Hey there! I’m back from the wilderness. Well, not really. Just back from a blog-break - but I’ve always wanted to say that :-)

So since my last post, here’s what happened: my whole family and I got sick. Again! We’re back to good health now and I’ve only recently started working on the next (and last for 2007) shop update. There will be some familiar little faces in the shop update plus 2 dolls I am really excited about.

I’ve been meaning to try out a new doll for ages - something very non-Chibi in appearance. I mentioned in a previous post that I submitted the pattern/instructions for this Little Mushroom-Head Girl to a craft magazine for one of their issues in 2008. So I took her as a starting point as I really wanted to keep the mushroom-shaped head, plus the apron with the little bunny.

The other thing I have been meaning to try is a printed face. There are many softie-makers who do this brilliantly - like Jamfancy, The Black Apple, Superminx and Malota just to name a few. I have very little confidence in my painting skills so rather than attempting to paint faces directly onto fabric, I designed the face in Illustrator/Photoshop and then printed it onto printable cotton fabric (after a long time fiddling with the facial features to come up with my own style - very much aware of the different styles of the artists mentioned above).

And finally these two emerged - “Woodland Girls” Marieke, and her little sister, Bowie.

Their bunnies and aprons to follow soon.

I must admit that although these dolls definitely took much longer to put together than my other dolls, I had an incredible amount of fun making them. I think I gave myself more freedom with these dolls because I knew they weren’t supposed to be Chibi dolls.

Besides the printed faces, I took some liberty in not making them so “normal-looking“, if that is the right word to use. For example, their heads are not perfectly symmetrical - they are actually slightly askew. Arms and legs are not perfectly proportioned. The colour of their arms does not perfectly match the colour of their faces. I even included some very faint lines across their faces making it look like they had been printed on to some lined paper :-) Also, I didn’t design these dolls with little kids in mind - there are a few more delicate bits so they are more suited for older children and adults, and quiet play.

I’m definitely looking forward to making more of these dolls and I hope you like them too :-) I still enjoy making the Chibi dolls but I have been desperately wanting to try something different. For now it’s back to the machine for me - I’m hoping to make at least 2 *chis for the shop update too. Hopefully the next time I post, it will be to say that the shop has been updated. And then I can turn my full attention to handmade gifts for the holidays - I can’t wait!

Happy weekend all!

Thought I’d share with you some of the prints/artwork I’ve received lately as I haven’t had a chance to get to the sewing machine over the last few days.

As previously mentioned, I ordered a few prints from A to Z (Margin), which I will frame, wrap up and give as gifts for Christmas. Here’s what I received:

The prints are excellent quality and I know they will look fabulous in the right frames. I’m actually finding it very hard to part with the “Pin the Birdhouse” print though - may have to order one for myself! Zoe also graciously included a large size and standard sized postcards, stickers and moo cars of her “Little A” and “Little B” prints. I’m thinking of framing the larger postcard and hanging it up in Ava’s room. Thanks so much Zoe!

I’ve been a fan of Jennifer from Swallowfield for a while now and treated myself to one of her prints. It was so very hard to choose just one but this print kept popping out at me. So here it is all framed up and hanging on a wall in my crafting room. You can see the detail of the print here.

I also wanted to share with you this incredible drawing by Dani of Pyglet Whispers, which I was able to snap up a few months ago. It’s sitting on my desk at work, keeping me company. You can see the wonderful detail of this drawing here.

I’m still on the look-out for more prints as gifts and have been finding it very hard to leave the Thumbtack Press website alone - it’s chock-full of art prints from artists around the world.

These are just a few of my favourites:
1. Down, down, down by Liza Ferneyhough
2. Great Flood 3 by Oksana Badrak
3. Have It Your Way by Chris Buzelli
4. Dream Diary by Gina Triplett

How FANTASTIC is it that we have access to such wonderful art at our fingertips?!

In other news, I was able to attend a dinner last night that Pip organised for the crafty gals that were selling their creations at her store. I was actually thinking of not going as Ava has been recovering from a bad bout of gastro but hubby insisted I have some ‘me‘ time after a particularly trying week, so off I went. And I was so glad I did attend - it was a treat to meet so many creative women, to catch-up with fellow bloggers in person, and to make new contacts. Thanks so much the opportunity Pip!

Just a few more little tid-bits:
1. My Baby Chibi Ana & Seahorse Softie patterns are now available at Patchwork on Central Park (in-store, not on the website) and Quilt Fabric Delights
2. It’s always a thrill to see what others can do with a pattern you’ve drawn up, so thank you to Amanda, who contacted me about the Cheery Chimp she made from the pattern available in the latest Handmade magazine. He’s a handsome little guy :-)

I’ll be away taking a break from the blog world for the next 2 weeks - my BFF is visiting from interstate with her family and I’ll be working on my final shop update for the year, which should be around the end of November.

Wishing you all a lovely week.

Finally completed a loooong overdue order for a custom owl from a few months ago - here’s Okee:

And here’s the completed Little Piggy from the previous post. She’s now up in my shop.

And here’s my latest Flickr favourites from a bunch of incredibly creative people :-) Click on the pic to see the credits.

