Herbert and Friends - Handmade Softies by Torunn

I have finally put some more brooches in my Etsy shop. Now you can not only get owl brooches but these nine little creatures are also for sale.

Apart from Etsy updates I've also been sewing some owls with new fabric I ordered from the States, a couple of bears and the last yeti out of the thick grey wool felt. I'm going to have to source some more yeti fabric from somewhere! The new softies will be accompanying me to Kirribilli market on Sunday.

I hope everyone is having a great week so far! I have my first basketball game for the new season tonight, I'm very excited. 

I've been thinking about making a turtle for a while and haven't been too sure how to go about it. On Saturday I went to Sydney Wildlife World with my sister and nephew and saw the super cute turtles sunbathing and going for leisurely swims which inspired me!
Meet Willem the turtle...

Willem is an easy-going, down-to-earth, laid-back kind of turtle. His relaxed nature has at times been mistaken for 'too cool for school', smug and lazy, but this doesn't bother him because who would want to be friends with such judgemental people anyway. Willem's favourite instrument is the banjo and he hopes to have a banjo band one day which he's hoping to call The Will of Willem.

Back on the subject of Wildlife World, they have a butterfly habitat which I've never experienced before. There are so many butterflies of all different shapes and colours, it's pretty magical, especially when they land on your which seems to happen quite a bit. unfortunately I don't have any photos because my camera battery was flat (which I realised after we got there)!

I realised I haven't shared with you the delights from the Kino Craft Fair. It was a really nice day in the bookshop, I met some great people and chatted about crafty things. The knitters gave me some much needed advice on cardigan making (I made one a few years ago and it didn't really turn out..), and the weavers were doing some amazing looking things! The stall that was pulling quite a crowd was Lulu's Miniatures, pictured below. Lulu makes incredibly detailed miniature food, she wasn't selling the actual pieces but you can buy a DIY kit or sign up to one of her workshops which are held in Chatswood. The next one is a Japanese tempura workshop!

Just to give you an idea of the scale Lulu works at, the bakery in the photo above is on the middle right-hand side of the photo below.

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!