Rag Pets

Progress

The Forest Friends, my trio for PlushYou!, are coming along nicely. It feels so good to be making things again, after such a long uncreative spell. While my mojo certainly isn't all back yet, it's still very good to create!

Along with getting back into the crafting groove, the bright sunshine and beautiful blue skies of summer are lifting my mood too. Our balcony strawberries, tomatoes and chili peppers are growing, as is my general contentment with life. Summer always fills me with an extra bit of joy and energy, it's so wonderful to have long, long days filled with light and warmth that you can't help but feel cheerful! :)

Foresty fabric everywhere!

Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to vote on which theme I should go with for my PlushYou! pieces! With all the votes tallied, "Forest" came out on top (with "Circus" a close second) and even though I change my mind as often as I change my pants, I'll be sticking with this theme now. :)

I've made sketches and made my mind up as to names and now all I need to do is pick what fabrics to use...

I'd never say that I have too much fabric, quite the contrary, I think I never have just the fabric I need, but at times it is a little hard to pick only a few fabrics from the piles of plenty. I have already managed to prune my assortment a bit though, and I'm sure it will all come together in the end, especially since I have a pretty clear image in my mind of what I'm wanting to do.
And I always have BooBoo at hand to help me with things too.

(BooBoo isn't actually very much of a help, laking thumbs and getting hair on everything and all, but she's super cute, so it all balances out.)

Oh hello there!

It's been a while since I last popped by here, but I'm trying not to feel bad about not blogging all that often. Tartx has a really great post about blogging without obligation: http://www.tartx.com/blog/?page_id=233 and it's a philosophy I fully support. I don't want this blog that's so very dear to me to become something of a burden, and I don't want to have to churn out posts if I don't have a reason to post.

This post does have a reason, and that reason is a super one: I'm going to be exhibiting at PlushYou! in Seattle this fall! I'm really chuffed to be a part of the show again, and to get to share my work with the world. :)

I'm famously bad at making decisions; I will take forever to pick what to eat at a restaurant, and then change my mind once more while I'm ordering and choosing what to wear can take ages and many a wardrobe change before I make it out the door, wishing I would have worn something else instead. So I'm hoping you lot would be able to help me to make up my mind as to what theme I should go with for my pieces. To that end, here's a little poll:

a) circus
b) forest
c) space

Leave a comment with your vote as to which theme would be best, I'll tally up the results, and hope not to change my mind too many times over! :)

The show goes on

(Photos by the wonderful Rancho Cocoa whose cute plushies are on show in Nancy.)

I know it's been two weeks since the Plush You show opened, but I'm still all excited having my plush on show and having the chance to share my Rag Pets with new people.

(Photo by Rancho Cocoa again.)

I'm very interested in the crafts/art divide and on how "art" is defined to begin with, so being able to take part in a plush art show is really cool for me.

I actually dug out my old notebooks in the hopes of finding my art philosophy notes. Sadly, I'd only written down the introduction of the subject into the notebook and I must have taken proper notes elsewhere...
I remember a theory by some philosopher whose name I can't really recall right now stating that art is only art if it's shown in a gallery. And then there's Wittgenstein's Open Concept of Art that I thought that it was one of the better ways of pinning down what is and what isn't art out of all the ones offered, even though it just leads to other problems trying to decide what qualities the definition is based on.
But no matter what philosophy you subscribe to, Plush You makes plush art and that in turn makes me very happy and proud to be a part of it.

On with the show!

The Plush You show opened last Friday, and I celebrated by buying a new dress and going to the opera. :)

Apparently the opening was quite the party, with cupcakes, a live DJ, drinks and everything! And both Schmancy and Fancy were as stuffed full of people as they were of plushies. I'm very lucky to have friends in the Seattle area who were able to go see the show, since I couldn't get there myself (the usual problem of lacking both money and time). I'm even luckier in that my friends went to the show and took their cameras with them and took lots of photos while there.

My Rag Pet trio is on show in Fancy.

(Photo by the fabulous Dawn/Plush-a-holic, whose work is on show next door at Schmancy.)

Doesn't it look like such a super cool place? :)

The trio made it there all safe and sound, even if they do look a little mussed from their trip. Then again, you'd be a little mussed too after a few weeks spent cooped up in a box.

(Photo by Plush-a-holic again.)

The trio share shelf space with cute crochet critters from Gleeful Things (on the right of them), charming chickens wearing pants by Absolutely Small (on their left), absolutely adorable animals by Missy Ballance and kuddly knitted kreatures (I know I'm cheating, but it's hard to come up with alliterative words that begin with the letter K) by Fuzzy Mitten.

(Photo by Kris/RakkaDeer, who makes delicious -literally- art.)

(Photo by the lovely Leah/Schnitzle, who braved the crowds to snap photos at the show.)

I love that all the plushies were set up so that you could touch and hold them. I bet that if I were at the show, I'd have spent the whole evening just petting and cuddling plushies and then I would have spent all my money and then I would have promptly fainted from all the wonderfulness! :)

(Photo by Schnitzle again.)

It's so nice seeing photos of the show, and of course of my Rag Pets. I feel really proud of my little trio and I'm so chuffed to know they're doing well over there in the big world.

