I ♥ softies!

I am addicted to softies right now. SOoo fun! I made this little sleeping elephant last week out of a scrap of Marimekko from my stash (I especially love the flower on her butt!).

I just wish I was better at pattern-making. I really want to make a few more 3-D toys (you know, so the elephant could actually stand..).

I was doing some internet research the other night and came across this. The cutest stuffed pig pattern.. with curly tail and all...FREE! I just love it. I am dying to make one of these for Kai. I'll keep you posted and PLEASE let me know if you make one too!

P.S. I just realized that I had my "comments" option turned off. Eek! They should be enabled now, so please do say "hi" if it strikes your fancy :)

Monkeying around...

I'm just cranking out a few sock monkeys (4) here! Scot (the husband) took the camera to work today so I'll have to wait and take a pic when they're all finished (this is one that I made awhile back). I'll have to admit, the sight of 4 sock monkey torsos, sans appendages, is kind of disturbing anyway ;) Hope you're having a productive day!.....

bEarVOLUTION

I've been working on a bear design for awhile now...

The little Valentine bear (upper photo, far left) was one of my first, made from wool felt and 100% hand-stitched. I made a half-dozen or so of them for the museum store back in March. Totally cute, but boy were they time consuming!


I altered the pattern and tried moving to the sewing machine. My first attempt was "Samantha" (above). She was pretty cute, and ended up in a happy home, but was far more pig-like than bear (not that there's anything wrong with that ;))...

I tweaked the pattern a bit more and came up with the little blue-eyed bear (do you see the family resemblance?). The pattern is SUPER-basic, which is what I like about it. It totally reminds me of the rag dolls my great-grandmother made for me when I was little--just this blocky body and little stick-like arms and legs.

THEN.........

I'm not sure what came over me this weekend but I got my mind set on adding more tweaks to the bear pattern. I started with the last iteration (the blocky bear) and went from there....

and 'Fisk' was born!

I had just enough choco-brown lightweight canvas (leftover from a gardening apron I made for a friend) for his face, arms and feet.

I gave him a snazzy shirt and a pair of denim dungarees. I used woolfelt for the extras (muzzle, and shirt collar) and finished the ensemble with a pair of little pearly buttons. I have a few more tweaks to the pattern, but I love how Fisk turned out!

Hmmm... Now he needs a sister, don't ya think? :)...