Gone to the. . .rhinos?

Yes, rhino.

A co-worker hit me up to make something for a charity event she was doing (to benefit a rhino sanctuary).  She wanted a chameleon (she'd seen them before. . .yes, I like to show off stuff at work, I'm so vain) but I had a memory of Jodie (Ric-Rac) having a rhino pattern.

I was right, she did but she didn't have the one I remembered (it was YEARS ago) up in her shop.  So I emailed her and she hooked me up with her Dozer pattern because she's a super nice woman.  (she's also the maker of the chameleon pattern. . .her stuff is so wonderful).

So I whipped up a Dozer for the rhino charity.

(side bar:  how many times have I typed 'rhino' incorrectly. . .almost every time so far. . .what is that about?  some words just will not be typed properly. . .but I digress)

Rhino and chameleon in a race to see who's cuter.  PHOTO FINISH!

The winner is. . .

EUGENE!  Photobombs always win.  He's looking all scowly, too, which I know darn well is not how he is.  He's an epic dude bro with a very pleasant disposition.  But he is a cat so he is naturally given to stank face.

Hmm, now that I'm typing this up I realize I didn't ask my co-worker how her event planning is going (I think it happens at the end of the month. . .I'm not planning to attend, making something for one of the raffle baskets gets me out of having to actually GO, which pleases me immensely.)

I've been up to other shenanigans, too.  Let me just type those posts up now.  Give me a sec.

I'm still making stuff. . .wanna see?

Know why I've been neglecting this blog?  Instagram.  It's all Instagram's fault.  That and being lazy.  Instagram rewards my lazy self because I can just post the pic right from my phone (right after I take it), give a little blurb, and done.

BUT. . .there is something fun about being able to really blabber about the stuff in a nice rambling blog post (and it's a slow day at work so I need to look busy).

It's been a few months and I'm still making stuff.  In fact, not having posted here in a while I realize I've churned out quite a bit lately.  Where to start?

Ok, let's start with the random things, mostly gifts for others.

GIFTS n'At

Guinea pig!  I've made two of these before.  This was a single pig made for a co-worker who was leaving for a new job.  She used to take us (meaning the office folks who were interested) to see the baby guinea pigs (in the labs) so she needed a guinea pig as a going away present, naturally.   (Ric Rac pattern used)

Let me just side bar, baby guinea pigs are just about the cutest little things I've ever seen.  They are born looking just like miniature versions of full grown GPs and they can eat sold food fresh out the womb (though they do nurse).  I so wanted to stuff one down my shirt and steal it but the workplace does frown on theft and my husband frowns on rodents as pets so. . .no baby GP for me.

Next up, a baby gift for my SIL (well, it may be a gift more for my SIL but it's under the guise of "for the baby". . .pishaw, that baby can share)

My sister-in-law likes her some Dr. Who and cats so. . .see this is why this gift is more for her than her baby.   (dolls and daydreams pattern used)

Speaking of. . .a new niece means the Bratling count (remember, Bratlings are all my husband's nieces/nephews) to FOUR.  Which means I have to come up with an official Bratling name for this new one.  Which meant I had to amend the Bratling naming scheme a tiny bit.

The new list:

OB1 :  aka The Original Bratling (the eldest)  formerly known as merely The Bratling until he was no longer the only one.

Her Royal Hind-Brat:  aka the first female bratling (second eldest of the group and formerly known as the She-Brat)  Play on Her Royal Highness (this child is a bit of a princess of her castle. . .in a not overly obnoxious way)

Wee-Brat:  also brother to OB1 (no name change yet, he's still little so no personality based name has emerged yet)

Ab-Brat-cadabra:  so named because she was late to her own birth, which leads me to believe this kid will like making an entrance (keep folks waiting!) so she has a "ta-da!" feel to her.  I was going to go with "Tardy-Brat" but that has negative implications with the expression "tard" and I don't like that for a number of reasons.  Ab-Brat-cadabra is also a little nod to this new she-brat's real name.

Blah blah. . .next up, a gift for OB1.

