A shaggy bear and another cage

So I spent last week doing up all my items for The Chocolate Crow. They were due in by the 7th, for the changeover on the 15th of this month.

I made up a sweet little shaggy bear that I've called Fleur.

I used a pattern by Elena Vinagradova, which by the way was a freebie! Sweet!

Her site is Weinbaeren.com and you can find this pattern and another real cutie here.

Mind you, only the template and colour pic is in the download. So if you aren't very experience at sewing bears up then you might need some help, coz there aren't any instructions for either bear!

My Fleur looks quite different to her little bear though, so you can always put your own spin on them.

She also has some free e-postcards with some of her very adorable little critters on them, and some free wallpapers too. The site is in Russian so you'll need to translate.

I also made another birdcage. This one is only about 6" high. I really enjoy making these. 

I was also supplying the free pattern this month and I came up with a little bird on a swing. Surprise!  :))

Glad I don't design and make up patterns for a living! This took me all day just to type up, let alone making up the bird! The bird on swing was the easiest part of it all.

Trying to word the pattern so that readers of it understand how it's all made, is rather time consuming. :) It's all very well sitting down and just making something from your head, coz I just say to myself......ok so this goes here and then you take that around blah blah blah etc. Putting that into words is another matter, especially if you're not used to doing it. You can see it so easily in your head!

BUT, once it's finished I'm usually very proud of myself. I've made up about 5 patterns now I think.

 

It was even more intense when I was invited by Australian Homespun, to make up patterns for two other items I had designed for myself. This was big time pattern making in my books!!! Although it was easier in a sense I suppose, coz after I've sent in the pattern there are professionals that go through it all and edit and set it out properly for the magazine.

The ones I do for Choccie Crow aren't quite up to that I'm afraid!  :))

So apart from making up a pile of eco-friendly chenille dishcloths, that was my week craftwise.

Did you have an interesting and crafty week I wonder?

Thanks for listening.  :)

Life is uncertain, so eat dessert first!  ~  Unknown