I made another barn owl ....

and i took a better photo, too ...

Cat in the hat

My take on the famous Dr. Seuss character Cat in the Hat. Other Dr. Seuss Characters

Time For A Walk in the Woods!

I'm so glad Fall is finally here! Time to walk through the woods without skeeters and snakes.....

I find so much inspiration once the weather gets cool! My bearalope fluffidermy!

Hedgie Twins!

Since I will be an aunt I had to make some cute "baby safe" plushies. I'm taking these back home to Puerto Rico tonight.



Other versions of The Hedgies.

Go Ask Alice

I'm finally ready to reveal the pieces I made for the awesome Go Ask Alice show! I decided to make the Queen of Hearts, Alice, and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. I envisioned the Queen of Hearts as a nasty sea monster who captured Alice:

The Queen herself is vaguely heart-shaped, and she has heart-shaped pupils and suckers, as well as heart-shaped jewels on her crown.

I based my Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum on the John Tenniel illustrations from the first edition of Alice in Wonderland.

I actually used my owl pattern, enlarged, for their general shape (Alice also uses my owl pattern, but much smaller), and then I just added arms and legs. I was really nervous about embroidering the faces since I've never made anything remotely human-looking before, but I am rather pleased with how they came out.

I decided to also make sailor hats for Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, to more closely tie them to the Queen of Hearts piece.

And here's the whole gang together:

I've long been a fan of Alice in Wonderland (I even wrote my undergrad thesis paper on the tale, because I'm that nerdy), so I'm more excited than usual to be participating in this show. Many, many thanks to Cimmi for curating! If you're in the Santa Barbara area, please go check it out (and take lots of pictures!). Visit the Paul Cumes Fine Art Gallery website for more info.

Lolli Tangleton Couchie

New in town, currently residing at www.marisagirardipresents.com, Lolli knows karate and isn't afraid to use it. Soft as she may be, she is no pushover so don't try anything funny.

Cat with Pretty Lady Face

This is my latest completed piece. She is actually one of a set of cats I've been working on. Right now she has 4 similar sized cat friends and 5 kitten friends in different colors and fabrics just waiting for their faces to be painted on. Pretty Lady Cat was finished just today for my friends birthday, but I'm hoping to sell the rest at the local farmer's market. I'm looking for advice from plushie artists that sell their work. How did you start? How many pieces did you get together first? How did you determine pricing? Is there anything else I should know?

Contour Owls

I'd like to share my new model of little plush owls. all the outlines are done by machine embroidery.
all is made of reused textile and stuffed with organic cotton.

Wee of Many Colors!

Hello TheNeedle Community! This is my first post. I'm Erin Froehlich and I've been sewing for several years now, but my passion has always been plushies. For me it's hard to compare the satisfaction that comes creating a new creature to anything else. In the past I've sewn them for friends, but now as I've been trying to find a job I can't help thinking how amazing it would be to make a living off them. The plushies below are the templates I'm thinking about designing a line around. You can see more pictures and info at www.weeofmanycolors.weebly.com. I would love to hear any comments or advice you have for me!

Summer Fruit Owl

hanging out at home on a hot day with Summer Fruit Owl.

Garden of Roses Cat

Did anybody ever tell you life isn't a garden of roses?
Well, they lied.
Life is full of big, sweet smelling, lush roses and twisted, painful thorns.
Garden of Roses Cat is made of linen-like off-white rose printed textile, Disturbed by patches of heavy dark chocolate brown material, which slash through the body and face.
see more photos of GoR Cat in my etsy shop

Patchism Dog

It is mid spring and patchism is rife. Patches everywhere unite and take over.
No one can escape them – everybody is covered in patches all over.
We present a specimen: a mustard color dog collided with a gang of black and white plaid patches. Before he had a chance to run away he was covered; Covered with patches all over.
Shocking!

Life is a Peach

I lurrv my new peach-grey owl. Some color combinations turn out just right, and off-course the more polka dots you can get on an item the better ;-)
odeliala.etsy.com

Rock-On Dog

This one turned out a rock star. I thought he might feel good in a sort of clubby kind of atmosphere. So I built one out of printed card. He sure liked it, and wanted me to snap snap. So I did. And then he wanted me to put up his photo in The Needle, his favorite plush website. "You are so demanding" I told him. "Don't get all 'rock star' on me, dude. I'm not you groupie, I have a life too you know". But than I had to send him away and, I regretted being so grumpy and, I just played it hard to get anyway. So I did put up his photo, and now I miss my little rock star friend.

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like ......

My latest needlework is a set of Scandanavian Christmas Ornaments. With a little embroidery and all purpose muslin they work up fast just in time for that last minute gift giving. With things tight with the economy what better than a handmade gift from the heart. Pattern will be available by Wednesday in my Etsy Shop.

Zara the Funky Groovy Mermaid Witch Ragdoll

Hello Needlers! My name is Cimmi and I am new here at the Needle.
I make ragdolls, trees and sometimes animals. I blog about dolls at The Dollhead .
Zara's the Mermaid Witch's tail is made from recycled 1980's batik fabric. She is one of a kind and standing in front of an oil painting by Paul Cumes.

!!!!Happy Halloween!!!!!

a few new Happycloud dolls

Here's a few of my latest dolls. A couple elves, a Warrior Princess and custom doll traded for a cool drawing.

I'm also working on a comic based on my doll characters.

The Happycloud Thunderhead Blog

Dandelion & Felix

Here's my counterpart for the swap I did with Nichol from Pillow Monsters. I had a ton of fun making this one for Nichol :)

If you haven't seen Nichols work yet, check out here blog Pillow Monsters!

Dandelion is a sweet little mushroom- she's 5 yrs old and her best friend is Felix the Frog. He likes to stair up at the sky and loves to hear the leaves rustling in the wind while lying down on Dandelions head. They both make each other feel safe :) Dandelion likes it when she sees people camping, especially when they make camp fires. She just loves the smell of smores! Who can blame her?! Together they are just about the cutest thing you'll ever see on the forest floor ;-)

and here's what I received :) Annie makes a great pal- thank you Nichol!

Scruffy Lion

This is Scruffy Lion. He's yellow and purple and a bit dishevelled. Although his mane is pretty wild and unkept, he's actually quite friendly and tame for a lion.

Scruffy is all hand-stitched and is quite small. He's about 3.5 inches tall and 4.5 inches long. He's made from felt, fluff and an old bit of flower-patterned silky fabric from an unwanted scarf.

Braveheart Monkey

Hello! Just wanted to share my latest Superstar Sock Monkey: Mel Gibbonson as William Wallace in Braveheart. I have been hiding him away as he was a custom order for Valentine's Day but now the secret is out, so here he is. I had a fantastic time researching and making him - I hope you like him!


Braveheart monkey is the latest in my series of 'Superstar' Sock Monkeys based on characters from TV and film.

Sian x