WIPS: Coming soon...

A couple of work-in-progress shots of a few new plush. I hope to have them finished up today and then do a blog post sometime next week. Here is just a sneak peek:

A couple are for the Plush Team's July/August Challenge, and a couple are for my own etsy shop. They should be in each shop by the end of next week, if not earlier. :)

Lollipop, Lollipop!

Something new in my etsy shop- I had fun creating these plush lollipops. They are available in Lemon, Strawberry, and Blue Raspberry "flavors."

These cute little guys are made from soft and cuddly fleece, with printed fabric accents, and hand embroidered faces.

Studio upheaval

If you've been wondering where I have been lately, I've been using the past couple of weeks to finally get down and dirty in my studio and to also spend some time deep-cleaning my home.

I took advantage of a break in deadlines to tackle the epic mess that was my studio, and to do some much needed re-organizing. Here is the god-awful before shot, which was taken after I had emptied out my closet and all the drawers in my cubby:

At this point I was looking at all this and asking myself "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" It was daunting looking at all this, and it made me want to run away screaming and never come back. But, I persevered, since I knew that if I didn't man-up and get it done, that I would... *dramatic pause*... never... sew... again. ;D

The poor sewing machine was half buried beneath the mass of supplies, and was crying out for me to come and rescue it. So I took a deep breath, waded in, and got to work.

After two looooooooong and HOT days of reorganizing, moving furniture, and recycling, I finally arrived at a studio that was almost unrecognizable from what it had been:

Phew! So glad that it is all over, and I am happy to say that this was a total success! I have more room to work, know where everything is, and can get at it all easily. The only drawback is my studio is SO clean and tidy that I am almost afraid to get back in there and make new plush, since I know that will only mess it up again! I vow to try and keep that from happening. We'll see. Ask me for photos in six months. ;D

Onwards and upwards from here! 

Napoleon Dynamite

It took me awhile to narrow down what I wanted to make for the "Sew Nerdy" show that opens this Friday at Bear and Bird Gallery in Lauderhill, FL. After a bunch of googling and sketching up different ideas, I decided that Napoleon and Pedro from the movie "Napoleon Dynamite" would be so much fun to make. Gotta love those moon boots!
This is one of my quick sketches:

Here's everyone's favorite Liger-drawing, tater-tot eating, and tetherball playing nerd, in plush form:

I created my own iron-on transfer for his t-shirt, since I couldn't find those iron-on letters in a small enough size- and they were way too small for me to cut out individually in felt. It was really fun figuring out how to make his moon boots look puffy. I sewed them to his jeans and then pre-stuffed them with polyfill and sewed the seam lines on each boot to keep the stuffing in place.

Napoleon's side-kick and Class President hopeful, Pedro:

I hadn't made a bolo tie before either- luckily I found some cording in the right thickness at my local fabric store. His bolo is made from layers of felt sewn together. His belt and cowboy boots are made from a faux-leather fabric.

Here they are together:

Napoleon: "I don't even have any good skills."

Pedro: "What do you mean?"

Napoleon: "You know, like... nunchuck skills, bow-hunting skills, computer hacking skills... Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills."

Love this movie! If you haven't seen it, I'd highly recommend it- you have to like a certain amount of awkward quirky weirdness in your movies to enjoy it though.

If you are in the Lauderhill, FL area and are in the mood to indulge your inner nerd- head on over to Bear and Bird Gallery and see the show! There has been some amazing work created for it. You can see some images of work created for the show on their facebook page, just click here.

Coloring Book Show!

How fun is this?

It was awesome to get out the pens and come up with a black and white sketch to be included in this show. I love that I will get a copy of the coloring book filled with drawings from all 64 artists. Can't wait to see it. :D If you are in the St. Petersburg, FL area, head on over to eve-N-odd gallery this friday for the opening of the show. 

We were asked to keep the drawings family-friendly (no worries there ;D), so here's what I came up with:

I know that clowns are scary for some people, but hopefully this one isn't! ;D I also got invited to do an ATC (artist trading card) swap by Brian of goobeesta, which is Disney character themed, so I will post an image of that small watercolor sketch next week, along with my plush pieces for the awesomeness that is the "Sew Nerdy" Show. Stay Tuned!

More Bears!

Here are a couple more fruit-themed bears; I made these for the Plush Team Retreat, and am just now getting around to posting about them. That fruit patterned cotton print was full of inspiration. :)

Cherry Bear was created for the PT White Elephant Swap, and went to the terrifically talented Nonesuch Garden, while her cousin, Blue Raspberry Bear went to the amazing Cutesy but not Cutesy as a thank you for touring me around the great city of Philadelphia.

If you want to have a Bear of your own, there are three up for sale in my etsy shop, waiting to be adopted. They are child-friendly and make great baby gifts. :)

The magic of Scrumptious Delight

If you haven't seen the plush made by my good friend and fellow Plush Teamer, Scrumptious Delight, you are missing out. Her plush are absolutely fantastic! Here are a few examples of the awesomeness that I am talking about:

Banana Split! by Scrumptious Delight.

She creates all sorts of adorable food plush, as well as giving life to regular inanimate objects like coffee pots, gum ball machines, and refrigerators:

Plush Fridge by Scrumptious Delight.

She also makes the best plush pickles- I have a jar full of them on my kitchen counter that make me smile every day.

You can find pickles and more fantastic plush in her etsy shop, just click here - you won't be disappointed in the cuteness you find there, believe me. :)

Plush Team Retreat 2012

Plush Team Retreat 2012, a set on Flickr.

I finally made some time to weed through all the photos that I took at the Retreat, and decided to make photo-collages instead of uploading a ton of pics to my blog. Click on the link above to view the collages in a larger size. Here's a few more photos that give you a glimpse of the fun that was had this year in awesome Lancaster County, PA.
No self respecting Fabric-a-holic could pass up a trip to the most awesome and amazingly affordable PA Fabric Outlet. BINGO, indeed!

Part of my haul from the outlet- getting into trouble! ;D

A Plush Team get-together would not be complete without the traditional Taco Night- which included all the fixin's, spanish rice, and frozen margaritas, too. Here's the lovely Jessica of Plushroom Soup getting her tacos.

Which in turn inspired us to make a large group plush of a taco. It has contributions from at least 5 members of the Team who pitched in the last day to create a plush version of most of the Team's favorite food. It almost got finished before the retreat was over, but not quite. It will be making an appearance at next year's Retreat, you can bet on that. :D

So what have I been working on since I got back, you ask? I finished up a couple of small sets of popcorn plush for the Plush Team's Funky Fridays, and here are a few images:

They are for sale in the Plush Team's etsy shop as we speak, along with all the other great and super-affordable plush created for Funky Fridays.
I'm also feverishly working on my pieces for the "Sew Nerdy" show at Bear and Bird Gallery in Florida, so it's back to the sewing machine for me. I'll post photos somewhere around mid-June, and I'm looking forward to sharing them with you. :)