Tag-Archive for » swap bot «

28
Jul 2010

Of Pandas and Gnomes

More stuff sent out for SwapBot! Firstly, a Perfectly Pretty Panda.

Panda here is made from felt, hand sewn. The K embellishment is because my partners name is Kim and she likes blue, so I personalised ol’panda pants up for her.  You can find the pattern and tutorial for Anna Panda at Molly Chicken.

Next up, we have a Gnome with his fungus, which is how gnomes most like to live.

He doesn’t show up so awesomely in the photo, or even that well in RL :( I think I made the wrong fabric choice for him, but I had a hell of a time getting the transfer to work on anything else. My partner seems pleased with him, so that’s something.  The pattern is a freebie from Andrea Zuill.

Aaaaaaaaand we’ll finish with a WIP, this is for the rainbow flower swaps I’m hosting:

I know, it’s currently not so much “Flowers” as “Teeny flat clown hats” but they WILL become flowers. I’m working on green at the same time, but haven’t sewn those yet, just cut them.

I wish I was more of a fan of pink.

Category: Embroidery, Finished Projects, Sewing, WIP  Tags: , , , , , , ,  Leave a Comment
18
Jul 2010

Starting a Floral Rainbow

I’m running a series of swaps on Swap-Bot using the same flower pattern, but changing the colour of the flowers for each swap. At the end we’ll have a range of flowers in all the colours of the rainbow. And pink. The first two swaps were for red and yellow. Here’s what I’m sending out tomorrow.

Apart from the plain red petals, they’re all done with cotton (FQs for the win). The big red petals are a shirt I bought at savers. Getting real red in FQs was impossible, and I didn’t want to buy off the bolt because I am lazy and also it’s more expensive and I’m cheap. CHEAP.

The pattern is another freebie (considering the group is Free Pattern Creations, that might explain my incredible over-use of free patterns!) by Carina Gardner called The Felicity Fabric Flower.

The flowers are dead easy to put together, suitable to hand sew if you have no machine and feel like making something quick and fun. The next colours are pink and green, so I’ll post those when I’ve done them.

What’s that you say? You need a gratuitous macro shot? Well sure!

You’re welcome.

Category: Finished Projects, Sewing  Tags: , ,  Leave a Comment
14
Jul 2010

Crafty Little Cactus

I’ve not been blogging so much but I have been crafting my fingers to the very bone (well maybe not actual bone) for various swaps. So, let’s review! Over the past couple of weeks I’ve made:

1. A Dashing Dachshund

He looks all flat because he IS all flat, with postage being what it is now we try to save a couple of cents by sending larger softies unstuffed.

If  you’d like to make your own dachshund (it’s a super simple pattern) you can grab the pattern and directions right here.

2. Some recycled brooches

These are made from bits of soft drink cans and postcards, but you could use anything on the inside. The red one is 3cm by 3cm and the blue one is 4cm x 4cm. They’re easy to make, though a bit fiddly. Cutting the cans is no drama, you can use ordinary scissors. For the directions, check this thread on Craftster.

3. More Abraham Owls

A gift for my Aunt’s birthday (she was born on the 4th of July yanno). The Abraham Owl pattern is free from LollyChops.

4. A Heart Pincushion

All 4 of the fabrics for the heart came from the same shirt, so you can imagine what a freakish disaster that shirt was before I hacked it up for my own needs. Thank you Savers! The pattern and tutorial for this pincushion (which would be easy to adapt to shapes other than hearty ones) can be found at So Happy Together.

5. Tenticlo

Tenticlo is my own design, made for a Free Range Monster swap (ie, design and sew a monster). I’ll be posting a pattern and tute for this guy sometime in the next few days. He came out pretty well, he’s entirely hand sewn in felt.

So that’s most of what I’ve been up to, I’m in the middle of some flowers for a swap right now, and there’s 1 other thing I made which I can’t post pics of yet because I want the person who is getting it to be surprised, and Australia Post is being a bitch about mail delivery.

Till next time, tarah!

Category: Finished Projects, Recycling, Sewing  Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,  Leave a Comment
01
Jun 2010

Kokopelli, ya chicken.

Swap Bot is most certainly making me get my crafty arse in gear. Today I sat myself down on said arse and made something for another swap. In this one, which I hosted actually, participants had to create some art to fit into a mailable photoframe. I still have one to make (but it’s for Angela, so she can wait if I can’t get it done), but this one is going out tomorrow:

My partner for this swap mentioned she collects kokopellis, so of course I had no idea what a one of those even was. Thank you google! The kokopelli is a Native American fertility deity who overlooks childbirth and crops.  Now you’re saying “Well DUH Frog, what ELSE would it be?” to which I can only say “Nertz to you, I’m Australian”. Of course I’d seen a kokopelli before, I just didn’t know what they were called. Stop picking on me!

Uh, anyway, this one is made from fabric, as you can see.  I made the background from some offcuts I had to hand. The kokopelli itself is felt, hand sewn on (no iron on adhesive for this little black duck [only because I didn't have any to hand]), with the flute and headfeathers added later in 6 strands of embroidery thread.  I sewed the whole lot to the back of the felt frame and tucked it into the frame, ready to send.

*Takes bow*

Another something heading out in the mail tomorrow is ma chicken.

Just kicking on back and enjoying the Aussie sunshine before being stuffed in a postpack and mailed to America. She’s actually a Chickummyjig, and you can find the pattern for her at Myrtle and Eunice.  If you’re observant, you’ll notice the same two fabrics I used to back the kokopelli. Which means I’ve blogged these in the wrong order, really.  I chose felt for the wings, but to be honest I regret it, they’re a bit too sticky-to-the-body (stop me if I get technical on you here). However overall I’m pleased with her, and I hope she’ll be welcomed in her new home.

I don’t think Chook the Budgie will be sad to see her go.

Evil Budgie Eye says “Get out of my space, overgrown sock puppet”.

Category: Finished Projects, Sewing  Tags: , , , , ,  Leave a Comment