You can see lots more photos of the Plush You show (from both Schmancy and Fancy) in Dawn's Flickr, Leah's Flickr and Schmancy Toy's Flickr.

Plush You!

Squee! The Plush You show starts today! :)

This year the show is in both in Schmancy (1932 2nd Avenue) and in Fancy (1914 2nd Avenue), and the Terrific Trio will be hanging out in Fancy.
The opening party starts at 5pm and the jubilation goes on until 9pm. In addition to all the amazing plushies on show, there'll be lots of super talented plushie makers, lovely plushie fans, great crafters and bloggers oh my, at the party too.

I'm so excited about my Rag Pets being in the show! I'm gosh darn anxious too, as this is the first time I'm taking part in something this grand. I really hope that my Rag Pets will be much loved there and that everything will go well. I wish I was able to just click my heels or snap my fingers and go see the show myself; this is really going to be an wonderful show! I'd also kind of like to see the Terrific Trio one more time in person too.

If any of you reading this can go, please do. And please take lots of photos too! :)

Piia the rag-bear

Meet Piia. She's one of the three special rag pets going to Seattle for the Plush you exhibition.
Piia likes to go picking flowers in the forest and to skip rope. She's a little shy, but once she gets to know you, you'll have a friend for life!

Piia is made out of soft dark chocolate coloured velvet and she's stuffed with rags and organic cotton batting. She has tiny button eyes and an embroidered nose. She has an old wooden button for a belly button and a round little tail filled with cotton batting. Her belly button button has a little chip on the edge, but Piia thinks it just adds to her charm.

Piia is wearing a pretty plaid cotton dress, with a pleat on the front that's held closed with a wooden button. The dress closes in the back with a snap. She's also wearing a pair of crisp white tights that have an elasticated waist and a slit in the back for her tail and cute black felt mary-janes that have decorative buttons on the side.

If you buy Piia at the show and take her home, give her time to get to really know you and let her look after your flowers. :)

Maija the rag-elephant

This is Maija. She's one of the very special rag pets going to the Plush You show in Seattle this autumn.
Maija likes to read really long books and to play with dolls. She gets colds easily, but she doesn't mind because blowing her nose makes such a great trumpeting sound!

Click on the pictures to see them bigger.

Maija is made from soft wool flannel and she's filled with rags and organic cotton batting. Her tail tassels are made from wool yarn.
She has tiny little button eyes and a shiny new plastic button for a belly button. Her trunk is filled with cotton batting and she has lovely blushy cheeks.

Maija is wearing a cute flowery pink cotton dress with big pockets and a warm & comfy dark blue cotton yarn cardie with old plastic buttons. The dress closes in the back with a snap. She has a little cotton hanky made from sweet Japanese fabric in her pocket. The hankie's edges have been treated with Fray Check.
Maija's cardigan was knitted by the very talented Lady Illusia, and I'm very thankful for her help, as is Maija who can stay snug and warm in her cardie.

If you take Maija home from the show, please make sure she stays warm so she doesn't catch a cold and give her lots of good books to read. :)

Bye Bye!

Maija, Aino and Piia set off on the latest leg of their adventure today. Packed snugly (they're maybe a little too snug in there since the box selection at the post office went from a tiny bit too small to way too giant with no size in between) into a box with some newspaper for cushioning and to read during their trip (I included the comics page), they're now on their way to Seattle.

I didn't realize quite how hard it would be to let them go. Packing them up, trooping to the post office and then waiting in line to mail them was all a bit of a glum affair, despite today being a wonderful, warm and sunny day and The Night of the Arts besides.
I know it's silly to get attached to your work when you know you'll be sending it off to the big world at some point, but I've spent so much time on the trio that I just couldn't help it. I keep telling myself that they're just soft toys, but I know deep down that they're much more than that, they really do have a life of their own. I am very excited about having my work in the exhibition, but it's still hard to let go when said work leaves the nest.

I hope the Terrific Trio will have a good trip and that they'll arrive safe and sound in Seattle.

Aino the rag-cat

Meet Aino. She's one of the special rag pets going to the Plush You show in Seattle this fall.
Aino likes to ride on her bike and to play house. She's really good at baking, even if she does like to eat the cookie dough more than actually make anything!

(The bike Aino is posing on is my old Helkama "Aino", which is where she got her name from too.)

Click on the pictures to see them bigger.

Aino is made from lovely undyed & untreated linen and she's filled with rags and organic cotton batting -her tail is stuffed with just the cotton batting. She has tiny little button eyes and a very old plastic button for a belly button. The surface of the button has crackled a bit with age, and it matches the linen's texture nicely. Her nose is embroidered and she has healthy blushy cheeks.

Aino is wearing a chocolate brown linen pinny, a brightly patterned green dress made from an old cotton pillowcase with a white cotton Peter Pan collar and pretty brown felt mary-jane shoes with little decorative buttons on them. The pinny and dress both fasten with a snap on the back. The green flower button on the back of the pinafore is a vintage button I found in a sweet little vintage shop here in Helsinki.

If you happen to buy her at the show, make sure to let her bake (and eat) cookies and to ride a bike when ever the weather is nice. :)