my creative space

is a very wonk head. Intentionally so, I'm having a crack at making another of my versions of my beloved old bear Ferdy. One of the things I love about making a bear like this because of the degree of wonk, all rules go out the window. Then to think of it I'm not much of a rule follower anyway.

Anyway head is patiently waiting for another ear, and a body, but knowing fully that his body ( and ear) will come in time when Im happy ( or happy enough). Don't ask me why i often stop for a while with one ear, but I'm rather prone to it. Resting there for a while and going back to working on the head. THere's no logic to it, other than perhaps with the addition of the first ear, I can see where the head needs more urgent attention which I feel is more important to attend to than a second ear. But seriously don't ask me.

But I don't really make bears in a logical or proper way.

but it ( sort of) works for me so if it aint broke why fix it.

A big thank you to Kirsty for being a host each week, and enabling us to share our and see others creative spaces.

Crosby

Even though Crosby works as a merchant banker, his real dream to become a florist.

Every night when he gets home, he either goes to Floristry School or arranges flowers in his apartment. He like Pineapple Upside Down Cake too.

I thought you might like

3 generations of the Macca's.

Frog boy and yours truly, and then again with my dad.

LFR and Help!

this is the little rabbit I was working on from yesterday.
I don't have a name for he/she and as you can tell I'm not even sure if it's a boy or girl. For now I'm just called it Little Felt rabbit
or LFR for short. What do you think? Boy or girl?
I have to say I loved working with felt again, and mixing the paint. Anything that creates a lot of mess. I think I want to make more of these little rabbits.


On other matter my postcards of my bears arrived today.
Unfortunately I couldn't use the photo of the whole kit and kaboodle as it didn't fit. SO I did a mini line up instead. I find taking photos of photos hard, so forgive the poor pic.
Um a few of you lovely peeps mentioned you might like some of these cards ( no pressure though) and I have no idea how much to charge for Postcards. So that's where the help comes in? what do you guys think? I'd really appreciate any thoughts?
is $1 too much?
hope you are having a great day xo

My Creative Space

this week in my creative space there's been a new Pikelet,

a cream ami rabbit,

a new rabbit in the works,

dyeing

and mixing paints and generally having to many projects on the go.
This week when I've been struggling with being low. craft and making stuff is my best therapy.

I hope your week has been full of creativity and good times xo

gotta love Gocco

Tomorrow Hannah, Mark ( her partner), Mum and Dad ( and me) are throwing a party for Harry's being in Australia for the first time, and a party for him to meet our big family.

Since the desert was not so kiddy friendly Mum and I had the idea of making little show bags of treats for the kiddies. I suggested we use paper bags with a gocco print on the front with some sort of Australian animal since the party is being held at Mum and Dad's holiday house in the bush.

We couldn't go past Possum Magic for a Design, and I couldn't go past this echidna.

I have to say I'm a little chuffed at how well it turned out, the print really does justice to the beautiful illustration by Julie Vivas. Gee I love gocco!

the botton pic is the test print of a scrap bit of paper. I think I'm going to keep it and put it on the wall.

Hope you have a great weekend.

Doug

For the last few weeks I've itching to be doing some more mohair bears, but since I was in market prep and amigurumi is better market fare, I knew I couldn't really act on my cravings, til after.

But I promised myself when it was over I was going to devote some real time to concentrating on mohair bears for a while, because I had so many ideas and bears I wanted to create.

I'm lucky that in working in two different mediums, I can go between the two ( most of time) depending on which one I feel more inspired by.

Doug is the first little bear I've been wanting to get out of my head. A bit different of course than he looked in my head. He's a slight variation of my Iggy pattern but slightly modified because well I can't leave things alone.

Doug's main passion in life is bird watching,

watermelon juice and cinnamon donuts. He also has a weakness for Day Time Soaps.

For the loads more Creative Spaces please visit our super host Kirst.

All about the boy

Frog boy and Frog Girl are reunited ( Harry and Aunt Jess)

My sister is over here for a few weeks, and this little dude ( though so much bigger now!) has me charmed all over again.

the stuff that matters.

Today was my market Stall. To be honest it wasn't the best market day or the most succesful day, it was quite slow and quiet. But today and yesterday I am feeling nothing but lucky.

I'm feeling immensley grateful to my wonderful friends, friends who dropped by, cheered me up , helped out and sent messages and thoughts when I just needed it. Grateful to have friends I can talk honestly with, not just about the good or cheery , happy happy stuff, But the more complex difficult things and frustrations. Blessed to know these wonderful generous women, and to call them my friends. Friends who get me, and I feel comfortable with, and fine to be "me" around.

That I was next to two such lovely people at the Market, the amazing Maddy from Mosey

and Tali from Milk and Cookies. And that all the stall holders there with me were so friendly and nice

I feeling grateful to my dad, who helped me set up and picked me up at the end, even though he had had a busy day and done heaps of driving. Who takes an interest in my craft, which is often rare for a man. To my mum who thinks the suns shines from my behind no matter what.

To be so lucky to be free of danger, safe in my home, my world not ripped apart by an earthquake or flooding. My family and loved ones safe and healthy.

These things, great friends, good people and love, these things are far more important to me

than heaps of sales or a great market. these are the things that matter

FOr those in Japan and the US my heart and thoughts go out to you.

