An owl for Luke

I brought in an owl I sewed for my cousin’s first birthday (to be posted this weekend after she has received it) to work today, and my coworker Kim requested one for her son. I realized I didn’t have many boy friendly fabrics. So, I broke my long streak of not buying fabrics happily, and went to the cute sewing store in downtown Maryville to pick out some beautiful woolen, brushed flannels in gender-neutral and boy-friendly prints.

When I finished the owl cut outs as I traditionally do, something seemed missing. I decided to add eyelashes and it made him perfect.

The only downside to this beautifully soft fabric (perfect for a baby boy’s hugs) is that it was much stretchier than the quilting cotton I was used to working with, which meant when it came time to stuff him, the stuffing stretched his shape a bit. However, I think it can be a worthy tradeoff for a snuggly baby toy.

I wish I had a better place to take photos after dark – the colors are terrible in this photo. Look at the eyelashes, though!

And on that note, back to the Westminster Kennel Club dog show. Yes. I don’t know which is better – the adorable dogs or the hysterical commentary.

Also, the Purina shelter ads are making me cry.

Another Martha Stewart project – what can I say, I love her.

This is a super sweet project, and you may already have everything you need to complete it.

– Pair of gloves

– needle and thread

– Polyfill

– Buttons

– Ribbons

This project, from start to finish, takes about 20 minutes. Project found here.

Whoo-too: How to owl softie

I would make some changes to this softie the second time around, but this is a really simple, quick, simple softie project that requires only a few items that you probably already have.

1 fat quarter

random scraps of felt

thread

sewing machine or handsewn

Ignore the top - yours won't have the same mistake 🙂

Take your fat quarter and fold in half. This should create fabric that’s 18 X 10.5 inches. Cut a shape similar to a gummy drop with the folded part uncut at the bottom. Pick one side of the folded piece of fabric to be the front of your owl. Cut two wings out of felt and sew onto the edge of the body. Then cut a giant  triangle to serve as a beak, sew on. Then, cut two large white  circles for eyes, and sew so they slightly overlap onto the beak. Sew on two smaller black circles to create the pupils for the eyes. Then, sew two little feather-shaped felt cutouts to the top of the face.

Now that your face and wings are done, fold fabric the other way so that right sides are facing in. Sew around the open edges of your shape (be careful to keep the top feathers sticking out), leaving about 1.5 inches to turn the fabric right side out, then fill with polyfill, sew the remaining hole closed, and you’re done!

The mistake I made in this that I would not make again is choosing to have the hole to flip the owl inside out at the top of his head. This made for an awkward seam. It would have been much better to the hole along the bottom edge. Next time I will do it this way.

For variations, add glasses or even little felt feet.

Another dose of (softie) inspiration

One day I was looking for inspiration for a new softie project to make for home decorating, when I stumbled upon LucyKate Crafts. I seriously love her blog – so many beautiful projects, great pictures … it’s a great blog to spend an hour perusing.

I fell in love with her fox softies, and was inspired to create my own fox. It didn’t turn out as adorable as hers (she is a professional, after all), but still pretty cute.

Oh foxy, foxy

I have a soft spot for foxes, too, because our Cairn, Netta, reminds me of a fox.

Cairn Terrier

Actual fox

Nurse softie

I love surfing blogs for inspiration. I found these easy-enough looking softies here, that are just too adorable. I didn’t follow this pattern, but it did open my eyes to making softies outside of the animal realm.

I mentioned in an earlier post my burgeoning collection of acceptable career-based crafts. So far, there’s a nurse and a doctor. (No, the cowboy and matador don’t fall in the same category :))

Ta-da!

Matadors

For a former vegetarian, I have one of the strangest collections ever. Ceramic matadors. But that’s another post.

The ridiculously gaudy statues inspired one of my latest softie creations, a stuffed matador and cow. And later, a matching cowboy and cow to go with.

Matador, cows, cowboy

My ridiculous collection of matadors also inspired an early, perfect Valentine’s day gift from my husband – a red ceramic bull. Awesome.

Softies gone wild

For those not acquainted, a softie is a homemade stuffed animal that can be made a variety of ways. Whether made with cotton fabric, felt, felting, knitting or crochet, they are adorable, quirky creatures that can be made in as little as a few hours. They also make perfect gifts for little kids or even grown up kids.

I’m not one to follow patterns much (or recipes), so most of mine have been inspired by others seen online or just dreamed up one day.

Several have been made so far, though I find felt to be one of the easiest materials to work with. After I made a few, my husband requested a penguin softie. He has something of a thing for penguins, and I couldn’t even begin to tell you the origin of this. As a result, he has numerous penguin stuffed animals, tshirts, a sweat shirt and artwork. These were so fun to make, and quick too.

For each, the technique was relatively the same. I first cut out two generic body shapes from felt. I freehand drew the shapes, keeping in mind that once sewn, the dimensions would shrink. This means you need to make the head much larger than you want the final version to appear.

Then, I cut out a contrasting color to use for the body. I sewed this on the top piece of body felt. From there, I cut out beaks and chose buttons for eyes, attaching these. On the black penguin, I also cut out a bowtie out of red felt and sewed on. Once you have completed the body as desired, face right sides together and sew all but about two inches on the bottom of the penguin. Use this space to flip the penguin body right side out. Stuff

A gift for Matt

with fiber fill, sew closed. For the black penguin, I sewed little yellow feet out of felt and stuffed them, and sewed them to the edge of the body. For the blue penguin, I cross-stitched feet and then sewed to the bottom. I also stitched a little scarf.

My favorite thing about softie projects is that anything goes. You can use a pattern, but don’t have to. And even better – it’s one of the cheapest crafts you can make.

Keep checking back for many more examples to come!

The reason behind the name

I almost named this blog 24 going on 80, but it didn’t seem quite sexy enough.

The credit can go mostly to my husband Matt. Throughout our young marriage, I have continued to adopt new hobbies. First it was gardening, which started with some vincas and quickly grew to obsession. Then, it was attempting crochet. And tearing out the yarn, and attempting again. And giving up, and attempting again. Then, it was cooking locavore food based off of things in the garden, found at the farmer’s market, and everything made from scratch. This resulted in hours spent in the kitchen on the weekends, crafting together delicious dinners. Not at all a bad way to spend a Saturday.

Then, it was a brief foray into cheese making. Homemade breads. Stock from scratch. Then sewing … which I developed an interest in before I owned a sewing machine. Then it was quilts and baby blankets and baby blocks and stuffed animals and pot holders and pillowcases and ornaments and tablerunners. It was compulsive  fabric collecting and puppet making.

At some point, he told me that he never realized his 24-year-old wife would so quickly take on ‘old woman’ hobbies. And it’s true. While other 24-year-0lds are still hitting the bar, we’re sitting home with episodes of Project Runway and skeins of yarn stretched between us on the couch.

This blog is dedicated to all things handmade, homemade, vintage, quirky, old fashioned and lovely. It’s dedicated to those with nontraditional hobbies, who don’t mind being the youngest in a quilting group or knitting circle. It’s dedicated to ardent feminists who still feel a rush at completing a craft project. And it’s dedicated to my husband, who waits in line at fabric stores and never asks how much was spent; who eagerly runs to the sewing table, garden or kitchen to see the latest treasure; and who teases but always encourages.

A bowl of tomatoes from summer's garden.