Just for fun

It's been a long while since my last post - a short break turned into over a year! I've still been crafting bits and pieces though! 

My most recent project was a Christmas present for my little niece, who was 2 in September. I decided that I'd like to try my hand at making some felt food. I've always admired the felt doughnuts and cupcakes that I've seen on Pinterest. 

I started collecting patterns and soon amassed quite a few! Patterns for ice creams, biscuits, cakes, sandwiches, pasta, pizza, hamburgers, .... The list goes on! So then I had to narrow it down!

I loved these ice cream patterns so decided that I'd make a little cafe set with ice cream, cakes and biscuits. 

The pattern is genius! The underside of each scoop has a piece of Velcro so that it attaches to the cone - you can even create double, or even triple, scoop ice creams! Yum (here's me, demonstrating how tasty it is)!

Very soon, I had made 4 cones and 9 scoops of ice cream (in colours to represent mint-choc-chip, chocolate, vanilla, lemon and strawberry. My amazing OH painstakingly cut the round holes for the stand before I covered it with gingham and white sticky-back plastic.

  

 Next I started on biscuits. I made some gingerbread men...

... and a selection of favourites...

The gingerbread men, "nice" and digestives are from my own patterns but the chocolate-creams, pink wafers, ring biscuits and ginger snaps came from this pattern. These were great fun to make too and I'm really pleased with how well they came out!

I then added some doughnuts based on this tutorial and some cupcakes adapted from this tutorial. Then, with the other half of the box divided into shelves, the little cafe was nearly complete! All of the cafe items can be packed into the "shelves" for storage (since they were just an old box to begin with!).

Of course, a cafe wouldn't be a cafe without a special flip notepad and a pen with which to take all the orders! And every good cafe needs a good name!

I had a ludicrous amount of fun making these, even though sewing Velcro is VERY hard on the fingers! I was just a teeny bit sad that I had to give them away but it seems the family have been enjoying lots of ice cream and cake since, so I suppose that makes it worthwhile!

(Thanks to my brother for taking the photos, I completely forgot!)

30 Days of Creativity - Days 11, 12, 13, 14 and probably 15 (sigh)

Wow! 

This week's gone so fast! 

And, to be honest, I don't seem to have achieved much.

I started the week with the best intentions, a deadline of sorts and what seemed like plenty of time.

I was hoping to show you a completed teddy bear today, but more of that later.

So what have I been up to this week? Well, let me show you.

Day 11 (Monday) went pretty well. In the time I had allotted myself, I managed to prepare a piece of sparse 5mm German mohair fabric, mark out the pieces and cut them out.

This bit always takes longer than I expect. You have to be really careful not to cut the hair while cutting the backing fabric. Bald bears don't look so good.

Day 12 (Tuesday) also went well. I pinned all the pieces ready for sewing.

 

This makes life so much easier, even on such small pieces. It's very easy to match the pieces up incorrectly and end up with a crooked arm or a mishapen head. 

Although the sewing thread does love to get caught around the pins.

Which is infuriating.

Anyway, I started sewing on Tuesday and by 

Day 13 (Wednesday) I had finished sewing all the pieces. Even the dreaded foot pads.

You would not believe how hard it was for me to leave all these pieces sewn but not turned! I love the turning stage (apart from the ears) as this is the point when all the hard work begins to resemble something.

Day 14 (Thursday) started off fine, as it was turning time. I am always amazed at how quick and easy this is with larger bears. With the tiny bears it's excruciatingly frustrating but these pieces were very simple. 

I added the cotter pin joints and got started on the stuffing. I closed up all the turning holes and the bear was ready to assemble. I gave the pieces a brush to free all the hair trapped in the seams.

At this point, it started to go wrong. I attached the head to the body and tried to attach the limbs. And then I noticed a problem. 

The joints didn't fit inside the body. 

There just wasn't room for the discs to lie side-by-side inside the tummy.

I'd used the wrong size joints. 

This left me feeling utterly deflated. I knew I would have to go back a stage and undo most of the work I had done that day.

I made myself undo, unpick and un-stuff so I could change the joints...

...and then I had to walk away - before I did something I would regret.

So on day 15 (Friday) I return to the poor bear today having had a clear reminder of the saying "More haste, less speed". This is definitely a creative process that I should not attempt to hurry.

Hopefully, barring any further disasters, I should have a completed bear to show this evening.