Yesterday, late in the afternoon, after finishing up the fleece chibi dolls, I was just about to slump onto the sofa when I suddenly remembered that there was a birthday party on today for a very special little girl and I had completely forgotten to make her gift! So off I went to find something that I could make in a few hours and came up with these:

Some of you may recognise the Bunny. The pattern is available in this book. The Bunny was very easy to put together once all the pieces were cut out. I did cheat a little bit by altering the pattern so that I could machine-stitch all the parts that were supposed to be hand-stitched :-) She’s made from wool-flannel, various cotton including Japanese prints, and plastic safety eyes. It probably took an hour from start to finish.

I then decided to make a little tote bag as well. I didn’t use any pattern but just went with the basic process I recalled from previous bag-making adventures. The fabric strip on the outside is what I used as lining on the inside and is also the fabric for the back of Bunny’s dress. The tote took about 45 minutes from start to finish.

So after a few hours at the sewing machine, I was a very happy chappy. I just hope the recipient is very happy with them too!

These little gals have been practicing speaking in Chinese:

Why? Because they are all set to head off to China, thanks to Carol and the Made for China cause, which will hopefully find these dolls new homes amongst orphans in China.

I really had a blast making these dolls. As you may notice, they are a mix of the three different types of Chibi dolls that I make. This time I used fleece for the entire body. The first two are made of polar fleece and the second two are made of a very soft and cuddly velour fleece. I came across some cute plastic ‘comic‘ eyes at the craft shop and thought I would use them for these dolls - it certainly gives them a very different look from my other Chibi dolls.

If you haven’t already considered the cause, I do hope you’ll hop on over to Carol’s blog to read more about it and how you can help.

I’d love to write more but my brain is just about to slip into sleep mode (it’s been a long (but wonderful) day). Hope you’re having a great weekend.

Introducing Prince Periwinkle and Princess Lillypilly.

Individual pictures are available here. Both are now up in my shop.

I also received a package of Japanese candy that I won from Anjali who regularly has Japanese candy giveaways on her blog. I love reading her Japanese Candy Friday Reviews! Inside I found a whole bunch of delicious goodies including strawberry chocolate, red-bean Kit Kat (my husband’s favourite), french-toast pretzels (Ava’s favourite), and a piece of Kinako-Mochi Choco (my favourite!). Oh, and so much cute packaging!

Sorry for this rushed post - I need to get back to the sewing while the girls are fast asleep! I do hope that you are well :-) And before I go I did want to direct your attention to Made For China - a wonderful cause that you might want to participate in.

That’s right, the random drawing of a single name (from comments left on the previous post) has yielded a new home for Lady J - congratulations to the very talented Dani of Pyglet Whispers! Dani, I’ll be emailing you soon :-)

Thanks so much to all of you who left a comment on Lady J - such sweet and supportive words. Thank you. Stay tuned for another giveaway sometime in early March :-)

Meanwhile I’m working a few more little owls. Here’s a sneak-peek of Prince Periwinkle - still a work in progress. I hope to finish him up and complete his Princess this weekend, and will post more photos then.

And thanks for your kind words about going back to work - it was a shaky start but we’re all happily chugging along to a new beat :-)

I must admit I’ve been in a softie-slump lately - lost my softie-making mojo for a while. I think it was just the stress associated with the change of routine since going back to work. I thought perhaps it would help to try a few new things - nothing major, just baby steps. I came up with three things I hadn’t tried before but wanted to incorporate into my next softie:

1) Waffle-weave fabric, inspired by these gorgeous bears made by Hillary

2) Glass eyes

3) Exposed seams (not for the whole softie though)

I decided to use one of my previous patterns instead of coming up with a new one. I went for the quilted-patchwork owl pattern, minus the ‘quilted‘ and ‘patchwork‘. I wanted something smaller than what I usually make so reduced the pattern to almost half the size of the original. And finally, after receiving much feedback about how the original owls looked quite grumpy, I decided to try a more friendly owl face :-)

And so in the spirit of Emily’s post on imaginitive naming :-), I present to you Lady Juniper Waffle-Butterpann:

She’s made of waffle-weave cotton (which turned out to be easy to work with but has very little ‘give‘), one of my favourite owl cotton prints, a green dotty print, white lace trim, glass eyes, and wool felt. She stands just over 20cm and is filled with plastic pellets and poly-fill. I’ve limited the exposed seams to her wings and the owl print also features on the underside. Oh, and as you can probably tell by the permanently opened mouth, she’s a talker! :-)

I’m really happy with the way she has turned out and have found renewed motivation and inspiration to get back in to a bit of softie-making - perhaps additions to the Waffle-Butterpann family???

But for now, in light of Valentine’s Day I thought I’d share the love and offer Lady Juniper Waffle-Butterpann up as a GIVEAWAY! I’ll throw in a box of chocolates as well :-) So if you’re interested in having Lady J fly over to live in your home, please leave a comment on this post by midnight on Valentine’s Day (Eastern Aussie Time) and I’ll announce the (randomly-drawn) winner on Feb 15th.

**Please note that Lady J is more a prototype version and although made with love and care, is slightly wonky in some places. Also, she’s been made more as a decorative piece rather than a toy for young children.

It’s been another week full of prepping for the big changes that are happening next week. I’ve been spending days at my Mum’s house trying to settle these 2 little dumplings into their new surroundings:

. . . as my Mum will be looking after them when I’m back at work. I feel very blessed to have my Mum available and willing to look after them, plus she only lives 5 minutes away. Ava has settled in without any problems - Aurora, on the other hand, cries everytime she sees me leave the room and initially resisted being fed and put to bed by my Mum. After persevering, it’s getting better. Hopefully the adjustment period will be swift and painless for all involved :-)

So no crafting to speak of lately. One great thing about going back to work is that I’ll have a little bit more pocket money to support more artists and craftspeople. It seems as if I come across more amazing and talented people everyday simply by surfing blogs, and exploring Etsy and Flickr.

So here’s just a few artists on my little wishlist that I’d like to share with you - perhaps you’ll find something you love in amongst it all too!

1. Luca Tripaldi (Shop:Osso Buco)
2. Kendra Binney (Shop: Kendra Binney)
3. Milly Molly Mandy
4. Sunberst (Shop: Sunberst)
5. Carla Sonheim (Shop: Carla Sonheim)
6. Obsolete World

Wishing you a peaceful and refershing weekend (it’s going to be another sweltering one in Melbourne).