Something a little different

After the success of Freddy the Frog my Dad asked me to do another piece for him, this time from one of his ex-work colleagues.   I don’t normally do pictures by adults but I’m always up for a challenge so I thought I should give it a go.   The story behind the picture is that it was drawn while Dad and his colleagues were on one of their work team-building trips to the south of France.   One of the days they were split into teams and had to do tasks throughout the day.   This drawing was the final task and won the contest for my Dad’s team.   The colleague who drew it gave it to my Dad as a memento and he has always treasured it, putting it in a frame in his home office.   So, he asked me to make a textile piece from it so that he can send it to the original artist.   Here is the result:

Happy Father’s Day (a little belated!)

This week I have a special picture to share with you.   This is the gift that I gave my dad for Father’s Day.   I asked my 5 year old daughter and her 6 year old cousin to draw a picture of their grandad and they did not disappoint.   As soon as I asked my daughter to draw him her excited response was “I’m definitely drawing him in shorts because he always wears shorts!”, my nephew even managed to include his ever-present flip-flops!

The picture that my daughter drew was in colour so I honoured her colour scheme but my nephew’s drawing was in pencil so this gave me some artistic licence to choose the colours.  

My nephew is very much into Marvel superhero characters and I happened to be gifted some superhero fabric from the lovely Jen at Little T’s Haberdashery so this was the perfect fit for grandad’s t-shirt and was a good way to differentiate that the two drawings were from the two children.

Here is the finished picture:

Dad was very pleased with his picture and within minutes of opening had hung it in prime position on his office wall.  😊

If you like this and would like a similar picture making please contact me via one of the links on the right-hand side of the blog page or email me at annamaltoys@gmail.com.

mini-macaroon

The inspiration for today's mini-mal comes from a gift I recently received from my boyfriend - some delicious Parisian macaroons from Laduree

The boxes are so beautiful I thought it was worth making something to put in it again:

I think someone's eaten the rest of mine!

Maybe I'll have to make some more to fill the box up.

Mini-button

Today's inspiration comes from artist and doodle embroiderer Aimee Ray.....

I think I first discovered Aimee's work on Pinterest when I was researching embroidery having just realised that contemporary embroidery existed and it wasn't all granny style stitching!   From there I bought one of her books, Doodle Stitching: Emboidery & Beyond, and now have a couple of others that feature her creations.   She has influenced my work for some time now and it was after getting her book that I produced the piece that won the competition for Kirsty Neale's prize!

Doodling is also becoming a popular art form and Aimee takes it to another level by transforming her doodles into embroidery:

So I thought Aimee would have to inspire one of my mini-mals - and here it is:

An embroidered button with tiny birds on it.

I have to admit that this has been the mini-mal that I have enjoyed making the most so far so maybe tiny embroidery will feature more this month.   Until tomorrow.... see you then!  x

Mini-rat

.... And, today's inspiration is Lauren Child.   If you have never come across Lauren's work you really must visit her website or do a Google image search - her illustrations are just beautiful.   I have been slightly obsessed with Lauren's illustrations, books, magazines, merchandise and animations ever since my sister introduced me to Charlie & Lola.  I love the way that she layers details, uses a combination of drawn and photographed images and the patterned fabrics and prints that she uses are just gorgeous.  I have many of her books and one of my favourite characters is That Pesky Rat:

And here is my (slightly naked) version:

See you for the next installment tomorrow.... x

A quick make this morning

Yesterday, whilst browsing the internet, I stumbled across a really good idea:

A pin cushion for your sewing machine!

Never again will you have to reach across the room for your pin box whilst sewing as it attaches to your machine so that you always have somewhere close at hand to collect pins as you pull them out of your work.   This may be a very practical item but why does it have to be a dull and boring shape?   I was looking at my most colourful fabrics but just couldn't bring myself to make just an oblong to stick on my sewing machine - so here is my take on the pin cushion:

This is far more fun to look at and really brightens up my machine but will I actually be able to stick pins in it?!?!?!?!

