Superpig!

A while ago (summer time maybe?) I showed you this photo of a new project I had started.  It stayed like this for months and months and months until I picked it up and finished it in one sitting!

It is from the book Sew Sweet Creatures by Lark Craft.  I was asked to review this by GMC, however all opinions are my own.

There are 16 projects in this book, and I love that they are shown on the index, not just a written name, but a picture of the project.  It makes navigating the book so much easier.

How cute are they!  I want to make that little fat lion!

Lots of them have cute little accessories too.  It may surprise you to read that I didn't make the rabbit...  I'm not sure why, but I decided to make the pig.

All the templates are full size - I love that, I hate having to find somewhere to enlarge projects and I can't just "nip to the copy shop", I have no idea where there is one or if these things even exist in this day and age!

There are loads of photos for each project and the instructions are well-written and easy to follow.

Ta-dah!  No idea why these photos are so blurry... maybe Superpig was flying around so quickly I didn't notice, but my camera did.  Or maybe I'm just crap at taking photos!

The mask is removable, it's just tied on.

As is the cape.  Want to see what's underneath?

A little curly tail!

This pig was sewn by hand, though it would be possible to do some of it by machine, it would be far too fiddly for me.  I enjoyed making this little pig and I like some of the other projects in the book, I would recommend it for anyone who fancies having a go at making some whimsical little creatures.  

More finishing things off

I did a post a few weeks ago about some languishing UFOs which I'd finally finished.  Well I've finished some more.

This bead embroidered pendent was made in October 2015, you can see the original post here.

When I was putting pendents on chains the other week, I tried this one on a chain, but it wasn't right.  it needed something different.  I thought I'd try a beaded rope so I got out some suitable seed beads and my copy of Seed Bead Stitching by Beth Stone.

The photo above shows the samples I made.  On the left is a spiral which just didn't look right, I can't remember what the middle one is, and the one on the right is a peyote tube.  I really like the peyote tube but it was too big for this pendent.  Instead I chose a tri-stitch from Bead Play everyday, also by Beth Stone.

I didn't take a close up of the beaded chain but it is quite delicate.  I've worn this a few times recently.

I can't find the origins of this project.  It was cross stitched a long time ago, at least 4 years I think.  All it needed was stuffing and the turning gap sewing up.  I'd neglected it so long as I'd cut the linen too close to the seam and it was fraying.

I put lavender in it and sewed it up as best I could.  It now lives in my knicker drawer so I don't suppose the messy seam matters.

Finally I have this rather strange bunny to show you.  Again, I can't find a post about him, but I think I made him before my nephew was born and he's 4 now.

I made the pattern up myself, I have no idea where I got the idea for such a weird bunny from!  The pink bits on the ears are appliqued and I embroidered a face, but I used a pale pink so it's barely visible.

All I had to do on this fella was stuff him, sew up the turning gap and sew on his tail.  There were three different pompoms with him so I selected the one below.

I wasn't sure what to do with him, I was just pleased to get him out of the UFO basket (or rather drawer, though I do have UFO baskets, and bags and piles...) so he lives with my Jellycat bunnies in the bedroom.

I've got to keep on top of this finishing off, I must have scores of UFOs... 

Luna Lapin

At the Knitting and Stitching show in Harrogate in 2014 I feel in love with Luna Lapin, and bought the kit.  Mum fell in love with her wool coat, and so did I, so she bought it for me!  I started making Luna back in August, and I showed you the completed bunny, without face or tail, back in December.  

Well, not only does Luna now have both face and tail, she also has clothes!

The dress kit came with the coat and I much prefer it to the t-shirt dress the Luna kit comes with, so I made this one.  I did mess the collar up a bit, but it's not really that noticeable.  There was a lot of tiny, fiddly binding with this one, the neck seam is bound as well as the hem of her dress.

I also did a pretty bad job with the buttons, they're not actually that skewed, her dress isn't on straight, but the top button is in a funny position.  That doesn't matter though as she has her coat on, even in the house!

Ta dah!  Looking back at the website where I gave you the links at the top, I've done the buttons wrong!  Ah well, never mind.  I love this coat and would wear it myself, if it weren't so small I can barely get my big toe in the armhole...  It took me hours and hours and hours to make.  I did my very best sewing and even so it's not perfect.  I love the little details like the bands and buttons on the sleeves.  I used my new machine to sew button holes for the first time and it was fine on the dress and sleeve bands... then I came to do the main buttonholes.

I had a real job!  The sleeve was getting backed up behind the foot and stopping it moving properly so they were all different lengths, and some bad planning on my behalf meant they weren't properly lined up or were wonky.  In total, I sewed a total of 20 button holes and unpicked 16!

I'm happy with that back pleat though!  I should have taken a photo of the inside - the hem is all bound, as is the neck seam. Again, fiddly, tiny binding!  Despite the faff, I really enjoyed making this and would like to make another Luna with some different clothes.  Having looked at Cool Crafting's website, I see more clothes I want but I'm not the type to change the clothes on a toy so I'll need more rabbits!

Bertie gets his close up

Good morning ladies and gentlemen.  Am I glad it's Saturday!  It's been a long, hard week, well it feels like it, despite Monday being a bank holiday and Thursday being a day of annual leave (bead class, more later...), I still feel like I've had a full week at work.

Wednesday night saw me staying up late watching My 3 Wives (LOVE it, love My 3 Wives, My 4 Wives (also called Sister Wives), My 5 Wives, Breaking the Faith... anyone know of anymore?) and sewing the final stitches in my August A Lovely Year of Finishes goal.

I bought this bunny pattern at Harrogate last year, along with an FQ of cream fleece which I thought would do nicely.  It did do nicely.

