Uglycon

Well, I have been busy working on some gallery pieces for the upcoming Uglydoll Uglycon that happens here in Los Angeles on June 15th.  Eric Nakamura, the owner of GiantRobot and GR2 invited me to be a part of it.  Babo was one of the first Uglydolls.  He may have been the first, but I’m not positive about that.  Anyway, my challenge was to create my own interpretation of Babo.  So, he’s pretty much David Horvath’s Babo face, and my teddybearrepublic body, like the same pattern that I use for my softies.  I make three sizes of softies, so I made three sizes of Babo.

The small and medium Babo’s have sneakers and neckties.

For the large Babo, I wanted to do something special, so I gave him rollerskates and a headband.

This is most definitely the biggest softie that I have ever made!  Talk about your giant plush!

I needle-felted the rollerskate wheels so that they would look more authentic.  Monsters are not my usual thing, but I am happy with how they came out.  One of Babo’s trademark accessories is a chocolate chip cookie, so I needle-felted a cooked that each of the Babo’s has in their back left pocket.

I will leave you with one more photo of the giant Babo, so that you can see the back of the rollerskates, which I am most proud of.  It was a lot of hand stitching!

And if you are in the Los Angeles area, come on out to the UglyCon at Giant Robot 2 on June 15th located on Sawtelle to see my art and many other plush artists’ work.

Yours in crafting,

TGIF!

Well, it’s Friday and although for some people that means relaxation and a weekend free of working, I find that I can be quite productive on the weekends.  Today I am starting on a polar bear and a bunny.  Maybe another cat too!

I just finished up these two koalas and I think that they are quite nice!

The one in jeans and turquoise bird shirt is my favorite!

And one more photo of them goofing around…

I am anxiously awaiting some light blue faux fur that I ordered, so that I can start on my Uglydoll gallery entries for Giant Robot.  As soon as it arrives I need to start on these!  I  am making three Babo’s, one small, one medium and one large.  They will have some teddybearrepublic flare to them.

In other news, we went and saw Star Trek in IMAX 3D yesterday and it was incredible.  I highly recommend that you see this movie, as there hasn’t been a movie this great out in awhile.  I am not going to spoil anything, but I will say that I got to see one of my favorite Star Trek creatures in this film, which was a great surprise!  Benedict Cumberbatch did not disappoint, and Zachary Quinto who plays Spock, was really the star of this film.  Go…See…It!

It’s time for me to go and get some exercise by way of hiking, and then to patiently wait down in the lobby for the mailwoman and hope that my supplies arrive today!

Here’s a view of our rooftop, where I ate breakfast this morning…

Yours in crafting,

Busy May!

I just found out that I will be at the Patchwork Long Beach Craft Show on June 2nd.  This should be fun!  I did the last Long Beach show and it was a great and enthusiastic crowd.  Not to mention it’s very beautiful.  I will try to snap some photos this time.  So, I’m busy sewing.

Also, I about to start on an UglyDoll Plush show at GiantRobot.  I am making some Babo’s.  He’s the first uglydoll.  That show is June 7th at the GiantRobot store in Los Angeles.

This week I finished a few darling hoglets(baby hedgehogs)

Here is one a little closer up…

I also finished this small SuperRaccoon with cape and this funky bird!  It was quite windy and his fur/feathers were going crazy.

This is my favorite raccoon shot!

I just got some black, shiny fur in the mail and today I will be making some black cats.

My inspiration is my cat Reg.  He’s my buddy!

In unrelated news, I saw the Great Gatsby yesterday and I liked it.  We didn’t see it in 3-D.  I can’t wait for the new Star Trek!  Yours in crafting,

Sunday, Windy Sunday…

It’s quite windy here today in Los Angeles and not a typically warm and sunny day either.  Before the weekend, we had a two day heat wave where it was between 90F and 95F.(30C – 33)  It’s supposed to rain later today or tomorrow, so it’s windy and grey today.  This, however is perfect weather for sewing and crafting.  I just listened to the Moth radio hour and was particularly interested in a story told by DMC (yes from Run DMC) and his bout with feelings of suicide and how listening to Sarah McLaughlin helped him to cope.  Very touching.  Now I am listening to some KCRW and doing some hand embroidery.

I finished these two lions and I quite like them.  I’m trying to make lots of things for a few big summer craft shows that I am hoping to get into.

The lion with the triangles is my favorite.  He makes me smile.

Here is one more.  A lion totem!

I downloaded some photos from my phone, but they are not great quality because my husband (who is the operations manager of a camera store) says that you buy a phone for the phone, not for the camera.

Anyway, I went on a hike yesterday into the Hollywood Hills, just above our place and I ended up hiking for three hours.  I slept quite well last night!  I feel pretty lucky to have access to beautiful hikes that are literally right in my backyard, so here are a few mediocre photos from yesterday’s hike.

In the above photo, I hiked up and over to the edge of Runyon Canyon and the vista was very pretty.

This was some beautiful bougainvaillea which is stunning at this time of year, here in L.A.

This one is from my Instagram.  If you look closely, you can see downtown L.A. in the distance.

A neat house up very high in the hills.  This is pretty much at the top!

And finally, this gate looks like it belongs in a secret headquarters of an X-Men movie.  I have to say that photos do not seem to do the the architecture and grandiosity of these places justice.  You really do need to see them in person to be totally blown away.

Okay, and now back to sewing… Yours in crafting…