over at bobolina are wonderful.

Mimi makes the most adorable dolls, I have showcased them here before, but her latest batch of fat cats and robots are too good to pass up.

Ihanna’s ironed on face doll

planeta hilda’s doll lineup

treefall design’s patchwork lamp cover

I love to sift through my bloglines checking out crafty goodness in blogland. Do you have a cool link to send in, an idea, a tutorial or just something fantastic that you have made or have seen somewhere? please email me.

Lovely pillow dolls cropping up all over lately, in embroidery, silkscreen, and other media.

crafty mcgee: embroidered April showers and deer

orangeyouglad on Craftster: screen-printed cat pillows with tutorial

Jess Hutch (from whom I stole this post’s title): embroidered Alice, dolly, kitten in mittens, and chihuahua

Tania: screen-printed birds and dolls

Loosetooth: painted and printed pillow dolls, cowgirl, and hedgehogs+squirrels (scroll down)

Wee Wonderfuls: embroidered brunette and redhead

Artist and maker Wendy Crabb from green girl art makes soft robots amongst other things.

She says of her work “Inspiration came from necessity“. She signed up for plush rush with no idea of what she was going to make or how to make it. Without a sewing machine she needed to use materials that would not fray. So she used some wool felt quarters that she found at weeks dye works.

“I kept circling around what I was going to do and then I drew a really tiny sketch – a funny robot. … From there it just clicked. I had the beginnings of an idea. I drew these wonky patterns on some brown paper and I just started cutting fabric and sewing the pieces together. My first guy was really big about 20 inches tall sitting – but I never actually measured him. … I actually found this little scrap of paper the other day I had written about two years ago “I want to create soft toys”. My brain works in a round about way.”

Lately Wendy has been making soft sea creatures from recycled painted fabric, which has been washed and washed until soft and colour fast. This fabric comes from cut down backdrops which sometimes leaves some amazing scraps. “I’ll make as many creatures as possible and then once the fabric is gone…well then I’ll try and scavange more from the next beautiful backdrop we make.”

hop skip jump is an Adelaide mother and artist and toy maker and general amazingly talented person with excellent sewing and crafty skills.
What I love most is the adorable clothes, the fabric choices, the sense of style, the facial expression - oh everything…
See for yourself.

Green girl art makes delightfully fun soft robot creations. I particularly love the robot in leiderhosen.

most people will be familiar with Jesses knitted robots.

cakeyvoice and her dawn of the knitted dead are just hilarious.

bloody bunnys drillobots are pretty damn cool

wee wonderfuls makes some great softies - these fembots are amongst my faves.

monster crochet makes crazy creatures - one of my faves is the scorpian queen - definitie sci-fi feel to this one.

Jäke Henzler (blog boy knits world) and his knitted yoda - love the simplicity of these

William Wilson creates these ‘vintage characters‘ out of discarded soft toys. “childrens’ former companions, thrown away after years of most intimate relations. The pluche animals I collect are turned INSIDE OUT by me. Nothing more. Nothing less.”

William received a special mention at the 2005 ‘re-think and re-cycle‘ design awards, held at designboom. Some of my other favourites included bowls, baskets and hats made out of plastic bags. Then there is a wonderful organic plant pot made out of mud and stick and leaves, I also enjoyed the jeans chair and the chair legs chair.

link via art for housewives

mediatinker made a very cool plush of the bizarro furry lobster thing (aka the “yeti crab”) some enterprising scientists dredged up out of a hydrothermal vent. I love how the news story was out for only a couple of days before the stuffed version appeared. And there’s a pattern!

stuffed

real

hopskipjump makes the most adorable dolls and stuffed monkeys and bears - all with gorgeous retro outfits - just love them. (more pretty in pink girls here)

mimi kirchner’s swaddled baby is adorable - just check out that face.

another great tutorial from pinned - for a sock bird - very cute.

craftapalooza’s log cabin cushion is gorgeous.

the small object - wonderful embroidered cushion design.

pyglet whispers has entered fern into the plush you - isn’t she adorable?

treefall design made some doll sized quilted mattresses, inspired by Lauren Child’s princess and the pea, as a swap for wise craft - I am in love - and what a fantastic idea!

