Meet "Bobble"

After Sophie and I made our knitted  Owls before Christmas, last night I decided to finally finish the Alien that I started.

I did not have too much more to do to finish really and whilst sat on the sofa with the fire on and some pretty boring Friday night TV ( I really must organise a DVD next time) I set to work.

Starting at the top I added a pom pom on each corner that clashed nicely with the green knitted body.

I then used a large eyed needle to stitch 1 cm down from the pom pom and pulled the stitching tightly to create some small antenna.

Over the past four years of running my Monster Making Workshop I have become quite fond of making just one large eye in the centre of the face with layers on top.  As with the Owl's I used a glue gun to add them to the alien.

I had made some legs using a french knitting dolly, in fact it is an old wooden Cotton reel which my Dad had added some tacks to wind the wool around.  I have had that since I was at primary school, so it has lots of sentimental value to it.  I had considered putting some wire inside so that I could shape the legs but then wondered if it would catch and stick out so I left them as they are.

The body was stuffed generously and then the bottom line was stitched up, inserting the legs as I went along.

I shall be taking these my textiles club on Monday as we have started knitting the bodies for our knitted pets or aliens.  Some are finding knitting hard to pick up so I am going to suggest that using fleece for the body might be an idea.

Sophie was in bed when I made "Bobble" and when she saw him this morning she loved him!!

These are excellent for using up scraps and would make a good starter project for a new knitter.

Would a tutorial be of any use to anyone?  It would give me a good excuse to make another.

Hope you are having a lovely weekend.

xxx

OPAM July Round Up

While I am still smarting over my Malden Post disappearing I decided to do a little round up of my makes for OPAM July.  I succeeded in finishing 4 items one being a garment which took a bit longer.

First up is my skirt made using some fabric that I have had for some time.

It is 100% cotton so it does crease a bit, I fully lined it with cotton fabric as I do not like nylon lining at all.  I have a simple top edge which has been topped stitched with the lining as I am not a fan of waistbands and the hem has been over- locked and stitched using a slightly larger stitch to prevent puckering.

I used this pattern again........

I made up the version shown in red and white.

It says 1 hour and as I have said in the past it is longer than that really.  I fit them to me by stitching in the zip and side seams and then adjusting the front and back darts accordingly.  This makes it possible to fit it on your own.  I simply make the lining skirt to match and sew them together at the waist.  Flip round and top stitch then add a hook and eye at the top.  The out hem is turned up and stitched, then I take the lining hem up a further 1cm to make sure that it does not peep below the outer skirt hemline.  I took this on holiday with me.

Next up was my monster for the workshop at school.

 A much larger monster than those that I have made over the past few years.  For safety he is staying with me at home but I have had many enquiries from students who want to sign up to this workshop next summer!

Summer Bunting.  Now, I have done two sizes of template and I am waiting for hubby to show me how to make it accessible for everyone to download here but he has had an influx of work since we returned from holiday but it is sitting on his desk.  I shall watch carefully so that I can do it next time.

Then finally some swap items including this hand cut and handmade keyring.  There was also a mug rug but I made that a few months ago.

Not bad really considering how busy July is at work.  I have been busy knitting some mini hats for The Big Knit and I hope to make some outdoor bunting for my garden this month.  Just hope the weather holds, it is a glorious day with blue skies, sun and a light breeze!

Best get back to it.

xx

Monster Softie Making - OPAM July

It is that time of year when I run my Monster Making Workshop at school.  So I had 17 year 9 students for a whole day whereby they designed and made their own custom made monster.

The above is my effort which I finished off last night.  

We used mainly fleece with some fur and felt. 

The monster that I made last year had been sitting quite happily on a shelf in my room for over a year and then three weeks ago.........

It was taken from my room.

In 18 years I have only had three things taken and sadly this was one of them.  Pity and many students were appalled by this and were not impressed but despite a reward offer for its return my monster is still missing.

I had promised this for Sophie at the end of this school year.  I did make my own pattern so I might try and make another one.

