Crazy Characters

Once again, it has been a long time between posts... I am now a stay at home mum again, after four years of putting so much energy into paid work I get to have a break. With just a matter of weeks to go before the newest member of our family joins us I am indulging in some spontaneous creativity.

My first creations are to be donated to the winter magic market at Xanders school, the call went out for crafty parents and so here I am crafting away. There is something liberating about just making whatever the fabric decides, to not worry so much about it being liked by a particular person, or something that will turn a profit.

To begin, I finished off a couple of characters that have been hanging around un-finished for some time. The alien frog began as a christmas gift idea but didn't get past his stuffing before the occasion slipped me by, so I've added some googly eyes, crazy mouth and a bow tie and now he's ready to find a new home. The dolly has been around for even longer, the body was began by my mother, its tapestry on hessian and at some stage I became the custodian and added the rather strange limbs. The face and hair are more recent edition at finishing her so she may run free.

Next, I let the fabric dictate the design and just went with what developed. The rainbow man, has turned out very nicely indeed. Star eyes and an embroidered smile give him a certain dreamy-ness. He was looking a little bear around the waist and I found this little silver bag in amongst the ribbon, I filled it with more stars so he can spread his magic wherever he goes. And his wacky friend evolved from finding a range of purple buttons and running with it, I was going for a simple design to keep the price low when they go on sale at the school.

And to finish the family the characters got stranger and stranger. I began by making faces then looking through the fabric to see what kind of bodies they needed. The two monster bots was again keeping a simple shape so they were easy to stuff and sew, I think the faces are quite expressive and should appeal to kids. Mr clown is perhaps a bit too strange, I'm thinking he might still need some embellishment to bring out his full character but he was getting a little fiddly and starting to annoy me so he'll stay this way for now and maybe forever...

Next I think some hand-covered notebooks or stab-binded simple journals might be the go. Also I have a few projects for the baby in mind that I really should get to before the baby come along as who knows if I will have time to craft then...