Angel Bunny Finished - better photos this time!

Hi there! I hope you're all well today and looking forward to Christmas.  I spent a couple of hours last night putting up our Christmas tree - and when I say "putting up", all I mean is constructing the big artificial tree we've had for about six years now. It has around 60 individual branches that need to be 'fluffed out' and slotted into the 'trunk' ie metal pole. I was listening to a couple of very festive CDs (and chatting with Mathew, which was nice) to while away the time, Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Christmas Carols", and "Dona Nobis Pacem", and drinking port & lemonade like I did when I was a little 'un. Lovely. So now I'm just about to start loading the hundreds of baubles and ornaments onto the 6ft 6in monstrosity!

Anyway, here's Angel Bunny! Mathew said I could have taken better photos but there you go, I'm feeling slap-dash today.  I still don't have a name for her so if you'd like to suggest an angelic-sounding name (or an actual angel's name) please leave a comment for my consideration! That would be really nice.

I promise I will be posting the patterns and instructions but at this rate, it might not be before Christmas! I have a lot to do, but I'll try my best! I've got masses to do before the New Year (secret squirrel, but it involves sewing... could it be another magazine project? wink wink!) so as my old mum used to say (and probably still does), no rest for the wicked!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to Everyone!

Warmest Wishes

Joey xxx

Angel Bunny Finished! Not Great Pictures But You Get The Idea

macro photo showing the little hooks on Velcro. They're so tiny!!

Good morning!

Well, I stayed up late last night because I couldn't wait to finish Angel Bunny! And I did it!  However the light I have to work under and take pictures with isn't that great (I really should make myself a lightbox for times like this, shouldn't I?) but I figured it was better than nothing until tomorrow when I'll be able to take some half-decent pics in natural light (I'm at work today - as soon as I've posted this!)

So, cut circles of Velcro for the wings and glued them on, and then sewed around for extra strength. An Angel Bunny needs secure wings remember, for all that flying around the room when we've gone to bed on Christmas Eve! ;-)

I stitched the hooked part of Velcro to the wings and the fuzzy parts to Angel Bun's shoulders, thus:

Then I cut a piece of milk bottle plastic as a sort of 'backbone/skeleton' to prevent her from flopping under the weight of the halo (remember it's a costume, a real halo being made of holy light, would weigh nothing). I started stitching in blanket stitch and inserted the plastic 'skeleton' and also stuffed her body with toy filling at the same time, so the 'skeleton' is encased within a layer of stuffing on either side. It wasn't too tricky as she's a nice size to work with but I think if she were any bigger it would be difficult; any smaller and she probably wouldn't require strengthening with plastic, so if you'd like to make one, that may be something to consider (make a mini one).

Well, here she is! I told you the picture wasn't very good, but I couldn't wait to show you!  Oh, I forgot to take a picture of the back - she does have a tie of green velvet ric-rac with which to tie her to the top of the tree (I'm sure she can undo it herself if she wants, so don't worry too much!).

I will be posting the patterns and a quick tutorial on how to make your very own Angel Bunny tomorrow, so if you don't have much to do on Christmas Eve (don't tell me you haven't got everything ready?? So it's not just me then?) well, here's a project to keep you out of mischief!

Time to get the tree up tonight then! Christmas is coming!!

Best wishes

Joey xx

Work in Progress: A Ring of Light for the Angel Bunny

Hiya! I'm trying to get this Angel Bunny finished because I don't feel I can put our Christmas tree up until I have! You see, she's going to go on the top. Well, I finished her halo last night and I wanted to share some pictures with you.

You will remember that I already cut out the felt pieces and backed them with iron-on Vilene the other day. I made a template for the 'rays' of light (lines of chain stitch) that I wanted, and used that to draw the lines straight onto the felt with fade-away pen. I think the warmer and dryer your room, the quicker this disappears, as I had to re-draw the lines a couple of times.

I used three different threads; Anchor gold lamé thread (which you have to divide as it's six-stranded), Gutermann coppery metallic thread and DMC yellow satin thread, which is super-shiny and quite 'slinky' to work with - it slips around really easily.

I've decided that it will be easier and better to Velcro the halo to the back of bunny's head, so I positioned the hooked-side of the velcro to the front of the halo and hand-stitched it on.

I wanted a bit of stiffness to the halo as well, so I cut a piece of milk bottle plastic (which I save from milk bottles to make the bigger version of the iq lampshade... look at the first one I made, nearly two years ago and still going strong!).  I use this type of plastic quite frequently when I want something to be stiffened but not padded, as there's less chance of it getting bent like cardboard may do, and it has more stiffness than craft-weight interfacing (i.e. the thickest sort you can get).

I glued the felt back and front of the halo to the plastic piece then sewed around with blanket stitch, adding a gold seed bead before every stitch to make a shiny beaded edge! Which I love, I have to say!

What do you think? Fit for an Angel Bunny?

So now all I have to do is make her wings up and put her all together! Which I am going off to do right now!

