land of happiness

I, like many,  receive the standard Crate and Barrel catalog in the mail.  I enjoy looking through it, but usually only find a handful of really unique and interesting things that I spend extra time looking at.  Then, I started getting the CB2 catalog in the mail.  Nice, but not great great.  Don't get me wrong I really enjoy the items they offer and have bought a few things in the past.  I have a set of blue blown glass dessert/parfait cups that I love and use a lot.  

Then, a month or so ago, I was flipping through the newest catalog and saw a picture of one of their catalogs I didn't get -The Land of Nod.  I had heard of The Land of Nod (or LoN as I'll refer to it in this post), but never really checked it out.  So I headed over to their website and checked it out.  

Basically, it was everything I love in one place.  I, of course signed up for the catalog immediately. 

They have really fun and beautiful things.  While I don't have kids, I still love this catalog.  My style of things I make is very animal/nature oriented with simple shapes and bright colors.  Just check out the colors and patterns of the bedding.  And that giraffe and other animal friends crib quilt below?  So great.  So LoN has been a great source of inspiration.  

I never really gave Yetis a second thought, but I love this bedding and the throw pillows.  The sheets with the mountains and trees (non Yeti) would be really fun for any room.  Of course, LoN is aimed towards children, so the biggest sheet size is a full.  Lucky for me, we have a full bed.  Lucky for my bank account, the closer LoN store is 12 hours away.  (I'm much more likely to buy things like bedding and furniture in person than through the internet.)

  

I mean really, just take a look at these throw pillows they have on their site.  Baby, kid, adult....who wouldn't want this grasshopper guy on their bed or sofa?

Kids or no kids, LoN should definitely be checked out if you want some instant inspiration!

a wardrobe change for the owls...

Aside from making up a few for my last craft show, I really haven't been sewing many owls lately.  And the owls I had been sewing were really out of the same 4 or 5 fabrics.  I decided to give the owls a little shopping spree for new summer clothes.  

I'm big into bright colors and bold patterns when it comes to making soft toys.  So I knew I wanted the owls to pop a little more than they have in the past.  The results:

Exactly what I was going for.  Eye catching, fun, and attractive.  The back of all the owls feature a wonderfully soft and cozy brown fleece.  I love these owls so much and am thinking of keeping a few for myself.....seriously, pick one up and feel the soft fleece on the back and you're see why.  

I love this fabric so much!  Kinsey got it for me for Christmas this past year and I have been saving it.  For what, I'm not sure.  But I figured that I shouldn't let it just sit around forever.  It's by Julia Rothman and is 100%  organic cotton.

Another fabric favorite!  Not sure of the specifics of this fabric, but I purchased it at Jo-Ann.  The yellow flowers on the gray background are so beautiful!

Look for these owl guys (and owl girls!) in the shop over the next few days.  Some are there now!

great rocket ships!

These could quite possibly be one of the coolest things I've done.  Plush rocket ships!

I really am not a huge space fan or that in to astronomy.  Although, I did go through a brief time in 6th grade where I thought I wanted to study planets.  (This was back when Pluto was considered a planet.)  But after seeing (and buying) this fabric:

I knew I had to make a rocket ship. 

Sometimes, a new plush design takes me a while to make.  Days, weeks, or even in some cases months!  I usually start by sketching out what I want and then cutting templates out of paper.  Most times I have to make multiple trial runs of a design, but this one just clicked.  

Just listed in the shop.  Perfect for future astronauts or star gazers.

early christmas softie sale

In the spirit of the crazy Black Friday/Cyber Monday/ beginning of Christmas shopping craze.....

Plush Sale!  Now through Friday, December 9th:  All owl and elephant plush are on sale!  Owls are $17.50 and elephants are $21.50!  

New owls and elephants to be listing throughout this sale.

The owl above, Owen, is one of my newest owls I made.  I've had this fabric for about a year, but never knew what to use it for.  It's pretty busy as a whole, but broken into smaller sections, it's really quite eye catching and playful.  

This owl, Denise, is from the other batch of Denyse Schmidt fabric I got from Jo-Ann. Here's the other fabric.

And don't forgot about the elephants!  This take longer for me to make, so I can't make as many as the owls.  But I love their movable arms and trunks!

Happy Thanksgiving!

1 Whale + 1 Owl= Lots of Little Owls

It all started with a whale.  A stuffed whale that is.  Kinsey made this for me early 2009.  I had seen a stuffed whale in one of my craft books and loved it.  Although the one I saw in the book was made of old jeans and didn't look quite as good as the one below.  
I love this whale and I won't lie, I sometimes use it as a pillow when I sleep.  So seeing how much I loved the first animal, Kinsey surprised me with this one last Christmas:

I was so impressed and couldn't believe he didn't use a pattern for these animals.  I told him he should really make more and sell them.  Who wouldn't love an owl like this?  But we never really got around to making more.  

The other week I got the sudden urge to see if I could make a similar owl.  I didn't want my new owl (or owls in this case) to be as large as the original, but not too small.  I also wanted to change the eyes and make them not as large.  I wanted to eliminate the zigzag stitching and give the a cleaner overall appearance.  Another area I wanted to improve was the shape.  I like the original and how the spiky tail is, but I thought a smooth, straight edge may be a little better for the overall shape.  So with all this in mind, I set out to create an owl of my own.  I started with this one....

I replaced the eyes and beak with felt, as well as the back of the owl is a solid piece of soft brown felt.  I liked the idea of a bolder stomach fabric and the simplicity of the shape.  

That owl eventually lead to a pair......
....which eventually lead to a small army of owls!

The final results: I ended up with an ideal length of about 10 inches and by replacing different features with felt, the overall feel is much softer. The owls don't contain any small parts and are filled with a non allegoric poly-fil. Just in time for Christmas...