Little Cotton Rabbits

little friends far away

Well, the most recent batch of toys have all hopped away to their new homes and yesterday I heard from Rachel who won the 200th post prize draw that her little rabbit had arrived. She requested a sailor dress and I really enjoyed experimenting with the collar on this one - I'll definitely make some more nautically inspired toys.

Anyway, for a while I've been meaning to catch up with some of the toys who've settled happily into their new homes. So, here they are with a big thank you to everyone who has sent me pictures.

Finlay and Su-Lin are enjoying life with Kim

Soren has found a great place to snuggle at Pauline's house

Axel had a festive time with friends on Susan's christmas tree

Over at Martine's house Crispin and Tallie are relaxing and watching the world go by

Nettie's got milk at Carolyn's place

There's a little gang making themselves at home with Sheri

And cute little Sophia even has a beautiful hand-painted plaque with her bunny on.

Thanks again to everyone who sent me photos - it means a lot to know that my little toys are cherished and enjoyed.

red shoes, no knickers...

...or so according to my friend's dad!

Although I do love red shoes, I'm not really a no-knickers kinda gal. In fact when it comes to pants my view is the larger and more comfortable the better (my g-string wearing days are definitely behind me!)

Anyway, swiftly moving on - my new red polka dot birkis have arrived to help me celebrate the onset of spring!

Enjoy the weekend!

PS: thanks for the shoe love! I got them from Birkenstock's online site.

Verity

This week is MS awareness week and Verity here is hoping to help Anna raise some money. She'll be auctioned off on saturday night together with lots of other wonderful crafts, but if you'd like to lodge a bid for her you can email Anna by visiting scrapping tonight.

annual reviews and getting naked!

Well, Toby's annual statement review is sorted for another year. It was great to hear his teachers say that he's making some progress and having compared notes with them it seems that he's more aware of the world since starting school. Often autistic children are very withdrawn, not making eye contact or even acknowledging the presence of anyone else in the room. They can sit for hours at a time completely lost in a repetitive activity and often strongly resist being touched or held. Toby used to be quite withdrawn and can still get like this when he's extremely stressed. I try and comfort him by touch and a soothing voice but this increases his stress and can result in a full-blown, self-harming outburst. Although it's hard, I've learnt that when Toby withdraws into himself it is best just to give him some space and peace so that he can deal with his stress and I just look for the signs that he's ready to return to our world and accept a little gentle interaction. So, the good news is that he's withdrawing into himself less frequently at school and is noticing more around him. He's also discovering his own opinion and often makes it quite clear - most parents are familiar with this in a normally developing child as the terrible twos!

Anyway, due to this increased awareness school have decided to start toilet training. It could be a long and arduous process but it will be wonderful to ditch the nappies at last and to think that he's moving towards some sense of independance. At home our main target is to tackle the issue of clothing and gradually build up to getting him to wear some! Issues with clothing are typical in autistic children and can include hypersensitivity to certain textures. Toby happily accepts wearing his uniform for school but at home he strips down to his vest and nappy. He also strips when we visit friends and family or even in an indoor play area. Again this is quite common with autistic children - they'll accept something in one location and refuse it in another. It definitely needs tackling because although it's perfectly acceptable for a six year old to wander around half naked, it's quite a different thing for a 6ft teenager and the longer it stays a habit, the harder it will be to change!

So, I'm now on strip-alert and as soon as I see the clothes coming off, I rush to get them back on again quickly. I am not popular at the moment and it will certainly be a challenge!

so, where shall I stick it?

It's been a busy week this week with the latest batch of toys getting ready to go to their new homes and Toby's annual statement review meeting - more of that in another post. I've had loads of emails about the copyright issue and I'm really grateful for all of the support and advice. There was also a lovely email from Sena who wrote to me on behalf of a group of Russian ladies, one of whom had made the toys that were copied from mine and written up a pattern for them. The email explains that although the pattern was shared on a forum it was never their intention to sell the toys or the pattern and they've apologised. I really appreciate that they took the time to write to me in english to give me more information.

Anyway, I've been thinking about 're-branding' my little toys for a while and thinking about copyright has been the catalyst to concentrate my mind again. I've re-designed the labels that I attach to each toy and they will now have specific details on the back including the toy's name, when they were made and what they are made from. I've also ordered a batch of ribbon labels which brings me back to the title of the post above. Popping them into a fabric softie would be simple as you'd just sew it into a seam but on a knitted toy it needs to be attached afterwards.

I'm thinking probably in the centre of the back under the clothes is the best place but thought I'd ask your opinion - where do you think I should stick it? clean answers only please ;)

Thank you

I just wanted to quickly thank everyone for leaving such kind comments on the previous post. It shouldn't happen to anyone - it's not nice to be reminded that not everyone surfing the internet has good intentions at heart. It is however something faced by most crafters creating individually styled work. It's demoralising but it definitely won't stop me from doing what I love.

Anyway, I shall go into the weekend feeling high as a kite by all of the supportive and complimentary things that you took the time to write. So here's wishing you a wonderful weekend from Penelope and me!

PS: Remember there is still a week until the close of the 2nd Annual Softie awards so there's still time to make your softie, photograph it and get it entered. I've entered Penelope in the pink or plaid section and there are 4 other categories too.

it shouldn't need saying...

...and I'm really sad that it obviously does but copying another person's work and selling it on as your own just isn't right. I really didn't want to bang on about it here as it seems a highly contentious issue but discussion about copyright has been cropping up in lots of blogs recently and I wanted to be clear on my views.

I have no problem in people copying the look of my toys for personal use or for gifts. Neither do I have a problem in people taking individual elements of my designs and incorporating them in their own - that is all part of the normal creative process. What I, and most other crafters find demoralising and depressing is recognisable* copies of our work being sold without our consent.

The reason I'm mentioning this now is that I've had several kind and concerned emails recently about toys similar to mine being sold. The most blatant example was this which was found on a russian website with a claim that the designs were their own and instructions of how to make them.

The copies...

My originals...

The lovely Barbara at Fuzzy Mitten has written up some of her views on copyright too - we've been comparing notes as recently some of her patterns have been adapted to copy some of my designs. I think her views are very similar to my own and really what we, and other crafters find upsetting is recognisable replicas of our work sold with a claim that it is someone else's.

Ok, getting off my soapbox now... and ending with a big thank you to everyone who has sent me concerned emails with links to copies of my toys. It's good to know that I have friends out there who are looking out for me.

PS: I've had lots of emails in the past about knitting up my free patterns to sell to raise money for charity and I always say a categorical yes - I'm really pleased if you want to use my free patterns for charity fundraising and I'll be trying to write up some more.

* Addition: I've changed the word above (see *) from exact to recognisable - as someone pointed out in an email the copies are never going to be exact. Thanks so much for all of the comments - will write a proper post tomorrow.

calling all softie makers!

Did you know that the 2nd annual softie awards have just started taking entries?

It's not too late to get softie making and enter your own (closing date is April 18th). Full details can be found here on Softies Central but in short there are 5 categories and anyone can enter an originally designed softie. I've started thinking about mine and have a few works in progress that I hope to have finished over the coming week.

Why not take a look at the entries so far and get making yours? Good luck everyone and have fun softie making!

a wedding!

It's still chaos here but the school Easter hols are nearly over and we're all still smiling (just!)

For a while now I've been meaning to share this fabulous creation that was sent to me by Kim. It's a wedding albumn showing the marriage of Dougie and Blueberry. The detail is breathtaking with each page beautifully composed and it truly is something I will treasure forever along with her previous wonders here and here !

Kim, you really are incredibly talented and I'm so grateful for this wonderful gift. Thank you x