Hopefully Creative

Owl Bookmark

Owl to guard the colourful pages

I was browsing Etsy for embroidery patterns a couple of months ago and I found this little owl on a pile of books. A friend of mine has their birthday in August and I figured making a bookmark for someone who likes reading and writing is appropriate, right?

Embroidered bookmark of an owl on a stack of books

For one of the more colourful people I know, the original colours were just a bit too muted. So once I started planning the stitches, I went and picked some different colours for the books and edge. I attached some white felt to the back to hide all the stray stitches and some ribbon to the bottom for some extra length. I quite like the way it turned out and it was a fun little project.

Project	Owl Bookmark
Author	ThreadingOurJourney
Type	Pattern only
Search words	owl; bookmark; stack of books
Location	Drive
#stitches	2308
Purchased	11-02-2026
Date started	26-07-2026
Date finished	28-07-2026
Fabric	18 ct. aida

Piggy Bag

Stuffable piglet

The fourth bag pattern from Waffle Patterns is Biggetje – Piggy Bank. As soon as I finished the duck, he was on the cutting table. This bag is again made from the same gray fabric as the whale. It also uses the same zipper and similar hardware. There’s a big bag in the middle and a smaller bag on the side.

Gray bag in the shape of a piggy bank, nose view.

Gray bag in the shape of a piggy bank, side view.

As usual with Waffle Bags, I increased the size of the big bag by fair amount. To be able to put as many things in him as possible, I couldn’t fill it with stuffing as much. He looks a bit underfed because of that. If I bring him along, he’s a lot fuller and looks more like a pig. To combat the empty look, I did put foam pieces in his feet and his snout, so that those wouldn’t collapse.

Gray bag in the shape of a piggy bank, butt view.

Gray bag in the shape of a piggy bank, side front view.

For his tail, I didn’t have anything super curly, so I decided to use some of the stuff I’ve been using for hood strings. I also added a clip so that I can attach things to his bottom. The straps are interchangeable with all the other bags but he has since received a gray strap to match his hue better. I do think he’s very cute and he’s lovely to take on walks.

Charma-Cubone

Double bone pettable Cubone

A free Cubone plush pattern by Sew Desu Ne? and the yen to make a new stuffed creature, a match made in Pokémon heaven. I had re-found the Cubone pattern, at some point showed it to my brother and he thought it was fun. So we agreed that I would make him one. He got to pick from all the colours in my cuddle fleece collection and we decided on this orange, an off-white belly and white toes. For the skull, we settled on the gray felt, but only after I had already cut out a bone in off-white felt. So it’s a double bone Cubone.

Cubone plush with bone but without skull helmet

Once all the bits were cut out, I set out to assemble him. Empty Cubones look really weird, if you ask me. Once I started stuffing him though, he looked a lot like a Charmander. Or at least what a Charmander looked like in my memory, corroborated by a few friends who I also sent a picture too.

Then came assembling the skull. It’s a double layer of the felt sewn together. The horns are attached separately. I’m not entirely sure I made it big enough, sometimes one of his eyes is sort of hidden by the skull. The vibe of a Cubone is definitely there though.

I decided that I had to make a second bone, this one matching the skull colour. I made a minor deviation from the pattern by making the bottom end a little bit pointier. I also used a clear elastic for the bone attachment, instead of white or black, which were my only other options.

He is appreciated by the recipient, and I’m sure will have a lovely time with my brother.

Mammoth!

A giant woolly mammoth is approaching through the winter forest.

My other travel project has been a knit cowl from the same designed who made the Christmas Mystery Knit pattern. This one is the Woolly Giants Cowl (knit) by Mary P. Hunt. I dyed some Donegal DK in a light gray and chose some undyed MCN DK to knit up this lovely creature. However, once I completed the woolly rhino section at the bottom, I decided that the original colour was much too light. The Light picture actually shows it much better than real life did. So I ripped it all out and dyed a new skein of Donegal to a darker gray. The colour difference was now quite stark and it’s a lot easier to make out the different designs.

