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Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Give-Away Winners

Dear friends,

Thank you all so much for the wonderful comments you left on my latest pattern GIVEAWAY!  I'm so glad you like the new Pocket Pals! 


To help with the draw today, I got my son and his friends to pick four numbers out of a total of 67 entries.  Here are the names of the winners:

Deana Novak - Teddy and Bunny
Angela - Teddy and Bunny
Tracey Marsden - Teddy and Bunny
Andrea creates - Piggy and Kitty

Congratulations to you all, hope you enjoy making these sweet little animals:) 



Looking forward to your visits once we're back from our holidays:) 
hugs,
~Shelly
xo

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Parkland Stuffling Patterns

Well, it's taken me long enough, but I've finally managed to get the Parkland Stuffling patterns made up and they're now available in my shop.

These are available as a group, or as indiviual patterns.


The Parkland Squirrel























Parkland Bunny






















Parkland Raccoon

















I'll be closing my shop from Thursday, August 18 to Monday, August 29 as we'll be away.  There is still time to add your name to the draw for the Pocket Pall Pattern Giveaway if you have not done so yet.  I'll be announcing the winners tomorrow - Wednesday, August 17th.  Best of luck everyone!!

hugs,
~Shelly
xo

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Pocket Pal Pattern GIVEAWAY!!!

It's time for another GIVEAWAY!!  My Pocket Pal patterns are all ready to go, so if you'd like a chance to win one of four patterns, please leave your name, email address and your choice of either the Pocket Kitty and Piggy or the Pocket Bunny and Teddy. 

































This will be a very quick giveaway and I'll be drawing the names of the winners on Wednesday, August 17, as we are leaving for holidays at the end of the week. 

Looking forward to hearing from you:)
hugs,
~Shelly
xo

Friday, August 12, 2011

A Piggy, a Bunny, a Kitty and a Bear

I have some good news to share tonight, my new collection of Pocket Stufflings is finally completed!  I am delighted to share them with you and will be working very hard to make the patterns for them available by early next week!  Here they are...

So, from left to right - Anchovy Kitten, Petula Piggy, Tinker Teddy and Beatrice Bunny.  All are made from hand woven felt and completely hand stitched.  For the boys, I made short overalls with cross-over straps - they close in the front with snaps and are edged in contrasting blanket stitch.  The girls wear dresses with working pockets and I've added beaded lace at the hems and/or buttons and beads down the centre of the neckline.  All are available in my shop.

The Pocket Stufflings will be made into two separate patterns, each featuring a boy and a girl. 





The Kitty and Piggy.






















The Teddy and Bunny.

















As usual, I will try to make the patterns very easy to follow and will also include hand drawn illustrations at each step of the process.  These would be perfect for little ones to carry around with them wherever they go and are very sweet together as a set.  The only draw back to making them is that you might not want to give them up!

Please be on the look out for my next post as I'll be doing a very quick pattern GIVEAWAY for these little Stufflings before we leave for our holidays at the end of next week.  If all goes well, the patterns should be ready by the end of the weekend and the draw would take place next Thursday, the 18th of August.

Enjoy your weekend,
~Shelly
xo

Monday, August 8, 2011

Pocket Stufflings

Earlier this week, I was inspired by one of my favourite pieces of fabric to make a new series of Pocket Stufflings.  You can see it here.  I've used it in many other dresses that I've made for my cloth dolls and I also gave some to my mom so she could make dresses for her shop.  Well, the two of us were talking about it the other day and as I was thinking about how much I'd really like to get some more of it, a little idea popped into my mind.  A perfect idea that would work so well if I modified my Pocket Pixie pattern here and there.  So, to start, I made a sweet little Pocket Piggy....


I think she's absolutely adorable, but she needs some friends...


So these will be them!  I just love how their little faces turned out!  Next, it's on to the bodies and then clothing.  The bear and kitten are meant to be boys, so I'm thinking of a pair of shorts for one and pants for the other - with suspenders of course!  And a pretty sundress for the bunny.

I'm hoping to make these patterns available for the fall - perfect for Christmas gifts!

Have a gorgeous week:)
~Shelly
xo

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Needle Book Tutorial

Hello everyone!  I have a new project for anyone who'd like to make a felt needle book.  This is a very easy pattern and only requires a basic blanket stitch to complete.  These are fun to make for friends and always handy to have in your sewing basket.



You will need:

:  Felt - I chose hand woven felt, but any will do,
:  Embroidery thread,
:  Seed beads
:  Snap




 
 
 
 
Download the pattern pieces below and cut out one Needle Book Cover, one Needle Book Page, an Outer Petal and an Inner Petal.
 
Blanket stitch around edges of the cover and pages.  If you like, use a contrasting thread.
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
To make the flower, fold outer petal in half and, using a double strand of embroidery thread, take a few tight stitches right in the centre of the fold.  This will create a little pucker in the middle once open.  End off thread at the back. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Do the same with the inner petal, and bring the thread up through the centre.
 
 
 



Lay the outer petal behind the inner petal and attach seed beads to the centre, making sure to take the needle through both layers of felt.  Leave a length of thread at the back for later.  This will be used to attach the flower to the flap that closes the needle book.

















Place the 'page' onto the wrong side of the needle book cover - right side up.









Fold in half and line up the pages and edges of the cover.

Thread a long needle with a double strand of embroidery thread and insert on the inside of the cover, about half an inch below the top edge of the cover and blanket stitch the spine of the book, going through all layers of felt.  End off on the inside of the cover.  This will ensure that the beginning and end of the thread will not be seen once the book is open.








Sew male side of the snap to the inner flap of the needle book cover. 


Bring the thread out through to the front.  
Sew on the felt flower using tiny stitches to attach it to the top layer of the felt.  Try not to let your stitches show underneath.  It looks neater this way:) 
Sew on the female snap as shown.
        Now all you have to do is add some needles and pins and your little book is complete!  Hope you enjoyed this project!

Click Here to download/print the pattern pcs.