Maisie

I made this little friend for a friend of my sons for her 4th birthday. I also got some MandyMade tags made, this is the first time I have used them.

Stitching comments: Picking the material was probably the hardest, I really loved the material that was used in the book and just couldn't get it out of my head.

Pattern: maisie, more softies, Penguin Books, design by Kate Henderson

Frog Rattle

My second attempt at Amigurami

Stitching comments: I used 4ply cotton this time with a 2.5mm hook, much better gauge and of course didn't have anything to do with the fact I'm getting used to doing it again!! The mouth is a bit wonky, but what's a frog without a bit of character?

Lessons Learned: Need to push the stuffing in a bit further down when continuing to crotchet, it got stuck a bit in the stitches.

Pattern: dog & frog rattles, more softies, Penguin Books, design by Suzie Fry

Dog Rattle

My first attempt at an Amigurumi

Stitching comments: I was a bit hasty in wanting to try my hand at crocheting again, I did do a bit when i was growing up, I dove in the deep end with the wrong wool weight for the crochet hook that I had and didn't practice to get the guage right. Anyway, this is the result, better luck next time.

Lessons Learned: Use what the patterns says to use, 4-ply cotton with 2.5mm hook, not a 3.5.

Pattern: dog & frog rattles, more softies, Penguin Books, design by Suzie Fry

New softies book

I bought the new softies book yesterday more softies. I can't wait to make something, anything out of it. I will have to contain myself though. Too many projects on the go. :-)

Tulip 4 and Tulips 2 and 3 open

Tulip 1 open

Tulips 2 and 3

Little Chick

Stitching comments: all by hand

Pattern: softies kit, Therese Laskey

Babushka doll

I made this little friend for my sister for her birthday

Stitching comments: There was a lot in this one that was supposed to be done by machine but I liked hand sewing it.

Lessons Learned: My sewing machine doesn't have blanket stitch!!

Pattern: from the magazine Homemade Vol25 No 10 design by Jhoanna Monte Aranez

A green thumb?

Tulip number 1 and Iris number 2. Who would have known

Tea anyone?

I made these for my mums birthday to give as thank yous.

Stitching comments: I have never made anything en masse before, may never again!! I had a little production line happening. I did a french knot for the nose instead of a bead, I think it worked out better for me.

Lessons Learned: wool felt, much better than acrylic!! I had to find that out somehow.

Pattern: softies, Therse Laskey, design by Heather Pudewa, my husband designed the tag.

Baby Elephant and Mum

I made these for my Mum for her birthday

Stitching comments: They were actually really easy to make. I sewed the tail into the seam instead of attaching it afterward, not sure if it was the right move!!

Lessons Learned: Stick to the seam allowance!!

Pattern: softies, Therese Laskey, design by Maggie Smith

First signs of spring

I know i strictly didn't make these but I did plant the bulbs last May. This is my first attempt at a garden. I'm not known for my green thumb. But lets face it, we are in drought and I grew something!! I don't know when the tulip will flower but I do have another Iris ready to pop. I wonder what colour the tulip will be?

Little Robot

I made this little friend for my husband for fathers day. It was very difficult hiding the fact I was making it, our son was a bit excited and wanted to tell Daddy all about it.

Stitching comments: I couldn't find any wool in the shops (I didn't try that hard mind you it is the end of the season) so i had so small corduroy left over from a jacket I made so I used that instead. He was a little bit fiddly to make but worked out in the end. I need to work out how to do weighted stuffing a bit better, I just used a bag of rice in the bottom.

Lessons Learned: It is very tricky to poke bendy wire through a tight seam!!

Pattern: softies, Therese Laskey, design by Hillary Lang

Tea and cake?

I bought the American book softies and the kit from Amazon, couldn't resist. With the kit you get felt and thread to make a cup cake. So I did!! I also made the tea bag.

Stitching comments: The cup cake was entirely hand sewn with whip stitch which I haven't really done before. I'm not use to having my join stitching exposed like that. The cream was a bit tricky but once I worked it out it was fine.
The tea bag was really easy, it's so cute. These two are definitely going to be on my gift making list.

Lessons Learned: Whip stitch

Pattern: both from softies, Therese Laskey. Cup cake design by Aoi Horn, tea bag designed by Heather Pudewa

Mini choc strawberry cup cake?

