Fluff Project: July/August DONE

I did a double up on the Fluff Project again.  July and August together.

I made five mermaids and six snails.

Ladies first!

All the single ladies. . .all the single ladies!

(this is a free pattern from Blue Whimsy

Selfie time!

I wish I'd been brave enough to set the pony tail higher on more than just this blue haired gal.  It's a great look.  But maybe it is better that only Blue got it.  It makes her extra special.

Purple was the first mermaid I finished.  She's just so matchy/matchy.  Very prim and proper.

Green hair is bright and fun.  Her tail/body color just reminds me of goldfish.

Brown/red hair is super cute (I have a weakness for the redheads, I won't lie).  It's not just her reddish/brown hair, it's her body/tail fabric.

Peek-a-boo, I see you!  With just a bit of fussy cutting you get a walrus on your tail.  Koo-koo-ka-chu!

NARWHAL Y'all!  See why I really like my redhead girl?  (and what about that wee birdy on the back of her tail, too freaking cute).

Last but not least is the fanciest of the group, Blondie.

Yeah, her fabric is styling!  Look at that octopus peeking out on her tail!

There it is again on her back.  Blondie looks all sweet and innocent, but piss her off and she'll unleash the kracken.  LOOK OUT!

I really like this pattern.  It's fairly simple and makes a nice sized toy, not too big so you can use fat quarters to make it but not so small you get annoyed sewing it by machine.  My only problem (and it's mine, not the pattern) is with the light colored skin fabrics.  I think I need to put some stabilizer on the back at the face to help block out the stitching.  The really light fabrics show the floss tails (even when I keep the tails tiny).  Live and learn on that one.  (I'll have to try using a double layer of fabric or putting a stabilizer, next time)

Next up. . .snails.

Another free pattern.  I've made this pattern before for a swap, so I knew it was easy.  I wanted easy this time around (so I could mass produce).

These little buggers are small enough you can use scraps on them.  In fact, most of the fabrics here were from my scrap bucket.

Blue shell and love snail were from scraps.  The middle snail's shell was from the same fabric I used for the orange tail mermaid.  It was a large scale print that looked hand dyed (might have been) and had a lot of large patches of different colors.  I got it in a remnant/scrap box and it turned out to be perfect for a lot of projects.

Orange shell was from scraps (and the body was from the same fabric as green shell snail and orange tail mermaid).  Guitar snail (aka Slow Hand) was from scraps (body) and some gifted fabric from Kristy (who runs the Fluff Project).  Flower snail's body is scrap (yes, same as Slow Hand) and so is the shell.

It's actually two different floral prints.  I didn't have enough of either of them to make a full shell but they work very well together.  I was worried Flower snail would look too "old lady" but once I slapped the google eyes on that feeling was long gone.  Google eyes make everything fun and kiddie centric.  The original pattern has the face all on the body (with the nubs as horns) but forget that noise.  Snails need eyes on stalks.  End of discussion.  So, these snails are NOT baby safe but screw the babies.  They get everything.  Lets make toys for kids who know better than to gnaw on everything, right?  Right!  But if you're all about the babies (poo on them!) you could make this without any face at all and it would still be cute (but not as cute as google eyes, so take THAT, you spoiled "gonna choke on that!" babies).

Ok, enough baby bashing (for now).  What else am I up to?  I'm finishing up my quilt for the Pets on Quilts contest (my cats are "helping" a lot which means I have a very hairy quilt, not that I'm worried about it, it's going to get hairy no matter what if it's in my house).  Then I need to focus on some swap items (which includes an art doll where I just might paint on fabric--reading up on that process now) and then make some medical belts for my pops.  That's a super boring project (what? it is!) so I'm not super interested in it.  I know once I get into it I'll be interested but it's just not interesting in the beginning (and I have time sensitive items to get done first).  Then I need to start thinking about the next round of Fluff items.  I'm thinking candy corn and. . .crap, I forgot the other idea I had (good thing I wrote it down on my chalkboard at home).  And I promise I will get that bacon and egg tutorial up someday (maybe after the quilt and a few swaps. .. so maybe this month).