Dotees for swaps: Siamese cats and Smores (oh and a baby)

Two great things that go great together.

Siamese cats and s'mores!

First up, for a private swap.  I had someone who wanted to join my Favorite Animal swap but the time frame didn't work for them so we did a private swap.

KITTY!!!

It's no secret, I love Siamese cats.  Well, I love all cats but Siamese are top of the kitty heap for me.

I used my basic cat/doll body shape and just thinned it down a bit at the head and hips.  Felt is very forgiving that way.  I attached the face and feet pieces with embroidery and then glued them down before stuffing.

Of course, there has to be a tail on the back.  That was just glued down.

But what is up with the dotee tail?  YES, that's a ball of yarn.  I took a bead from my dollar bargain bag.  It was one of those plastic ones with the three points and the hole in the center, the kind that will stack with others like them to make bracelets?  The kind little kids really dig for summer camp crafts (like pony beads).  I wrapped it with some chenile thread stuff (I think I got at Weezie's--gotta love Weezie's).  Then I just stitched through it once or twice to keep it from unraveling.  Then tied it on at the bottom.  Unfortunately, I didn't think about how the hangar is the same thread, so it kind of looks like the thread is passing through the poor cat (and it does look a bit like a butt in the back--that makes me giggle--totally unintentional but funny).

Next up, a tasty treat.

This one was made for the August Unique Holiday swap.

Have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE this swap series.  Some of my favorite dotees have been made for this swap series.

August 10 is National S'mores Day.

Don't you just want to take a big ole bite of this cutey!

Aww, he's too cute to eat.

He's made all of felt and inspired by a pattern in the book "Big Little Felt Universe".  There's a s'more in there but I didn't like the way they made the marshmallow.  It was too flat.  So I made mine taller.  And I didn't use as much felt for the crackers.  I think that pattern used three layers per cracker which was excessive.  They also filled the chocolate square with felt squares which I found wasteful.  I filled mine with three layers of low loft cotton batting.  Why waste usable felt when you're not going to see it?  (also, I wouldn't have had enough chocolate colored felt anyway).

The bead is one from my dollar bargain bag of beads.  That purchase is turning out to be a good one.  In fact, I was leaning toward making an ice cream sandwich for this swap, but when I saw that bead I knew I had to make a s'more.

The layers are attached with just a few stitches going up from the bottom of the stack and up to the top.  No glue at all, so you can spin the elements on the thread (if you so desired).  And, YES, the crackers have 25 french knots on EACH.  I had to make 50 damn french knots.  The good thing is, I'm getting better at them now.  And it looks super cute.

Last but not least on this post is a bitty little baby (made for a baby themed swap).

Shh, he's sleeping.  (ok, it could be a girl, but with all the blue I bet most folks will just call it a he).

This one is really simple.  Just an egg shape made to look like a baby is in swaddling clothes.  It was inspired by Mimi Kirchner's baby dolls.  But this little bundle of joy is WAY smaller and made with wool blend felt (not felted sweaters).

Lots of embroidery on this one.  I was in the mood to make stem stitches so I just put swirls all over the doll.  I didn't want to attach any beads or sequins because it didn't seem right to have choking hazards on a baby dotee.

The face is attached with the embroidery then glued around the edges.  The tail is just simple plastic beads.  I like the childish look they give.

The kitty and the baby are both off to their new homes.  The s'more will be mailed off shortly (don't have my partner assigned yet--I love working ahead).