Hope you’re having a lovely weekend!

I was recently asked to submit 15 simple softie designs for a large craft project based in the UK. If all goes well over the next few weeks, I may be able to share more about the project but we’re only at the preliminary stages so I can’t really talk about it just yet :-)

I had 14 designs ready and was scratching my head trying to come up with one more. For some strange reason, I’ve been craving bacon all week (and nope, not pregnant!). So with bacon on the brain, it inevitably led to thinking of pigs. And hence, a piggy softie was quickly drawn up in my sketch book:

I decided to try out a quick pattern as I’ve never made a piggy softie before. This piggy is a little different in construction than the other softies I’ve designed in that it has 4 panels for its head (i usually only use 2 or 3 panels for the head) and requires sewing on the head separately (I prefer to have the head already joined to the body but I wanted to challenge myself a little bit with this one).

And here is piggy with the head and facial features all pinned in place - waiting for some substantial hand-sewing time tonight in front of a DVD to finish her off. I’ll also add a little bit of embellishment like a collar, lace trim and a flower to make her a little more ‘girly’ :-)

It came together fairly quickly but there are definitely a few changes to be made to the pattern, including a rounder, more circular head, and thicker arms and legs.

Jessica from Funky Finds also asked me to pass this onto you: “I wanted to let you know that I recently posted a recap of the Stitch Indie craft bazaar in Austin, Texas. I am also hosting a swag bag giveaway. I’d love for you to enter & to pass the word on to your friends!” There are some seriously great handmade goodies in the swag bag giveaway so skip on over to her website and get in the draw!

And thank you all for your sweet comments on Jasper, Lottie and Winston! Working with the synthetic fur was a challenge and I almost gave up on Winston as his fur was super thick, was difficult to sew, and very hard to turn right-side out. I also rolled up to Ava’s preschool with my pants completely covered in fur fuzz -which, of course, I hadn’t realised until I was standing in front of her classroom with all the other parents :-)

Please meet the new batch of *chis.

This is Jasper the Bunny-chi:

He really wants to believe that bunnies can actually be pirates although he’s never met an actual pirate bunny yet. Nevertheless, he likes to dress up like a pirate and hunt for hidden treasures in the woods with his mates. He also loves eating cookie dough, studying the laws of physics, surfing eBay, and a good game of footy - although that eye-patch really doesn’t help.

This is Lottie the Chicka-chi:

She’s currently working at the city library and has the night shift at the local supermarket. On weekends, she helps her brother host kid’s birthday parties - she has to dress up like a clown and always has trouble keeping that ridiculous red nose on her beak. She loves home-cooked meals, scrap-booking, and watching sunsets. Secretly, what she really wants to do is act.

And this is Winston the Koa-chi:

He’s well versed in the works of St Aquinas, Descartes and Kierkeguaard. He is also well traveled but has yet to visit Japan - hence his current obsession with all things Japanese. He loves black and white photography, stainless steel appliances, and dunking Tim Tams in a nice hot cup of eucalyptus tea after a long day at work.

Jasper, Lottie and Winston will be on display at:

The “Plush, Vinyl, Clay” Show
November 30 - January 25
Kismet Gallery
71 4th Street
Troy, New York

Wish I could be there to see the show in person :-)

Speaking of toy shows, just wanted to share two more with you. The Gallery Hanahou in New York is currently hosting a show called “Luv-able and Hug-able” featuring one of my softie-making heroes, Aussie Christina Gordon (aka Jamfancy) and 9 popular Japanese softie makers. Check out some of the wonderful softies they are exhibiting here.

Also, for all you Kokeshi lovers, Subtext in San Diego is hosting the Kokeshi Show. About 75 artists from all over the world were given a blank Kokeshi and asked to customise it with their artwork. The results are awesome! You can get a good look at each customised Kokeshi doll here, including one from the very talented Aussie artist and fellow Melbournian, Catherine Campbell.

Once again, thanks for your comments about my little quandry over the Monk-chis. And for your encouragement to keep making them :-)

I still haven’t decided whether I should make more of them (still not sitting comfortably with me at the moment) but I am excited with the little Pirate Bunny-chi that is in progress. Also, I was packaging the Monk-chis up last night for their trip to Mikes and Ava quipped, “Nope, I don’t think they’re monkeys Mama - I think they’re Koalas!”

Light bulb moment. I’m really liking that idea so I might alter the pattern again and make up a Koa-chi as well over the weekend :-) Where would I be without my little helper??

And speaking of her, I thought I would share a flashback today. As I have mentioned previously, I based the design of the Happy Chibi Girl on Ava. I made the first batch of Happy Chibi Girls over a year ago with happy faces and closed eyes. Here’s why:

The photo was taken at night (hence the bad lighting) just after I finished the last doll of that first batch (Kaede), and as you can see Ava was quite delighted to be holding a doll that actually had some resemblance to her :-)

Hope to have photos of the finished Bunny-chi and Koa-chi early next week. Have a great weekend everyone!

Thank you for all the comments on the Monk-chis! It’s always a great encouragement when a new design receives a very positive welcome. I think it so wonderful that we can post up our designs on our blogs and receive honest feedback on what we make. I really do value your input and opinions and I thank you for taking the time to let me know what you think.