Chinese plush toy artist living and working in Japan. She makes these wonderful alien/animal charactors from a luscious combination textured fabrics. She also makes needle felted delicate plush as well as some very cool amigurumi villains - her work is original and funny and curious. I just love it.

I first stumbled upon wawaya at flickr via cakeyvoice - which led me to her website -

This work is part of an exhibition at Rocketart, Newcastle, last November, titled ‘missing you already’.

“she is experiencing a little discomfort - and all in the middle of her wedding! if pearl and val can work themselves out, they might have their gifts ready in time for the reception.”

Jake is a Newcastle (Australia) toy artist. “He learned to knit from his mother, but prefers to work on impulse rather than from patterns” (this is not art).

Jake participated in Plush Rush Ohio, last year and is one of the artists in the plush week exhibition at gallery 1988, LA, this week. His current and past work can be seen here.

Cupcake pin cushions and purses and dolls - you sew them in felt or crochet them.

Turkey feathers has made a cupcake for her elephant, and plump pudding made a couple for birthday pressies.

I am also a big fan of my paper cranes cupcake dolls and soft cakes.

Check out buzzville’s crochet cupcake purses and bella dia’s strawberry topped pincushion.

tutorial on craftster for making felt cupcake pincushions
and a pattern for crochet cupcakes at ivillage

Don’t you wish we could all be in LA right now to see Plush Week at Gallery1988? Hundreds of one-of-a-kind handmade plush creatures made by some very creative people, like…

Heidi Kenney

Jenny Harada

Tsai-Fi

Jason Sho Green

From the curators:

“Hand-made plush have been a mainstay at flea markets and craft fairs for years, but it wasn’t until recently that this new generation of artists ushered in a revolution of sorts,” says Katie Cromwell, co-owner/co-curator of Gallery Nineteen Eighty Eight. “This stuffed art is definitely not your mom’s dirty sock monkey. It’s cool and edgy - but most of all, it has character.”

“Stuffed animals are something that everyone remembers from childhood, but there’s a whole other genre of plush out there for those of us who outgrew Care Bears but still love the idea of having artful decorations relaxing on your couch or hanging on the wall,” said Jon M. Gibson, co-curator of PLUSH WEEK!…

“The plush artists we’ve assembled are just as gifted as today’s most popular painters, only their medium involves needles, thread, and a hell of a lot of fabric.”

Hilda Portela calls herself planeta hilda. I have been in love with Hilda’s horses for a very long time, I have coveted her hats and gasped at her handpainted bags (but I will save those for another time, today its all about the horses). She makes these from a combination of fabrics sources from anywhere and everywhere. She handstitches the details and adds variety of fringing - each one is unique. I think what I love most about these is the fabrics and textures she uses, she manages to combine and clash them in a way that is truly luscious.

Her shop in partnership with Ana Ventura and Rosa Pomar.

I sure hate being mad at my crafts and stuffing makes me crazy. Like all the lumps, bumps, and the finding the “perfect” filler. I was looking for help and found Create for Less has some really good tips, ideas and very handy tools for sale like this little fellow shown here:

which is a stuffing fork and the answers to my prayers. At least I think so. Take a gander at all the other tips they have as well as craft business advice. Really very informative. If you are in the mood to shop, not just read, it’s pretty dangerous on the pocket book, you have been warned. And it looks like shipping within the US only, but not totally sure on this.

Mimi Kirchner is a doll maker, her dolls have the most exquisite features and beautifully made clothing. Whimsical and poetic. this doll is Ione, Mimi says of her “I am happy with her. Especially…
-her hair
-to have made something new out of a very damaged, moth-eaten coat
-making a doll without a happy face
-and her hat” oh yes her coat is gorgeous, her hair tells such stories, and her expression is so sad and thoughtful.

Her woollen dolls, are not so much realistic or have such fine detail, but what they do have is personality and humour, they include these gorgeous fat fairys, big men and grey haired grannies.