Teddy bear

I've been working away on my teddy bear design and have finished his head so far. I only had to modify my intended design a couple times, 1st because the head was getting to long and tube-like and 2nd because I forgot to add the eyes and nose before closing it up! But I really do like how he turned out.

It is fun to discover that I have the skills to make something that is in my head come to life!

I stuffed the head individually, then sewed the felt face on using a blanket stitch most of the way, and then stuffed that a little as well. I used blush to color his cheeks and ears, and both eyes and nose are those nifty safety features where they look like a bolt and nut.

The rest of the bear is yet to be done, but I do have most of his big butt shaped, and one bottom leg made and attached. The only problem is I have run low on my yarn in that color, so now I have to put it down until I can get into my craft store!

Oh well, looks like I'll be making more owls :)

original designs!

In the midst of working on my teddy bear pattern, I decided to have my hand at making a tiny little owl.

Here is the result:

Not too bad for a first attempt? I think so! He's so cute and just about 3-4" tall. I posted a picture of him on facebook and immediately got a request from a friend of a friend to purchase him! 

So this was my official first sale of my own amigurumi. I mailed him off this morning, and I can't wait to hear what she thinks of him when he arrives!  It gets me even more excited to finally get my etsy shop up and  running. (I've only been talking about it for months now!) Just had to share :) 

Eggs

I have the extreme good fortune of living relatively close to my family (my sister, her husband, and my parents all live about a 2 hour drive away). So, I get to visit them on holidays and make regular trips, and it isn't a huge expense or burden to travel! This means that for the entire week of Spring break, I'm going to be with my mom and dad and sister's family! I get to play with my niece and actually contribute to her first easter basket, which is so fun!

This inspired me to crochet up a few things for my family including these two easter egg shaped amigurumi:

the bunny is for my niece, Molly

 the egg is for my mom's dog.

I know...pathetic that I crocheted a toy for a dog, but if you knew this dog, you'd understand. Trust me. 

I've had a lot of fun whipping up these real short little projects, cause they're just so darn cute!! You get maximum effect with minimum effort and time :) gotta love that, right??

Easter is in the air!

Here is one quick project whipped up for my niece's easter basket:

This is before I finished his other ear, but you get the picture...literally. :)

I used blush to color his cheeks and ears, and he's basically an egg with a face and bunny ears. 

This a free pattern I found on Ravelry by RoxyCraft blog, called Bunny Boo.

If you're in need of a cute easter project I highly recommend this one! 

Amigurumi Friday! (it's back!)

For today's amigurumi Friday I would simply like to share what I've been working on lately, and maybe ask some advice from you, instead of give it.

For some time now I have been contemplating writing my own patterns for amigurumi. It is a really intimidating thought that has taken me all the way to last night to get over the fears and doubts about whether I could really do it. Because last night I sat down and sketched a little teddy bear, with full intentions of crocheting him into life! I'm really excited to try writing my own patterns, especially because I won't run into the legality of copyrights when it comes to selling my products on etsy! :)

So far, this is what I have:

Have you ever written your own patterns? How did you go about it? 

I obviously drew mine out, and am writing down things as I go. Is there a better/more effective way to design an amigurumi? 

Update

I apologize for my absence. Quite honestly I have felt less than inspired to blog, and the circumstance of having no digital camera in the last two weeks has not helped. However, since my absence, I have gotten a decent amount of crocheting done on my granny squares, and have finished a doll for my niece. I have also purchased a new camera to document all the things that you have been missing out on!

It's a Nikon Coolpix L110, and so far I'm loving the quality and clarity of the images! See for yourself on some of my pics I've taken since getting it:

Sorry folks

Things are running a little behind schedule! looks like we might have an "amigurumi saturday" this week!

Craft time with the sister!

I had the fortune of being bored out of my mind this week on account of my husband being out of town on business. Why do you ask is this fortunate? Well because it inspired me to get off my duff and make a trip to my hometown to visit my parents and my sister, her husband, and my favorite baby, my niece Molly!

