Harder than it looks!

Because I got so many positive comments on the owl, I decided to try another one.  This time I made a cat, also for another baby turning one.  So I stuck with the cashmere, and no buttons, only embroidery for the decorations.  What I came up with is this kitty.  She's made of mostly grey cashmere, with a few pieces of white and black.  

There's also a felted heart on her back.

 I had really wanted her to come out more round, than oval, but this making your own patterns thing is tough. 

A friendly owl

Whew...it seems that the holidays got the best of me.  I made all kinds of things, some at the very last minute, and didn't have the time or foresight to post any of them!  But now that it's January, and things are starting to settle down, I'm back to moving just a little more slowly.  

For some reason I have been thinking about owls a lot lately...seeing them in advertisements, on TV, and most importantly at a birthday party my daughter went to at the kids Science museum.   I love how slowly they move and how majestic they look.  Their eyes are very telling though, almost like they know something you don't.

With that in mind, and our neighbor Anna's first birthday in mind, I made this for her.  It's made of two formerly cashmere sweaters, a pink one and a cream one.  The eyes are sewn on circles with smaller felted circles in the center and some yarn stitches (meant to look like eyelashes, but didn't really come out that way.  Same for the beak, some felted wool, a piece of yarn around the outside and a tiny piece of maroon wool in the center.  There are diamonds of the maroon wool on the ears, too.  I was trying to get that great feathery-owl-ear look...

My favorite part though are the wings.  They are pieces of the cream cashmere blanket stitched to the sides.   The result was a great contrast of color, but still soft looking.  I had initially wanted buttons for eyes, but was afraid they might get eaten off..

The whole thing took around 2 1/2 hours to make...I'm sure once I had a design I knew better and had made a few times I could cut that significantly.  

Maybe next time I'll try a blue and green?  Or should I go for a straight up owl browns?  I'd love ideas or comments on what colors would look the best.

Plushie love

A little background...I work in a big office. The group I work is made up primarily of professionals who are in their 30's and early 40's. As a result, it seems, there is ALWAYS someone who is expecting a baby. I keep telling them all, keep it to yourself! I've had plenty thank you! If someone hands me water from the machine in our kitchen I'm NOT going to drink it.

So...I had seen these great kids blocks in a store, and I went home to try to make some. I felted a fluffy white sweater, thinking it would be really soft and great tactile fun for an infant. I cut six pieces, the same size, and made a cube with them. Then stuffed like crazy. Of course, my first attempt wasn't nearly what I was expecting. But when I showed my son Ben what I had come up with he thought it would make a great "plushie". So we found some felt to make eyes and mouth with.

The result was "Square Meal". Ben comes up with these great names. Of course, the square part was easy...but he must have heard someone talking about getting a "square meal" on tv. He's really into word plays and humor in language these days...