To be quite Frank

One of the things I love about making bears and toys, as the naming or getting to know you process. And the freedoms you can have with naming them, that perhaps you don't have so much if they were children. Names that work for bears, but would I wouldn't choose for a boy of my own or be perhaps cruel to call a child. ( and I'm not just talking about Posswonk or Donut)
Names like Gary, Nigel, Victor, Steve, Dwayne and in this case Frank. When Frank came to me I felt indeed I had a bear in me called Frank, but it wasn't a name I necessarily choose for a son.

And then yesterday Frank was born. Frank is the last bear I've made for my Craft Hatch gang on Saturday, but he is full of firsts. It's the first time I've ever used a non-dye natural yarn for a bear, the first time I've done lighter arms and legs and ears than the body on a bear , the first of a new pattern of mine and the first to have an extremely high snoz.

And the first day to be called Frank.

But enough of my ramblings, here's a bit more about Frank ( can you tell I really like saying it over and over?).

While Frank likes supermarket trolley racing and tractors , he's biggest passion in life is Jazz Ballet. He wants to be a professional ballet dancer when he grows up. And spending most of his time practising. He also has a fondness for Tee Vee Snacks.

PS- the funny thing is one of my favourite names for a boy is Teddy.

Too Much?

It appears I've gone a little psycho. I'm not sure quite how this happened ( perhaps being an insomniac has its upsides) but the couch life has suddenly exploded and now the only option is to go up, because perhaps scarily I've still got two more in the works.

And now as long as my usual market nerves and wobbles , I'm worried that perhaps I've gone overboard.

Is there such a thing as too much Wonk?

So here we have the almost final cast of characters who will be joining me at Craft Hatch on Saturday.

Oh and I also forgot, I have a new business card, which I love ( the crew from the last hatch)

which I have you guys to thank, because I'm sure you came up with the idea)

If you'd like to pop by and say hello, we would love that.

But make sure to pop over to Creative HQ for a squiz at all things creative.

Hope you have a great day

Gumby the hopeful (pygmy) Hippo

Called Gumby because he reminds me of Gumby's horse, and hopeful because he ( and I) hope he looks more like a hippo, than a platypus/snail/caterpillar/pig.

I guess the pig part's OK, since he's a pygmy hippo, but I do feel like i'm on fire here creating animals that look more like other creatures than animal they were intended to be.

I've been thinking alot about hippos lately. Lots of people love elephants, and I began to feel for hippos. I realised I had never heard someone say "i love Hippos, or hippos are my favourite animal" Poor Old Hippos. Well I guess no one but me. I do love hippos, though they are not my favourite animal ( obviously )

So much do I love hippos, and pygmy ones especially that when I was in year 9, when we had to enter a science contest for school, I made a video about the Pygmy Hippo at the Melbourne zoo, backed to the sounds of Frank Sinatra's version of " Lady is a Tramp". Because Frank and hippos just seem to go together.

I remember the time as one of my favourite times in high school, hanging out with this hippo at the zoo, and far away from school and teenagers.

Anyway back to Gumby. Gumby's an optimistic type, he's always in a good mood, and is always looking on the bright side. He also likes Frank Sinatra, ping pong and cheesecake.

Ella- a sheepish Cow

I've talked alot on this blog about how much I love chickens, but truth is if I had to pick a favourite farm animal ( which would be tough) I would have to say it would be cows.

Every since I was a little girl i have always loved cows and calves, their sweet docile nature , big eyes and open faces . And ever since I was a kid I've had a special bond with cows whenever I've been around them.

When I was 7 , we spent quite a bit of time up at my aunt in laws brother's farm. Probably technically my uncle in law. He had a beautiful jersey cow called Belle, and I would spent most of my time there out in the paddock with Belle chatting to her about all things and patting her.

Then later when I was volunteering at Collingwood Children's farm, they had a beautiful cow that I loved. Every week I would have to say hello to her and whenever I was weeding in the orchard, the cow ( who I can't remember her name) would come up to the fence of the orchard near me.

One day I would love to have a cow of my own. But my love of the city sort of makes it hard.

I do have this little dream, that when I hopefully settle down with a bloke, I move to Daylesford and have a cow ( there's a warning for you Daylesford girls.)

So in the mean time I decided to try to make a cow to add to me Hatch family

.

I found it quite hard, and spent lots of time googling Jersey cow images.

But here's my first effort, Ella, who I think looks more like a sheep,crossed with a pig with an udder than a cow.

Never the less I think she wants to be a cow, and that at least should count for something.

hope you have a wonderful weekend xo

My Creative Space

As much as I know Marty loves the amis, I thought it would be nice for him to have another bear there more like him with him at the market, mohair jointed etc. ( and lets face it I wanted to make another mohair bear)

I then proceeded to make a bear in a different style from him, only similar in the fact that they are both jointed and made from mohair. Sometimes I don't know about my logic. Sometimes I think I should settle on one style of bear, but then again I love dabbling in different styles and creating different characters, and I think I might get a little bored if the were just variations of the same pattern. What do you think?

I've always loved the high headedness of the bear made by many Japanese bear makers/ artist's( still struggle with that term). Perhaps because their bears are so different to mine.

Anyway I decided to challenge myself and give a high head bear a whirl and put my spin on to.

So the result is Iggy. A curious and inquisitive bear, who like english muffin pizzas and fishing for yabbies. Who wants to be a plumber when he grows up.

And of course Marty and Iggy are instant friends. Because bears are friendly chaps.

To see what other friendly chaps have been creating pop over to One hell of creative chap here.