in fabric or embellish is with ribbon, ric-rac or embroidery.

Ce week end s’est déroulé la vente privé speciale idées cadeaux pour el ‘Aid el Adha au Plateau à Grenoble. Sur le plan pro et humain pour nous e-commerçant ces ventes sont trés enrichissante. Car ce qui nous manque le plus sur le net c’est le contact avec le client. Même si je ne fais pas de chiffre lors de ces ventes, l’objectif est pour moi de présenter et faire connaître mon travail. Je me fais de la pub (distribution de carte de visite, je prend des commandes sur mesure etc…) et j’ai par la suite des retours lors d’évenements comme des naissances, des fêtes etc…

En tant que superviseuse ( ça se dit? ^^) du bon deroulement, je n’ai pas pu être à 100 % sur mon stand et c’était beaucoup trop court à mon goût malgré tout en un aprés midi la rencontre avec les mamans et toutes les petites filles m’en ont appris beaucoup sur mon travail.

J’ai appris que les fillettes préféré les poupées blondes et remarqué que les mamans ont pratiquement toutes craqué sur le cheval ailée, et d’autres sur les dinettes en feutrine. On m’a egalement  fait remarqué à juste titre que je ne proposais pas grand chose pour les p’tits mecs. Va falloir que je travail la dessus c’est promis…

 J’ai également partagé sur mon choix d’utiliser du coton biologique et équitable. J’ai éssayé de sensibiliser à mon niveau sans bousculer.

Je commence donc par les photos de mon petit stand, que j'avais travaillé à la maison la veille. Je le voulais pas trop chargé, ni trop bien rangé comme une chambre d'enfant, des couleurs, et de la bonne humeur. J'ai présenté mon travail et c'est une grande satisfaction pour moi d'avoir reçu autant de visite et surtout celle des enfants.

Pour toutes celles qui sont loin de Grenoble ou qui n’ont pas pu se deplacer pour l’occasion, consolez vous vous pouvez contacter via leur site de vente  chacune des vendeuses présente ce dimanche:

Les Bijoux d’Aminata, bijoux faits main.

La Maman d’Ismaël , poupées, doudous en coton biologique de différentes tailles, kits créatifs “En attendant Bébé… je couds ma poupée de chiffon”,  petits articles en feutrine : légumes, dinette et gâteaux.

Dites-le avec Zahid, produits de beauté écologiques et éthiques, huiles végétales, coffrets cadeaux, savons d’Alep, bonbons et confiseries au miel, bagagerie pour enfants

Rabia, tatoueuse au harqous

Lydia, maquilleuse pour évènements

Négafattitude, location de robes et bijoux pour toutes les occasions

Sarah et Fatima, vente de saris, bracelets bijoux et tatouages au henné

Mimicracra et ses pâtisseries, entremets et tartes sucrées et salées, traiteur pour toutes les occasions (sur RDV)

Le Palais de la femme, vente de vêtements islamiques (abayas, abayas d’allaitement, jilbabs, musc, encens, confitures)

Tijara Oum Samra, vente de vêtements islamiques (abayas, hijabs et bonnets, jilbabs, ensembles, sarouels, etc.)

Ma’ratou Couture, vente de vêtements islamiques, siwak, nigelle

Et vous qu’allez vous offrir à vos proches pour El Aïd el Adha? 

Después de muchas dudas,  le he hecho a este perrico fotos para la tienda. Voy aprendiendo a valorar las  “imperfecciones”… Algún día enseñaré un perro verde que en su momento no pasó la prueba por una (!) arruga. Hoy la habría pasado, pero ya le hemos cogido cariño en casa
La tela de cuadros me encanta, con ella le hice los vestidos a el duo de payasas. Apenas me queda, y es que antes de que le metiera las tijeras era un short de verano (calculo que de los 60), poca, poca tela…

Blogging about things that I hate = too easy.

Last night SciFi (I’m sorry, I absolutely refuse to use the ridiculous name Syfy) played the direct-to-DVD Dead Like Me movie, and it interested me enough to make me add the series to my Netflix queue. God, Brian Fuller can’t catch a break, can he? I think he’s just a shade too whimsical for American television. We Yanks are simply not, on the whole, a whimsical people. (Most present company excluded, probably.)

What goes with early cancellation? Wine! Specifically, Contadino Pinto Grigio Vivace from Trader Joe’s for $6.99. The “Vivace” part means bubbles. That’s right, it’s a sparkling Pinot Grigio, and it is my new best friend. It’s fruity, but not like, sickly sweet fruity. More like how a grapefruit can be said to be “fruity” in that it is indeed a fruit. (Does that make any sense? I swear I am not actually still drunk, I finished the bottle last night.) There’s a nice light acidy finish that doesn’t take the roof of your mouth off. And I can tell you from firsthand experience that it goes really well with goat cheese.

In other news, I would have had another softie finished over the weekend but I accidentally bought polyester batting instead of polyester fiberfill. Who hasn’t made THAT mistake, eh? Actually, this is a really good hobby to take up during unemployment because felt is only either 29 or 99 cents a sheet, depending on the size. A bag of fiberfill big enough for several projects is usually less than $5. And things like floss and beads and such I of course already have.

Festivalet es una feria de productos hechos a mano seleccionados, que destacan por su originalidad y diseño: accesorios, bisutería, amigurumi y complementos.

Cripta de la librería La Central del Raval ( c/Elisabets 6, Barcelona )

Sábado 12 (17h a 20h) y domingo 13 (12h a 20h) de diciembre del 2009.

Más información en su web.

I always seem to discover a new craft when I find myself out of work. (Although I really ought to be concentrating on Granny’s Christmas present. Never mind!) Lately I’m obsessed with “softies”, little kawaii handstitched felt and stuffing creations that serve no purpose other than to collect dust and look cute.

This my first finish, sorry for the poor quality cell phone pic. There was supposed to be a little whipped cream detail on top, but I just couldn’t make it look right.; and after 3 tries I was out of white felt and developing a serious of case of “I-hate-it-itis”. I may try again when it’s not nearly midnight and I am not one needle prick away from setting my entire craft supply on fire.

Later today I am off to stock up on colored felt and fiberfill, ready to try something a little more ambitious.

I made this cute little monkey for my friend Jen’s new little baby girl, Molly.

The pattern is Mabel Monkey, designed by Louise Hatchard, from the book softies.

The cotton flower fabric is from some thrifted cot sheets (part of a fabric haul from the Pahiatua Community Op shop) and the pink spotty fabric were some scraps that mysteriously turned-up in my fabric scrap bag.  The button I picked up a couple of days ago from our local Mary Potter Hospice shop.

Hello my name is Mabel

Cute as a button

Hi!

Smile!