Back at christmas time, after being presented with the jigglypuff I made for him, I was informed by OB1 that the only pokemon he still needed for his collection was an oddish.  He instructed both me and his grandmother that we needed to get cracking on making this creature for him (hey, he is a brat after all).  Once I looked up what the hell an oddish was (and saw it was basically a ball with feet and leaf hair) I told OB1 that I'd see what could be done for his birthday (notice, no promises just a "might happen" type thing).   (original pattern based off a basic ball pattern I got via sweetbriar sisters baby bird pattern)

I'm happy to report oddish did happen before his birthday but he didn't get it until about a week later when I actually saw him (I don't see any of the bratlings much, which is fine with me. . .they are perfectly nice children but none of them live super close and I'm just not keen on taking vacation time just to hang out with a kid. . .sounds harsh but that's not my idea of a good time).

Oddish did have one design flaw which I'm fixing now.  I need to more firmly attach his leaf wig to his head.  OB1 (being a brat) was none too gently with oddish (swinging him by the leaf hair) and the hair came lose.  My design flaw, I should have remembered my target audience here.  So I just need to stitch the hair on a bit more firmly (using a button to anchor the stitching at the bottom of his body then running the thread up through the body AND putting a few stitches directly in the leaves to the top of the head).

Despite the design flaw, oddish was well received (if being flung about a desolate mall is to be considered "well received" which in the case of OB1 I'd say is a big yes).  I was happy with how he turned out so that's all that really matters.

Next up:

SWAPS

Some patches

I'm doing a color series of patch swaps on swapbot and these are the orange and red rounds.  I missed the yellow round (oops!) but plan to keep up with the series.

And I did a pincushion swap:

I re-purposed some shopkin packaging (they come in baskets/boxes like these) to make a pair of pin cushions for the swap and one for me.  I kept the pumpkin.  I had the idea to make a pin cushion out of it for a while but just never did it.  So this swap was good to get me to do that.  They turned out really nice, so I was very pleased.

Then, I did a doll swap.

We were to use an existing pattern (cupcake doll pattern) and make a doll based on what our partner requested.  My partner wanted Stevonnie, a character from Steven Universe.  It's a cartoon I'm not familiar with but google can solve that problem lickety split.  S/he (Stevonnie is a combination of a male character and a female character, so s/he has no one gender) turned out VERY well and was a big hit with my partner.

PAINTING

Finished my first octopus painting.  I'm very pleased with it.

Then I started (and I think might be finished with) this canvas.

 It's just a fun little abstract (that looks really bad in this pic, I swear it's more fun in person).  I just needed something fast (this only took about three classes, which is break neck speed for me when it comes to painting) before I moved on to my next (and much bigger) canvas.

I just started this one last class.  It's another octopus themed piece.  I like how it's looking already but I know I'll get to a stage where I think it's a flaming sack of dog crap.  That's how painting works for me, each canvas has to go through a cycle.  First is excitement to start (with a bit of trepidation).  Then wondering if you did it right (that's where this new canvas is currently heading. . .where I'm trying to figure out if I have everything drawn out so it will look ok at the end).  Then hating everything about it (aka the cursing stage).  Then kind of liking it but not sure if it's really that good.  Then realizing it's done and it doesn't matter, it's done and you made it and that's that.

Speaking of painting, I definitely have my favorites and some I actively despise.  And a whole bunch that I'm just "meh" about.  They are not like your children.  Or maybe they are!  I don't have kids (and this is one of the many reasons I don't. . .I'd feel so bad if after it was all said and done I loved the kid but I found their personality was just not compatible with mine and I thought they were just kind of a dick or a bore or something negative. . .I know that totally happens but I just don't want to deal with that).

Ok, I'm ending this post here because I want to make separate posts for the QUILT I made and for the Fluff stuff that's been finished.  

2017: January Recap

I realized I haven't posted anything from what I've been up to for January.

