First Craft Book Challenge Project: Palm-Size Softies

As I was going through my craft books at the start of this challenge I found an alarming number of knitting and crochet books bought when I first tried learning to knit and was convinced I was going to be amazing at it. Turns out not so much. So this year it looks like I am going to have to try my hand at knitting and crochet again in order to keep this challenge going! But for now, I am going to stick with what I love, and what I really love at the moment is sewing things out of felt. I made this tiny little red fox as my first project in the Craft Book Challenge.  

Palm-Size Softies, by Hitomi Takahashi, Mikiko Matsui and Akemi Tsubo, is actually my newest craft book, purchased just before Christmas as a little present to myself. The projects in here are so adorable, I will probably be making most of them. Below is a picture from the book of "Mimi", the pattern I used. She is actually a pet for one of the other softies in the book, so she is really really tiny! I altered the tail a little bit, and added white patches to the ears and chest to make a little red fox instead of a little cat.

This pattern was my first time sewing a gusset into a stuffed animal but the book has great cartoon-like illustrations explaining each step and it was easy to figure out. Abigail over at While She Naps is writing a great series of tutorials on making soft toys and has just made a post all about gussets in soft toys. If you are interested in learning more about making or designing your own soft toys you should really check it out!

I have yet to name this little guy, but here he is, in all his various foxy poses: 

I think the scarf really adds that little je ne sais quoi. You can see just how small he really is when he stands beside some little spools of thread!

Are you participating in the Craft Book Challenge? It's not too late to make something for January! Click the button in my sidebar if you are interested in joining in on the fun.

Playing Catch-Up: Felt Playfood Set

This summer, I made a huge collection of felt foods for my best friends daughter. The project sort of got out of hand because making felt food is more addictive than you would realize. It was interesting and challenging to figure out how each 3D shape could be made from cut shapes of felt. There are lots of tutorials for felt foods out there, so here are just a few pictures to get your imagination going. A small group of felt food pieces would make a great economical present for a young child who likes playing little chef. More pictures on my Flickr.

One of the things I did with this project was try to make it as interactive as possible. Some of the vegetables were made in two or three parts, to show the insides, with velcro buttons so they could be "cut" apart and put back together. Whenever I could, little extras like butter, syrup, cheese, veggie slices or buns were not sewn together so that they could be stacked freely, and mixed and matched in imaginative ways. I actually made a lot of fruits and a few sweet treats as well, but never had the time to photograph them before they went to their new home.