project // guinea pig cushion

When I heard that July 16 is Guinea Pig Appreciation Day, I knew that I needed to do something to show my own appreciation for these sweet little critters that have captured my heart. Last year I made a pouch for them to laze about in, and they love it. So it seemed like time for another DIY designed for guinea pigs. Although this one would also be fun for humans too!

The idea for this came when one of my piggies was sitting comfortably in a bean bag chair watching an old episode of Scarecrow and Mrs. King on DVD. She was nestled in there and just so very cute. True story.

So I thought, what if they had their own piggy bean bag? Well, this isn't exactly a bean bag, but it is a soft and slightly squishy spot for piggies to watch some Netflix.



Of course, even when you're crafting for critters, you can make things cute. So I made my cushion look like a guinea pig. It's styled a bit like the stuffed guinea pig in my book, Stitch Love: Sweet Creatures Big and Small. Because of this, I think it would just as fun to make this as a little pillow for a piggy fan!



You will need:

No-pill fleece - guinea pig colors
Wool blend felt - black and pink
Embroidery floss - black, pink, and white
Sewing notions
Sewing machine

DOWNLOAD THE GUINEA PIG CUSHION TEMPLATE PDF



Cut two large body pieces from fleece. I used cream for the top and brown for the bottom.

To do this, place the pattern piece on the fold, paying attention to the stretch arrows on the template (not shown above). I extended my pattern piece to the edge of the paper, but you can cut it off for a stubbier guinea pig.

Cut around the edge adding a 3/8-inch seam allowance.



Cut the front and back accent pieces with an added seam allowance around the curved ends, but not on the swerve.



Pin the accent pieces to the top body piece and sew along the swerve. (That's officially now my technical term for that wavy bit.)



Cut out two eyes from black felt, and two ears and one nose from pink felt.



Arrange the face pieces so they look cute and start stitching them down. Use three strands of matching thread to tack down the edges of the felt.

Embroider the mouth with pink embroidery floss. I used chain stitch to make a thicker line, although satin stitch would probably be better for making super cute and smooth guinea pig lips. I did use satin stitch for the teeny tongue.



Use all six strands of white and a french knot to stitch the highlight on the eyes.



Pin the top and bottom together, wrong sides facing. If the edges don't match up exactly, don't worry. You can trim them down later. Just be sure that you are able to catch the fabric as you sew.

Sew around the edges, leaving one of the sides open.



Cut a few more pieces of fleece using the body template. This time, don't add the seam allowance. Also, you don't need to follow the stretch guide, so cut them however it fits on your fabric.

I cut four pieces, but you can do more or less.



Slide the fleece pieces inside the guinea pig so they fill the body.



For some extra stuffing, I cut up a bunch of fleece scraps that would have gone in the trash. These, I put between the layers of fleece.

By the way, I opted to fill this with fleece because it won't be as soggy/lumpy as stuffing when it gets washed. That said, I expect that it will shift a bit when washed. I haven't tested it yet, but will update here when I do. I plan to just scrunch it around to keep my piggies comfy.

As an alternative, you could tack through the layers to make it a little quilted and keep the layers from moving. I may still do that. Or, if you're making this into a pillow for you, just use regular stuffing.



Sew the opening closed and trim the seam allowances as needed.



Let your pet try out their new cushion!




Lieutenant Nibbles is definitely enjoying her new comfy spot, and looking cute at the same time. Do you think she's noticed that her cushion looks a little like her?




No time to notice that she's sitting on a guinea pig...she just wants to know if you have any food for her!

printable // sweet creatures floss bobbins

Are you ready to wrap up some cuteness? I really wish I had thought of these animal floss bobbins back when my Stitch Love book first came out, because these really are the sweet creatures mentioned in the title!

I chose kitties and guinea pigs because, well, that's what lives at my house. And so yes, I'm biased. But I hope you can learn to love having these little friends in with your stitching supplies. They promise to be helpful and keep your floss tidy for you!

Need some new stitchy friends?

DOWNLOAD THE SWEET CREATURES FLOSS BOBBIN PDF

Print the PDF on card stock. For sturdier bobbins, I recommend spray mounting the printed page to a second piece of card stock.