Which leads me to 2 very interesting links left by Beth and Catharin on the previous post (and I must add that I am very thankful that they did leave those comments!)

Firstly, Beth left a link to the “Monchichis” - here’s an example below:

I’ve never heard of these characters before - apparently they were big in the late 1970s and 1980s. They are so adorable! However, I can’t believe how similar my Monk-Chis are to the Monchichi - they even have similar names! Now that’s really strange.

And secondly, Catharin left a link to a Russian character who was popular in Russia in the late 1960s and 1970s. He is currently very popular in Japan. Here’s a pic of him:

As in the case above, I’ve never heard of this little guy before. He’s called “Cheburashka” and you can see him in action here.

The similarities between my Monk-Chi and Cheburashka are simply unmistakable!

And I have to admit, after seeing these characters, the similarities don’t sit well with me. In fact, they make me extremely uncomfortable and the last thing I want is the creators of these 2 characters to think that I have somehow ripped off their designs, or for anyone to perceive that there was some relation between them and the Monk-chi.

So I decided that I won’t be making anymore Monk-chis. Instead, since I really love various features of the Monk-chi, I’ve kept what I can and turned it into a Bunny-chi. He’ll even have a little heart-shaped tail on the back :-) Here’s a super quick sketch of him I did last night before going to bed:

I actually have a few Monk-chis cut out from synthetic fur as they were going to participate in a toy show at the end of this month. All is not lost though - looks like they will now have very long ears and will be eating carrots instead of bananas!  Hope to have them sewn up over the weekend.

And if anyone knows of any Bunny-chi-like creatures from the past, please let me know too!

My weekend was all about working on some softies for Mirabel. I had originally planned to make some sleepy, huggable bunnies and cats but during a lunch break last week, I had come up with this little guy:

I used my basic Chibi as a starting point (as I have done many times previously) and made a few alterations like a disproportionately large head and short legs :-) So out came the fleece and a wonderful vintage fabric that I had picked up from Mikes, featuring little children playing with various toys, which I thought would make great patches on their tummies.

I used a ‘chenille fleece‘ on one of the softies - it’s very much like a light-weight and stretchy version of the fake fur you would normally use on teddy bears, and gives it a very ‘plush‘ look. However, there was fluff all over the place after cutting it up and it took forever to clean it up.

After sewing them all up, I couldn’t decide on a name as I didn’t know what they were exactly. So I called in my in-house soft toy consultant for help . . . Ava :-) She gave them the once over and then her judgement (”I like it Mama!”). I asked her what she thought they were.

“They’re monkeys!” she declared.

Okay, so that was that. And after some very simple name games, playing around with the word ‘Monkey’ and the word ‘Chibi’ (since they were based on the basic Chibi pattern), I came up with ‘Monk-chi‘ :-)

Here are the Monk-chis with Ava before they make their trip to Mikes. I really do hope they bring a smile and comfort to some wonderful little kids this Christmas.

Just popping in to say “hi!” and a big THANK YOU to everyone who found a new home for some of my items in the latest shop update. Your support is always sincerely appreciated.

Thank you also for all the lovely comments and well wishes for the girls. They are heaps better than they were at the start of the week and only dealing with runny noses at the moment, so I’m getting a lot of good exercise running around after them with hankies in hand :-)

Zero crafting has occurred this week - I decided to make it my week-off from One Red Robin :-) But I have been spending time looking up ideas for handmade gifts for Christmas. I want to get started much earlier than I did last year and I want to make it a ‘Handmade Christmas‘ as much as possible. Our annual list of gift-recipients is kind of ridiculous really - about 35+. There’s family, extended family, god-children, god-parents of our daughters, close friends, etc, etc.

So given the restraints on budget and time, here’s what I’ve got so far. I’ve ordered a few prints from here which will be framed and given as gifts. I’m also on the hunt for some handmade jewelery, clothing, and purses.

On my to-make list are a few take ‘em totes, about 10 patchwork table runners (simpler versions of this patchwork table runner that I made for my Mum last year), and some screen-printed kids t-shirts (most likely featuring a one-colour print of this owl).

In regards to screen-printing t-shirts, I’ve found a place that provides good quality, wholesale-priced, anti-sweatshop, plain t-shirts in kids sizes, available in a variety of colours. There are also a number of DIY screen-print tutorials on the internet and although I would love to do it this way, realistically I will most likely use this cheaper but equally as effective method. I’ve never screen-printed anything before so I’m looking forward to working on this!

But first there are still a few (very) outstanding orders, very late birthday gifts, and softies for Mirabel to complete! And planning for the next shop update which will be at the end of the month. So I’ll be back on the sewing machine this weekend.

For now, this is what is keeping me company on my desk at work for my Friday morning tea :-)

A little sweet treat to take me through today and see off the working week.

Happy Friday all!

P.S.  If you are looking for ideas for handmade gifts, don’t miss Sew Mama Sew’s Handmade Holidays: 30 Days of Gifts to Sew, which is happening everyday this month on their blog (they have kindly included my tutorials in their round-up :-)).