OK, these are the most fun things EVER to make.  I love making them so much that I had to consciously and diligently promise myself to not make more than five.  There are just so many other fun things to do.  If I let myself, all I would do until the end of time is make mushrooms.

Well, the third time was the charm.  The blue spotted mushroom was my third prototype and it was perfect.  I've scrapped the first two prototypes (I tried to retrofit them, but it was a no-go).  Now I'm just cranking them out.

I've been feeling like crap for days, so I'll let these photos speak for themselves.

This is my first test mushroom for the now-closed mushroom swap hosted by the super-wonderful knitsonya.

I got my review copy of Happy Gloves weeks ago.  I decided to make the lion and I was looking EVERYWHERE for yellow gloves to use.  Unbelievably, there are no yellow gloves anywhere.

This tutorial demonstrates how to hand sew a lining into a crochet bag.  Each step is accompanied by a photo.

I only have two more pages to fill up in my old notebook before I get to switch to my new one.  To get the new one ready, I hand-sewed clear vinyl pockets into it.

Recently I sent a package of goodies to Diane of Crafty Pod.  One item was a custom-made wristlet.  I love making things knowing who they are for.  I'm able to put a little extra love into them.

This is a birthday card I made for a coworker.

I wanted to make something simple, fast, and feminine the other day.  I found this off-white, lacy seam binding in my stash and a simple shell-like button.  In about 5 minutes, I had this cute little bracelet.

I decided against the green sequins I originally picked out.  You can see them in the last post.  Instead, Stanislav got some snazzy mini-stars suckers.  Let me tell you, it's a *pain* to put on the suckers after you've sewn on the legs.  My floss kept getting tangled in all his loopy legs.

I started to set up the photo shoot for my "finished" green octopus ... and then I saw the tray full of sequins and beads. Ack!  I forgot the suckers.

I'm working on my contribution to the prizes for Vivi's Tricot du coeur charity blanket drive.

All I have left is 1.5 legs, stuffing the body, and putting it all together.  I should finish it this week.  Yay!

This project was a confluence of many things: (1) Sigmund's body, slightly modified, is egg shaped; (2) There is Easter stuff everywhere; (3) I saw the coolest alterna-holiday crafties at Green Kitchen.

The flame egg, the stink-eye egg, the skull egg, and the devil egg are the scary goth cousins to the cutesy Easter decorations that have overrun every store I go into. I went for evil-child-whimsy with the stitching.

Overall, I am pleased, but I have a couple of complaints. (1) The black orbs don't look egg-like. The pictures actually look pretty good, but in person, not so much. If I were to do it again, I would make the eggs in traditional pastels and then stitch the subversive designs on them. A kind of bait-and-switch. (2) The red thread I used for the devil blends right in and doesn't stand out enough. Again, in the picture it looks OK, but in person you can barely see the thread. (3) The red horns and pitchfork are spread out way too much, so you can't really see them all at once and it's unclear what I was going for. (4) If I didn't have a use for cute Easter eggs, what use do I have for evil Easter eggs? Sometimes I'm too clever for my own good.

I tried something new with this stuffie. I sewed a one inch wide washer (a flat round piece of metal with a hole in the center for a screw) to the inside of the bottom piece of felt. It works well for stability and for weight. I usually use plastic pellets for weight and stability, but for such a small shape plastic pellets really aren't enough unless you fill the whole thing with them.

** update: This pattern is now available as a free download! **

This original stuffie is the culmination of 5 pattern pieces, 25 felt pieces, 50 beads, 52 sequins, and hours of sewing. Whew! I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I decided to design an octopus back in February. I was flying high on my easy success with the owls.   An octopus is a different story.

I have a yard of cream felt that I bought to do prototypes. There is a graveyard of weird cream arms and orbs in the lead-up to a fully recognizable octopus. The biggest challenge was the arms. I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted them to look like. The solution I came up with seems obvious now, but I didn't get it on my first try.

I also didn't work out what I was going to do for a face until I had the body and bespangled legs all sewn together. There were a couple of ways to go with the face. One is Japanese-cute wide-eyed and human-ish. I decided to go with inhuman, indifferent, google-eyed animal. Sigmund creeps me out. I imagine big sharp teeth hiding under all those legs. Why is he staring at me like that?!

I was so excited when I finished Sigmund. I wanted to honor him with a kick-ass photo shoot, so I bought that cool aquarium grass you see in the picture. I was hoping to find a cheesy treasure chest or goofy diver, too, but they only had realistic looking rocks and sea urchins and stuff. I was impressed. I almost bought one of those big undersea photos that you can tape on the back of your aquarium to use as a back-drop, but I thought that was going too far (... says the girl who just sewed a bazillion sequins on a small stuffed octopus ... ha!).