Cut out the bobbins. The indent is the trickiest part, but you can do it! If you really struggle, try cutting that part with a craft knife. And don't forget the little slits at the bottom!



Now it's time to wrap up your critter friends! Get the floss right up to the top so that you don't see where the animal stops.



These bobbins are a little larger than the standard kind, or like my happy thread bobbins. But don't worry! They'll still fit in your plastic organizer box. Like the linen-look printable I made for About.com, you just turn them to fit in the compartments the long way.

As you work, your new animal friends can keep your company!

stitch love // more critter sketching and a party

It's hard to believe, but we're coming up on the first anniversary of when Stitch Love was released! A month ago I thought how fun it would be to have a little party locally and invite folks to come stitch with me. Time got away from me, so instead of getting together in person, I was hoping you'd join me for a virtual party?

The best part about this is that everyone can come!

Next Wednesday, January 27th, be sure to be here for some free patterns, a giveaway or two, and maybe other fun things. I've been sketching new patterns just for this event! (Okay, so event might be a stretch, but I promise fun stuff...)

I'm telling you now so you can plan accordingly. And make some snacks to share.

Oh, and if you have any critters you'd like to see (that weren't in Stitch Love: Sweet Creatures Big & Small), let me know and they might make an appearance!

stitch-love-along // round one

I'm so very excited to officially kick off the Wild Olive Stitch-Love-Along!

Faith, Becca, and I have been organizing a stitch-along to go with my book Stitch Love, and we'd love for you to join us! The Stitch-Love-Along begins today, but if you don't have the book yet, this first round is pretty easy to make, so if you want to pick up a copy, you'll still have time.

Round 1 // August 4-18
Stitch a Pocket Pal (any Stitch Love embroidery motif with the Pocket Pal project on page 53)

Round 2 // August 18-September 1
Make an Animal (choose a project that creates an animal...examples to come!)

Round 3 // September 1-15
Stitch a Critter (embroider any Stitch Love motif on a handmade item...ideas to come!)

At the end of each round everyone who participates will receive a free Stitch Love pattern designed just for that round of the Stitch-Love-Along!



This round is to stitch a pocket pal! I love this project and its flexibility. It's also a good way to get your feet wet for the Stitch-Love-Along, or even for embroidery.

To participate in this round, look to page 53 in Stitch Love, choose your favorite motif from the book to stitch in a pocket, and get started!

Share your progress on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, or your own blog. This is all about stitching along together and sharing with each other, so be sure to tag your posts #StitchLoveAlong. We all want to see your materials, your process, and of course...the finished project!

Details for getting the special round one pattern will come when the round is done.



I mentioned that this project is flexible, and here's the tip about this. You don't have to make a shirt, although shirt pockets are adorable with a friend popping out! Just about any pocket will do, and soooo many of the embroidery patterns will work with this.



For mine, I'm using a pre-made tote bag. I grabbed some fabric and trim so that I can customize it a little...I'm thinking slightly girly for me! And I'll let you follow along on social media to see what I start stitching!

If you have any questions, just ask Becca, Faith, or me. We tend to be most active on Instagram, but anywhere you track us down will get you an answer.

We can't wait to see what you're stitching in your pocket! Ready? Let's Stitch Love!

stitch love // six months and a stitchalong

Today marks six months since my book Stitch Love: Sweet Creatures Big & Small came out. Six months! I can hardly believe it.

Big thanks to everyone who has already purchased a copy! If you have a moment, I'd love it if you leave a review on Amazon (especially), Barnes & Noble, or elsewhere.

If you don't have a copy yet, you may want one soon, because next week I'll be sharing the details for a stitch-along to go with Stitch Love! A Stitch-Love-Along, perhaps? We'll have three rounds, with each one focusing on a specific type of project, and special gifts for participating. I'm so excited!

