I've been making some little buddies, and decided to take a try at making a big buddy for the first time.
I just finished and I'm honestly really really happy with how he came out.
He's hanging out with some little buddy friends on my shelf now. 
(in case you were wondering the two little buddies in the front are boyfriends)
I adore making crafts that are purposefully messy/uneven/"off", because as someone who is *very* critical of everything they make it is so nice to make mistakes/things that would otherwise feel like failures instead become Features.
That's entirely why I first made Little Buddies like this as a teen, and why I am making them now (see previous posts in thread if you are just joining now lol).
My little buddy in progress was supposed to have a cute vvvv mouth, but it turns out that's really hard to stitch evenly, so instead she has a vvvv mouth that combined with her eyes kinda makes it look like she has Seen Some Shit and I fucking love it for her.
The idea of making "bad art" can be really scary- but if you find the ways it works for you it is such an unbelievably freeing thing!
I am going through A Lot right now, and making the little buddies in this thread has honestly been a top tier coping skill to get me through it.
Thank fuck for fun messy cute art, and I hope you all find the outlets you need to get through whatever you need to.
That said- 3 new friends added to the little buddy flock!
Two more itsy bitsy buddies (among a few others I haven't shared yet) have joined the crew!
Also the right itsy bitsy buddy says trans rights (the left one far prefers trans wrongs, that dude is a menace).
The Little Buddy shelf has officially reached full capacity!!! 
(I guess I have to figure out a second shelf for them now because there is no way I'm not continuing to make them lol)
Little buddy shelf #1 got a final addition (they were too tall for the second shelf I cleared lmfao), and shelf #2 is now started!!!
This time I thought ahead to both start with biggest buddies I had thought of so far and create some levels right away so I can fit the most onto the shelf without the chaos if having to fully rearrange every time I add one like I did with the first shelf lol.
I just realized I never posted the last of the little buddies I made before taking a break!*
Say hello to the latest friends to join the group!
Besides 1 bulk bag of assorted buttons I've been committed to not buying anything for this project (the fabric is all from undonateable outgrown clothing/old projects/old stained sheets/etc and they are even stuffed with scrap fabric that's I cut up into tiny shreds) I decided the only reasonable way I had to give the little teal buddy an eyebrow piercing (which he really really wanted) was to use one of the cheap rings I got pierced with years ago lol. 😜
*I'll hopefully make more at some point, but right now my new job is wiping me out
I was organizing some old photos and found some of the original Little Buddies I made as a teenager!
I think they are the very first thing I ever sewed!
I remember a bunch of them were meant to represent people in my life, but all I remember now is the tiny pink dome one with 2 different eyes was me and the denim one was my brother (both clearest in photo 2).
I don't have any of them anymore, but I posted a photo of the buddies I've been sharing here on a site I have some family on, and the next time I talked to my dad like a week later he was raving about how much he loved them and told me he still has one of the ones I made back then! 😠(our relationship is very complicated, so it hits hard to have him be so excited about an art project like this that honestly means so much to me, never mind find out he held on to a silly little doll I made and gave him as a teen for 15+ years)
Anyways, these are the original Little Buddies that inspired this project!
Jack (they/them)