Cute bunny softies

I just love this softie pattern freebie by Jenny from the Allsorts blog.  It is so easy to make and the result is so cute!  She even has a tutorial and pattern for the little dress.

I am making a few of these because they are so cute and I wanted to help out a fellow blogger's "Huggles for Kids" QLD flood appeal.  Alas I am too slow and have missed the boat for that one.  I started in late January but the softies I was making then were a bit of a disaster.  A pic below will show you the uninspiring mess I was making.

I realized while making these softies that windcheating fabric does not make good softies!  Well not this type.   Will paint some kind of face on these guys, make them some clothes and add ears or hair and see if they are good enough to send to Leanne for her on going Huggles for Kids campaign.

Hopefully if I pull my finger out, I can get all these guys finished and posted off to Leanne for  her next delivery.

Matilda

 

This is Matilda.  My second swap finished for the swap I am participating in.

She has been received by Sue from Girls Shed and Sue named her Matilda.  I think that name suits her well.

She has the cutest face!  I really enjoyed making her and she is a rather thrifty bear seeing how she is made out of an old chenille bedspread.  Makes her look rather 'shabby chic'.

Her jacket is made out of cheap woolen quilt batting.   Fabric for cuffs are recycled scraps from an old blouse I have been cutting up and the ric rac and lace are from an op shop.  So you could say she is quite the recycled bear!

A close up showing patchwork heart and jacket band.

A little story I will share is that on completion of jacket when I went to try it on the bear, I expected it to fit.  It didn't and I thought I had made my bear too fat.  I looked at the instructions and pattern pic again and found to my relief that the jacket wasn't meant to fit and just be caught at the chest with a few stitches!  Whew!

A close up of yo yo flowers.

See I have been busy sewing this bear so that hopefully explains my absenteeism from my blog over the last couple of weeks.

Pattern was from the magazine "Handmade"  Vol 24 No 6.  The designer is Anna Jarman. 

Well, I think that's it for today! 

Cheers

Ginger Kitty Softie

Hey!  I finally have something to blog about!  I have finished a swap (and she has been delivered) so I can show you what has been keeping me away from not only my blog but probably yours as well!

'Hanging with my homies' said kitty.

'What do you mean "I might get sold"?' asks kitty.

'Oops!  Your right!  I can see a customer eying me off right now!' cries kitty.

Thank goodness my swap partner Sue loves her gift.  Now I have to get back to the grindstone and finish another three swaps.  One almost done.  The other two started.  Then I will have more to blog about.

For your information:  Pattern is "Chester the Cat" by Cheryl Ross of Tears Bear Patch.  Pattern found in Patchwork and Stitching - Vol 6 No12.

I used orange polar fleece for main body.  Polyester quilt batting for paws, muzzle and tummy.  Felt for nose, collar and cheeky tongue.  A small amount of plastic pellets were used in paws and tummy.

Have a great day!

Platypus Softie

Love this pattern!  So cute!  These platypus's were one of a number of unfinished projects.  I finished them in late July.  Yes, a bit slow to blog about them but that's life for you!  "So much to do, so little time" is my life!

Anyway!  For those that have the Australian Homespun Magazines, the pattern can be found in Vol 10, Issue 1.  For those that don't have the magazine you can purchase the pattern from Kate of Two Little Banshees fame.  Her etsy shop is full of the cutest softie patterns ever!  I really want to get my hands on her elephant pattern one day.

More little posts to come.  I have been pottering around doing bits and pieces and have totally neglected my bags making!  Had to pack up for a scrapbooking party and now can't find some ruffles I cut out for a bag.
I don't know about you guys but when I can't find something I can't rest until I have turned the house upside down looking for it.  (Then have to spend precious time putting the house back in order.)

January OPAM Done!

Just finished my January OPAM.  She's my first and I am happy!!

She's going into my collection of softies for charity.

Mini Moopy's

Here are my new little friends.  They are pretending that they are Avatars on the forest moon of Pandora.  I think the one at the back is more of an Ewok from the forest moon of Endor.  lol.

I have been making these Mini Moopy's ever since I found them on Moopy and Me.  She has a PDF so you can make them yourself.  The group above is my latest batch but have been making them for years.

Little softies like these are a great way to use up scraps and the kids love them.  My daughter scooped up the pink one, while the other two will be going to the "Childhood Cancer Association" or Brookman Ward when I have a box load of safe softies to deliver.

Cheers!

I made my mum a softie

I just wanted to show what I made for my mum.  A gorgeous turtle.

 

I loved the whole crafting experience during the making of this little lady, largely because she is made up from recycled materials.  Two woolen jackets that my daughter threw out.

The fabric from the pink jacket had a very loose weave and could fray too much for making softies so I traced pattern of shell and bonnet onto muslin.  I then sewed the pattern pieces onto the pink wool fabric.  Cut them out and stitched pieces as per instructions.  See pic below for close up of fabric.

