This Week I’m Making Felt Cactuses for a Future Cot Mobile
This week I am making felt cactuses, just as I promised in my last article. I have had this idea in my head for quite a long time. I want to create a cot mobile with llamas, or alpacas if that is the name you prefer 🙈, with cactuses around them 🌵. The cactuses will be the secondary objects, but they will help make the whole cot mobile feel more unique.
I am also trying to stay consistent and show up every week like I promised. So if you are new here, hi, I’m Alyona. I have been sewing and crafting for as long as I can remember. Not long ago, I decided I wanted to share what I work on every week, how I organise things, and what is happening behind the scenes. At first, I thought about doing only a newsletter. Then I realised newsletters disappear into the future, and if someone is not on the list, they miss everything. That is why I wanted something more evergreen 🌱, and articles made much more sense.
If you subscribe to the newsletter, you do not have to miss the weekly updates. At the same time, even if you are not on the list, you can still read the articles later and follow along. I like that they connect to each other a bit like a mini TV series. If you want to subscribe, you can go to My Website, scroll down, and find the subscription button there.
The Idea Behind These Cactuses
These cactuses are for a future cot mobile project. I am making three different cactus shapes 🌵, and each one will come in different colours. Even so, they will all match the llama décor later, so everything feels harmonious together. I am still thinking about whether I want to add some sort of Alp mountain in the middle of the cot mobile, but I have not decided yet 🙈.
For now, I want to make all the objects first. I would rather create all the plushies before I start grouping everything together and playing with the composition. That feels easier to me. I can see everything properly once it exists in front of me, instead of trying to build the whole scene only in my head and hoping for the best.
How I Made the Cactus Plushes
The pattern itself is very simple. It is made from just two elements, and I stitch them together with Thread using a blanket stitch 🧵. After that, I add Stuffing/Filling inside. I know some people prefer flat designs, and that would work here too. I just like my plushies round and cute, so I went with the stuffed version.
Before I stitched everything together, I felt the pattern looked a little too basic. It was simple, clean, and useful, but it needed a bit more character. I wanted the toy to feel more unique, and I also wanted a slight vintage look. So I added a few cactus-style stitches with a more brownish, dry-looking colour of thread. I used that on bright Soft Felt, and it gave the cactuses a more realistic look straight away. That small detail helped a lot 👌.
The Felt Bag Situation Was a Bit of a Mini Drama
While I was choosing felt from my bag, I realised the whole thing had become an absolute mess 🙈. After finishing this project, I decided I had finally had enough and needed to clean it properly. I have three felt bags. One bag holds the felt that is barely touched and still comes in nice big sheets. The second bag holds pieces that are not exactly leftovers, but they are not full sheets anymore either. They are still big enough for one or two toys, or a few elements. Then I have a third bag where I throw pre-cut patterns, project bits, and pieces I want out of my sight for a while.
The main trouble was the second bag. That is where I keep all the felt I have cut into but can no longer fold nicely like a big sheet. After months of working like that, the bag turned into a complete bomb site. I could not properly see what I had anymore or how much of each colour was left. So when I wanted to start some projects, I thought I had supplies, but I actually did not 😂. For example, I found out my white felt had completely run out.
So this week became a sewing week and an organising week at the same time. I finished the cactus project, then I sat down and sorted everything out. I folded the small pieces, put them in order, and made notes about which colours were running low. Now I know much more clearly what I need to order, which colours are almost gone, and which ones I somehow managed to collect twice 😳. Not the most glamorous part of crafting, but very useful all the same.
The Cot Mobile Plan Is Starting to Wake Up Again
While gathering everything for the future cot mobile, I also realised I do not have any Wooden Hoops at home. They are in storage, so if I want to make the cot mobile properly, I will need to go and collect a few later 🚗. I would love to have a giant sewing room with all my supplies around me, but that is not my reality at the moment 🙈. Some things still live in storage, and apparently the hoops are among the runaways.
I have mentioned before that I am always making patterns and testing patterns. So if you are curious and want to see how I work, you are very welcome to try my Free Sewing Pattern. It is a nice way to get acquainted with my patterns and see whether you enjoy the structure. If you do try it, you can let me know in the comments whether you liked it or not, or whether you have already tried one of my patterns before 😉.
I am still wrapping my head around the structure of these articles, to be honest. Sometimes they feel a bit too blah blah blah in my own opinion. Right now, I am simply going through my week, recording what I did, what I am doing, and what I still need to do, then sharing all of that with you.
The Next Project Is Not a Mystery Anymore
It is not mysterious anymore either, because my next project is going to be a llama 😂. I have two llama patterns. One of them is already tested and published in my Sewing Patterns Collection. The other one is very similar in design, but the llama has a different position. I also have my standing Llama pattern, and I remember very clearly how I imagined using both versions when I first dreamed about this cot mobile.
Back then, I wanted some llamas in a standing position and some in a laying position. I wanted cactuses around them, and I also wanted a mountain with a sort of Alp style and a little bit of snow on the top. That idea came to me when I was watching The Emperor’s New Groove 🦙. I loved that cartoon the first time I saw it, and I watched it again quite often 🙈. That is what gave me the idea for this cot mobile in the first place.
Then life happened, as it does. Some things were pleasant, some were not, and I drifted away from this project for more than a year. Now it feels like it is finally time to get back on track and test the second llama pattern, the one with the laying position. After I make a few of them, I will start combining everything and grouping it together. That is actually the fun part for me. I love projects that contain lots of smaller projects inside them 🪡🧸.
A Few More Things I Made This Week
While I was making this plushies, I found a few stones and charms in my storage box and ended up making myself a nice Apple Watch bracelet as well 🙈😂. I had been keeping those connectors you insert into the watch for such a long time, and I never quite knew what I wanted to do with them. After I finished this project, I felt so inspired that I made a bracelet on top of that too. So yes, this week came with extra little side quests.
That bracelet was not exactly an easy peasy make. The first version came out too big, so I had to remove all the beads and make it again. Then I removed too many beads, and it became too small. I think I only truly nailed it on the fourth try. So yes, the fourth time was the winner, and now I have one more handmade Watch bracelet to wear 💪.
A Little Update on Last Week’s Work
I keep mentioning previous articles, so if you want to know what I was making last week, you can read This Week I’m Making a Beautiful Felt Calf Plushie. That was last week’s project, and this week’s cactuses follow on from that same little weekly series.
I still have not brought my Light Box back from storage, but I finally photographed my two latest projects anyway and posted them online. So if you want to have a look at the previous two patterns from last week and the week before, they are already available on my website. Those are the cute French bulldog and the Calf, and they are now ready and waiting 🎉.
That is what I have been doing over the past few days, and that is what I am planning next as well. Thank you for following along with my weekly crafty little updates. I hope you enjoyed this one, and I will see you in the next article. Bye 👋.