I spent Monday through Wednesday there, and all day Tuesday was spent crafting with my sister in her lovely new house. (This is the sister I'm planning on opening an Etsy shop with) She brought out an old sweater of her husband's that she accidentally shrunk in the dryer. Who hasn't done that before?! And had a wonderful idea to use it as fabric for a pillow cover. She had an old pillow form lying around, just waiting for some love and attention! So she cut up the sweater and an old pillow case for the back, and sewed it all up in a jiffy using a sewing machine my parents wanted to get rid of.

She asked me if I would be willing to crochet some flowers for her pillow, and then I got the idea to use these giant buttons I had bought at the Dollar tree, and crochet flowers that would button on, so if she ever wanted to change the color of the flowers (to match her decor) she had the option! Brilliant!...if I do say so myself :)

Well we put our heads together and came up with a marvelous pillow cover all for 0 dollars, and 0 cents!

We also used embroidery thread and did a blanket stitch along the bottom to close it up :)

Ps. if you're wondering how I made the flowers, I just made it up as I went. 

But there is a real similar pattern for a flower like this found for free at Lion Brand here.

And just for posterity, a recent picture of Molly-dolly! 

Amigurumi Friday!-using felt

Remember this sweet face from earlier in the week? 

Well today we're going to talk about how to do it!

First off, thank you Harugurumi for the excellent pattern of the sleepy sheep, available free on her lovely blog! This is my version using felt for the face and embroidery. (Her sheep have a crocheted face and yarn features) 

Supplies you will need (for face only): Felt, scizzors, chalk or marker, embroidery thread, tapestry needle, and a little imagination!

I crocheted the head of the lamb, then traced onto the felt using white chalk the shape of the face I wanted...somewhat of an oval. You can get super particular here about having a true oval shape, but I prefer the home-made with imperfections look. I think it gives the animal character! 

Then you cut it out!
Next, trace onto the back of the oval the shape of the eyelids so you don't embroider blindly- and choose the color you want to embroider the eyes with. Begin!

I went one way with simple straight stitches and then back on the curve filling in the gaps left. 

Next add the eyelashes by beginning in the back of the felt, poking the needle through at the eyelid, and stitch out and down, always beginning at the back of the felt at the eyelid.

You getting the picture? good! Now do the other one :)

(Here's a view from the back, so you can see the mess is always on the wrong side of embroidery. That's why you do the face before attatching it to the head!) 

Right, now for the nose and mouth. Start at one central point and fan out your stitches to the left and right for the nose. I chose a peachy-pink :)

Ok, once your done with that, put your needle from the back, right into the bottom of the nose and do just 1 vertical stitch down for the mouth. 

(Make sure you tie everything off in the back! )

Now, to sew it onto the face, you can continue using a straight stitch as I did with the brown face, or you can choose to do a blanket stitch. That looks like this:

Here's how:

Enter your needle from back, and make sure before you put your needle back into the fabric that your needle passes above the thread left from your last stitch before you pull tight! 

I hope those images are actually helpful!

I find it's beneficial to safety pin on the face as your sewing so the features don't move around on you

But that's about all I have for you this week. I'd love for all of you to try your own lamby face, and share how it turned out! 

I have decided...

Craft stores are one of the most amazing places in the world!

I live about 2 blocks from a Joanne's Fabric store, and I find myself making up excuses (which at the time feel like truly legitimate reasons!) to go there at least once a week. Even if the merchandise doesn't change, I still want to go in there, look around, touch the yarn, peruse the button aisle, gawk at the adorable ribbons, and check to see if their home decorating stuff has gone on ridiculous sale yet.

Beyond the stuff in there, I love the people. People in craft stores are just nice. You see Mom's and their line of excited kids trailing behind them, lovely ladies with their adorable kitten sweaters, and anytime you bring your stuff up to the register, the checker asks what you are making, and you get to go off on the latest and greatest project you have up your sleeve to someone who actually cares and knows what you are talking about! It's marvelous :)

*sigh*...maybe I can scrounge up some change and go today!