Rag Pets

Happy new bear!

Say hello to my workroom buddy, Olivia!

I finally, finally finished her a few days back, having had her sitting on my desk for ages, waiting for me first to make up my mind as to what size eyes to give her and then to find the right size eyes in the rather paltry selection available here.

I made Olivia during a teddybear making course I took last autumn. This was the same sort of course -with the same teacher- as the one where I made Bluebeary, except this time the theme was great big teddybears. Once again, it was nice to be reminded how fun crafting with others can be, and how good it is to sometimes do something a little different from what you usually make.

It's funny how much of a difference eyes make when making soft toys. As I was working on this bear, I kept thinking it'll be a he and even had a name picked out and ready and everything, but then when I put in the eyes, it turns out that this is a girl bear after all! So there was nothing for it but to come up with a new name and give her a bit of blusher for her cheeks.

I've been reticent about posting any photos of Olivia before now, since I was thinking of giving her to my mum as a Christmas present, and I know mum follows my blog and I didn't want to spoil the surprise, but in the end I simply couldn't bear to part with her (sorry mum!). Olivia keeps me company at the workroom and is always game for a bear hug or two! :)

A happy haunted Halloween!

Just as the trees are shedding their colourful autumn coats and the days begin to grow ever shorter and colder, it's time for that most frightening of all festivities and horrifying of holidays, Halloween!

I celebrated by holding a little Halloween costume party (I dressed up as my cat, BooBoo -no photos of this though, I much prefer to be behind the camera) and making utterly delicious pumpkin pie, watching scary movies and eating great quantities of candy corn. In the spirit (pun very much intended) of Halloween, I also happened upon a ghostly apparition while out for a walk in the forest today.

This is the ghost of poor lady Elizabeth Von Cattington, who tragically lost all her 9 lives to an unfortunate bout of curiosity. She's now doomed to wander as a ghost for the rest of eternity, haunting the dark forest where she met her untimely end.

Her wails can be heard through out the forest on windy autumn nights as she floats about through the trees and laments her wretched fate. I was lucky enough to capture this eerie specter on video, with the kind help of my friend, Jenny. (Please ignore the sound, a plane flew overhead and while I'm so used to this occurrence that I pay it no mind, it does make for a bit of a bit of an odd soundtrack.)

Spine-chilling, isn't it!

I hope you all have had a terrifically fearsome Halloween, and that the ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggidy beasties and things that go bump in the night don't frighten you too much this All Hallow's Eve!

Gretel and gingerbread

I finally got around to continuing my Storybook Rag Pets collection with Gretel from "Hansel and Gretel". Poor Gretel has been waiting for her dress and photo shoot for some time now. I kept putting her off, since I had other, more seasonal, Rag Pets to make and I was wanting to take her photo in the forest, but it doesn't seem like the snow will ever melt, so I made do with indoors and leftover gingerbread instead.

Gretel the rag-bear is wearing a dress made from lovely soft cotton with a Hansel and Gretel print by Cosmo Textiles and a fun, flocked swiss dot fabric in the inset. Her bow is made from the swiss dot fabric too. Gretel herself is made from gingerbread brown wool and she has safety eyes and a brown button for a belly button.

(There's a few more photos of Gretel over at my Flickr, here: Pictures!)

You can read the "Hansel and Gretel" story over at Sur La Lune, here: Hansel & Gretel

love, love, love

It's Valentine's Day (or Ystävänpäivä, "Friend's Day" as it's called here) and to celebrate this day filed with love and kindness and all things nice, I made a special Valentine's Rag Pet.

This is Fancy the rag-deer.
Fancy is a very dear deer indeed. She loves chocolate bon-bons, love letters and all her dear friends.

(There's lots more photos of Fancy in my Flickr, just click on any of the photos here to go there.)

Fancy is made from chocolate brown wool and she has a white wool applique mark on her face and spots on her bum. She has a dark chocolate plastic button for a belly button, safety eyes and a perky little deer tail.
Fancy is wearing a pink and yellow seersucker dress with a linen Bambi-heart applique, Peter Pan collar with a red satin bow and ric-rac and lace on the hem. She's also got a red & white spotted cotton ear-bow.

♡♡♡

Wishing you all a really lovely and very happy Valentine's Day!

Blood, sweat and bears

I took a teddy bear making course where we used recycled materials to make our bears last weekend. It was loads of fun, and surprisingly, a whole lot of hard work too! All the muscles in my hands were hurting and my poor fingers were pricked like pincushions by Sunday! Despite all the blood and sweat shed, it was a whole lot of fun to make something a bit different from what I usually do. It was also nice to simply sew with other people, I'm so used to my hermit ways at the workroom that I had forgotten how enjoyable crafting with others can be too.

And here's what I made:

Bluebeary used to be my favourite pair of corduroy trousers that were so old and worn that they weren't even good for lounging around the house in anymore. I got them second-hand from a friend when I was in my 20's and I wore them a whole lot in school because they were so cute and comfortable. The last time I wore these trousers was when a good friend of mine had moved to live just down the street, and a bunch of us got together to paint her wall. This is why Bluebeary has a few little purple spots here and there. I like that all the memories attached to the trousers, along with a few new ones too, now live on in Bluebeary.

