Pile'o'gators

Finished making some alligators out of Safari Sweet!

Quilt Market prep

Hi folks. I've been in Quilt Market preparations for a while now. I'll be off to Salt Lake City on Wednesday to start setting up my trade show booth. Eeek! I'm really excited. Right now I'm putting the finishing touches on everything. Above is a little iphone pic of my studio from about a week and a half ago. I was stitching a new big lion pillow. It's so much fun to stitch these animals at the larger size.

My bunny is in Small Magazine!

I'm a couple of days late with this post, but I'm still super excited. My bunny muff was photographed for small magazine! Small has the BEST photography of kid's fashion and it's worth a look if you haven't checked it out. I'm so happy my little plush friend could be a part of it.

Artist: Myko Bocek Studios

I've been staring at this little puffball owl for weeks now. Isn't he the cutest! All of these wooly pom pom characters are by Myko of Myko Bocek Studios. Check out more of her creations in her etsy store, facebook and blog. She has tons of Easter/Spring cuties in the store right now. How fun!

Gallery Hanahou - Luv-able & Hug-able opening

Hey, NYC peeps. You should all go down and see the Luv-able & Hug-able exhibit at Gallery Hanahou! (from Dec 9 - Jan 14) The popular plush show's theme this year is "Wear-able" meaning that most everything there will be plush that you can wear! There is so much amazing work by some of my fav artists. This is my first year participating and I have three kitty necklaces with braided silk ribbon. And also I think one of my favorite things I've ever made, a bunny muff, EEEEEE! I can't wait to make more of these guys. This one has little stitched snowflakes on it but I can't wait to make one with a bunch of sparkly beads and sequins for all the snow. I can't wait!

Giveaway!!!!! My new patterns

Hi peeps! Man, this has been my busiest holiday season ever, which is awesome, but exhausting. Don't worry I'll be posting more regularly soon. The No Coast Craft-o-Rama went great this weekend. It was super fun hanging out with my crafty friends. I still have to clean up everything still (and from Quilt Market too) but I'll get there.

Thanks to everyone who's stuck with the bloggy blog during my lack of posting. I'm going to do a little giveaway for all y'all! I'll be giving away my 4 new printed patterns to one lucky reader. All of you who guessed alligator here were right, my first sewing pattern is the little alligator in the first two pics. He comes with a fold out template and a booklet of easy to follow instructions. The other 3 patterns are my new puppy embroidery patterns, Boston, Golden and Maltese. Each puppy is sitting in a pretty border. The best part is that the patterns include an iron on transfer, woo hoo!

To enter the giveaway just leave a comment below. I'll pick a name randomly on Monday. Then you'll still get the patterns before Christmas! All the patterns are available as printed patterns and as pdf downloads in my etsy shop. Thanks all! -alyssa

The Creative Connection Event - Jennifer Murphy class

Yesterday I had the most amazing day. I attended The Creative Connection Event that is currently taking place right now here in Minneapolis. I met the most amazing people who were all incredible and inspiring. But more on that in a bit...right now I have to jump ahead to the class I took with Jennifer Murphy during the event. Jennifer creates the most amazing quirky, vintage inspired stuffed animals and she was gracious enough to share one of her patterns and teach a class how to make her little bunny. You can see my in process and finished bunny above (mine is the one with the big blue bow), some other bunnies people made in the class, and a few of Jennifer's original bears. The last pic is my little bunny getting ready to eat the apple kuchen at the gala dinner. Check out the table cloth made from Amy Butler fabric. She spoke during the dinner btw, eeeeee!

New items in the store

Hi all! Just thought I'd share some new items I put up in the ol' etsy store yesterday. Three new bright Kitties, my book No Monster Here with a matching Monster embroidery pattern, and a printed pattern upgrade for the Animal Alphabet embroidery patterns. I think the monster book and embroidery pattern would make such a cute Halloween gift. I'm just saying, heh heh. Have a great Wednesday peeps!

Artist: Jeanette of UmeCrafts and Lit'l Brown Bird

Gah, I'm loving all this felt food. That cotton candy is amazing! The best part about all of these is that they're patterns so you can make them all yourself. How fun! I think I might have to get that County Fair set. The patterns were created by Jeanette of UmeCrafts. Check out more in her etsy store, flickr and also her other store Lit'l Brown Bird.

Foxes now for sale! Woot!

Hi peeps! Just thought I'd share with you some final pics of my little foxes. I'm so happy with how they turned out. They are now available exclusively at Schmancy Toys. So if you're over in Seattle you should go check them out. They are also available on the Schmancy website. You can see them all there!

Late night inspiration

There are so many rabbits in our yard! We were talking to the neighbor lady and she told us how one year she hired a bounty hunter to shoot the rabbits at $25 a pop...which is super scary because she's right next door and not out in the woods or anything. I don't need a crazy rifle guy aiming a loaded weapon into or towards our yard. Gah! Luckily the guy only shot one so I think she's ruled the "bounty hunter" approach as ineffective. Anyway, any time I see a rabbit out my window, I immediately want to turn them into a plush. So last night I couldn't take it anymore and I stayed up late to make one. Here it is! I'm super happy with it, mostly because it ended up looking like my drawing on the first try, woo! I think I'll take some cute outside pics of it once it's not so rainy.

Progress

Here are some progress pics of the little foxes. The middle pic is my 3rd (and final) prototype. The last image shows my first 6 ready to be stuffed. I have more cut out and I'm ready to get sewing. Woo hoo!

Next project sneak peak

So here's a pic of the next project I'm working on. I'm making a bunch of little fox plushes for a Penguin & Fish exclusive at Schmancy in Seattle. Here's prototype number 1. I'm going to lower the eyes a bit (to where the pins are) and move the nose so it's a little more centered. I also think I'll change the shape of the tail a bit and change the proportions of the colors in it. And I won't be doing all red and white foxes. I want to represent all the foxes of the world. heh heh. Anyway, just thought I'd share.

busy busy busy

So lately I've been frantically getting ready for the International Quilt Market (booth 2151). I'll be selling/showing my embroidery patterns and kits there. For the show I wanted to make bunch of things that would illustrate some of the ideas of what you can do with the patterns. Above are some progress pics of some of the things. I'm so happy how everything is turning out! My mom has been helping with the quilting which is super awesome. In the first pic with the turtle you can see a few of the fabrics that I got printed. I'll take better pics of everything once I get a little further, but I couldn't resist sharing.