Sleepy Lamb Mobile

Here it is, after months of silence. My little lamby mobile:

It turned out cuter than I expected although tying the lambs to the rig is a pain. I have yet to find the right kind of string/thread to hang them by and so they inevitably break or tangle or end up higher/lower than I wanted. Please please leave a comment and give me suggestions for this as I LOVE making mobiles but this is driving me insane.

Tiny sleepy crochet lamb

This little guy is a prototype for a mobile I have in mind.

Felt aeroplane mobile

My newest mobile is this little felt bi-plane.

DH told me that the plane's propeller looks like a moustache and now I can't help seeing it that way! Weirdly I am then reminded of the Red Baron that Snoopy dog fights then :)

This little plane fits in my hand and is so light because of the felt and fibrefill that it spins merrily in the wind.

It is currently snowing outside so I'm not really opening windows to feel the arctic breeze but I did spend a couple happy minutes blowing this bi-plane around just to watch it dip and whirl.
Happy crafting!

Circus Tents Commission

I received a commission based on my previous felt balloon mobiles. The lady loves all things circus so she requested two types of tents, a round blue one and one square yellow one.
First, the blue:

 I embroidered little stars behind the curtains of the doors!
And the yellow:

I think they turned out pretty cute. The concept would never have occurred to me and that's why I love commissions. Combining two peoples visions can sometimes lead to far greater results than individual efforts. Now if I can only remember this when my DH tries to help with my projects.
As always I hope these give you a bit of inspiration to let your creativity out!

Little Crochet Delights

I taught myself how to crochet using Youtube videos about a year ago and I have found that I am happiest crocheting amigurumi (little animals). The word is Japanese and means small creature or anthropomorphic object.
The first is this robot that I made for my cousins son (his name is Tim). I got to try crochet spirals! I love em!

The next is a little bunny pattern I found online

These are my favourite! For some reason I always have white wool. But its also the nasty acrylic stuff. To make this fluffy look I took a stiff hairbrush that had lost the ends of its bristles and attacked the monkey. I think it is much better this way!

Their faces are felt and they are super soft!

I sent them as a set to my parents in law. I think they should always stay together, they'd be sad apart!

Hope these are a source of inspiration for your projects :)

Manic Mobiles

What I should never do is stand in the shower and think about how happy and blessed I am. This is apparently like honey to bad luck flies. Seriously, a close family member dies, husband changes jobs (not for good reasons) and then husband slips a disc in his back and is bed ridden for three weeks.

But the interesting thing is this- it turns out I craft to relive stress. So there has been oodles of crafting- it's just that blogging is not stress relieving in the same way,so the proof of all the crafting starts now!

I had to make a mobile for my then soon-to-be-born Godson. I made many different its before settling on one idea but the others are still around and I'll sell them in my shop on Folksy. One of the ideas not to make the cut was this steam punk type airship:

I am particularly fond of the little patches on the balloon part. Oh! and the propeller. I didn't think the fins would turn out to look so convincing.

Next I tried a little floating house- which was too uncomfortably like the "Up" house (which I haven't seen but it seems my my sub-conscious has!)

 

  

But, finally, this is the pattern I liked the most although this one was a bit too big.

Eventually I got what I was looking for. What so much felt had to die for!

It was a wrench to give it away but since I made so many I'm fairly confident I could redo it in my sleep now!
Hope these brightened your day (they brightened some dark hours for me making them).
Stuffed dinosaur tutorial soon- just sketching out the pattern to be able to be downloaded. Sleep tight!

Another day, another Owl

This is what too many craft boards gets you. A craving to make something that you never would have considered before. An unbearable desire to craft a theme that would not have crossed my tiny brain without the constant highlighting of their charms by the numerous swappers, crafters and bloggers that I visit for inspiration and just plain masochism as I writhe with the knowledge that I shall not be able to live up to their crafty standards.

For you delection my small collection of Owly flavoured stuffs:

First- some golf ball sized Christmas ornaments for my mother that could fit into someones hand luggage to lug all the way back home to SA. The bodies are spheres of double yarn crochet and the rest is felt. Quick and cute.
Second- these were inspired by the Toy Society Drop idea (link to right) to leave toys scattered about to be found by a child and bring them a moment of joy. I'm still working up the courage to go through with this but am besotted with the idea. What if the child hates it, what if the toy gets tortured (I never really got over my brother punching my dolls to make me wanna kill him!), what if it is just abandoned? One day I'll grow up, i know. One day I'll stop falling in love with toys and weird plastic trinkets and be an adult who realises they aren't real. One day.
For now, the pics

You know, because owls hang from branches, they don't sit on them. Don't be ridiculous.

Lets all hope that owls are out my system now. The world simply does not need more crafted owls.