@molliejohanson look what they have at Mitsuwa! #stitchlove #mitsuwa

A photo posted by Rebecca (@hugsarefun) on Jun 17, 2015 at 9:44am PDT

The first day Stitch Love came out I ran over to my local Barnes & Noble and found a copy to take crazy pictures with. Since then, I check my local JoAnn every time I go, and have still never found it (although yesterday someone spotted it at their JoAnn!). But my favorite "in the wild" Stitch Love moment was when my friend Becca found it at the Japanese book store near us.

Japanese craft books were a huge inspiration for me as I was working on Stitch Love, so having my book on the shelves at the store where I go to grow my collection? Well, that was the best compliment I could receive!

I've been loving (stitch loving?) this journey so much, and I can't wait to see what will come next!

star wars mini guinea hams

Last week I showed off the little hamster that I made using the Gleeful Guinea Pig project from my book Stitch Love. As I was writing the post, the name "mini guinea ham" came to mind, and I think it's gonna stick. For me at least. Especially as I've found that you can take this design and modify it to make other characters.

Like characters from Star Wars.

Now you may have never thought about taking a beloved movie character and transforming it into a hamster, but apparently that's just where my head goes. If Disney can do it with Tsum Tsum, so can I.

The basics are that you take the Gleeful Guinea Pig templates in Stitch Love and shrink them down 50%. Then, you customize a little!



Wicket the Ewok is pretty close to the original style. I used wool blend felt for the middle section so I could get a color I liked, but I was really happy with how the felt worked on here. Since there's no stretch, I made the section a little longer just in case I needed the length.

His ears are also a little smaller, and the nose is rounded. I left off the mouth on all of these.

Oh, and I found that a regular hole punch make great little eyes!



For Chewbacca, I wanted his fur to stick out a little more than the fur on the standard mini guinea ham. Instead of whip stitch I used running stitch so that the zig zag fur remained free. I also made a little bandoleer that you'll see below.




For Yoda, a green face and big ears were all that I needed to convey who this was, right? I just free-handed the ear shape.

The robe (which I realized too late that I did have a better color I could have used) is cut with a wavy edge instead of the zig zag of the pattern. I also made it a little wider so I could fold it back like you see. At the front end, I used the running stitch method about 1/2 from the edge, then folded it. At the back end, it's whip stitch.

Princess Leia has the same folded back front, and Han Solo is all whip stitch, but with that wavy edge. They also got some free-hand cut hair.

For all of these, I looked for ways to show the essence of the character in the simplest way possible. Sometimes my family would tell me that I was missing some detail, or that a color wasn't quite right. But that wasn't the point. I wanted these to have just enough of that character so you could tell. Han Solo is the hardest, but when he's hangin' with Chewie, it's all good.

Honestly, I think the only reason I chose some of these characters was so that I could do this:





What can I say? It's the simple things in life that bring me joy!

These are so easy to customize like this. I hope you give it a go and make a few for Star Wars Day next week. They come together quickly enough that you won't even have to go into hyperdrive!

stitch love // making a hamster out of a guinea pig

When my mom was growing up she had pet guinea pigs (a family fact you'll find in my book, Stitch Love), but when I was growing up I always had pet hamsters.

A few of my hamsters met with untimely ends (there are some good stories here!), and once my dad even revived one of my little pets. There was no mouth-to-mouth, but he did do some compressions and held that little guy until he came back!





Even with all my hamster tales, I decided to have a guinea pig, a Gleeful Guinea Pig, in Stitch Love. Not wanting to snub my tinier furry friends, I included a hamster embroidery pattern in embroidery gallery and right there on the cover. I also suggested that you could take the same pattern, shrink it down, and have a hamster.

The process is pretty much exactly the same as what is in the book, just smaller. When I made my little hamster, I printed the pattern at 50%. That's 50% of the full size download patterns (the link is in the back of Stitch Love under "Using Templates"). The circles for his head and bottom are 5 or 5-1/2 inches (a cereal bowl is perfect!).

I made the face, ears, and feet a little larger than 50%, tracing them directly from the book. In hindsight, I'd probably go smaller and make them a true 50% also.

And are you ready for this?



I'm a little behind on the trend, but my hamster is a perfect size to play with Tsum Tsums! He's just a bit longer, but as you can see, he stacks just like the rest! Being a hamster (and squirrel!) fan, you know I had to have Chip and Dale. Chipmunks are like, right in-between.