 

My favourite talented artist "Jhoanna Monte Aranez" designed this turtle and the pattern can be found in Sew Hip issue 6.

See Jhoanna's little turtle in the bottom corner.  So cute!  Here comes a close up.

I feel like making another one!

Bye!

More Softies

 No name softie from the book Softies is meant to be a giraffe.  That's what the designer calls her design, but my friends call my creation an alien. My skinny little alien.  A fun project to do and one of the first projects started and finished from the book.  I have been reading the Two little Banshees blog for years and fell in love with all her great softies.

A pattern for one of her creations in the book "Softies" was THE reason I purchased it.  I also have made her platypus design published in a Handmade Magazine. Pics soon.

I know the pics are not great and I should get a kick thumbs down award for them but my camera is not being my friend at the moment.

One of my first softies made ever!  I just scribbled a shape on newspaper and cut them out, did the face and some sewing/stuffing and voila!  Inspiration came from some blogs read 2006/2007? and the only blog I can remember the most was called Moopy and Me.

I Love Softies

I have been busy with sewing lately, but just haven't quite finished enough to take photo's.

The witches costume was finished and waiting for my niece to turn up and try it on.  I was going to take a pic of it then to show, but she arrived at my home while I was at work and rang me at work to say thanks and took off with it.

I have also nearly finished Xmas stocking for a work colleague.  Will not say much more about it as I will do that when I can take a photo.  I will say however that it is a Tone Finnager pattern.

I do have some finished projects that I completed awhile ago and just waiting for me to get off my lazy bum and blog them

 This is Ducky.   I love Ducky and he still lives with me.  I learn't a new skill during the making.  It was in constructing his beak.  At the start it looked difficult and maybe too involved for a lazy girl like me but I wanted the softie badly so I had to make it.  And let me tell you!   The processes involved in this ducks construction were extremely easy.  Yes even the beak.  If you would like to have a go at making one yourself, visit "The Long Thread" here.

It's hard to judge the size of this owl from this picture, and since I don't have him anymore, I  will guess he was/is about 30 - 40cm in height.  I gave him to my grandma on her 81st birthday.

I made him using up some scrap fabrics and recycled fabric from old jeans.  I love his golden eyes the most and the fact that I can't find any one thing that I would alter.  You all know that we sewers are our own worst critics and find faults with what we make that nobody else would even notice.  This owl is one of the few exceptions.  I have no itch to undo and redo any part of him.  It leaves you feeling completely satisfied and on a sewers high for a day or so.

For those who want to know about the designer and pattern I will go now and dig out the magazine.  I do know that the pattern came from a Australian sewing magazine, "Handmade".

I found it!  I am not surprised to find the designer is "Jhoanna Aranez" of One Red Robin fame.  The issue of Handmade magazine is Vol 25 No3.

That's it for today as I want to show you my current projects and must finish them first.

Have a great weekend!

Heatwave Post

We are still having the unexpected heatwave here.  It has sapped all of my energy and I am coping by turning the stereo up really loud to drown out the heat.  It works, believe me it really does.  Cold drinks help too!!  Don't worry about the neighbours.  We live in area of 5 acre allotments so lots of distance between us.

I still haven't been crafty lately but have some pics of projects completed awhile ago.  The photo's are poor quality but they were taken with my old camera and I will never declare myself a photographer.  Just a girl with a camera.  I enjoy sewing more than the picture taking. Oh well, on with pic uploading........

This is Stanley.  Gone to a good home now but still fondly remembered.  He is from the book "Softies" and designed by one of my favourite designers Fiona Dalton of "Hop Skip Jump".  I am a newbie to softie making and I think Stanley turned out ok.  He was easy to make or the instructions in the book are really well written. 

Emo Girl.  She was a great scrap using project.  I cannot remember where I found this doll on the internet, so if anyone has an idea, could they let me know and I can give credit where its due.

I saw this doll on someones blog and wanted one of my own.  I couldn't get a copy of the pattern so I finished up making my own pattern.  She turned out alright and exactly how I wanted her to.  She has also left me to go live elsewhere.  My little niece is looking after her.

Must go.  My boss just rang and wants to add some stress to my life (only joking)  The security guys at work want to do something to our electronic keys.  Wipe the data clean or something like that.  I hope mine works when I go in this weekend!

Too busy to sew.

My boss is going on holidays, so I have extra work days to do. Which means busy, busy, busy and no time for sewing! Well sewing my stuff that I like sewing. I still have to fit in my time schedule a witches costume for a niece (who wants it in like two to three weeks), a xmas stocking for a work colleague, and do my tax and assist with my partners complicated tax.

So no fun sewing for me. I am contenting myself with some pics of a recently finished project. This purple bear I made for my daughter who took it home with her as soon as she saw it and before I got a photo of it. Today she came over with it and I took some quick crap shots as you will be able to tell from above pics.

Its from a Australian "Handmade" sewing magazine. The designer is Jhoanna Monte Aranez. Made of polar fleece and cotton scraps for the dress. Flower is made of felt.