Moo Xmas

Oooh Kwoozy just made me aware that my Xmas card designs (previously mentioned here) are now available on the Moo site! And they have some cool new products that you can put them on too - standard greeting cards (in portrait or landscape) and postcards too. Just go here to view all the designs and drag and drop the ones you like (there are three pages of options). Yay!

I've ordered a set for myself so I'll show some pics when they arrive.

Meanwhile, I've taken a 4 day weekend - Tuesday is a public holiday for a horse race (I love this city) - so I attempted another softie for Mirabel.



Note to self, if you want to make something "simpler", don't choose a creature with 8 legs.



... and also don't try to come up with the pattern yourself - too stressful! I'm sure there would have been an easier way to put him together.

Bird Girls Can Fly

(well, maybe not this one, such tiny wings).

Aha, finally something crafty to post about! I've been inspired by all the lovely softies and birds people have been making so I thought I'd give it a go myself!


I prototyped her out of paper and sticky-tape first which sort of worked. After I sewed her together I had to go back and make some little changes - shorten her body, narrow her neck, give her head some darts. It's still not how I pictured her but I'm happy enough.


(the tail is still a work in progress)

I stuffed her using some cotton wadding that I've had in my stash for ages - it's the stuff they use in making futons and Japanese floor cushions, and basically looks like raw cotton right off the bush. It even has the occasional twig in it. It's awesome to work with tho - much more pliable than synthetic stuff and you can make it dense in some spots and light and fluffy in others. You can get it from friendly futon manufacturers. I'm not sure what other people use to stuff their toys but I really like the cotton wadding...