Stuffed Friends for Little Friends

I made these stuffed friends for some very special little people....

Lavender Rice Bags

This winter I've been making lavender rice bags as gifts for friends.  I've just been using whatever flannel fabric I have, making a rectangular-ish shape, and adding rice and lavender.  For the first one I made that I gave to the boyfriend, I used dried lavender.  But when I went back to the co-op, they were out, so I went with lavender essential oil.  I decided to do top stitching on the bags as well, to reinforce them as well as to give them a more polished look. I really love the way they have turned out!  I have about two more bags of rice left out of the 25lbs I bought, which made 7 bags. Not bad!

 

Owly Bandana

My lovely friend Rita picked pinks and oranges for her furry friend to adorn a bandana. I think she should wear it, but she said something about displaying it. Doesn't matter if it's a dust cloth, as long as she liked it!

 

Welcome, Tiny Overlord

What better way to welcome a new baby to a family than a lovely embroidered keepsake.  Thalia will know forever who was in charge the moment she entered the world.

 

 

 

The Boyfriend's First Valentine

Dr. Who Knows

Confession: I have never seen Dr. Who. I know nothing of the fandom.

That said, I have this friend. A new friend who turned 30 yesterday. I thought I'd whip him up something special for his birthday since we were getting together tonight. I searched around the internets and found something that seemed awesome to me (for one who doesn't know the Dr.)

Tardis, flying?

Source: geekcrafts.com via Deborah on Pinterest

See, awesome, right?  I decided to have a go at it myself...a little embroidery, a little felt, and looked fast.  And it was!  It took me longer to pluck the press n seal out between the circles and spokes.  I also had fun working with the felt and combining it with stitches.  It's a messy little thing, but, let's be honest. He's a boy and I think Tardis doesn't mind a little mess.

My Tardis..

circle and spokes

felt cut out

Starting the stitching of Tardis

Done! Please note I even stitched "Police Box" at the top

I'm hoping my friend will like it - I mean, probably embroidery isn't a dude's top idea of a present. If this doesn't make him happy, maybe the half dozen chocolate chip cookies I'm bringing along with it will....

UPDATE: He said he liked it...so I'll believe him. And it found a place of honor on his mantle.

Cloth Doll

After seeing all sorts of cute cloth dolls around pinterest and the blogosphere, I decided to have a go at it after randomly paging through this book Craft Challenge: Dozens of Ways to Repurpose a Tea Towel.

It looked easy enough....so I picked up some soft flannel fabric at Joanns along with some felt and gave it the old college try.  I based the doll a bit off the pattern in the book, but did stray out on my own.

This project was so fast and fun - the end result is cute, but not cute enough for the cutest baby in the world.

Cloth Doll:

Materials:
Soft flannel yellow polka dot fabric
Purple, green, orangey-brown, and pastey white girl felt
Green, red, orangey-brown, and yellow floss

I LOVE the way the hair turned out, especially the bangs.  I have ideas for revamping the next ones I make...wait for it....wait for it....No seriously, wait for it. I've got two other projects in the hopper right now.

Upcoming Projects

Just to let you know I haven't quit on the blog...I just haven't had a Finished Object (FO) in a while!

My upcoming projects are:

Commissioned birthday apron
Birthday apron for Molly
Birthday present for Rachel
Tutu for Rita (so she can run in style)
Embroidered gift for Rita

Christmas for the Girls

And by girls, I mean my besties Iris, Lele, Emily and my sister from another mister, Kim.

The girls were the first intended recipients of my embroidery work.  I found a pattern for a t-shirt tote bag in the first embroidery book I found. In hindsight, I wish I would've found the normal canvas totes first, but of course, Joanns didn't carry them, but Michaels did. So annoying to chase around materials.  ANYWAYS. The plan continued - t-shirt tote bags for the girls.  I ordered patterns from Sublime Stitching


Iris! Iris loves owls. Girl is nuts for them.  So owls was a wise choice.  I used the Forest Friends Transfer

Iris' pattern

Emily has stacking dolls...and since I didn't have any other brilliant ideas, she better love it! haha.  I used the Dutch-Russian Transfer

Finished!

Not finished, but better view

For Lele, I went with Scooter Babes. Let's be honest, she's a hottie who should probably tool around on a scooter :)

Lele's finished tote

Kim, I had originally planned on using the Bon Voyage transfer.  Unfortch, they were out of stock when I went to order so I needed a new plan.  Plan B was another scooter tote, since Kim loves Europe and Europe loves scooters. But then I felt bad doing two scooter designs.  So I moved onto Plan C. Plan C I found a Aunt Martha's travel transfer at Joann's.  I also deviated from the t-shirt tote bag pattern and used a pre-made tote.  What can I say, I love my sister from another mister!  The end result was also another one of my favorite finished projects.

Close up of Kim's tote

France tote

Here they are, ready to be wrapped, boxed and shipped in time for Christmas!

Christmas for Megan and Shelby

I had such a great time choosing and working on Megan and Shelby's presents. Megan's tote turned out to be one of my most favorite projects yet. Lots of colors and the pattern was really fun to work with.  I got the pattern out of Embroidered Effects.

First, Megan's!

Starting work - my first attempt with metallic floss!


Much better lighting here...

Finished!

Miss Shelby's gift - at first I was going to do a baby blanket or something like that...but then I wanted to start on her's and I didn't have a blanket to use. So I went with a tote bag. Good call on my part since I heard from a very reliable source (her mom) that little miss LOVES bags.  And a girl can never have too many bags, even when she's one year old!

Miss Shelby's tote



Cuteness!  I used iron on letters, since I wanted her name to be bigger and blockier then I would embroider.  Funny story. I texted Megan before I started working on Shelby's tote..."Does Shelby like birds?"  Answer: "I'm not sure how to answer...not if you're giving her a live bird," or something to that effect. Haha!

Ready to be wrapped!

Christmas for the Currans

Christmas for the Currans!

Don't they look like a family who needs embroidery?

 I picked up a stocking hat and a fleece baby  blanket at the dollar store to embroider for Joseph and Nora.  I decided to go with a large canvas tote bag for Jen.  First up, patterns!

Joseph loves trains, so I knew right away I wanted to do a train on his hat, with his name.  I decided to go with his initials instead though.  I actually free handed the train and initials on his hat.  Didn't turn out too shabby if I do say so myself.

Since Nora's was a blanket, I went with a sleeping theme. Pretty simple. I found a pattern online I liked and did the press n seal method to get it done.

Press n seal, ready to embroider

Finished - lettering a bit difficult to read

Jen's tote is my biggest and most favorite project to date - except for the lettering. She is super crunchy, so I wanted to make her a special tote she can take the the farmers market.

To Market To Market fruit and veggie tote

Jen told me she loved it, I'm going to assume Nora likes to be warm and if this video is any indication, Joseph liked his hat!