I bought a book called Warm Fuzzies by Betz White. It has 30 felted projects. I love this book I want to make everything, but do I want to start another craft? As I was gogling over the pages I really wanted to make the cup cakes but had no materials. So I was inspired to make it up with normal every day felt, and finished it off with my own cup cake patty pan design. I just need to get the look right now.

Pattern: Inspired by Betz White, made the rest up myself.

Treeling

I made this for no one in particular. When my son sore it he loved it, so now its his.

Stitching comments: I did the entire top of the tree by hand, next time i think i will use the machine. I didn't stuff it enough either!!

Pattern: softies, Therese Laskey, design by Lunda Lye

Travel Diary cover

Photo to come.

I wanted to cover a note book I bought for us to go on holidays with. I have so much left over material so I used that.

Stitching comments: I had no pattern to do this so I made it up. My first attempt left me with not enough material to go around the book, the second I had too much. I also sewed too close around the edge then couldn't fit the book into it. So after a lot a trial and error I ended up with this.

Lessons Learned: Attempting something you want to do but don't have a pattern for is always worth while.

Pattern: Mandy Made

Miss polly

I made this for a girlfriends daughter. She called it "Happy"

Stitching comments: The arms and legs are sewn in then stuffed. This is the opposite to how I have been sewing them. (The pattern told me to do it!!) This makes for more closing that I'm not too good at. I think if I was to make her again I would sew and stuff the arms and legs then sew them into the body, I seem to have more success that way. And I wouldn't be worried about her falling apart!!

Lessons Learned: To sew the arms and legs and stuff them first

Pattern: softies, Penguin Books

Bunny

I made this bunny for a friends baby boy.

Stitching comments: This was very easy to make. The only thing strange about it was the size of the circle to stitch to the bottom, it was way too big, so I had to trim it down to size. I also couldn't work out how to make the ears stay up by themselves. Better luck next time.

Pattern: softies, penguin books

Giraffe

I made this one for me!!

Stitching comments: I have a heap of material that I have collected over the years going through remnant bins in material shops. This little one is made entirly of remnants, and I think, that is how it should be. The only problem I had was that the material was a bit thin and freyed a bit, so I had problems closing. I'm not too good with the whip stitch so I descided to do cross stitch instead. Well the reult wasn't too crash hot, better luck next time.

Lessons Learned: Not to use really thin material.

Pattern: softies, Penguin Books

Red Booties

I made these for a girlfriends baby.

They are from the same pattern as the blue booties, except I used butterflies instead of cars.

Stitching comments: This time I cut enough thread to go all the way around the blanket stitch.

Pattern: easy stitching, Inspiration books

ipod pocket

I told you this was dangerous. I made my very first design!! Very bold of me :-)

Stitching comments: I cut a rectangle of felt and a piece of linen the same size. I made one end into a triangle to fold over. I edged the linen then sewed it to the felt. This is the lining. I then hand stitched it together with thread and blanket stitched. Attached two buttons and some ribbon, and there you go, somewhere to put my ipod shuffle and the ear phones.

Lessons Learned: Diving in is sometimes the best way of getting over any phobias of not being able to design yourself. This wasn't too great a leap, but it was a step.

Pattern: Mandy Made :-)

House

I made this little guy for a friend of mine. I think the hardest part was choosing the patterned material!! I am getting better at trying to forget the material that was used in the book, but I still get an idea in my head of what it should look like.

Stitching comments: This one was either really easy to make or I'm getting the hang of this thing now!! Watch out I might start designing my own!!

Pattern: softies, Penguin Books

Blue Booties

I bought an embroidery book called easy stitches, just to get myself into some simple embellishments, nothing too fancy. As a result I made these blue booties.

Stitching comments: I didn't cut the embroidary thread long enough to go all around the part of the bootie that need to be. As a result you can see the join, better luck next time. I'm quite happy with the cars though.

Pattern: easy stitching, Inspiration books

Lily's monkey

Front

Back

I made this little monkey for my niece for her second birthday.

It was very easy to make, turning the tale was the most time consuming, will have to find a better way of doing that!!

Pattern: softies, Penguin Books