Stay Warm!

(unless you are in the Southern Hemisphere, in which case, stay cool!!)

Best Wishes

Joey x

Work in Progress: An Angelic Robe and an Angelic Face

Hello!
I thought I'd share with you a bit more of the Angel Bunny I'm making at the moment...

Here's the front piece, with the embroidered 'robe' (I don't want to call it a dress, angels don't really wear dresses do they?). I used some very easy-to-sew-with silver thread called Ophir by Coats. I used backstitch. You don't need to separate the threads which is a bonus when using metallic threads, I find that really difficult.  The picture doesn't capture the effect of the silver thread but it's very shiny!

 Then I embroidered the sleeves of the robe in backstitch and glued on the hands (or should that be paws? Yes, Joey). I finished the paws off my stitching around them in a matching thread.

I embroidered the features in split-stitch because I find it's quite 'controllable'; you can quite easily create tiny intricate outlines and go around tight curves without any bother, though I don't think it's the most beautiful stitch. It's quite utilitarian I suppose.

I don't know about you, but I cannot make something without taking it apart and changing some part of it at least once along the process. I've been quite good at planning this piece, but I did have to change her mouth. If you look below, I hadn't outlined the whole mouth in black...

... but I decided that it might look a bit like she's sticking her tongue out! So I unpicked it all, and re-did it like this:

Which I much preferred.  Lastly, I embroidered the ears to indicate the 'openings', and filled in the mouth with satin-stitch.

Here is the finished front-piece:

Next jobs will be to embroider the halo and finish the wings.

I promise that I will finish her before Christmas!!

Best wishes

Joey xx

Work in Progress: Angel Bunny

Hi! I have a very nasty cold at the moment, and my partner Mathew has got the same thing so our house is an incubation unit for germs at the mo. I have no voice! Which I have learnt is referred to as 'laryngitis'; inflammation of the larynx. So apologies for whispering, it's the best I can do. ;-)

Do you remember that angel I made and posted a picture of a few weeks back? Well, I've decided that I want to make a BUNNY version (of course!) in FELT. I've just started but thought I would share with you how far I'm up to because I'm going to share the pattern and a tutorial for making it too!  Here's the angel just to refresh your memory:

So far, I've just cut out all the felt pieces (backed with iron-on Vilene, of course). Below is the halo pieces, paws and wings.

I glued the head, body and legs together, thus (the bunny on the left shows the wrong side and how I cut the pieces, and the bunny on the right shows the right (felty) side, how the bunny will look.

These are the wings (which will be double-sided), I'm really pleased with them so far.
 

 
So please watch this space for further updates, and the pattern and instructions on how to make your own angel!
 

Best wishes and have a great weekend!

Joey xx

GRRR!! Monster, Monster!!

Hurrah! My monster bag has been featured today on Cuteable! Thank you Lynsey!

I designed and made this bag for a project which appeared recently in the December issue of the online Making Gifts magazine.  I was inspired by the 'spoils bag' (pictured below) from the videogame "Legend of Zelda - the Wind Waker" because the bag looks as if it is ACTUALLY a monster, not just a picture of a monster on it... I think it's because how the the front flap on the spoils bag is drawn, it really is a mouth, and I wanted to create something like that.

If you decide to have a go at making my monster bag from Making Gifts magazine, I would love to see your creations, so please get in touch!

Have a great Friday everyone!

Best wishes

Joey x

It's Beginning to Feel a Lot Like Christmas!

Angel, originally uploaded by Joey's Dream Garden (formerly Joey 7).

Hello!

I've had a lot of fun today! Sheffield has had a massive load of snow, so I was very happy to arrive at work to be told that I could go straight home again! Hurrah! Me and Mathew had a walk through Sheffield city centre to see the snowy spectacle and take loads of pictures (which you can see on my Flickr page here if you want!  The Very Very Snowy Day Set)

Anyway, I had to go into work today because I had to take in this little angel decoration I'd made yesterday!  One of my work friends has made a Christmas tree-shaped advent calendar for the building. On each day a door is opened to reveal a photo with a Christmassy/wintry theme, submitted by different members of staff (four of the photos are mine).

Of course, every Christmas tree needs something to go at the top, so my colleague asked me to make a little angel.  I roughly sketched the design, then re-drew it a bit neater and more symmetrical.  I used carbon paper to transfer the design onto foamboard.  I made the halo and each of the wings separately, then painted the angel with acrylic and gouache (poster) paints. Foamboard is quite difficult to cut around the intricate shapes; I used a Fiskars craft knife with a new blade, and made short cuts to round off the angel's curly hair. The halo is made from an oval of gold crepe paper stuck onto foamboard and the wings are glittery wrapping paper with a curly design painted on. I then glued the halo and the wings to the back of the angel to give a three-dimensional effect.

I'm quite pleased with my little angel, but I don't know if it's a boy or a girl. What do you think?

If it's snowy where you are too, stay warm tomorrow!

best wishes

Joey x