I am going to do a set of three original sea creatures. I like doing things in sets of three, like I did with the owls. I already have the next one's prototype done, and it's looking good. I going to keep it a secret for now, though. :)

These are my first original stuffies. They are tiny - ranging from 1.5 inches to 2.5 inches tall. I made them out of felt and stuffed them with polyfill and plastic beads.

I named the littlest one Bukowski because his colors remind me of a Post Office uniform and the writer Charles Bukowski worked for the Post Office for many years. Plus, he looks kinda cranky and ornery, just like Bukowski. He also reminds me of Meatwad from Aquateen Hunger Force.

The medium one is named Blaze.  All his points make me think of flames.  I like flames.

The tallest owl made me think of an evil professor with hypnotic eyes, so he was named Bucky after Buckminster Fuller.  Buckminster wasn't evil, but he was odd, which is close.

The road to my owl trio

My husband bought me a coffee mug with owls scratched into the glaze. One night, inspired by the mug, I made a quick small felt owl based on one of the mug-owls (the cream and brown owl). It came out looking great, but it couldn't stand up. I decided to make an owl that would stand up on it's own.

I scanned my pattern pieces into the computer (they were pencil drawings) and redrew them in Illustrator making changes to the design. I also incorporated a round bottom piece into the pattern and made owl number two. This one stood up, but I wasn't satisfied with it's owl-i-ness yet (the orange and black owl).

I did a Google image search and spent time looking at owls. There are all sorts of owls! I was totally fascinated. I decided I was going to make a set of three owls. I drew the pattern pieces for each of them in Illustrator, cut out the felt, and then sewed them together.

I enjoy making the stitches a part of the design, as well as adding embroidered embellishments. This started with Monsieur Kitty where I added my own tummy embroidery to the Japanese stuffie. Bukowski has the outline of his wings from front to back, blanket stitching around his eyes, and a tiny three-stitch beak. Blaze has french knots holding on this purple beak on the front and the violet flame on his back, stitched eyes, and stitches outlining his body. Bucky has fabulous asterisk eyes and v-stitched feathers.

Now I need to make a set of owls with sequin eyes!

I wanted/needed a pincushion. I found inspiration from an Art Nouveau Poster by Ludwig Hohlwein from 1910 that I have on a postcard. I recreated the large rose at the child's feet.

The pincushion is 2.5 inches square and half as thick. To get the pieces, I scanned in the postcard, enlarged the rose to the right size, and printed it out. I cut around the outside of the rose shape on the paper and used that as a pattern to cut out a piece of felt. Next, from the paper, I cut away the shape of one of the rose petals. Then I placed the paper back over the felt piece and traced the edge of the cut. Then I cut out just that petal from the felt piece. I repeated that for each of the petals and then the middle. This might be a good thing to do as a tutorial - cutting pieces of a design out of felt.

I decided to sew the pieces on with black floss, instead of floss the color of the felt, to give the design a wood-cut look. When I was done, the rose wasn't centered. I put the middle piece in the center not realizing the petals aren't all even. Husband-with-good-ideas to the rescue, "Why don't you just add some leaves?" Why not, indeed. They complete the design nicely. I don't think it would have looked half as good without them.

Speaking of how good it looks, sweet husband Andrew took this photo and the excellent close up of the turtle. Aren't they great?! His photography is on display at bluepanic.com. Interested in what I look like?

Oh, yes, I was talking about the pincushion :) ... I was worried about the white stuffing showing through the sewing holes in the design, so I put another layer of black felt under the top. I also doubled the pink felt on the bottom. The image shows the bottom stitching. I should have doubled the felt on the sides as well. They would have bulged less and I could have stuffed the pincushion more firmly - which is key, as I learned with my prototype.

For the prototype, I used one of the graphic roses in the lower right hand corner of the poster. I was thinking I would make it look like a petit four, hence the stitching around the edges. It was about 1.5 inches square and half as thick.

The prototype was doomed in many ways. (1) I did not have my fancy system for cutting out the rose pieces yet, so I cut each one out separately. They just don't look right together. (2) I cut out a top and bottom square and one long strip for the sides. I sewed the strip to the top square, then I sewed the strip to the bottom square. None of the corners matched up and it's completely askew. I need to use separate pieces for each side for shapes like this. (3) I put a modest amount of stuffing in the pincushion. I didn't realize that you need to stuff it way-tight so the pins don't just sink in all the way. For the week or so that I used this little cushion all my needles were fully embedded and sticking out the bottom.

