Sunday Spotlight

Sunday Spotlight…on a Monday

Second week in and I’m already behind schedule with the Sunday Spotlight! I had a good excuse, though, I promise. My husband and I were away for a much-needed break this weekend, at a beach shack with no internet. I’m feeling very refreshed now (thanks for asking!) and ready to get down to business with this week’s Sunday Spotlight.

How amazingly cute is this little red panda, lovingly created by neversaymichele on Craftster! Such perfect crocheting, too *jealous*

Check out this unique take on crafting flowers, created by Artsy Crafty Babe. I love buttons, and these cute little blooms would make a great embellishment on a bag or cardigan!

I ran across the tutorial for this flirty little skirt recently, and added it to my to-do list. Simple, yet stylish. Love it!

Told you I like buttons! I love the fabric covering these buttons, it’s so cute. I know in theory making fabric covered buttons is quite simple, and I’ll learn how one day, but for the time being, I’m happy to bow to the masters and purchase their hard work.

Standard
Sunday Spotlight

Sunday Spotlight

Well, I resolved to start doing a regular themed post on my blog, so here it is! I know I’m a little late to the party, but life’s been pretty hectic lately, and this is the first chance I’ve had to really sit down and prepare a post.

I spent a lot of time on the internet *cough* no life *cough*, and a lot of that time is spent looking at various craft blogs and forums, oohing and aahing over things people have made, inspiring tutorials, or more supplies to add to my ever-growing stash. So, I figured it might be good to feature a few of these things on my blog each week – good for me, because then I can look back and actually remember where I saw that fantastic shirt tutorial, good for you because you can gain inspiration from them in the same way I have, and good for the people or stores that actually made the item or tutorial! Everyone wins! So without further ado, here’s what captured my eye (and wallet!) this week on the interwebz.

Isn’t this little whale just adorable? I don’t crochet as much as I used to, but damned if this tiny whale isn’t enticing me back to my hooks and yarn!

Speaking of adorable, look at this amazing little plush hedgehog! I love his leaf-shaped felt spines, and his little upturned nose. Squee!

This is going to be my next project, when I’ve finished everything I’m working on at the moment. I have the perfect shirt to do it with, too – not a men’s shirt, but a too-long, too-big pink-and-black plaid shirt of my own. I can’t wait!

I’m always on the look-out for cute fabrics, and I found this Japanese cotton to be particularly delightful. It would make such a cute purse!

In other news, in preparation for moving overseas, I’m having to do a large cull of all my craft supplies, which is making me a sad panda. I’ve spent ages building up a stash worthy of a busy crafter, and now I have to get rid of it all? Boo. I take some comfort in the fact that I’m doing my best to make sure it goes to other crafters…and that I can start all over again when I get to America!

Standard
Uncategorized

Happy New Year!

Bit late to the party, aren’t I? I meant to update this blog a lot earlier, but life got in the way, as it often does. Still, never mind, I’m back now, with a nice, sleek new blog design to celebrate 2011!

I’m very proud of all I achieved in craft-land last year – with one exception, I gave every single person I knew who had a birthday a handmade gift! The exception was my father, for no good reason, really – he’s very hard to buy for, let alone craft for, and in the end I chose a gift for him that, while not handmade, I knew he’d love.

I tried my hand at quite a few different crafts – crochet, knitting, cross-stitch, papercraft and sewing made the list, and I learned a lot from my accomplishments (and my mistakes!). I accumulated far too much yarn and fabric (oops!) and added an impossible number of projects to my to-do list (some of which have spilled over into this year…oops again!).

Now, what would a new year be without some resolutions? Chances are I won’t stick to any of them, but hey, a girl’s got to try, right? I hereby resolve to:

  • Update this blog regularly. I fall into the trap of not posting unless I have a project to display, but after a year of avidly reading many fabulous craft blogs, I’ve realised there’s so much more I can blog about!
  • Not overload myself with projects. I’m a generous soul, and I tend to promise to make things for people without considering the time I have available to me. This is perhaps my biggest failing as a crafter; it makes me look unreliable when I can’t produce crafted items on time, and inept when they aren’t done to perfection because I rushed.
  • Sort out my epic yarn and fabric stashes and organise my sewing area. I’d post photos of its current state, but it’s far too embarrassing.
  • Reuse and recycle as many resources as I can. I have so many ideas for re-purposing clothes and shoes and have seen so many inspiring tutorials online, and I can’t wait to start making myself a whole new wardrobe for a fraction of the cost of buying new things!

Phew! I think that’s enough for now, don’t you? There are big things in store for me this year, including a much-saved-for two month holiday to Japan (only two and a bit months until we’re heading to the land of the rising sun, with all its adorable charm and breathtaking scenery), and an overseas move! Yes, that’s right, unless something goes horribly wrong, my husband and I will be leaving Australia for sunny California, where we’ll live for two years. It’s both exciting and terrifying, but one thing’s for sure – they have a hell of a lot more craft stores over there than they do here! 😛

Standard
Amigurumi amp; Plushies, hoot, sewing

Giggle and Hoot

A little while ago, my stepsister Nadia asked me if I could make a plush version of Hoot the owl from Giggle and Hoot for my nephew, Ethan. I agreed and promptly forgot about it until his third birthday started looming, and then I remembered. Since I’d never seen the show, I googled Hoot and got a good picture of him to work from.

