Stitchings Completed

Remember the stitchings I was experimenting with before Christmas. I have finished stitching them and they are now waiting to made into something.



The tortoise was from another Doodlebat font from Scrap'n'Fonts.

I used the red transfer pencil for the two birds and a pigma pen for the tortoise. The pigma pen had a very fine tip and I used a brown colour. The red transfer pencil showed through quite badly with one of the birds but not so much with the other. The other change I made was to increase the number of threads I was stitching with to get a thicker coverage. The brown pen worked well with the thread colours I used to stitch it. I still wonder what to use with lighter colour threads - possibly a washable one is the best bet there???

You can see the pink halo effect with the paler parts of the variegated thread I used around the border.

This was the last bird stitched and I found that adding the satin stitch to the beak gave a better look to the finished stitching. This was the one I was happiest with.

Look what is growing in our garden.

Another Amigurumi Tortoise

The creating is continuing, although I have not got back to my little felt book yet - still mulling over ideas for the next pages, with another little tortoise being created using the same yarn as the pram blanket. The pattern is from Simple Arts Planet and is very easy to make. I used French knots for the eyes so that it is safe around young children.



Another view - the french knot is very clear in this shot. I used to avoid french knots but have recently revisited them courtesy of all the great how-to's that are accessible via the www. I would love to link to a very good video tutorial but I didn't bookmark it. It was a very clear tutorial on making great French knots.

Speaking of knots check out this site. Another great little suggestion that I came across the other day.

Crochet - The Thing Of The Moment

Crochet seems to be the craft of choice for me at this minute in time. I have finished several amigurumi animals and started a couple of granny squares. The granny squares might grow into a blanket sometime.

From Crocheted Flo...

A couple of Avid Crafter's friends have been very interested in the amigurumi critters and expressed a desire to learn to crochet- so it has been crochet all round. The granny squares will slowly grow into a small blanket. I love how easy it is to do and how many colours you can incorporate into each blanket.

On top of one of the squares you can see another crocheted flower that I created. It has two layers that have been stitched together. On the right is the single layer flower that I created the pattern for last year. I am not sure what the flowers will be used for yet but in the meantime they can sit and look pretty.

From Crocheted Flo...

From Crocheted Flo...

The amigurumi obsession appears not to be abating and several more have just been created. A new Simple Arts Planet pattern was purchased and promptly tried out. It is called Inkie and Inko and has the instructions for two owls. The designer of the pattern writes at the start that the inspiration for the design came from a close encounter with a white owl.

From All Things Owl

It was a quick little pattern and there were lots of photographs for me to look at and check my progress. This is the third pattern that I have purchased from this designer, through her Etsy shop, and each time she has been incredibly quick to e-mail the PDF pattern to me.



Two other amigurumi lined up for the photo shoot as well. I gave away the last tortoise that I had sitting around and so another one was quickly made using some lovely hand dyed yarn that I found the other day. I was unable to walk away from the lovely colour combination -- it just had to come home with me. Unfortunately it is all gone now. One tortoise body, one little owl, one granny square and two little flowers!

One more owlet made it's appearance to add to the parliament. With this one I crocheted in the back loop only on the round that starts the side of the body just to give a bit more definition to the sides. I also added some toy pellets to the base as well as the stuffing. This just gave the little owlet a bit better sense of balance.

From All Things Owl

Finishing Off UFO's

At last a little bit of time to add the finishing touches to a few more amigurumi. These two little ones have been waiting oh so long for eyes and and a beak.





See this post for the pattern reference about the little owl and this post for the tortoise. I found a very soft baby wool on sale in Spotlight and just loved the blue/brown colour combination. The tortoise has already found a home with one of my daughter's friends as part of a birthday gift.

These are great fun to make - they don't take long and can be made out of all sorts of scraps!

Had some fun shopping the other day but cannot reveal all the lovelies that were purchased. Someone might see something they are not yet supposed to.

Back In the Land of Broadband

Yippee we have our broadband connection back in action. Curses on modems that choose to become disfunctional.

At last I can add the photos of the tortoises blogged about in the last post.

From Crocheted Flo...

Here are the little cuties posing on the fence. They were so easy to make and very addictive. The best bit is that they don't take long to finish. Check out the pattern in Lis Tan-Chaong's Etsy shop - Simple Arts Planet. I was really excited when she asked if she could post a picture of my tortoises on her blog.

I am keen to make some more as gifts for my niece and nephew and am trying to think of a couple of books to go with them.