I picked them up on a recent trip to Target. My little sister and I decided that we needed them in our lives, and undoubtedly she'll be swiping my hamster friend...just like my other sister took the guinea pig!




Here's the fun part...after I made a mini guinea ham, I knew that I just HAD to make more. And the latest have a theme that I think you might just love. If you haven't picked up Stitch Love yet, this is a great time!

stitch love // book walk-through

About a month ago, my book, Stitch Love: Sweet Creatures Big & Small was finally released, and although I've talked about it here, I've never shown a look inside! So that's what I'm here to do today.

When I first started talking with my editor about the book, she suggested that it be all about animals. I sort of freaked out about it, because if felt outside of my abilities. But I worked on it, and sketched, and now I'm completely smitten with animals and so happy with how this all came out.

Stitch Love has 25 projects and over 100 embroidery motifs, with animals are from around the globe. And I did my very best to make each one super cute!

Ready to take a look inside?



Some of the projects are shaped like animals, like this frog pond game with froggy and lily bean bags. The arms and legs flap and fly in the breeze!



One of the things I keep hearing from people is that the line on the front is what sold them on the book: Cute Kitties and Cows and Cubs and More...and a Yeti. And this is the yeti. (There's an embroidery motif of the yeti too!)

The yeti is an ice pack, like a boo-boo bear or bunny. Jess made one already, but she made hers into a little plush instead of an ice pack.



Also from the cover are these little outback animals. You can even make little house pouches for them to carry them along with you. Oh, and Nancy used this style of animal to make a bunny from the Stitch Love Valentine Blog Hop. I just love that people are using the projects and making them their own!



Speaking of the blog hop, the Cat Loaf bread cloth that I made used the Holiday Mouse Furoshiki Cloth from Stitch Love. Furoshiki is the Japanese method of wrapping gifts or other items with fabric, and the mouse design on here can be changed for different holidays and celebrations!

Of course, you could use any embroidery design on there, like I did with the cat loaf.




Each project has illustrations to show the steps, but they are simple enough that you probably wouldn't even need the how-to images. This is definitely a beginner-friendly book, but I find that fun and easy projects are a nice change of pace for even experienced sewists.

As I was working on the projects, studying the animals and deciding which creatures to focus on, I learned a lot, and added a few fun facts in throughout the pages. There are also some bits of info about favorite animals in my family, like manatees, guinea pigs, and chickens!



At the back of the book there's a basics section with illustrated instructions for embroidery, sewing, and working with templates, including a link to download the project templates at full size. I find that PDF templates are so much easier than tracing or copying them from the book!



But this is my favorite part of the whole book. I love embroidery, so you shouldn't be surprised that I would love the embroidery section the most. But what makes it special is that every motif is shown stitched.

Every single one.

At one point I thought about asking some stitching friends to help with this, but I'm ridiculously proud of the fact that I stitched all 117 motifs by myself. From a waving walrus to kissing prairie dogs to a fantastical wolpertinger (yes, that's a thing), and of course, many more, each is stitched with love.

There are more than a few things in here that are a nod to Japanese-style craft books, sewing, and even artwork. The pages of embroidery are one of those things, and that owl with his sleepy bubbles are another. The aesthetic is pleasing to me, and hopefully it is to you too.

Stitch Love: Sweet Creatures Big & Small is available on Barnes & Noble, Amazon, your local bookseller, and many more places.

If you've already purchased Stitch Love, first, THANK YOU! Next I'd love it if you leave a review online (either from the place you ordered, or your own blog). And finally, when you stitch love, post a pic and tag it #stitchlovebook so I can see and share your work with others!

One last thing. Some of my favorite reviews for Stitch Love: Sweet Creatures Big & Small have been from kids. Evie said, "It's so cute!" and Jess's daughter made this awesome video review! Even though there are plenty of kid projects in here, I didn't consider that the book would be as loved by children as it has been, and I just love that.

Thanks all for the support on what has been such an incredible critter-filled journey!