I did set myself some creative/crafty goals:

1.  5 Fluff tems per month (minimum)

2.  5 Mirabel items per month (minimum)

3.  Try something new (new pattern, block, something)

4.  Make a quilt top

1-3 will be something I do every month.  Number 4 is something I'd like to be able to do but I'm willing to admit that sometimes that one just might not work out (because some tops are time consuming, etc).  And I want to not just make the tops but finish them (by years end) so I won't be making 12 tops this year.  Right now my quilting goals are set at three/four finished quilts.  One is a top I already have done, two are tops I want to make, and one is a baby gift.  I think that's a reasonable goal for the year.

But anyway, what did I get up to for January?

First, Fluff and Mirabel:

That there is a dozen seahorses.  Six for each cause.  It got these done early and am already working on February's items (that will be at the end of the post).

For the "try something new" I suppose I have THREE things for the month (just got lucky).  In no particular order:

Pussy hat!  Had to get my Women's March on and when I realized I had left over pink fleece (from making the jigglypuff doll) I figured why not?  It took just about an hour start to finish (and by start that means getting the fabric from the craft room and cutting out the pattern).  Pattern is HERE.

Then, I also tested two patterns for Sweetbriar Sisters.  (really, get on their pattern tester list, it's good stuff).

Hmm, is that an egg?

It's unzipping. .. what's inside?

Welcome to the world!  Come on out.

Zipper egg and little bird.

The zipper egg was kind of a pain in the ass to make.  Not a total pain in the ass but more of a pain then I thought it would be and it's not going to work out as something I can "mass produce" for charity (too labor intensive).  BUT, it's not the fault of the pattern.  The pattern made it easy to do and I got very good results from my first go around.

The only real "problem" with the pattern is the bird just barely fits in the egg.  They noted they could resize the bird but honestly I'd prefer they make the egg larger.  The bird is a good size.  Small but not so small it's hard to work with.

Close up of the bird.  His beak is a little crooked but still within "acceptable to donate to charity" range.  BUT. . .I might just keep him and his egg since the egg was such a bother I think of it like my reward.

How cute is that fabric?  Feather print for the win!

What else. . .what else. . .OH, quilting. .

The top I'm working on is a cat face block (check out Stash Bee blog for a ton of fun blocks. .. that's where this one came to my attention).  As of this writing, the top is NOT done.  All the blocks (like pictured) are done and I have 30.  So a nice even number to use for a quilt (5 across, 6 down).  I need to put sashing strips between each to make the rows and then I think I'm going to do a type of "quilt as you go" technique to finish the top and the whole damn quilt at one time.

I've made a "strip as you go" quilt before (where you sew strips down to the backing/batting so the quilt top is sewn together right onto the batting and backing in one go) and I think this method will work for this quilt.  I made a tester (from two spare faces) to check my hypothesis.

(enlarged that bad boy a lot)

Don't mind how wonky it is, I was not trying for perfection (and if you look close you'll see the one of the side sashes is sewn on wrong side up!).  I started by sewing down the top sashing (sized to the width of the cat face block).  Then I sewed the first cat face block on (face down on the sandwich, then flip it right side up). then the middle sashing (I pieced together scraps!), then the next face, and finally the bottom sashing.  Then I put on the side sashings, trimmed the batting and rolled the backing fabric to the front for binding.  For just being a tester piece, it turned out well (meaning it worked like I wanted it to).  I think I'm going to just go balls out and try making the quilt this way.  Worst case scenario, it will be a train wreck.  BUT, it will count as a "try something new" so it won't be a total loss, right?

So I just need to finish up this top (hopefully as a full quilt) and then I'll move on to either another top for myself or the baby quilt I need to make (by May/June).

What's am I up to now?

February's charity sewing is already in full swing.  It's snails!  I think there are 14 or 16 or something like that (I forget now exactly how many).  OH, and for March I'm going to add a third charity to the mix (more on that another time, gotta get those snails done first. . .I'm so bad at having tons of projects started at once so I have to stay focused or nothing will get done).

AND. . .I haven't stopped painting.  Now, I only paint 3 ish hours a week (for 6 weeks or so at a time. . .like a school semester) so I'm not really whipping out the finished canvases.  I did finally finish the chameleon set (which I gifted to my mother, who requested a painting. . .any painting. . .for Christmas. . .I'd never force my paintings on anyone, they aren't really that great in general. . .total rookie stuff).

