Zombie Felties: How to Raise 16 Gruesome Felt Creatures from the Undead by Nicola Tedman and Sarah Skeate, Andrews McMeel Publishing (August 10, 2010)
The next in what is proving to be an exciting series on unusual and small felt critters – the first book ‘Felties’ I reviewed here and gave it a big thumbs up. This book is even better! My kids love it – they laughed while flicking through it and then immediately went to their felt stash (yes they have a felt stash) – no finished projects yet they need some help with the stitching (but not much). The projects as in the previous book are all really simple and immediate. They require minimum skills and materials and all achievable hour or two projects – so not daunting at all.
Plus these little critters are fun – witty and clever – you have your classic zombie (pictured here), you need tiny amounts of felt stuffing plus glue and stitching and a few beads, sequins and cord – thats about it. There are multiple variations with zombie pets – we loved the dead ducky – great gruesome descriptions too: “Ducky died a long time ago at the shooting range-you can see the bullet holes. Since then, he’s passed into a different state of being altogether. And it’s not one where he’s going to be welcome sharing anybody’s bath.”
The zombie bunny is great with a slit in his tummy and red embroidery floss guts spilling out. Pumpkin head has pink button brains coming out of his head – there is even a Michael Jackson ‘Thrilla’ Pop zombie.
Kitchener Stitch is a method of grafting two separate pieces of knitting so that they are seamlessly connected by a row of stitches that you’ve created as you join the two pieces together as one. Laura Nelkin shows you how in this clear visual tutorial.
Felted wool balls – did you know you can use them in the dryer in lieu of dryer sheets, they also make great kids and cats toys – you can use them for pin cushions and jewelry – the list goes on – here is a tute to help you make some.
Gearing up for a solo parenting weekend, full of soccer, bike rides and maybe some uhm relaxing craftiness? mmm… mess is screaming at me from the corners and I might have to scream back at it. I know this weekend the kids have plans to give the chooks a makeover, they did a test run of one the most passive girls, sat her in a bucket of warm water and gave her feet a wash, then wiped her down gently with warm water and groomed her beautifully, then tried to stop her from heading back to scratching worms – she was remarkably calm throughout – not sure how the other girls might react though – will be fun to watch.
REFASHION: Upcycled boys hats - I love these … knotted t-shirt scarf … and the refashion roundup
MIXED MEDIA: paper crane cup cake toppers … teacup crafts …
KIDS: printable sewing cards … plastic beasts …
MORE: Hand sewn coin purse tutorial …
Nicole Posted a tutorial on sewing circles.
NEWS AND OPPS:
Go see Anna Brownfield’s documentary about Melbourne’s indie craft scene, ‘Making it Handmade, Saturday 4 September : 2:30pm and 4pm : at Kaleide Theatre, RMIT, 360 Swanston st, Melbourne. If you email info[@]poisonappleproductions.com.au quickly you have a chance at 2 free tickets – ps. you need to book.For the past five years, people from all over the world have been contributing hundreds of photographs to potter Ayumi Horie’s Pots in Action web page. This ongoing crowd sourcing project seeks to both celebrate people’s creativity and underscore the importance of beautiful, handmade objects in everyday life. You can vote for your favourite image – voting ends September 14th, 12 noon EST.Be good!
Kathreen
xx
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Amigurumi!: Super Happy Crochet Cute by Elisabeth A. Doherty, published by Lark. (September 1, 2007)
I love Elisabeth’s life-like and full of personality crochet dolls and I am so happy that she has written a book about making her creations. She really knows her stuff and this book is full of her inspiration sources as well as all the tips and crochet tricks you will need to follow in her footsteps.
The projects range from simpler shapes (like carrots and strawberries) and lead you through the lessons from animals to humanoid dolls – with patterns for all four of the dolls on the cover included in the book. I really wanted to love this book but the photography and styling lets it down, I was really disappointed in the quality of the images – they really just don’t do justice to the skill and workmanship of these dolls. [Edited to add: However the quality of the patterns are top notch and you must check out Elisabeth's flickr site to see her recent work, and remember this book is a few years old now and I know the quality of Lark books have improved greatly recently. I look forward to seeing more work from Elisabeth.]
This drawstring bag opens up into a playmat, so Lego and other little toys can stay on the mat and be drawn back inside at the end of play. If you shudder at the sound of a crate of tiny toys being tipped out onto the floor, then you’ll want to make one of these! Tutorial from bellgirl.