Original light gray woolly rhinos — Darker version

Knitting this was very fun. I had a print out of the design and a pen and marked off every row completed. It took me a while, mainly because it was mostly in my bag waiting for travel time. Several people along the way were impressed with how such a project is worked, which was cool too.

Knitted cowl with a mammoth and a forest.

I feel like I am actually getting better at colour work. It seems a bit less .. lumpy than previous projects. I did make one change and omitted the triangles at the top. I thought it was already plenty high and I didn’t really like them. However, I do now believe that a little more white (or those triangles) would’ve made his head ‘end’ a little better. He’s going to be a fun neutral option, come winter.

Protect Local Wildlife

Travel projects to think of Scotland

This cross-stitch Nessie has been my travel project for the past couple of months. The hoop and associated threads were nice and small and fit perfectly in my bag. And with Pattern Keeper, I didn’t even need to bring a paper pattern. I did, however, make some changes to the original design. It’s supposed to have black back spikes, a white sail and no tail. I didn’t like the spikes so I omitted them. I stitched the sail in white, but it was invisible, so I chose a random red from the hoard. My brain also couldn’t deal with a potential plesiosaur without a tail, so I created one. I really like how it worked out and I’m quite proud of it.

Embroidered Nessie in water with a castle, a boat and a fish with Protect Local Wildlife quote

I do have one regret though, and that is that I should have chosen a different colour fabric. There is a white border around the project that is only visible under certain angles. And I don’t think anyone can see the white ‘shadow’ of Wildlife. I’ll still find a place to hang it on my embroidery wall, once I’ve put up another string of hooks.

Project	Protect Local Wildlife
Author	NeedleLotDesigns
Type	Pattern only
Search words	Nessie; sea; boat
Location	Drive
#stitches	3440
Purchased	23-10-2025
Date started	02-03-2026
Date finished	18-07-2026

Duck to Go

Quacking and carrying away.

Waffle Patterns, the designer of the Penguin Bag and the Whale Bag, released two new bag patterns recently. A piggy (biggetje) and a rubber duck (eendje). I loved them, and they went on sale upon release and I couldn’t help myself. Does one need four animal bags? Probably not. Do I have them now and do they come out to play? Absolutely.

Beak view of black bag shaped like a rubber duck.

Side view of black bag shaped like a rubber duck.

I grabbed some of the same black fabric and gray lining that I used for the Penguin and got to work. As usual with waffle pattern bags, the internal bag was a little bit too small for my liking, but I only figured that out after already cutting it out and adding a zipper to the bottom. So I performed some minor surgery and added a strip all the way around the edges so that the bag innards are now a lot bigger. The wings double as extra pockets. They are not very big, but I did put the optional snap in them for some extra closure.

Apart from that, the instructions were very good again. If I remember correctly, I followed them pretty closely. There is no nap indicated on the pattern, but my fabric has some. So I tried to think about it while cutting out the duck. That was quite helpful, and he’s very pettable now. I think only one section is upside down, but I wasn’t going to take it back out again. The beak was already quite hard to sew.

Bottom view of black bag shaped like a rubber duck.

The duck has one hand strap, and it’s supposed to have a shoulder strap. I stole that one from the penguin temporarily, until I have the materials to make it its own strap. The one problem it still has is that the zipped opening is very small. Only 12-ish centimeters and my hand is not big, but it’s fairly hard to get into it. It can hold my wallet and pens, but not much else. But it wasn’t intended for a giant trek. Still, I think he’s very cute and I look forward to taking him on the go!

Highland Fox

Blue and orange in the mountains.

Ages ago, after I had found the adorable hedgehog that I gave as a gift in April, I looked at the other cross stitch patterns of the same designer and stumbled upon this one. I really loved the colour combinations of the bright orange and the blues. And I thought the fox was adorable. So after finishing all kinds of other projects, I got around to this one.

Embroidery of an orange fox with snow capped mountains in the background.