It was not all-bad, though. I really like the white blanket stitching around the edges of the white rose pieces. That came out looking lacy and gave each piece a solid white outline - exactly what I was going for.

I used the turtle pattern in Aranzi Aronso book ISBN4579109783 as a starting point. I decided I wanted to make a tiny felt turtle instead of the big floppy fabric turtle they feature in the book. My turtle easily fits in the palm of your hand.

I planned on doing some geometric embroidery on the shell, but when the time came, I had the urge to sew flowers. I put in the stems and leaves then I added the flower tops one color at a time. I like the way the flowers are spaced and balanced - it looks like I planned the embroidery instead of improvised it.

This is the first time I've used sequins for eyes. I LOVE the way they look. I put a medium black sequin over a pink sequin and attached them with a french knot. The french knot has to be very big and tight to keep the sequins on, otherwise they *boing* right off the turtle's face and go hide in the carpet. Black seed beads would work better than french knots - I need to get some. The shiny sequin eyes have a glint and give the turtle an impish personality. I have a ton of sequin sizes and colors - I can't wait to try out other combos!

The pattern would have worked perfectly for a floppy turtle. It wasn't perfect for the stiffer felt. When I stuffed the turtle the belly bloated out, so I had to sew the underneath of the legs to the belly a little so they point down instead of straight out like the turtle is flying. I didn't attach the head and legs as the pattern suggested and I ended up having to make the bottom circle 120% bigger (thank you Photoshop). I'd like to design my own turtle that would work better in the felt.

I am about to burst from an overload of c-u-t-e! My husband's birthday is coming up and I made him this puppy. When I bought this Japanese stuffie book (ISBN4579109783) he asked me to make one of these for him. That was this summer, so it should be a surprise. The doggie (real one) in the picture is one of his favorite breeds. We can't have a dog in our apartment, so I thought this would be the next best thing.

Birthday Puppy is made from plush acrylic felt. That stuff is wonderful! Your stitches get buried in the fuzz and it looks and feels very cuddly and soft. Wal-mart sells it from bolts in tan, black, and white (perfect for a panda baby!). I sewed him by hand. His body, arms, and legs are all half-filled with plastic pellets, so he has an unexpected weight to him. He feels solid and huggable. I just want to squeal with glee!

This is a felt skeleton hand puppet I made in 2000. I was working with someone who was OBSESSED with eBay. He was always pulling us into his office to show us the stuff he found that he "just had to have." One day he declared his need for a small felt skeleton hand puppet. It was $40. I told him, "I can make you one for about 10 cents worth of felt." And I did. :) Mine looked just like the one he was going to buy and he loved it.

This is my second stuffie from the Palm Sized Stuffies Japanese book ISBN4834722449.

I experimented with using the google eyes thinking that they would look better than my roughly cut out felt circles, but I was a little disappointed. Instead of looking like a cool japanese-cute stuffie, he looks like a cheap carnival monkey. BUT, I love him to death. He is one of a pair of animals that were made for our friend in Thailand.

Monkeys and Elephants are special animals in Thailand and purple is one of the national colors. With the Elephant, I experimented with button eyes, which came out kind of cool looking. I used the same arms and legs as the monkey, but I designed a body, trunk, and ears just for the elephant. I was particularly proud of the way that the ears turned out.

Here is the first palm-sized stuffie I made. He probably dates back to August. His pattern is from Palm-Sized Stuffies ISBN4834722449. You can tell he's the first because everything is just a little weird. One foot is bigger than the other. The head-shape is a little lop-sided. The stitching is not quite straight or uniform.

Even though he is imperfect - perhaps even because of his imperfections - I love Monsieur Kittie. I love his orange beret. I love his tummy embroidery. I love his freaky little mouth almost hidden under his black nose.

The (semi-)success with Monsieur Kittie inspired me to make many more palm-sized stuffies and to buy many more Japanese felt stuffies books.

Here are the thanksgiving kitties I gave to my in-laws today. Their pattern is from Palm-Sized Stuffies ISBN4834722449. I was already making them this cute set of baby kitties, but I recently finished them and thought that making them an Indian and a pilgrim would be fun for the holiday. I've been calling them "The Indian" and "The Pilgrim" for the last week. The feathers and hat are just pinned on, so maybe they'll get a set of reindeer horns and a Santa hat for X-mas!