Euro 2012 Dragon?????

Whoever said that dragon's don't like football?   This particular one likes it so much he has developed markings on his skin in the shape of footballs - a sort of chameleon dragon maybe?!

I thought I would experiment with a design that was aimed more at boys.   He was supposed to be an alligator but morphed into a dragon as he was being made - it's so funny how a character appears and changes as you're making a creature.  I'm not sure if I'm completely happy with the design at the moment but I'm sure he will develop as I make more of them.

There is also good news for the WIP cats that have been made up but faceless for quite some time - I am getting closer to getting their facial features right so hopefully some more photos soon.   In the meantime I think this little chap will go on Etsy for sale.  :o)

Congratulations!

A big congratulations to my sister and my new brother-in-law on their wedding which was on the 1st June.   And to commemorate their special day I made them a little present:

If I ever have to make a morning jacket for a toy again it will be too soon!  The groom's outfit caused me a few headaches but I think he was well worth the effort, they seemed to think so too.   We all had a wonderful day and I'd like to say thank you for letting me be part of their special day and I wish them many years of very happy marriage.   xx

A little pic of the happy couple:

Apparently you're never more than 20 feet away from....

A rat!!!  Hopefully you won't find these ones scary though:

I have been pretty over the past few weeks and these rats are the fruit of my labour.   I'm going to be putting some for sale on Etsy soon so please have a look at my shop here.  Here are some more photos:

And here is some work-in-progress.  Hopefully finished pictures will follow shortly when I can figure out how to get the faces looking right!

Easter Bunting

We'll start with the bad news first:  As yet no creatures have materialised from the eye experimentation but I promise something will eventually!

And now to the good news!   I was beavering away ALL day yesterday and this is the result:

Some Eater bunting.   I enjoyed making the Halloween bunting so much last year that I thought I would continue the theme and rustle something up for Easter.   Here are some close-ups:

And this is what it looks like hanging up (thanks to Jasmin for the photo effects!)

It is now listed in my Esty shop so pop in and it could be yours!   :o)

Inspiration

Well my week isn't exactly going to plan!   It was my intention to have posted this instalment earlier in the week and  be showing you some of my own creations tonight.   But no such luck!!!   I didn't realise it would be so difficult to sort out all the web side of things; it is driving me round the bend!!   It seems like at the moment I am spending the vast majority of my life in front of a computer screen.   Enough of the venting of my frustration and onto the real reason for this post - designs that have inspired me.

Over the past few months I have been honing my knitting and sewing skills; compiling a collection of books and drawing inspiration and knowledge from them.   

Here are some examples of the knitted creations I have been experimenting with including reference to the books they are from:

Chucky the Chicken

This was the very first knitted toy that I made.   Chucky is from Rowan's "the organic cotton kids collection" pattern book.   I just love her dangly knotted-kneed legs!

Ellie 

Cedric

Ellie and Cedric are from "Knitted Toy Tales" by Laura Long.   They were very easy to knit and the texturing and appliqué adornments are lovely touches which bring these gorgeous toys to life.   They just love brightening up my desk and keeping me company at work!

Tiny Mushrooms

Teeny Tiny Snail

These two are from a fantastic book and website that I recently discovered – "Mochimochi".

This designer, Anna Hrachovec, takes inspiration from Japanese Kawaii illustration and her little figures are just adorable.   There is a lot to be learnt from these patterns and I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in knitted toys and learning to develop their own designs.

Busy Wekend.

Just a quick update:   I was hoping to have some pictures ready to post this evening but it hasn't quite worked out!   They have been taken but need a bit of tidying up before posting.   But i have been busy doing other stuff too.   Thanks to my lovely boyfriend having quite a hangover yesterday i managed to get most of the weekend for crafting.   A little sock bunny and rat are almost finished and a knitted chicken is starting to take shape.   Also this evening i have created a new facebook site dedicated to my little creatures, i think they deserve it!   Seems like i am going to spend most of my time on the computer rather than actually making!   On which note my knitting needles are calling - the chicken needs more work............