Mutts and Alley Cats Donation 2009

It's the holiday season again. How quickly it rolls around. The weather is getting frosty and I worry about the homeless pets outside in the cold. Last year, several of my mutts and alley cats made some money to be donated to the Best Friends Animal Society. This year, some of them went to the TLC pet adoption here in Southern Cal. I adopted three precious cats from them over the years and met a wonderful lady named Lisa. She saved our Eddie and fostered him and has been a wonderful contact. Lisa is also a veterinarian and I keep her updated on Eddie. She is truly concerned about saving cats and I can tell she loves them all. I hope the donated mutts and alley cats help them raise some money to help many more.

GoLf HeAd CoVeRs

I've been racking my brain to come up with fun and funky designs for some golf head covers. After all, there needs to be more FUN playing golf, don't you think? So, here are some of the head covers I've come up with this month. No, they are not selling like hotcakes...but I hope some people will find my shop on Etsy and start thinking about the holidays. I quarantee you won't find anyone else with head covers like these...

The series above is my "Kokeshi Series". I guess I got the idea from making all those amigurumi kokeshis last month. I had these gorgeous J fabric fat quarters in my stash and am thrilled to find a use for them. I like how these came out.



This is my "Cactus" series head covers. They are topstitched with zigzag stitch to give it that ribbed cactus look and embellished with a rough cut funky shaped flower and topped with a selected button (again from the old stash).



This is my "Birdie" series of head covers. They were fun to make and I love working with fleece. It's so easy to sew, feels soft and cuddly and now comes in so many designs.



And lastly, this is my "Art" series of funky animals. A shocking pink cat, a hooty eye owl and a camoflauge monkey.

Kokeshi Kokeshi and More Kokeshi

I've been meaning to post this a month ago... Time just jets on by...

I needed to put together some items for a local craft show in November. I think the audience for this event will be mostly Asian, so I decided to make some kokeshi amigurumi. Kokeshi dolls are traditional Japanese dolls usually made out of wood in a simple cylinder shape with a round ball head. Ah, perfect for amigurumi. I made some traditional geisha type ladies and then spun off into other areas, like China dolls, ninjas and even fishermen. Check these out:









These are the first 10 I made, and there are 10 more I haven't photographed yet. Hope they like them!

Watermelon Turtle and Flower Garden Turtle

I finally got around to making this "Watermelon Turtle". The idea was swimming around in my brain and I finally got it made. I used cotton yarn for the shell and a bright green acrylic for the body. The "seeds" are made with French knots. I think he looks delicious!

And, this is my "Flower Garden Turtle". She's a colorful girl with daisies embroidered on the top of her shell.

Fun and Funky Golf Head Covers

I've been wanting to make some unique, fun and funky golf head covers. So finally, I came up with a great base for the covers. The inside has a thick plush lining with an elastic band to hold the club head. The club still slides in and out easily enough that you can take it on and off while playing if that's what you do. I've been designing the outside using fleece. It is so easy to work with and the colors are vibrant. I found a skull pattern that I just love. I looked everywhere and can't find any more of it. So far, I've come up with 2 series. The first one is the contemporary series. It's a triangular shaped head in various prints. One of them was made with soft minky fabric. The second series is called "Ninja Skills". Take a look. I've got them on sale right now in my etsy shop: www.teeball.etsy.com.

Mame Wanko, Little Felt Dogs

I found these super cute Japanese Craft Books called "Mame Wanko". They are little, tiny felt dogs and they are absolutely adorable! The dogs in the book are only about 1 1/2 inches tall. I tried making one that size, but it's really difficult to turn the fabric and stuff them, so I increased the pattern by 100% and the pups end up around 3 1/2 inches tall. Still cute and manageable.

This is my first dog. He's a bull terrier. I just love his flat, chunky face. I hand stitched him with contrasting embroidery thread and stuffed him with polyfiber and a few black beans for weight. I named him Butch and put him in my Etsy shop. Butch is the fifth generation, meaning it took me 5 tries to get him right!



Speaking of felt, I'm on an out-of-control shopping rampage. Joann's had a felt sale at 2.99 a yard, and on top of that I had a 10% off everything coupon. I bought 12 colors of felt, 1 yard each. I would have bought a yard of every color, but it was already toppling off my shopping cart and all the other people in the cutting line were giving me dirty looks for holding up the line! It was a great buy though, so there's a big pile of felt cluttering up my sewing room. On top of that, I bought some felt from the UK from Etsy. 71 colors! Also, some patterned felt coming in the mail from Joann's online...

I can make about a million of these little felt dogs with all that felt!

Golf Tee Balls are here!

I just opened a new store on Etsy to sell my golf tee balls. What are tee balls? It's a handy gadget to hold your favorite tees and it's a unique signature of your personality to boot. I've been having fun coming up with new ideas for them. I'm so excited to have sold a few sock monkeys. Yea!

Even if golf teeballs don't improve your game, at least it might make it more fun. Since I've been making these, I even get the urge to play more golf. Which is weird for me...

Check out my teeball store at www.teeball.etsy.com