lil' biggie

I'm entirely obsessed with this Gingermelon bear pattern.  I enlarged it a bit and made another today.  I can't stop!

Here they are for size comparison:

Making it this size took me about half the time it took for the little one!  the tiny one was all sewn by hand, but after it was enlarged I was able to sew the parts on the machine which saved time.  Of course there's still hand sewing involved, but knocking out most of it on the machine was great!

They're lil' pals!

The pattern has an adorable little dress too - I don't know why I haven't made one yet!  Naked bears are awfully cute, but with a little dress...over the top!

Brace yourself

Oh my heavens, this little bear...

This is the other pattern I got from Gingermelon on Etsy.  It was my first time sewing fur - not as terrible as I thought it'd be.  Not easy - I think mostly because of the size - as you can see, he's just a little squirt!  sewing those little arms, then turning and stuffing them, wasn't the easiest thing in the world, but oh the rewards:

The way his arms and legs are attached allows movement so he can sit or stand, which is super!  Maybe sometime I'll enlarge him and make a bigger one as a gift ( I think bigger would be easier - I could stitch  him on the machine instead of by hand) but this guy is never leaving me!  he's mine!

that's my fun day

Instead of Sunday being my fun day (Sunday was set in stone as fun day by the Go Go's - that can't be argued) it was Saturday for me!  Not sure I did anything remotely responsible except for running to the grocery to get eggs, making breakfast, then making dinner.  The rest was me time - and I with that time, I made this little cutie!

She's from the Best Friends pattern by Ginger Melon except that I didn't use the felt hair because I was inspired by her Cotton Candy dolls with hair that was needle felted on.  I figured I could get one pattern and have several options.  I didn't stuff her head quite enough so i think the lower part of her face is oddly shaped, and I'm not in love with her dress (I think it's the contrasting thread that I chose - I though it'd be cute but I'm a little meh about it.  easy enough to redo though.) Other than that, i think she's a sweet sweet sweetie!  Her arms lay down nicely (they're standing out a bit because of the dress) and have movement due to the way they're attached - it's a really good and well written pattern.  I only stabbed myself with the felting needle once - boy, that's a brain jarring experience!   I love her curly little hair!

Then after dinner I started on this:

Looks like I'm making a Yeti, doesn't it?  It'll be an adorable little bear!  I splurged on two pattens because I just couldn't make up my mind.  cutting out fur is a tedious affair - you have to snip snip snip slowly and shallowly through the back so that you aren't cutting fur - just the backing fabric.  The pieces turn out very nice though - I've always been afraid of fur because of the mess, but this has the added benefit of not being messy.

The stitching is also tedious - you blanket stitch, then go back and back stitch it.  I can see how it's necessary to make it good and stable though.  Oh, it'll be so cute!  Just for the record, Emily, I blame you for all of this - you started it with the Pin of these little bears and got me started  obsessed!!