Initially, I thought I’d make him out of felt, but I changed my mind and went for blue fleece instead, to make him softer and more sturdy. I used orange felt for his wings, legs and beak, beige felt for his eye outlines and heart patch, and black and white felt for his eyes. Making him was quite an adventure – although I had made some plushies before, they’d all been quite small and made from felt, and most importantly, their bodies were made out of two pieces of material stitched together on the outside. I wanted Hoot to be quite round, so I had to use the “orange segment” method of making him, and doing it with the seams on the inside. I made two half circles out of segments, then sewed them so one was half inside the other to create the seamed effect around Hoot’s middle. It worked surprisingly well! I then stuffed him, and although he was a little bit lumpy, he was still nice and round. I then hand-sewed all his embellishments, and finally finished him this morning, ready for Ethan’s birthday this afternoon! He was a big hit, and everyone recognised him as Hoot (phew!)

I learned a lot from making Hoot, and I look forward to making more plushies in future with my new-found skills 🙂

Standard
links, tips, Tips and Tricks

Just a quickie…

I just found the most amazing website!

It’s called Spoonflower, and boy, is it dangerous (especially since the Australian dollar just hit parity with the US dollar). I’ve just spent a good twenty minutes adding wonderful, adorable fabric to my wishlist. Basically, it’s a website where you can upload a design and have it printed on fabric. Or, for those bad at drawing (like myself), you can simply purchase other peoples’ designs! If you’re a designer, you get a discount on what you buy. Go and check it out, it’s super awesome!

I also found Knitmap – a place where you can find yarn stores close to you, and track them, and plan yarn road trips, and all kinds of wonderful things! Plus, they have an iPhone app you can get, and since my Dad just offered me his old iPhone for a mere $150…well,  I think I might be buying quite a bit more yarn in the near future!

Now, I’m about to reformat my computer, since it’s being all unhappy and blue-screening on me, so fingers crossed it all goes well and I’ll be back to post about my latest project! Bye!

Standard
accessories, Amigurumi amp; Plushies, craftster swap, crochet, Hats and other stuff, sewing

Back from the dead

Yes, I do realise it has been well over a month since I last updated this blog, and I sincerely apologise for that. I started full-time work at the end of July, and quickly realised that there really isn’t time for much else once you’ve been to work, come home, cooked dinner, done the housework and spent time with a sorely neglected husband. Still, I haven’t stopped crafting! In fact, before I quite realised what the impact of a job would have on my spare time, I entered into 3 craft swaps on Craftster (!!), which was probably something of a mistake, but oh well.

Despite my continued crafting, I don’t really have that much to show for the time I’ve spent. This is because I’ve been crafting solely for other people, and like the dill I am, I forget to take photos of the finished object before I give it away and never see it again. However, I did remember to take photos of some of it, so here we go:

This is Chewbacca, as you may have guessed. I made him for a guy at my new workplace, who really loves Star Wars. I made him Han Solo, too, but I forgot to photograph him. Don’t ask me how I remembered one and not the other. I bought the pattern from Ebay, and it was my first attempt at brushing a crocheted object.

Next, I made this adorable little fellow for my Dad on Father’s Day. He’s rather partial to foxes, you see. He does have a slight chunky missing under his tail, where I got a little too enthusiastic with the brushing, but other than that, he turned out fine. I also sewed my father-in-law a glasses case, but I forgot to photograph that.

Let’s see, what else. I’ve tried my hand at stencilling a few t-shirts – I did a metallic blue Transformer for my stepbrother Jordan, a white-on-black Placebo t-shirt for my brother-in-law Bill, and a black and orange hand on a white t-shirt for my brother, Duncan. Each one was significantly better than the last, so at least I’m getting better at it. I’m also currently working on a hoodie for a Craftster swap that involves a fair bit of stencilling, so fingers crossed that looks okay.

I made this tea wallet for my stepsister for her birthday – I got the pattern from this website. She loves tea, so I figured it would be perfect for her. I also made her a necklace, which I didn’t photograph.

I’ve also made 3 headbands for another swap on Craftster, but I won’t post the photos of those until they’ve received them – I don’t want them to stumble across this blog and have the surprise spoiled!

I’ve still got a heap of stuff to work on, even after getting all that done – I’m crocheting an Iron Man figure for a guy at work, I still need to finish knitting the scarf I’m making for my husband (it was meant to be a July birthday present…oops!), I’m crocheting myself a cardigan (although who knows when that will get done), plus a myriad of other things for other people that I was meant to have done ages ago. I’m also meant to be making the Christmas crackers for Christmas this year.

