Woodland Christmas kit - owl

This little guy was made using the designs and items from the free kit that came with Cross Stitcher October issue number 284. There are 5 designs, a deer, hedgehog, owl, badger and fox. The original design was for some felt Christmas decorations but I didn't really see the point I making them as I never put up a Christmas tree. Seemed pretty redundant.  Instead I decided to wing it and make some sewing accompaniments.  First off the bat is the owl design - made into a scissor fob.

I did the owl on one side as per the pattern, two threads over two. Then on the other side I made a itty bitty owl using one strand over one. He was a bit fiddly and I'm unsure if all my crosses ended up fully correct but in the end looked incredibly cute. 

At the bottom before I sewed it all up I should have made sure it was a little more pushed out. As it is one side looks a little squished. And it did have a tassel but I didn't like it so snipped it off. I used some random ribbon to embellish the top and glue along my rough stitching on the left side.  And all done. Next up I think a pin keep. 

Bikes and wool

Just a pretty functional yarn bomb in Brunswick.  

Snow Much Fun

I started this little guy ages and ages ago. He's a free Fizzy Moon kit from Cross Stitch Card Shop - issue 92. Once the cross stitching was done I tried to do the french knots for the eyes. Hated them so shoved the stitching in the magazine and threw it in the magazine holder. Promptly forgot about it.

Today I decided to clean. Got as far as flicking through my craft magazine's to see what to get rid of and what to keep before finding this little guy almost all done. Seemed a shame to not finish it now that I'd found it again. (See here a master procrastinator at work)

I cut off his horrible french knot eyes and tried again...and again and again. His eyes are really just ugly. Too closely spaced and made him look like a bizarre zombie snow teddy. Even the ones in the magazine example didn't really look all that great.  In the end I added another black french knot in the middle of his white french knot eye to make a black pupil which I think help make him look better. At least not so demented anyway just a bit googly eyed. 

I had a few gripes, I almost ran out of white and cream and the two red colours used seemed too similar to really make any impact.  I can't even really tell from the finished product that two different reds were used. The button on his belly could also have done being a different colour to stand out more. I was going to use a real button but my cat ate it. Really just gave it a sniff, I blinked and it was gone. 

It seemed like the design could have done with a bit of tweaking before being released for production. But all in all just what you'd expect from a little freebie kit. 

The card that came with the kit is long gone. Not too bothered since I don't really 'do' cards. I have no idea what I'll do with the finished design. Maybe  a gift of some kind...

Post french knot eye surgery tonight;

Finished product;

Crafty Melbourne

Crafty Melbourne :) 

Free group creating in the city Monday's between 9/3/15 to 14/12/15. Shame work will prevent me attending it looks like fun. 

If you get the chance visit Federation square (still one of the ugliest architechture concived) for some crafty fun.