Having tried my hand at making jointed soft toys, I've been thinking of making a jointed Rag Pet. I'm currently working on how to alter the Rag Pet pattern so it'll work with joints, but still keep the usual Rag Pet simplicity and look. I'm also planning on making a few more traditional type of teddies; I think I may have gotten bitten by the teddy bear bug! :)

Bear with me

First of all, I'm happy to say that my Blog-more Month was a success! I managed to post once every week last month, just like I aimed to and I'm rather proud of myself for that. As I had hoped, blogging more inspired me to do more, and doing more made me feel better and happier, even though it's getting rainier and all together bleaker now that we're at that awkward time between autumn and winter.

One of the things I got done is Grace the rag-bear. I started Grace a while back, but she was forgotten in all the Blog-more and Halloween hub-bub and I only got around to finishing her now.

Grace knits a lot, so much so that she even knits and purls in her sleep!

Grace is wearing a blue flowery cotton dress with a white Peter Pan collar and mis-matched red buttons down the bodice. She's also sporting a knitted, warm orange wool scarf.
Grace is made out of grey wool and she has safety eyes, an embroidered nose and blushy cheeks. She has a grey plastic button for a belly button.

The yarn for Grace's scarf was dyed by my grandmother, using -if I remember right- onion skins. Gran used to dye yarn in a big, black cauldron by the lake using natural dyes. Grace herself was inspired by my mum, who knits all the time, and who's super good at it too. I'm sadly nowhere near as good at knitting as my mum is, and the most I can manage to knit is slightly irregular scarves.

I hope to keep on blogging more and doing more in the months to come too, it seems to be a good deterrent for the winter blues that tend to strike me down once the days get short and sunlight becomes rare.

A Wicked Halloween!

It's that scary, spooky time of the year again and this Halloween, I thought I'd do something a little bit... wicked.

I've been a huge big fan of "Wicked" ever since the book by Gregory Maguire came out, and I love, love, love everything about the musical too! I was actually lucky enough to see one of the run throughs of the Finnish production of Wicked last summer, and it was absolutely and perfectly wonderful! Even though it was "off-format" from the original, it lost none of the magic in the translation and I fell in love with all things Wicked all the more for it.

So, when I was thinking what to do for a Halloween Rag Pet, Elphaba, The Wicked Witch of the West, came first to mind.

Elphaba the Wicked Witch of the West rag-cat is made out of hand dyed, emerald green linen and she has keen little safety eyes, an embroidered nose and a swirly green button as a belly button.

(You can see more photos of Elphaba the rag-cat in my Flickr)

Elphie is wearing a black wool dress with an asymmterical crisp white cotton Peter Pan collar, big pockets and with a flying monkey, by the name of Chistery, carrying a pair of ruby slippers appliqued on it in felt. Chistery has beads for eyes and a little button for a belly button, and the ruby slippers have shiny red beads for decoration.
Elphie is also wearing red and white striped ankle socks and ruby red felt shoes.

In addition to Elphie the rag-cat, I'd like to share with you one of my most favourite songs from the "Wicked" musical, "Defying Gravity":

I really like the sentiment that nothing is impossible if you just try, you can even defy gravity if you put your mind to it!
You can find the whole Wicked soundtrack -which I've been listening to a lot of late!- on Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/46VuziW5kL9Hrt5NlJtLjY

And with that, I wish you all a wickedly wonderful Halloween! :)

Bearnice the rag-bear

Meet Bearnice the rag-bear. She lives in a pretty little forest with her best friends, the Forest Friends. They spend their days playing and having fun and exploring in the forest.

Bearnice is made out of soft velvet and she has beady little safety eyes, an embroidered nose and pretty, blushy cheeks. She has a shiny new plastic button for a belly button and she's stuffed with rags and polyfill.
Bearnice is wearing a pretty acorn print cotton dress with a Peter Pan collar and big pockets. The dress closes in the back with a snap. The collar and pockets are both drawn free hand, so they're a bit mismatched and lopsided to create a more sketchy, cartoony look.

Bearnice and her friends are on their way to the Plush You! exhibition opening in Seattle later this autumn. Should you see them there, please say hello! :)

Samantha the rag-fox

This is Samantha the rag-fox. She's one of the Forest Friends, a tight little band of friends living in a pretty little forest, filling their days with fun and adventure.

Samantha is made out of orange wool, and she has little black safety eyes, an embroidered nose and healthy blushy cheeks. Her tail tip is made out of sturdy gingham cotton and she's stuffed with rags and polyfill. Her belly button is an old wooden button.
Samantha is wearing a pretty orange dress with a Peter Pan collar and buttons down the bodice. The dress closes in the back with a snap. The collar was drawn free hand, so it's a bit lopsided and the buttons are all mismatched, for a more sketchy, cartoony feel.

Samantha is on her way to the Plush You! exhibition in Seattle with her friends. Do pop by the show to say hello to her if you happen to be in the area later this autumn! :)

Virginia the rag-wolf

Meet Virginia the rag-wolf. She and her best friends, The Forest Friends, live in a pretty little forest and they spend all their time together playing and exploring and having adventures.

Virginia is made out of soft, fuzzy wool and she has shiny black safety eyes, an embroidered nose and lovely blushy cheeks. She's stuffed with rags and polyfill and she has a brand new plastic button as a belly button.
Virginia is wearing a pretty forest print cotton dress with a Peter Pan collar, satin ribbon bow and a scalloped hem. The dress closes with a snap in the back. The collar and hem were both drawn free hand, so they're haphazard and lopsided to achieve a more sketchy, cartoony feel.

Virginia is on her way to the Plush You! show in Seattle, and should you see her there, be sure to say hello! :)