I don’t know how frequently I will be able to update this in the coming months – I don’t want to bore anyone with details of my life, but I’ve just taken on a second, evening job in addition to my daytime one, so my time will be extremely limited until March next year, when my husband and I are taking a two month holiday to Japan. I’ll try and keep you all updated, though, and post photos of everything I finish 🙂

Standard
Alice in Wonderland, Amigurumi amp; Plushies, craftster swap, crochet

Curiouser and curiouser

This is just one of the items I sent to my Craftster swap partner, Seabound23, for the Newbie Swap Round 13 that occurred recently. I also sent her a zip-up pouch made from funky mushroom print fabric, a lime green scarf with a black border, two tiny crocheted owls and a felt octopus. In return, she sent me an embroidered cat, a scarf and some beautiful sky blue wristwarmers. It was a really positive crafting experience, and I’ve already signed up to two more swaps! The Amazing Hoodie Swap and the Favourite Plushie swap. Even though I don’t have a lot of time now I’m working, I still want to craft as much as I can on the weekends.

Standard
cosplay, Costume, sewing, totoro, wip

Tonari no Totoro!

It nearly killed me, but I managed to complete my Totoro outfit in time for AVCon, which is Adelaide’s anime and video game convention! It didn’t turn out too badly, given I basically made it in a day. Come Friday I had all the pieces of grey fleece cut out, but that was it. Turns out that stretchy grey fleece is not the best stuff to sew with, by the way, since the stretch of it throws measurements off something terrible. I would have rather done it in grey faux fur, but at $69.95 a metre, that simply wasn’t happening.

I was up until 2am the morning of the convention (or at least, the day I was attending) sewing, but it was worth it. I got lots of hugs and photo requests, and even declarations of love! It got a little bit warm in the costume from time to time, but it was mostly super comfy. Now I’m using it as pajamas in this cold Adelaide winter!

So, pics or it didn’t happen, right?

Please excuse the double chin. Dad insists on photographing me from below, which makes me look far larger than I am :/

It was a lot of fun, and worth all the hard work I put into the costume! I’m already wondering what I should cosplay as next year, and I know one thing – I won’t be leaving it until the day before the con to sew together!

Currently working on:

  1. Katamari PSP case for a friend
  2. White and black Fibonacci scarf for a friend
  3. A purple tea shawl
  4. A present for my brother-in-law
  5. A present for my father-in-law
  6. A present for my stepbrother
  7. Characters for my store!
Standard
craftster swap, octopus

Octopus Mobile

A little while ago, Crafty-Kat commented on my blog and admired my little octopus, and we worked out a swap – I’d make her an octopus in exchange for some stitch markers (which I felt was an unfair exchange on my part, the stitch markers were far more awesome than my octopus!). Her initial plan was to do a sea creature mobile for her niece (I think), but after receiving my octopus, she asked for some more to make an octopus mobile! I happily obliged, and sent her an array of marine-coloured octopuses, and she just posted her completed mobile on Craftster! Go and check it out, it looks amazing!

Standard
Hats and other stuff, iphone, sewing, wip, world of warcraft

I’m still alive

So, I haven’t updated this for a while. Sorry. I figure there isn’t much point unless I have something to share, and since I started WAY too many projects at once, a finished object has been a long time coming.

However, today was my brother’s birthday, and I made him a felt, World of Warcraft-themed iPhone case. He was very difficult to craft for, because he didn’t really need anything, and also tends to feel a lot of handcrafted items are “gay”. Still, I perservered and he was extremely pleased with my work, which in turn pleased me. I love making people things!

It was quite easy to make, really. I found the dimensions for the iPhone on Wikipedia (not owning one myself), and cut out my felt. The case is lined with red felt inside, and black felt on the outside. I found the Horde symbol online, printed it out, cut it out of felt and stitched it onto the front. I did blanket stitch around the outside, and sewed the velcro on the flap with my sewing machine so it wasn’t going anywhere.

The photo of the case is taken on my brand new cutting mat, which is awesome! I got a rotary cutter, too, so now cutting fabric for my projects is a lot easier. It’s not quite the mat I wanted, but Spotlight had a misleading sale and refused to give me the first one I picked out at the sale price, so I ended up with this one. Still better than nothing, anyway.

What I’m currently working on:

  1. Super secret project for my husband’s birthday on the 11th
  2. 3 secret craft projects for my Craftster swap partner (she knows my blog address, so I can’t reveal anything here :P)
  3. My Totoro cosplay for my local anime and video game convention at the end of the month!
  4. A shawl. I don’t know why, I don’t wear shawls, but I’m quickly becoming addicted to making them.
  5. Various other small projects that people have requested.

Oh, and a big welcome to everyone who found me through dailycrocheter.com, a site I never even knew existed until today. My Blueberry Dreams neckwarmer was featured as the pattern of the day, which I was very flattered to discover!

Standard