For Swaps: Patches and a dotee

Long time no post.  I haven't been finishing as much stuff lately.  But I had some swaps coming due so I had to get my create on.  And I had a day off work so. . .sew time!

First up, two patch swaps.

This one was a puzzle piece theme:

Super simple, flat style patch.  I just embroidered around some of the puzzle pieces using varigated rainbow floss and then some solid color floss.  It gave a nice quilted effect but isn't super visible.

Next was a random patch for a monthly single patch swap (so no theme, just size constraints).

This one is a little larger but I think still within the size guidelines.  To be honest, I didn't measure it and I don't really care.  Bad attitude?  Yup.  I think the finished product looks great at this size so I don't care if it's "too big" (though I don't think it is).

It's puffy style but came out very even on the edges.  I left the backing fabric a bit larger than the top fabric (for classic puffy style they're normally the same size) so I could fold the backing fabric down on itself to get more of a flat style frame then a super curly frame you normally get with a classic puffy.

The design was super basic, just embroidery around each of the circles.  I love how it turned out.  It reminds me of bubble wrap.

And the back looks pretty cool, too.

Last thing to show off this round. . .a dotee.

This one is a monthly swap.  The theme this month was cats.  (so my bag)

Cashmere kitty for the WIN!

Eugene was my inspiration for this one, too.  That's why he has the green eyes and a nearly invisible nose (and no mouth).  Gene is all gray so his facial features are sometimes obscured (though he is very silver so you can usually see his details).

See, there is a nose there.  Just one wee stitch.  But no mouth. Two little bead eyes and some cray-z whiskers (my partner can trim them down if they want).

OH, and a great big long tail.  I had this long scrap of cashmere so I decided to make a bendable tail.  That meant getting in the cats' new toy/weed drawer to get a fresh pipey (aka pipe cleaner).  Gene went nuts begging for a new pipey (despite having half a dozen rolling around the house) so I gave him a new one.  That didn't stop him from getting up on the table while I was working and batting at the tail as I was sewing it on.  Bad kitty!

The other tail.  I had to use this random bell because I noticed it had a wee paw print on it.  I'm not sure if the paw print was intentional but I liked it so there you go.

Super simple free form cashmere kitty for the win!

What else am I working on right now?  A whole effing lot of french knots for a negative space embroidery hoop project (it's going to turn out great, I can tell, which makes me very happy) AND. . .

RICKY SPANISH.

Oh, yes, I'm making a Ricky Spanish ninni doll and it's turning out VERY well.  Just have to make the vest, belt, and wig.  But that requires a trip to the craft store (Friday) so I'll work on the buttload of french knots until then.