Happy Obscure Christian Holiday!!!

You know you live at a seminary when...
This Reformation Day pumpkin was painted by Kevin at Circulation. Best Reformation Day pumpkin I've ever seen!

So, forget Halloween-- Happy Reformation Day, everyone! ;)

Package!

I got a package today! Last week I mentioned on a forum on Etsy that I could use some fabric scraps, and a couple people jumped at the chance to give some to me! Today I got a package of scraps from Eve of Faff Creations by Eve. There were lots of great fabrics in there. My favorites were patterns of monarch butterflies, peacock feathers, and robot parts/theme. So fun! There's no way I could find (or afford) so many cool patterns :) Thank you Eve!!

I got two things made today, but I can't show you because both are gifts. Sorry! I'll try to post pictures later- once they get to the people to whom they are going.

Have a great night!

Fritz

I just finished and listed my new plushie! Meet Fritz the chipmunk :)

Look at that face! I love him! I'm really happy with the way he turned out. Of course I had to mess up along the way and go back and fix it, but hey... at least I'm consistent ;)

The Ornaments!

I finally got outside to take these pictures on my lunch break. Classic felt Christmas Tree Ornaments. I hope you love them!

The star is my favorite :) I think I'm going to re-take the group picture when there's better lighting- I already played with the image on the computer, but I think I just need to start over.

These will be entered in the holiday contest at Softies Central, and will be in our Etsy shop eventually- probably after Thanksgiving.

I took pictures of Nathan's newest plushie, so that should show up here soon. I'm also almost done with a new one (a chipmonk!!) which I'm excited to show you! Check back soon!

Have a wonderful weekend :)

Quick Update

I finished my first custom order! Pictures to come eventually ;)

I also finished my set of five Christmas ornaments! Pictures to come soon. I'm going to enter them in a contest and then eventually list them on Etsy.

That would be all! 'Night!

Hotcakes

Someone just adopted Nathan's jellyfish! We only have four things left in the store and I have no idea when we'll be able to restock! AHHH!!

NOT that I'm complaining... ceratinly not! I'm SO happy Red Thread Plushies has already been so successful. NOT complaining that I have three commissioned pieces, a couple gifts, and a few others to work on. I only wish I could devote more time to it!!!

Le sigh.

p.s. :D

Sale # 2!

Last night I listed Pete the bunny and was SO disappointed because he only got 2 views within the next couple hours. I was so sure that he'd be popular- the style that he's made in is one I thought people would really like.

However, that turned around while we were sleeping, and Pete now has 14 views, we have several new hearts for our shop, and someone adopted Johnny Sweets! And this time it's someone we don't even know! I'm very excited :)

I don't know how we're ever going to restock the shop, though! I have 2 commissions, a set of ornaments, and a gift to do within the next few weeks, plus working full time and busy weekends! Thankfully, Nathan has one new thing finished so that can be listed soon, but on my end I'm not listing anything new any time soon :( le sigh.

I wish I could devote more time to this!!

First Sale!!!

Tangerine the lion has a new home! The lovely Lori (aka Cheshire Cat), who we went to college with, adopted Tangerine this afternoon, so he's off to live with her in Canada! Another big thanks to Lori- I'm so glad you love Tangerine as much as I do :)

I'm giddy!


In other plushie news, I finished my bunny the other night. His name is Pete.

He looks shocked that he's having his picture taken. Poor ol' bunny-head!

I also have 2 1/2 Christmas tree ornaments finished and Nathan is working on a mutant snowman, all of which will probably be entered in the Softies Central holiday contest. Buuuut we're out of stuffing. We have to go buy shipping supplies for Tangerine tomorrow anyway, so we'll stock up.

I'll post again soon!

Tangerine and more

Well, as you can see from the sidebar I got our Etsy shop up and running! Lots of people are looking at our plushies, 11 people have added our shop to their favorites, and I'm getting some really great feedback. Hurray!

Yesterday morning I finished a plushie I had been working on Friday night: Tangerine the lion. I love him!! He turned out even better than I was hoping. I wasn't sure how his mane would come out, but I really like it. His face is my avatar for Etsy right now. Here's a picture, but if you want more angles check out our Etsy store.

Isn't he adorable?!

Yesterday the internet wasn't working when I wanted to set up our Etsy store, so I made this little monster instead. He's simple and weird and happy about it. He reminds me of one of the ghosts in Pac-Man. I think I'm calling him Zeke.


