Herbert and Friends - Handmade Softies by Torunn

Here is the bobsled team in action, with easygoing Sammi the sloth in the steering position and determined Ruben the competitive fox pushing the team to victory.  

I'm so excited to finally have it finished! The one thing I haven't worked out is what their team name is so if anyone has any suggestions feel free to leave a comment.

The last couple of days I've spent working on my monthly masterpiece/competition entry. Who knew it was so hard to make a bobsled?! There has been a lot of problem solving with a bit of pulling apart and restitching. I really enjoy a creative challenge that involves some construction. I'm not much of a planner when it comes to these things, I just get started and hope for the best.I took some photos along the way to document the process...

The bobsled isn't quite finished yet, it will have a pole-thing out the side for this fox to hold onto, he's the one that pushes the sled. At the moment he looks like a zombie fox which is pretty funny. I'm currently reading a book about zombies so maybe it's coming through in my work. I'll keep you updated on the progress and it should be finished by midnight on Sunday!

I'm giving myself the day off today because it's my birthday. Yay! Toby is taking me shopping and out for lunch. Have a great day!

Here is the most recent addition to the Herbert family, Ruben the friendly fox. In this top photo you can see I added a white tip to Ruben's tail. Unfortunately it's not in the other photos, but you get the essence of Ruben anyway.

Ruben is very competitive. He enjoys any type of race but his all time favourite is running races. One of his closest friends is Sammi the sloth, so Ruben's constant need for racing has put a bit of strain on their friendship. Although, when Ruben and Sammi were having a contest over who could hold their breath underwater the longest Sammi stayed under for 15 mins! Ruben was astounded and since then has a new found respect for Sammi.

Brian is a quiet character that really enjoys his solitude. He loves long meandering walks and contemplating life by streams. He thinks going to the cinema by oneself is tremendously underrated and everyone should try it at least once. Brian has been vegan since 2003 when he saw Finding Nemo and figured if a shark could be vegetarian, an anteater could be vegan. It's working out amazingly well since he discovered raisins, because they actually taste a lot like ants.

Have a great weekend!

I've had a pretty good week so far, trying out my Gocco and I've had a lot of fun designing some new softies over the last couple of days. Sammi the sloth is the first of my experiments.

Sammi is a very sensitive sloth and can easily get offended if anyone makes fun of the speed at which he moves. Rather than doing things 'slowly' which people often claim, he says he simply does things thoughtfully, deliberately and with conviction. As a result of his thoughtfulness he never makes mistakes in anything he does.... except once, but he was having an off day.

I finally took the plunge and tried out my Gocco printer. Susan from Rocket Fuel stopped by Kirribilli market on Sunday and we had a chat about the Gocco. She gave me some tips on how to use it which got me excited to try it out. It was easy and super fun! Here are some photos of my first ever Gocco print. I also experimented a little with painting the print with watercolour once the ink had dried.

Toby and I booked our tickets to Sweden today! As it turns out princess Victoria of Sweden is getting married while we're over there. There will be two weeks of official celebrations which sounds like it could be pretty fun but we'll be in France on the actual wedding day (no great loss). Here are a couple of photos I took in Stockholm from my last trip in 2008.

Apart from booking flights today I've been preparing for Kirribilli market tomorrow. I have a spot undercover in the tunnel so I'll be there no matter the weather.
Happy valentine's day everyone!

I found out a little while ago that Kinokuniya bookshop in the city is having a craft fair in February. Very eager to be a part of this and have a stall there I called up only to find out that it was already fully booked! Needless to say I was very disappointed. Yesterday I received a message from a friend saying she'd reserved a table for me at the craft fair and did I want it. So I'm very happy to say I'll be having a stall at the Kino craft fair on the 27th Feb 12pm - 4pm. I can't wait to see all the great crafty stalls and meet the people behind them.

On the sewing side of things, I've made even more brooches! Two little ghosts, Leopold and Elizabeth. 

I've finally made some frog brooches and I'm really happy with them! They're a very dapper bunch with their scarves and bow ties. It's super exciting to have a whole new range of brooches ready for Kirribilli this weekend, so if you don't have any plans for valentine's day come by the market and meet them all! I'll be spending the rest of the week sewing to make more softies for the weekend so I'll have plenty of new stock.

Last weekend was one of the best weekends I've had for a long time. On Saturday it was pouring down with rain so rather than going to the beach like we had planned, my sister, nephew and a friend of ours went on an art mission. First we went to the MCA and saw the Olafur Eliasson exhibition called Take your Time, which was absolutely fantastic! Each work was awe inspiring. The three works I have to mention are Moss wall, which is literally a huge wall covered in living moss that evolves and changes colour throughout the show, Beauty which consists of water lightly falling from the ceiling with a spotlight shining through it in a darkened room, and lastly The cubic structural evolution project - a room containing three tons of white LEGO where everyone is invited to build their own sculptures or modify others. The room is lined with the most amazing LEGO creations. I made a tree which was fairly challenging and didn't look much like a tree in the end. The exhibition is on until the 11th of April so if you haven't seen it yet go check it out!      

Moss wall 1994

Beauty 1993

The next stop on our art mission was Serial Space, a gallery in Chippendale where some friends of mine had a show called Geometries of attention. It was a fantastic show comprised of three interactive instillations. Unfortunately the show finished yesterday but if their work is shown elsewhere I'll let you know.

Our third stop was The White Rabbit Collection, another gallery in Chippendale. This space exhibits contemporary Chinese art.The gallery is full of exciting and provocative work which is a must see! So that was my art filled Saturday.

Yesterday a friend and I went to the Eveleigh Artisans market. There were some great stalls there including Lily Pad Designs that make awesome cushion covers, purses, pouches, cards and buttons with the cutest Japanese fabrics. I've come to realise I need to go to Japan! After the market we went back to my place and stitched. I had forgotten how much fun it can be to sew together with other people. To top off the weekend my friend dragged me along to a yoga class which was great. I haven't been to a yoga class for years and I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was. Not that I have bad memories of yoga, I had just forgotten how relaxing and enjoyable it could be.

So that was my weekend. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that after yoga Toby, a friend and I watched an awesome documentary called It Sounds LikeTeen Spirit about Junior Eurovision. I didn't even know Junior Eurovision existed!