What arts and craft things have you been making lately?

Love the Dandelion grandmother crochet - what delicate work!
And Ploshkin's cardi is fab. I use interchangeable needles on a long cable too. Trouble is, I get little use out of lovely woolly pullies with the mild winters we get here!

In my teens I used to make a lot of stuffed toys but have done very very few since. the last one I made was 20 years ago.
My neighbours have recently started fostering and had only done some weekend respite care for two 12 year old girls. Just after lockdown started they took in a 4 year old girl on an emergency placement. They were not geared up for a 4 year old and there were no shops open so neighbours with children rallied round and gave them stuff for her. Mr P came in one day and had been talking to the little girl who had told him that she wanted a dinosaur so I thought 'no problem'. I found a pattern and I had plenty of bits of cotton quilting fabric. I've only ever made toys with fur, which is very forgiving. I used fusible interfacing on all the pieces to make it more robust. I washed an old pillow and used the stuffing from that. I was delighted to find that I had a pair of googly eyes in my button box - goodness knows where they came from because I have never used googly safety eyes for anything.
Anyway, here is Stig. He was very well received and goes everywhere with the little girl.
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I love Stig! It sounds as if he will be a very important and much-loved friend.

Oh what a great story, Ploshkin, and a brilliant use of bits and pieces. The fabric is just right for a dinosaur.

What a nice creation for a lovely cause.

C-H Jnr had a cuddly dinosaur when he was quite little, very similar stegosaurus type. His had a range of stuffings of different feel and sound - something like scrunched up cellophane in the scales on the back, so it made intriguing crinkly noises when squeezed - could be an idea if you have to make one for a younger child. Probably not needed for a 4 yo though.

Not sure if this qualifies as arts & crafts, but really doesn't warrant a thread of its own.

A quick little make this morning. My garden snips have pierced the horrible plastic pouch they are sold in.



So I made a replacement pouch in leather - an offcut from the leather I used for the man's To Do book (which, I might add, is in constant use).



That's better!

Oh, how have I missed this thread for so long!
Stig, the o'saurus is gorgeous, Ploshkin, I'm so glad he is loved.

Your little pouch for your snippers is great, freebird. I think it's in just the right place!

I love it when a plan comes together, Freebird!

Nothing too exciting but I used up some practice material generated when I was trying to re-size a quilting block. I am a relatively new P&Qer and had to have several goes. It's a cushion for my car seat to replace the very old one I had in there. Cushion not needed other than to bring a bit of colour to a grey interior.

It's beautiful FloBear - I think you're being too modest!

I am no expert, but it looks good to me, and I like the colours

Unfortunately I only managed to take a rather hazy photo of the project I've been working on so I can't post it. When my oldest daughter was small, I made her a ragdoll from a Clothkits printed kit. The doll went everywhere with her. Then when our youngest was small, she used to play with her sister's doll. Unfortunately I let our youngest take the doll with her when we went to Ikea in Wembley, and when we got to the checkout the doll was no longer in her arms.
We re-traced our steps and searched everywhere we had been, but I think by then someone else had claimed the doll (and I was in really deep trouble...) Clothkits had discontinued the kit so I couldn't even make a new one...until now! The kit has been reissued as a 'retro' design, so I was able to present my daughter with a replica of the dolly which had gone missing,which she has now passed on to her own daughter. I had forgotten how fiddly it was to make though (and I was using an Edwardian treadle sewing machine the first time round) - even with a new machine it has still been a fiddle, especially as my fingers are more arthritic than they were years ago. But I'm glad to have been able to do it.

Perhaps you can ask your daughter to take a photo and send it to you, Dandelion. I would love to see it.

https://clothkits.co.uk/products/1970s-original-clothkits-rag-doll-sewing-kit-kitty-blue
This is a link to the kit (and now you know how much I had to pay to put things right!!)

What a lovely story, Dandelion.

Thank you D and CH for your kind comments about my cushion. I really like that blue and green fabric which was described as the DNA helix by a friend!

A little make for the man's newest grandson.

Aww, cute

That's lovely Ploshkin! It looks as if you use quite a fine crochet hook.

Wasn't me Dandelion. I can knit with the best of them but have never mastered crochet!
I seem to have been missing from this thread for a while but don't think I've really done much since the Stegosaurus. I very much like the cushion Flobear, the elephant is really cute and I love the bright colours Freebird and Dandelion, I'm sure your daughter was thrilled with the replacement doll. I bet she's never forgotten the original getting lost - things like that stick in your mind for ever.

Lovely little elephant, Freebird. Looks just the right size for a very new person.

Thank you all.

He sits about 6" high, so a good size for tiny hands, especially with that grabbable, suckable trunk.

Not especially fine, Dandelion - a 4mm hook and double knit yarn. If he was any smaller, he'd be impossible to work on, as the trunk and legs are quite fiddly anyway.

That's the same sized hook I use for my granny square blankets, but it's a much looser result. I love the little elephant!

Dandelion wrote:That's the same sized hook I use for my granny square blankets, but it's a much looser result. I love the little elephant!

He's crocheted using what the Americans call a Single Crochet stitch (UK Double Crochet stitch - there is no UK Single Crochet). Blankets and granny squares tend to be a Treble stitch or one of its variations. The Single Crochet is the densest of all the plain stitches (apart from chains and slip stitches) so well suited to toys which will contain stuffing.

I really need to extend my repertoire and learn some new stitches and techniques. Must dig out my crochet book!

I've tried things like smallish toys in crochet but with little success. I suppose, because I'm an experienced knitter, I haven't the inclination to persevere.

One of this weekend's little craft jobs was to make some simple drawstring bags for my granddaughter's toys so that things can be kept together. (At the moment there is a jumble of sticklebricks, duplo, wooden bricks and other bits and pieces at the bottom of the toy box.) My daughter hasn't got time to organise things (I don't know how she manages to parent a 20 month old and a 12 year old stepson as well as working...) So I asked if I could try out a couple of these bags. I'm making them in different colours with ribbon drawstrings so hopefully she can identify the contents of the bags by colour rather than me needing to label them - she can't read anyway! I'm hoping it will make it easier for her to play constructively, as she gets very bored. And as we look after her one day a week or more it will help us too. I have to admit that I do like order - not to the point of being obsessive about it, but I think I'm an organiser by nature (or nurture).