It’s tiny in real life, but the colours are really quite striking. While I did follow the instructions, I don’t think my blues were all as intended. There are bits that probably should have been darker, and one a little less bright. Really though, it doesn’t matter because this end result is still very pretty. You could also see the idea of what it was supposed to be, but the backstitch did help a lot. I really like how much detail there is.

The only downside is that it doesn’t work with pattern keeper, and keeping track from paper is harder then when stitches just light up in bright green on an app. That is what it is. I do notice that it holds me back from purchasing some more adorable patterns from this shop (this racoon and this tree owl for example). But who knows, I might just be swayed.

Project	Fox and Mountain
Author	OwlAndThread
Type	Pattern only
Search words	fox; mountain; orange; blue
Location	Drive
#stitches	max. 2600
Purchased	11-02-2026
Date started	13-06-2026
Date finished	24-06-2026
Fabric	16 ct. aida

Winnie the Pooh

Pooh and Piglet brave the unknown.

My friend had her birthday in April this year, but the celebration was a bit impromptu and I had to show up without a gift. I got some really lovely hummingbird cake, so I couldn’t leave it be. I asked her if she was interested in getting a piece of embroidery, perhaps in the style of old-school Winnie the Pooh? She has some vintage Pooh prints on the wall already. It was agreed that that would be a lovely idea. So we settled on a design, that I then promptly ignored because I found one that fits her even better.

Embroidery of old school Winnie the Pooh and Piglet

I enjoyed working on this one. The text is very cute, the Pooh is very Pooh, and Piglet is very pink. I have all the supplies for the other Pooh, so that might still materialize in the future. For now, this Pooh will grace a lovely wall and the sentiment is being appreciated too.

Project	Classic Winnie-the-Pooh
Author	TheCraftyDactyl
Type	Pattern only
Search words	winnie the pooh; piglet; friends
Location	Drive
#stitches	3307
Purchased	01-05-2026
Date started	05-06-2026
Date finished	13-06-2026
Fabric	18 ct. aida

Hedgehog

Cute little hedgehog for a hedgehog keeper

When someone who has built a hedgehog house in the garden has a birthday, the only appropriate gift is hedgehog embroidery, right? At least, that was what I thought back in February. So I set out to find a cute hedgehog and managed to do so in the patterns of OwlAndThread. There is a lot of backstitch in this thing, but it ends up being so cute!

Cross stitch embroidery of a hedgehog in clover - in a blue hoop.

Cross stitch embroidery of a hedgehog in clover - in a green frame.

After completing the stitching, it needed to be ‘kept’ somehow. First, I found some dark green paper in the hoard and made a little frame. Realistically, it was too much fabric in too small a frame. So in the end, I went out to get some different paper and made a bigger frame. I used my embossing machine to cut out some balloons and wrote a message on the back. I really enjoyed working on this, even if it was not able to be uploaded into Pattern Keeper. Old-School counting all the way.

Project	Hedgehog
Author	OwlAndThread
Type	Pattern only
Search words	hedgehog; clover
Location	Drive
#stitches	max.1960
Purchased	11-02-2026
Date started	16-02-2026
Date finished	28-02-0206

Introducing: Luus.blog

A new link for an old blog.

If your feed reader suddenly got a lot of posts from me, or something else strange started happening… It’s because I was playing around unsupervised in the back-end of my blog. I wanted to have a plugin installed, which meant that suddenly the link to my blog became luus.wpcomstaging.com instead of luus.wordpress.com as it always was – they did tell me this, I didn’t think it through. I really didn’t like the new link, so I finally settled for applying for a new domain.

If everything went well, you should now be able to find my posts on luus.blog.

I think I was fairly lucky that that one was still available as it is also my email address: luus.blog@gmail.com – if you ever need to reach me. In any case, none of this was premeditated and stuff just sort of .. happened. For now, I’m going to continue my quest of changing every instance of ‘gray’ to ‘grey’, after seeing the most perfect post from Merriam-Webster yesterday. This is the little beauty started started the whole mess in the first place.

Hope to see you around on the new – but not very improved luus.blog!