Sew Quirky Cushions

In an effort to finish long overdue projects, I turned our applique projects into cushions. 

These fun designs are from a designer called: Sew Quirky. Joe & I undertook a class with her a couple of years ago on my birthday and Joe loved the class so much but we never really had a chance to finish them at home as life just got in the way.   

My project was the panda but this adorable doggie was Joe's. Didn't he do an awesome job! He was only 8 when he did it!

I had to wrestle with pins & pompoms for a bit but I got there, also, it's kind of fun to wrestle with pompoms! 

The dog applique pattern is this one. 

The panda applique pattern is this one.

I absolutely love the fabric on the back but I couldn't find the exact match to share with you but this one is from the same collection and just as awesome. 

Pompom trim is everything and you can get some here, here or here.

Click here, to check out my Amazon Page for some great crafty inspo and links to some great books to read.

I utilise affiliate links throughout my blog as a way to help me keep crafting. If you click on an aff link, I receive a very small amount from it at NO cost to you.   So please help me to keep CraftyRie up and running by clicking on my aff links! Many thanks, Rie

Two little pixies

I knitted these little pixies for the kids.

I had planned on making lots but for me, the pattern just sucked. I struggled through it, knitting only two (one for each of my children) and then tossed the pattern.
Now, I don't know about you but I like a well layed out knitting pattern. To me, this pattern had too much 'white space' within the pattern and the graph/chart wasn't complete, you had to refer to the line in the graph/chart then turn the page to the instructions to find out how many rows you needed to do of it. I like graphs/charts that tell you exactly what to do without having to refer to the instructions for further details otherwise, why do you have the chart?

How do you like your knitting patterns (with graph/charts) to be layed out & written? Do you have a favourite pattern or a prefer a designer just because they layout their patterns & graphs/charts wonderfully, care to share which ones in the comments as I'd love to know.

Anyway, the kids loved them, they play with them and that's all the really matters.

Pattern is this one.
The stunning yarn was this and it's seriously gorgeous!
You can get the wooden peg dolls from here or here.

Click here, to check out my Amazon Page for some great crafty inspo and links to some great books to read.

I utilise affiliate links throughout my blog as a way to help me keep crafting. If you click on an aff link, I receive a very small amount from it at NO cost to you.   So please help me to keep CraftyRie up and running by clicking on my aff links! Many thanks, Rie

            

Caterpillar Butterfly soft toy

Yesterday was the last day of our self isolation (after 2 months of iso), so I took the opportunity to make one last thing with/for the kids before they headed back to school. I printed out a pattern that I'd had for a while (& not used) and hit out fabric stash to make these cute butterfly/caterpillar toys.

They start as a caterpillar and then you can turn them inside to reveal the butterfly then back again to the caterpillar & so on.

We didn't use the fabric type recommended as it's not something that I normally have in my stash. I actually cut up an old pair of jeans to use for my caterpillar!

Do you think they're cute?

Also, didn't Joe do an excellent job on his (the blue butterfly), I did the sewing machine bit but he did everything else.

Whilst it is super cute and the kids love it, gosh, the pattern was frustrating.
The pattern pieces were easy to cut out BUT the designer had skipped the most common thing when it comes to patterns. For example, they did not add "cut 2" etc to each pattern piece. It was so frustrating, I don't know about you but I tend to refer to that actual pattern pieces when cutting (like with clothing or bags) but I had to keep going back to the actual written pattern to find out how many I needed to cut for each piece.
It would also have been helpful to find have a note on what other fabrics were recommended too.  And when it came to joining it all together (inserting the caterpillar to the butterfly) the designer relied on a photo with a vague description on what to do. Luckily, I have sewn many bags & pouches and know how to do this in a breeze but my son struggled with this part.

Pattern is this one. You can quilt whatever design you want onto the wings, I just went with simple. I also just used a piece of batting on the inside to give the wings some structure.

Click here, to check out my Amazon Page for some great crafty inspo and links to some great books to read.

I utilise affiliate links throughout my blog as a way to help me keep crafting. If you click on an aff link, I receive a very small amount from it at NO cost to you.   So please help me to keep CraftyRie up and running by clicking on my aff links! Many thanks, Rie