The Whimsy Patch

Renegade Batch #1 (More to Come!)

It seems that I must always do things in batches. It's sort of a curse that I impose upon myself that is probably fed by my ocd-ish tendancies. Unfortunately, the consequence of doing things in batches is that my blog goes unattended for days, sometimes weeks until I finish the current batch of plush! Ugh....

So, because these poor little fellows have already been waiting for a week to be introduced as a group, I will give them there space on my blog. These precious little dolls and chap--along with a couple other batches of dollies and chaps--will be available at the Chicago installation of Renegade Craft Fair on September 13th and 14th. Yippee! I will not be able to make it, but some fellow Plush Teamers will be there doing the hard work of manning the table and selling our wares. We'll be at Booth 70 so if you can make it, come check it out:)

And, yes, they will all be getting their individual posts--just not quite yet. (I hear some groaning and protesting coming from a very plush corner of my house. I don't think they are too happy to wait.)

I love my Little Bear!

I love my Little Bear!, originally uploaded by WhimsyPatch.

I'm really going to have a hard time sending this one out the door! Little Bear has been in the works in my mind's eye for some time now. He's named after my son's nickname and I created him to look like a plush version of my little guy. He's got the blue eyes, blonde hair, sweet smile and rosey cheeks of my little guy and his personality is equally sweet and spunky as my son's. Because the Whimsy Patch considers my Little Bear, sometimes called Sugarbear, to be one of the inspirations (along with God, my husband, my Nanny, my Great-great-Aunt Judy, my parents, etc.) for its creations, I wanted to create this plush interpretation of my son as the centerpiece of my magazine submission. He's the one boy doll to make the cut and definitely my favorite Whimsy Chap to date. And I definitely could not make Little Bear without a pacifier, or a "cee" as my son calls it. It's just like my son's, plugged in his mouth with a cute little grin peeking out from beneath. His Snakes and Snails shopping bag is full of the sugar and puppydog tails he needs to cook up his next equally cute and mischievous schemes. Watch out Lola!

So, yes, like Lola, Josefine Fairyfly, Willow and Buttercup, and Celia and Viv, Little Bear is a piece of my magazine submission. Details to come!

Funky Lola

Funky Lola, originally uploaded by WhimsyPatch.

Funky Lola is confident. She's bold. And she's very excited, yet completely chill, about being introduced to you all. She comes straight from my new Funky Dollie line, still sweet like the Chubby Dollies but a little edgier with fun hoodies, short skirts, and long limbs. Funky Lola is the Sugar and Spice to Little Bear's Snakes, Snails and Puppy Dog Tails--though I think Lola is evidence of the wrongness, or incompleteness, of those recipes. She's sweet, sure enough, but completely full of sassiness as well. I think spice is an understatement:) Lola has been shopping at the Sugar and Spice store and has a sack full of spunk in her shopping bag that she's ready to take home and us in cooking up some new antics. I must warn Little Bear! He might just be the target of her next sweet and sour attack.

Josephine Fairyfly, Wise and Warm

Josephine Fairyfly, Wise and Warm, originally uploaded by WhimsyPatch.

For those of you who have been watching the Whimsy Patch for a while, it may be a stretch, but you might remember Josefina and Pashmina, the first Whimsy Dollie and Kittie set that I ever sold on Etsy. Josefina carried the somewhat altered namesake of my dear Nanny, my sweet grandmother who partially raised me--and at that on a diet of imagination, history and literature--and inspired my creative side from my earliest days. Well, I must introduce you to Josephine, the actual namesake of my Nanny, and Josefina's wise and warm mentor and guardian.

Josephine Fairyfly is just that--a Fairyfly, a race of very wise and very maternal fairies who live in the Patch and often take on guardianship of young dollies and chaps who are struggling to make their way in the wider world of the Patch and who hope to leave home someday to make adventure in Earth Proper. Like my Nanny, she absolutely loves chunky jewelry--and loved it long before the current chunky jewelry trend set in. (I can remember rummaging through Nanny's big drawer of "beads" and trying them on one after one.) She's also plump in that sweet grandmotherly way and she looks both clever and cute in her hornrim glasses. And she loves the fact that fairyflies don't wrinkle (something my Nanny would have envied) and boasts that you would never guess her age. Let's just say she has raised and mentored at least a dozen Dollies from adolescence to adulthood, not a single one overlapping!

Josephine Fairyfly, along with the rest of the Class of 2008, was made for a magazine submission. I will release the details as they are available.

Whimsy Patch Class of 2008

Whimsy Patch Class of 2008, originally uploaded by WhimsyPatch.

I feel like I've been working on this batch for weeks! Gradually, and in stages, I have seen these pieces come together. Many monsters have come to visit in the meantime and slowed the production of these little fellows. Now that they are all complete, I feel it is time to celebrate! They will have their blog space for individual introductions, but there is something so sweet about them all sitting together. I almost cry when I think of how I will be shipping them out tomorrow and may not see them for up to a year.... They all have such personality, their own stories to tell, those details full of love and care.... I'm almost crying as I write this. Really!

Enough of this sentimentality! Little Bear, Lola and Josephine Fairyfly are screaming for their introductions. I will step aside and give them their proper due. I hope you enjoy them as much as I:)

Xavier Monster Gets His Superhero License

Xavier Monster Gets His Superhero License, originally uploaded by WhimsyPatch.

Xavier Monster is standing proud because he finally earned his Superhero License. In the Whimsy Patch, that means he can leap tall buildings in a couple bounds, can lift large objects with only a little bit of effort, and can save any day involving crises with plush toys--say your plush bear falls down behind the couch--Swoop! Or imagine that big brother has just taken that ball out of your hands. He's there to save the day! He's also good at calming sleepytime fears and fending off the boogie man lurking under the bed or in your closet. He'll provide hugs when you fall and scrape your knees and he will console you when you've earned time out for a spanking for eating cookies between meals. No, he won't tell you that was okay but he will give you a hug and keep you company while you are in the naughty chair.