In a Fall mood...

Hooray for the leaves finally turning their beautiful fall colors! As you can see, I've changed things up on the look of my blog, it was time for something new and different. I'm definitely feeling in a fall mood, which is probably why I chose this yellow background. I love Fall!! :)
The fall colors and temperature changes around here also have inspired me to make some Fall colored plush, and here they are:
Meet Oliver the Dog and Persimmon the Cat.
Oliver loves the finer things in life (he'll never say no to a good caviar if you've got it), and Persimmon loves to bask in the sun and play in the garden.



Oliver and Persimmon are now available in my etsy shop. Happy Fall everyone! :)

New Feature: Mini Yeti Monday!

For the next several Mondays I will be featuring a pair from my new line of plush, the Mini Yetis. The Mini Yetis are much more sociable and easier to spot than their reclusive and much larger cousins the Yeti. Discovered recently in the snowy mountains of Tibet by Plushologists, the Mini Yetis seem fond of human company, even sending a delegation home to America with the Plushologists to explore the New World. This delegation of 10 Mini Yetis have volunteered to be adopted into new homes in order to observe and explore new regions and cultures, and to make new friends.

Starting today and continuing each monday I will be putting a new pair (one guy, one girl) of Mini-Yetis into my etsy shop to be adopted, until all 10 Mini Yetis are up for adoption. Each pair are unique one of a kind plush, made from various types of faux-fur and various shades of ultra suede. Each pair are different from the rest. The facial details such as the eyes and cheek swirls are hand embroidered, and the mouths, noses, and teeth are made from felt. They measure 7 inches (18cm) tall by 8.5 inches (22cm) wide.

We start off this week featuring the Mini Yetis Yonah and Yetta. Yonah is a happy fellow, who was eager to volunteer as the first to be adopted, since he loves making new friends. Yetta loves to talk, and will be happy to tell you anything you might wish to know about life as a Mini Yeti. If you are interested in adopting either of these two creatures into your home, head on over to my etsy shop, and stay tuned for the next month of Mondays to be introduced to all the adventurous pairs of Mini Yetis. :)

Yonah:
Yetta:

A different direction

For the past couple of weeks I have taken a pause in my plush-making to focus on sewing baby quilts for my new niece. Hooray for babies! :) Working with my sister in picking out the fabrics for her baby's room, we came up with this design for the crib quilt. I decided to add appliques that repeated the quail motif from the main fabric along the bottom to jazz it up a little.





We also picked out some flannels for a warm and cosy rag quilt, which I sandwiched in batting to add that extra layer of warmth for the cold winter months. It was labelled an "easy" quilt to make, which I suppose it was if I hadn't been fighting with my Gramma's 1964 Bernina machine, which hadn't been cleaned in who knows how long, and stopped back-stitching... At one point we ended up hand sewing seams. ;) But, after a few days of struggle, we got the quilt done. It took my sister awhile to hand cut the fringe along all the edges of the squares to create the "rag" look, but it was worth it in the end. The quilt took forever to dry with all the flannel and the batting, (and weighed a ton wet) but it is super soft and cosy, and everyone is happy with the result. Since my mom, sister, and I all sewed on it, it is truly a family made quilt, which makes it even more special in my eyes.



I'm back to plush-making this week, (although that doesn't mean I'm done sewing for babies- more just keep on coming! ;D) with new items coming to the shop soon....

WOO HOO! Plush YOU!

Hooray! Plush YOU! opens in Seattle at Schmancy Toys tomorrow, October 8th, in the evening. I wish that I could be there for the opening, but my plush will have to enjoy the party for me instead this year.
Here are my contributions to the show. I decided to go with a trio of Scarecrows- I was feeling in the fall mood when I was sketching last month, and these guys were the result.
Without further ado, I introduce you to Simon, Saul, and Sally Scarecrow. They spend their days joking and laughing while scaring away the crows from Farmer Joe's wheat fields.


Simon:

Sally:

and Saul:


I wanted to make them similar but different. Although they are wearing similar colors, they are all different patterned cottons, and I made their hair a golden color, to bring in the color of wheat (or straw). Adding in the straw that pokes out of their sleeves, cuffs, and waists was an interesting experiment, since I had to sandwich the strands of felt "straw" in reverse in the seam and the see how it popped out when the seam was finished. If it hadn't turned out I would have had to unpick the seam, which I HATE. Lucky for me the experiment worked, and I didn't have to get out the dreaded seam ripper. ;)




So, head on over to Schmancy tomorrow evening if you live in the Seattle area- it's going to be a great opening with so much amazing plush, not to mention that you'll get a chance to meet some of the artists in person. :D

Plush YOU! 2010 Sneak Peek..

With the fabulous Plush YOU! show opening next week at Schmancy Toys in Seattle, I thought I would go ahead and give you a little glimpse of what I've created for the show. These guys were a ton of fun to make, and I promise to post a complete set of photos closer to the show's opening. I'll just leave you in suspense for now... ;D

If you are in the Seattle area, go and check out the show, you won't be disappointed! There are some fantastic pieces from artists around the globe on display, and for purchase. The show opens Friday, October 8th. There will be a bunch of artists in attendance as well, including some of the members of the Plush Team. Lucky ducks! ;D

Monster Girls and some bats

One last Halloween post for awhile! :D


Meet Fran K. Stein. Fran was named one of Monster Magazine's "Most Appealing Monsters of 2010." When not at her day job as a Public Relations mogul at "Stein, Wolf, and Dracula" Fran likes to relax at her home raising Venus Flytrap plants.
I had a ton of fun making Fran, with her asymmetrical haircut, mis-matched sized limbs, patchy skin, and her hand-embroidered stitches. I figured that since last Halloween was all about the boys, this year there needed to be some girl monster power.

Next, we have Vivian Vampire. A cousin of Victor and Vittorio, she teaches nocturnal gardening at the local Vampire Academy. She likes to rock her favorite spider web boots to show the world that teachers are cool, too.
Vivian comes with her own removable and reversible cape. Picking out fabrics for Vivian took awhile, but eventually I found the combination of patterns that worked for what I had in mind.



I decided to make some more Vampire Bats, and this time I made some mini versions to mix it up a bit. :)





I have uploaded my new Halloween plush to my etsy shop, and if you want to see more photos of all my plush, head on over to my flickr page. Have a great week!

More Halloween..

It wouldn't be Halloween without a Black Cat, and I couldn't do a cat without having some dog representation as well, so I made the Orange Dog with a subtle gray-on-black jack o lantern printed fabric.



I also made a couple of new sets of the Jack o Lantern ornaments, and as before, no two are the same. It was a little harder this time around. :)
These guys are up for sale now in my etsy shop. I will have at least one more set of Halloween items done in the next few days, and I will post them as soon as they are done. Hooray for Halloween- now if only we'd get some Fall weather around here... summer is putting up a good fight, let me tell you.
Happy Saturday!

Getting in the Halloween Spirit

I've finally had some time to dig out the Halloween fabric and make some Halloween items for the shop. I forgot how much fun it is making things for Halloween, there are way too many fun and spooky ideas this time of year!

First off I made two different sets of Jack O' Lantern ornaments, and each one is unique. I had a lot of fun making the individual facial expressions on each pumpkin.



I had the idea for Vampire Bats last year, but didn't have the time to make them. Here they are fully plushed. A light and dark gray version.



This is just the first wave of Halloween items to hit my etsy shop, more will be coming this week, so stay tuned!