India: land of creativity

In time for the Commonwealth Games, which I am sure many people know are running, I have a great collection of Indian folk art photographs that I took while on my trip a month back. Luckily, they havent had time to get dusty so here they are! This first piece is of Ganesh, a Hindu god. I picked it up in South India whilst on a road-trip, and its made of coir (coconut husks) and it has such a unique, fragrant smell, its nothing like i've smelt before. I picked it up for Rs. 160 which i guess is around $6. I think its well worth it, and it hangs above my bed :D



The other magnificent piece is the doll set from Rajastan, which my cousin was lucky enough to get a bargain for. Rs. 70, which is around $2, for the both of them!! I cannot believe it still, because the charm I felt from them when i held them, i can still feel from these lovely photos! The male is holding a flute, whilst im sure the female would do a lovely dance to.

a fresh start!

Spring is here! well, that's what they keep promising on the news on TV for the past two weeks, already a month of spring has past and we haven't had a full sunny week of warm weather :(.

Still Spring means anew! and hopefully my attempts to blog (failing miserably in the past) can be rejuvenated. Tonnes of photos sit in my camera, from an overseas trip, to recent creations, and the general sk awaiting to be released in the world wide web!!
(the first photo is at Camden, NSW and the second photo is at Victoria Park in the Sydney CBD)

Owl Post!

Sorry for the extremely late post, but lately, I've started to read the Harry Potter series. Maybe that explains it. But Yes, i know a decade off but at least i'm reading (and enjoying them). So in tribute of this i decided it was in due time to make a softie, and with the great owl pattern I found, it was hard not to!

The day I made it was nice outside, so I thought I'd take photos of him outside! =) The actual pattern is for an egg cosie, but i don't eat many eggs nor did I see the point of putting it on the egg, so i just stuffed him! Oh and if you wanted to know, I'm about to start the fifth book now! =)

http://lucykatecrafts.blogspot.com/2008/06/owl-egg-cosy-tutorial.html

visit this site for the much better pattern! =) mine was just an adaptation of that awesome tutorial.

New Years Celebration: Molly Monkey

Well I've already made my first softie of 2010. Her name is Molly Monkey( although I do wish to name her something else). Again, this fantastic pattern, and marvelous instructions were provided by a lady on the internet for free. Roughly, Molly is around 50ish cm. I love her wondering cheeky smile and her gaze.

The fabric for her beret is just felt, and I used bamboo wool to embroider some simple pattern on the base. The ribbon is just adhesive, and made the whole process so easy!

Molly's skirt is made of different vintage fabrics and I think it adds a touch of complexity to her. For those who have a keen eye, you'll be able to tell that she is wearing socks, her shoes (also in the great pattern) are still coming. The pattern comes with a tail. but i didn't add one in... I thought that she looked good just as she was!

I don't think you always have to spend your time out on NYE, as long as you are doing what you like I think its just as good.

Please Please Please make a Molly Monkey Doll for yourself this is the link. This lady is fantastic! she really has some good craft mojo.

Meet Olivia

When I just started out on making Softies, I searched everywhere on the internet to find some patterns for free. I found, and immediately fell in love with this pattern, from One Red Robin called Ruby Doll. It is quite easy to make, it turned out fantastic, except for the newbie fault of not basting and placing the legs inversed the wrong way.


I named mine Olivia, and i used scraps to make her head (from my old jeans) and some felt i had lying around. I had to embroider her lips, which I think have come out perfectly. I didnt stuff her enough, but i guess I can improve by making her another friend.


The pattern can be found here. Enjoy!

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Sorry for the constant changes of picture sizes! I'll harmonize them all very soon!

A train of Elephants

I made a parting gift for all my friends on the train recently and I decided to make them from The Softies book. The green one above is mine . The elephant pattern was great and I set to work, and making 6 of them really tired me out.

So each of them had to be sown, and if you can see, they weren't reversed because otherwise the trunk would be too hard to fill. Each of the elephants were different, just as all the people they were for were different too! I took some of these photos in the garden and the rest at my friends whilst playing Monopoly.

For those with a keen eye, you'll be able to see the elephants are missing tails, that is because I did not have enough time to do them, but they are still just as cute!

Hopefully, for my next post i'll have designed, made and uploaded an awesome softie pattern, so keep watching this space!

♫Hope you all had a great Christmas!♫

Amigurumi creations so far...

new Amigurumi designs! and old! I've made this dog from the awesome book i bought, it took around 2-ish hours to make but was quite simple. The apple alongside was just a simple amigurumi ball shape with two petals.

The skittle I made was the second amigurumi creation. Its basically increasing and decreasing stitches, again it was my own design to help learn how to use the hook.

The chick design here is the first thing I made, it's derived from the instructions on how to start amigurumi, see the link in my other post to make it.