Monkey Business...

This week I have been mostly making monkeys...

Monkeying around...

 This one is all my own design...

 ...fully poseable...

 ...ready for mischief!

Still finding it hard to sew under electric light in the evenings, but at least the brown felt was marginally better than working in black. 

I Made A Mouse...

Tiny mouse sewn from felt and fully poseable with a wire armature. 

Aw...

Part of something I am currently working on - great to be using felt for a change!

They're Taking Over!

Part of a current project - my life seems to be revolving around bears at the moment!

Daisy Bear

 A while back I made a tiny felt bear and dressed it in a floral frock with a crochet hat.  This bear sold just before Christmas and the customer was so pleased with it she ordered another one.  This is the other one!

 The bear is about 4 inches tall, with thread jointed legs and arms. I have made her dress from a sweet cotton print and trimmed it with green ribbon.  She also has a broderie Anglaise petticoat.

I crocheted the hat, trimmed it with ribbon and a rose made from satin ribbon.  I forgot how much fun making these tiny mascots is - I must do more of it!

Golden Boy...

 Amongst the other work I have been doing that I can't show just yet, I had this sweet commission before Christmas to make a felt golden saluki.  As you might know, salukis are my favourite dogs - we've had two and they were both gorgeous boys - so this was an absolute delight to take on.

 I have designed this mascot entirely and am very pleased with the end result. 

 He has thread jointed legs, so is completely poseable.  Instead of labouring over the ears and tail using felt, I had a brainwave and knitted them using long eyelash yarn.  After brushing the threads out, I then trimmed them to shape carefully.

 I made the collar out of leather, enbroidered it with gold thread and attached a tassel & beads.  As the mascot only stands 6 inches tall, the collar was probably the most labour intensive part due to it's small size.

I'd forgotten just how much I enjoy making felt animals - I've been working on so much other stuff, they have fallen by the wayside a bit.  However, I do have a miniature felt teddy bear to make next, so that is something to look forward to!

On the knitting needles...you wouldn't believe me if I told you!

Pugnacious...

 Here's a little pug made of felt...

 ...not made one for ages...

...might do it again.

Throwback Thursday...

...or otherwise known as  thinly veiled touting for business!  It's got to be done I'm afraid, but it is an excuse to look back on some of my favourite commissions.

This was Sam, painted in acrylic, and I had such fun painting him.  Not just for the challenge of a wet dog, but those ripples on the water and the drip - heaven to work on!

This was a painting that seemed to have a life of it's own - it was done so quickly, I couldn't believe at the time that there were so few problems with it.  Again painted with acrylics.

This is Wrigley, a black cocker spaniel.  He is based on a real dog - I NEVER get tired of knitting dog replicas!

This was another fairly complicated little commission.  I'm not sure what I enjoyed the most, sewing the pugs or making that teeny tiny sofa!

No matter what medium I am working with, to be making and creating is the best!

Shiny!

Here is the completed goldfish purse - I want to say that was fun, but towards the end it really wasn't!  Each sequin has been laboriously handsewn in place, and I'm not sure just how many of those sequins are now scattered around our living room!

He has a cotton print inner, and there is a hint of stuffing between the felt and cotton to give it a nice rounded fishy shape.

Like that.

One of those projects that will remain a one-off - I'm really pleased with the result, but not sure I want to do it again...unless you pay me of course!!

And finally, may I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a healthy, Happy New Year!

2014 was not one of my best years in some respects - months of building hell next to our house, lack of painting commissions for the first part of the year, misery at the day job culminating in handing in my notice, the loss of a good friend, and quite a lot of irritating things to deal with.  But it did have it's very good points - the release and good reception of the Nudinits animation (two and a half years hard work!), catching up with some old school friends in the summer, and some very exciting changes for the new year - going totally freelance and finally realising my lifetime dream.  Thank you for sticking with me through it, putting up with the moans and wails, sharing the good bits and giving me the impetus to work hard in order to have something to show you all.  Here's to 2015!

This & That...

Two days before the festivities begin and I think we might be just about ready!  Stacie and I have been having fun with a gingerbread house kit (Morrisons £4, I can't get over what good value this is!).  Stacie has badgered me for several years now to buy a kit and I have held off because I felt they were always expensive - and looked complicated!  However, this one was dead easy and while I had to do the construction bit (with Stacie holding things in place) and the icing, she was able to add the sweetie decorations and thoroughly enjoyed herself.  Trouble is, it will be a shame to break into it to eat it!

Despite tearing around Christmas shopping, sorting out the house, finishing off the day job (yay!) and wrapping presents, I have managed to squeeze in a little painting time.  This is a small coloured pencil work of a toadstool we saw on a dog walk a few weeks ago.  I'm using Faber-Castell coloured pencils - one of Amazon's Black Friday bargains - and they are gorgeous!  Very slow and painstaking, but very therapeutic!