Anyway.............below shows the efforts of my Monster making group.  Which is your favourite?

Bright green fur!!

Of course some bright pink fur as well.

Hello!

Even white fur.

Orange fleece and stitched on the outside for this design.

Spotty fun.

Smile please!!

Hi !

Yet more green...was definitely the most popular colour.

Hello Monster fans.

Love the grin on this chap!

Pink heart monster

And finally....

The Monster Bunch.

It was a very busy day and here is the gang all together.

All over for another year!

Take care all

xx

Monster Workshop 2

Sorry for the delay with these pictures.  I have work pouring out of my ears at the moment and hopefully I will be able to catch up with myself at some point.

As you might remember I had two Monster making workshops during our activity week a short while back.  Well here are the pictures from the second workshop.

Many very original ideas!  We started off both sessions by watching about 30mins of Monsters Inc.  Sets the mood for the rest of the day.

This group were keen to try the fur and did well with a fabric that can be unforgiving if seams are not accurate.

Many of the designs were quite large and did not show any concerns about making the monsters in a day, which was a joy to see.

Some really interesting shapes and use of other components.

Another teacher had taken a group coastal walking and seriously injured her ankle in a badger/rabbit hole so she came in on the workshop and made the rather cute monster shown above.

Then we rounded off the day with a fantastic group shot.

So I think another round of Mega Monster Making Workshops next year too, I think.

I made the green one on Monday and on the Friday I made.......

.....by far my favourite so far.  Oh I so love making these!!!!!

I met my new tutor group today (they are still in Year 6 and will arrive with me in September) and I have an idea to make a tutor group mascot.  Not made one in years...I think we need to make one.  What do you think?  I thought I could have a little bit of a design competition within the group to get some ideas.

Then of course we would need to give it a name.....

xx

Monster Plushie Madness

My second workshop on Friday was brilliant and above is the monster that I made to show the different stages.

This time I wanted to try fur and a different face.  

The body is made out a ball shape with four segments.  I made the pattern for the arms and legs as I wanted extra long legs to contrast with the smaller round body.

The eyes are in felt and the fangs are stitched in separately.

I did have a bit of a struggle getting all of the arms and legs inside to be able to stitch the back on but I got there in the end.

I have really enjoyed making these and Sophie has started one to help her get her Brownie Toymakers badge.

Tomorrow I shall show you the next batch or monsters made during this workshop.

Off to enjoy the evening sun which is actually out at the moment.

xx

Monster Plushie

This week we have been running a different timetable at school and on Monday I ran a days Monster Making Workshop.  I ran it last year but decided to do it differently this year.  As always, I made one along side the students to show the main stages.  See above, isn't she cute!!  I used fleece and on the arms I recycled one of Sophie's fleeces that she had outgrown.

A fun flower on the tummy with a button added a girlie touch to the design.

I have quite a few zips that are not suitable for any current projects so we used a few for mouths.  I have not used these on my monsters before.  One student put a tongue hanging out on their version.  This time we used felt for the features which worked much better this time.  Fleece features do tend to stretch too much.

I decided to add a flower on the back just as I did with my owl for the recent Mini swap that I did.  This time I also added one of my Indigo Blue Designs labels too.

I am really pleased with the way this monster turned out as it was not planned in advance as I wanted to show the students what they could do my developing an idea as they went along.

Would you like to see what they made?

The students are in year 9 which is about 14 years old.  Due to the new opting system many have not made anything like this for over a year. Amazing what they can remember when they know that they have only a day to make something!!

They did very well indeed.  For much of the day nothing was actually being said, heads were down drawing, cutting, pinning, stitching (groaning when they got the machine jammed), stuffing and stitching again.

A dream day and the look on their faces as they went of the room at 3pm said it all really!

From sketch to home in 300mins with happy kids who were "really pleased with the way mine turned out" being the main feeling.

It is days like these which keeps me wanting to teach every day!

Tomorrow I shall have more to tell of what I did on Tuesday, but for now all I shall say is that I am very worn out!!....

xx