Right now I'm working on a bunny, and that'll be done later today. I think after that I'm going to try to make a few felt Christmas ornaments (like those ones you have, Mom) because I think they're really cute. But I need some buttons and such for those, which I don't have....

Anyway, that's what's happening this weekend. Hope you like it!

Good Monsters

Monsters are so fun to make! I drew a bunch today... it's cool because you can make them look however you want- there are no rules! So I have a bunch of fun ideas for new plushie monsters that I'm excited about working on.

Today I started a new project immediately after work- wow! I usually just want to veg after work but was excited about an idea and so got started right away! That's a good sign! This plushie only took 3 1/2 hours to make! I was really surprised because I was really careful about its construction quality. I made teensy weensy stitches and am SO glad I did- the seams look great!! No matter how you sew it you're going to see the stitches, so making them tiny and even made the seams look really really good. Plus I feel like it's more tight and sturdy.

Aaand here he is! I think I'm going to call him Maurice.


He's bright red on the front and dark red on the back... sorry about the bad lighting- it's dark outside! He doesn't look quite like the picture I drew, but I really like him anyway. His mouth was kind of tricky to do because I wanted to cover up where the top of the teeth were sewn to the face so I had to go over it like 3 times with embroidery floss. It looks a little funky, but hey, it's a monster so that's ok!

All in all, I'm really happy with this one simply because of the good construction. This thing won't be falling apart any time soon. I feel like that's a pretty big step for me because I would never want to sell something that was bad quality. It took a loooong time to sew all the way around this thing with those teeny tiny stitches, but it was totally worth it.

The plan right now is to make around two more plushies and then open a shop on Etsy. Opening a shop is free and they only charge a 20 cent listing fee for four months, then 3.5% (I think) cut if it sells. Sounds good. We shall see!

I hope you like Maurice!! Nighty night.

drool

My new monstery plushy is finished! I did end up changing his face a bit and like it much better this way... although gravity must be a little wonky because that drool isn't exactly going straight down... but hey, I like him!

Poor thing doesn't have legs, but those arms more than make up for it! Here's a glamorous close up...
His left eye is a button :) You can't see it, but his back is the same dark purple as his mouth. Aaaand I really thought his hands came out cool, so here's a picture of one.

I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do next. There's a contest this month on Softies Central (link in right hand column) that I'd like to enter, so I might do that next since there's a deadline. Although I do have an idea for a friend that I'm excited about doing, so we'll see!

Somebody needs to help me name all these critters, so if anybody has ideas let me know!

plush me!

Hello, and welcome to the beginning of our brand new artsy craftsy blog!

I've been struggling to deal with the dullness and monotony of work lately and have turned to making art to help me survive/stop my brain from melting. I started drawing a lot and got really into reading the blogs of artsy folks online. Blogs led to other blogs that led to other blogs that introduced me to the art/hobby of plushie making.

Hi, I'm Rachel... and I'm a plushie addict.

The other night I really felt like making something... namely, my very own plushie. My dear husband was sweet enough to drive me to the nearest craft store where we bought some supplies: a small stack of felt, some nice thread, some stuffing. And thus it began.

We each designed and made a plushie. I started out simple-- very simple-- and it showed. I'm not going to show you a picture because it's embarrassing, but it's now a chew toy for Momo the bunny.

Nathan started out the opposite. His plushie was pretty amazing. An extremely cool design and well made, especially for a first try! Meet Jonny Sweets:


Thankfully, after feeling a little down after my first (failed) attempt, my next plushie turned out MUCH better. I'm happy with it! He's a surprised little raccoon...

More supplies were then needed! We went to a fabric store (conveniently right next to the craft store) and bought some more felt (on sale!), red thread (dun dun daaa!), glue (for those tricky little bits), new needles, and some cotton fabric for fun details. Hurray! :) Admire our bounty...


Nathan's next project was a very dapper jellyfish. With a monocle. And a top hat. Aaaand a bow tie. ...only from the mind of Nathan. Here was the first time using red thread for all the major seams.
And here's my current project. It's all sewn together but the face. I'm not sure about it yet, so I'm not going to sew it on until I decide. Any suggestions?
I feel like we've done pretty well so far! More importantly, we're learning about the materials and techniques. My goals are:

• Improve my workmanship. I want those stitches EVEN, darn it!
• Become more familiar with how felt behaves and make patterns accordingly
• Develop a style
• Continue looking at others' work
• Think of creative/unique ideas for new plushies
• Work to build up a stock/collection
• THEN, eventually, open a shop online

Sooo... I have a long way to go, but I'm having fun so that's fine with me :) Check back soon for updates.