And while taking a short break from the Nudinits knitting, I've been doing some other crafting.  This is a purse in the shape of a goldfish....I got the clasp free with a knitting magazine and it just shouted out to be used as a mouth.  The purse will no doubt be totally impractical, but will look cute at least!

It's Not Always A Happy Christmas...

Here's a little film that highlights a previously unknown practice that takes place every year at this time.
Warning, contains scenes of vegetable cruelty that some viewers may find upsetting.

Yes, I did indeed sew twenty felt brussels sprouts!

Frills & Stuff!

I've wanted to try knitting with the yarn that makes things frilly for a long time and finally bought myself some last week.  It's very clever, it comes as a kind of tape that you have to stretch as you knit through the top edge of it.  It's very pretty too - I love the colours on this one.  However, knitting with it is so DULL!  After the first couple of days of wonderment at how it turns into a frothy delight, then it gets very tedious indeed as it is a slow process.  Luckily, this is now within a whisker of being finished.

Something that is not dull is sewing small felt brussels sprouts.  I was asked to come up with the design, and once that was approved, I now have to make a bunch of them.  Yesterday afternoon was spent very enjoyably with a cup of tea, Danish pastry, Jurassic Park on the telly and quietly cutting out all the pieces I will need.  Much better than trying to make each one individually as I go along, now I am sure that they will be identical.


I also had time at the weekend to back up my work photos (which hasn't been done for a shamefully long time) and revisited some of the work I've done over the years that was stored on the hard drive.

Am I the only person who has knitted poop on their resume?

It is half term  for British schools, which means a blessed break from the day job - it's been very tough lately, working with a little chap who I am positive has 666 tattooed somewhere on his body... So a peaceful week ahead and a chance to get on with the next dog portrait, some clearing up round the house, and at the end of the week, the first screening of Nudinits. I'm getting quite excited now, especially at the prospect of seeing all our work on a big screen and finding out what people think if it!

Beetle, Budgie & Brand New Stock

I had a bit of a rush job yesterday - a beetle to be made inthe space of 36 hours. Yikes! After looking up the only pattern I had, I rejected that as being pretty rubbish and got out the big book of Insects that I inherited from my mother to use as reference.  So this is based on a cockchafer of some sort - I can't replicate the irridescence unfortunately!

I also finished the final budgie -I think that's got them out of my system for the time being!

There will be three knitted dog sets in my shop later today - this brindle lurcher,

The teeny-tiny one,

and this little girl. There will also be this purse:

It's good to be able to add some new stock - my shop has been a bit neglected of late!

Budgies, Birthdays & Butterflies...

It's been a long time since I had some fun with felt - I bought the new Made in Felt magazine last week and was instantly taken with the pattern for a budgie.  Their version only had the face and wing on one side of the bird -well, you know me, I always have to go the extra mile, so mine have them on both sides in order to look like a real bird not half a one.  There is a pale purple one nearly complete as well - after that I think I will have exhausted my enthusiasm for this pattern for the time being!

Yesterday I had a small stall at the local dog show.  I didn't sell much, but it was a great opportunity to show my work to a wider audience locally and lots of people took cards and chatted about pet portraits.  Hopefully it will lead to some future commissions.  I also had fun watching all the varieties of dogs being entered in the show - who knew so many lived in the area, I never see them when I am out walking!

And speaking of dogs, someone has a birthday today - Clovis is 12!  He had a venison sausage with his breakfast, which went down well, and I think we'll treat him to a small birthday cake later on.  He's classed as an elderly dog, but still keeps charging around - yesterday he was crashing through a bean field after some small creature. I could see the plants moving ahead of him but whatever it was got away when Clovis became hemmed in by the tall, dense bean plants.  Silly old thing!

It seems to be a good year for butterflies - in our garden at least.  This Painted Lady was fluttering around the mombretia and buddleia the other day.  I think that's what it is - do correct me if I'm wrong!

Next on the needles - champagne!

Liberty Print Bear

We had a quiet weekend - I mean quiet!  No builders, no neighbours, just us, the sunshine and the birds singing.  So while nerves were not a-jangle, it was time to get on with some crafting.  I finished off this little felt bear and then set about hand stitching her outfit.

I chose this floral Liberty print as it seemed to go well against the dark brown of the bear.  As usual with me, there was no pattern, I just cut and fitted it to the bear as I went along - it seemed to work OK! I stitched a scrap of vintage lace to the front of the dress plus some ridiculously small buttons - this bear is only 6 inches tall, which should give you some idea of scale.

I crocheted her hat, then trimmed it with some matching felt and three little artificial roses.  Her dress is stitched on, I felt it was so delicate that taking it off and putting it on repeatedly would be damaging in the long run.

Her legs and arms are jointed, so she can sit or stand.

This is for sale in my Etsy shop now.  I am sure there will be more along soon, but if you would like to have one custom made, do get in touch.

I also managed to get some knitting done, and pottered in the garden tidying up some of the chaos.  Back to JCB madness today, I'm just waiting for it all to kick off....