I showed you these photos in my WIP post this week and so many people seemed to think I was talking about the pin cushion as my WIP.  I didn't make that pin cushion!  It was made by the lovely Katherine and is in the photo as I was using it at the time.  No, I was showing you these arms.

I know at least one person guessed correctly that these were clothes for a bunny.

and here she is in her clothes.  She has aquarium gravel in her base to help her stand up.  The dress is made from a FQ I found in my drawer. No idea where it came from, it wouldn't be my usual style so I probably bought it because I liked it, but this was the perfect use for it.  I paired it with some blue wool felt, embroidered with white Perle cotton size 8.

I added a small Broderie Anglaise trim to the bottom of her skirt which I think just adds the right amount of prettiness.

I put off embroidering her face and adding the black beads for eyes as I was scared I'd mess it up.  I actually think I did a good job, I prefer her face to the one in the example photo.  Oh, and I haven't called her Melody, I've called her Belinda.  No idea why other than I had a beloved doll call Belinda as a child, handmade by my grandma I think.

Embroidering the pattern on her jacket and trying to get it symmetrical on each side was not easy and I'm not sure I succeeded, but who's going to notice?  (Apart from the fact I'll likely point it out to everyone!)

This is Bertie.  I found myself talking to Bertie quite a lot whilst embroidering the flowers and finishing the garland.  I'm a little bit in love with him.  

He sits in this egg.  I really don't know why.  Mr CA pointed out that rabbits don't come out of eggs, which I knew.  Maybe this is an Easter bunny, but bunnies are for life (or approx 10-12 years), not just for Easter, so Belinda and Bertie will live on my mantle piece year round.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is not only my ALYOF goal for the month, but also my second FAL finish for the quarter (technically 3rd, but I haven't shown you the 2nd yet so we'll renumber them).  Two (or three) out of 12, wow, going great guns over here!

Linking up here:

  

Here's my FAL Q3 goal-setting post
Here's my ALYOF goal-setting post

WIP Wednesday

I have never linked up to a WIP Wednesday post, much as I'd like to, it just never happens... maybe this week?

I'm going to show you what I'm working on anyway.  I'm making one of these...

Which will require these:

I also started making this:

But completely failed to read the instructions.  Possibly a good thing as I don't like those colours.  I scrapped that and started again, I got as far as this:

maggie's farm

I don't know if you remember that I was embroidering some animals?  If not, then you should be paying attention, there will be a test! 

Want to see what happened to them?

I sewed them up and stuffed them to make little softies!  The rooster is about 4" high if that gives you an idea of size.  I tried to do a variety of embroidery stitches for a bit of interest and texture for little hands.  I used a FQ I had for the back.

I won the pattern for this little farm from Charlotte Lyons as part of the Handcrafted Holiday Stitch Along.  I couldn't remember the name of that -along so went through my old posts (it's this one), I have 19 posts with the tag "giveaway wins" and most of them have more than one win on them - I'm incredibly lucky!

When I went over to get the link for Charlotte's Etsy shop, I saw she has loads of new patterns, if you like to embroider, go and have a look.

The last piece was this little barn.  Now, this pattern is called "Maggie's Farm" and is for little girls, but I think imaginative play is important for little boys too so this is Jacob's farm (yep, it was a first birthday present for my beautiful nephew) and the two little figures are both boys.

I had a tough time choosing fabric for the lining - not helped by the fact I was sewing this in my pajamas at 10:30 on Saturday morning when we were supposed to be setting off at 12!  I didn't want to use any blue as I'm saving it for the Skill Builder quilt, so I chose this homespun fat quarter which is not pink though it does look like it in this photo!  It's actually purple.

Here's the farm scene.  Figures are not to scale, though my bunny Tiff might get bigger than me if she keeps eating the way she does...  I had a bit of an "incident" when I came to sew the bag up.  Yep, the roof/flap and strap were inside, between the outer and the lining.  That's what happens when you half follow the instructions and half do your own thing without engaging your brain.

The animals can all be stuffed into the farm.

And Jacob can carry it round by the strap.  Or rather, and what actually happened, is Jacob will take all the animals out, wait for you to put them back in, then take them out again!

More hefalumps

I feel like I'm always making elephants, but in fact I've only actually made 2!  Well, now I've made 4.  These were started before the craft fair, but when I realised the table was chocka, I put them on hold.  On the 27th we had company and I'd finished sewing the presents I had left to do (for people I hadn't seen yet!) and I was flailing around looking for something to do with my hands as we chatted (I've found people don't much like it if I use my hands for picking my nose whilst chatting ;0) *), and found these sewn-but-not-stuffed hefalumps.

Why hefalumps?  No idea, probably the same reason we call ambulances andybeasts in our family.  Madness.  It's hereditory.  The pattern can be purchased here, it's by the talented Retro Mama.

This one is made using the Riley Blake Sugar and Spice fabric I won a while back.  I think it would do for a boy or a girl.  Or is it too girly?

This one is made using some Tanya Whelan fabric (possibly) and a dotty pink from my stash.  She's destined to live with my cousin's baby when she arrives in the next couple of weeks.  I'm not sure that I told you what happened with my cousin at the time.  Early in her pregnancy she was very ill and got admitted into hospital and put into a comma in intensive care.  She was there for 6 weeks.  She had test after test after test and finally they discovered it was a form of encephalytis.  It was a miracle that she came round, but we were warned her recovery would take years.  It took her about 2 months, and that being heavily pregnant!  You'd never know she'd been ill to look at her now, she's amazing and so excited about this, her first baby.

This isn't the first time I've used this pattern, I made Brian with the pattern too.  So why did I think I'd made so many elephants?  I mean, where did I think they were?  You'd notice if you had a lot of elephants living in your house...

* I don't really pick my nose in company.