I keep meaning do a weekly post showing what I've been working on but every week I forget to take any pictures. Finally this week I remembered! I started taking pictures pretty late in the week but late is better than never right?
I've been sewing like crazy trying to get all the sold out Squshies back in the shop. I'm hoping to finish by the first week of March to celebrate Beauregard's and Reginald's birthday. Probably an overly ambitious goal, but it has been super awesome in helping me stay focused and get lots of work done. That large red tin in the picture above...I can barely put the top on it anymore! It is bursting with almost completed felt critters.
I've realized I work most effectively when I do things in batches. Above is a few almost finished giraffes. I usually make 4-5 felt animals at a time. I attach the pieces on all the ones I'm working on, and then I finish and stuff about half of them. This way I have multiples completed and I have some that are close to finished. Then I can quickly restock or turn what was intended as an ornament into a magnet or add an embroidered name or date. Having some partially completed Squshies came in super handy over the holidays.
With my crazy goal to get all the felt animals back in the shop by the beginning of March, I usually have at least one day a week where I cut a whole bunch of critters out. The picture above is what I cut on Saturday; 5 sheep. 5 baby harp seals. 4 red river hogs. 4 copper dachshunds. 4 Jack Russells, 3 wombats, and 5
elephant seals. I've already sewn through the sheep, the dachshunds and the harp seals!
I super excited about sewing Hamlet the baby harp seal because as you can see, he's got a bit of a makeover. When I first started making felt animals I didn't think white eyes would work on a white body, so I used black eyes with a white shine. I've never been super happy with the black eyes so I finally tried them with white felt and it works! The eyes show up a lot better than I ever thought they would.
From now on Hamlet will be made with the standard Squshie eyes, white with black pupils.
What do you think of Hamlet's new look? Interested in more blog posts about what I've been working on during the week?