Meet Gordie!

-
I have to say I am in hog heaven with this new craft room of mine! There's been a big pile up of personal and business-related ufo's for some time now, so I've been going down the list finishing one business and one personal at a time. Today I finished a special secret project for my etsy shop that's been in my head forever, and to celebrate I took a little me-time and made a gigantic owl!


I call him Gordie since he's so pudgy! He's made from some leftover felt and hand-me-down canvas material. Probably he will end up being a mascot at my craft booth. But! I made him for a very specific reason, namely this:


I know I've mentioned before that I try to run a no-waste sewing studio. This means that every scrap of fabric, felt, and thread ends up in this bin and will eventually end up as stuffing for plushies. Right around when I moved house I noticed that I was not keeping up with using my scraps and the bin was completely full. So I decided what better way to use up my stuffing than to make a giant plushie!


If you want to use fabric scraps for stuffing, be aware that they are much more dense than any fiber fill and can be really lumpy, so what I like to do is lay out a layer of batting and wrap piles of scraps into cuddly little burritos of stuffing (see the finished one at the top right of the photo above). That way they are cushioned and smoothed on the outside and your plushie will stay squishy. 
Is there anyone else out there who tries to run a no-waste studio? I'd love to hear your ideas!

On another note, the same day I made my biggest owl ever I also received the tiniest, cutest, teeniest gift from Johnny:


Goooooo the cuteness is killing me! It's hand-crocheted by an artist out of Vietnam and I can't believe how intricately detailed it is! He was saving it for me for Christmas but I needed a little cheering up (more on that Friday) so he brought it out early and now it lives on the edge of the shelf above my desk!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Crocheted Produce Bag

-
Image
Well, I thought since the produce bag was something I just made up real quick I should post the pattern. I am sure there are way better ones out there, but most of them end up decreasing at the end to get a smaller opening, but I wanted mine large so leafy stuff that I buy in multiple little bunches could poke out, like baby broccoli or bok choy. So here is the pattern, just in case you want to make a couple as well. Materials: 1 skein Lion Brand Organic Cotton Yarn (#680), or similar worsted weight yarn Size I-9 Crochet Hook Little scrap of fabric (optional) Rnd 1: Begin with an adjustable loop , and crochet 12 double crochet (dc) into the loop and pull tight. Rnd 2: *Chain 7, skip 1 dc and slip stitch in next dc.* Repeat around. It should look like a little flower: Rnd 3: Chain 7, Slip stitch (slst) into 4th chain (ch) of round 2. You will ch 7 and attach it to the center of every little petal of the flower you created in round 2. At the end of the round ch 3 and slst into the 4th
More crafty goodness »

Crocheted Basket - Quick Mini Version

-
Image
For those of you who would like to make one of the little fast baskets but don't need the entire tutorial , here is the pattern, plain and simple. This is also good to look at after you have completed the tutorial, so you can see what a pattern for in-the-round crochet looks like. Materials: H hook (5.0mm) Ball of Sugar and Cream worsted weight cotton yarn in Natural A small amount of colored yarn or hemp twine for the stripe Abbreviations: st - stitch slst - slip stitch ch - chain dc - double crochet Round 1: Begin with the adjustable loop in the natural yarn. Ch 2 (counts as first dc), and crochet 11 more dc into the loop. Join to beginning ch with a slst. (12 dc) Round 2: Ch 2. 2 dc in each stitch around, join with a slst. (24 dc) Round 3: Ch 2. *1 dc in next st, 2dc in next. Repeat from * around, join with a slst. (36 dc) Round 4: Ch 2. *1 dc in next 2 st, 2 dc in next. Repeat from * around, join with a slst. (48 dc) Round 5: Ch 2. *1 dc in next 3 st, 2 dc in next. Repeat from
More crafty goodness »

I Love Lamp!

-
Image
First of all, this is my 100th post which is some sort of milestone, so yay! And secondly, I've got another tutorial for a parasol light fixture to share! Today Michael and I were working on getting some light fixtures put up, which has been on my to-do list for a rediculously long time now. Endless gratitude for Michael making me get my butt in gear! So he helped me hang this nifty lotus flower-shaped lamp from Ikea over my sewing table. (I've always wanted one!) I finally have enough light to see what I'm doing, so maybe I'll actually start making things again! So anywho, on to the tutroial... Remember my idea for turning a parasol into a light fixture? Well with Michael's help I finally did it! We had a lot of technical issues to work out, so hopefully if anyone out there wants to make one this tutorial should save you a lot of time. As far as materials, you only need a hacksaw, a parasol, and some wire. Start by cutting the handle off of the paraso
More crafty goodness »