ANYWAY, this is the canvas I'm working on now.

Octopus!  This is how it looks RIGHT NOW.  But I have painting tonight, so maybe. . .just maybe. . it'll be almost done after that (it's very close now. . .I'm trying to not go for "perfection" with my paintings so I can enjoy getting more actually FINISHED. . .this one is at the point where I'm starting to think about what my next canvas will be, so that means it's almost done).

(shout out to my hubby who's photobombing there in the background. . .woot! hey hubby!)

I'm aiming to make February as productive as January and I'm off to a good start!

Fluff Project and some swaps

I haven't had many finishes to show off here lately.  I share in progress pics of things on instagram.  I also haven't done any swaps in so long but I just did three right in a row so now I finally have something to show off.

Swaps first!

First one was for a Junker Jane style doll.

While you're allowed to make whatever you want, this swap did ask folks to mention if the preferred "creepy" or "cute".  My partner was cool with either one so I did my best to lean on the creepy side.

And this happened:

It may be a bit too subtle, but I had a definite intention with this doll.  Since I was aiming for "creepy" I grabbed the low hanging fruit that is T***p (yes, I'm editing that word because I don't even like to think it let alone type it or say it. . .vulgar word that it is).  This doll is a cross between T***p and that racist frog cartoon (P**e, again, censoring the word because I don't want to be associated with it in any way).  But I did want it to be subtle, too, since I don't know the person it was going to and didn't want to get them all riled up should they be a T supporter.  I'm very pleased with how it turned out.  I think it's creepy without being repulsive and it's just a wee bit whimsical (I won't say "cute" since I know what I was going for and I'd never use "cute" to describe that waste of human flesh or that cartoon character).

Orange skin frog shaped creature in a blue suit, forked lying tongue hanging out of its creepy slit of a mouth.  Dead, black eyes, narrowed in a hateful glare, surrounded by large white circles.  Head of unruly fake looking hair.

Yup, I think I nailed it.

And as if that's not enough, after you handle the doll a bit you just want to wash your hands.  The blue dye on the fabric does come off on your hands (that wasn't part of my original plan, but I did appreciate the irony after the fact).

I was tempted to make the hands super tiny but instead I went a tiny bit more subtle with:

Gold cape.  I mean, come on.  You know if he could get away with wearing a gold cape (a la the wrestling foolishness he used to participate in) he totally would.  And, I could make the cape without having to do a damn thing.  The piece of fabric was already cut in a cape like shape so I just had to sew it to the shoulders.  Doing minimal work, that fits with the theme too!  Go me!

I haven't been rated for the junker jane doll yet so I'm hoping it's just a matter of the recipient being busy and not that they got my joke and were all butthurt over it.  Honestly, too fucking bad if they are.  I made a damn cool junker jane style doll and sent it on time so. . .

Now, a palate cleanser (not that I despise that JJ doll. . .I love it and kind of wanted to keep it but it really does need to go out into the world).

Ok, palate cleanser.

This swap was for either a doll in a costume or an animal in clothing.  I went with animal in clothing.

Polar bear in a tutu and crown, to be specific.

I really wanted to put her in a bikini but after she was all sewn up it just wouldn't work.  There wasn't enough room on the chest for a decent looking bra top and this bear has some serious booty.  So tutu it was.

(side note, the minute I started working with the tulle Gene was up in my grill trying to eat it.  That cat is obsessed with tulle.  Not exaggerating, I couldn't even turn my back on the tulle or he as leaning in trying to bite it).  The wee crown is removable (but not the tutu, that sucker is tied to her waist).

I had the same partner for the tutu bear and another swap for amigurumi fruit/veggie.  So this was the full swap package:

I went super lazy and just gave her one of my sweet pickles.  I managed to get 21 pickles out of the piece of fabric I bought just to make them, so it seemed like it was meant to be.  Then I was left with 10 for fluff and 10 for mirabel.

Speaking of fluff and pickles:

I mailed the bag of 10 to Kristy at the same time I was mailing the swaps.

I also sent her a second bag of goodies:

5 spiders, 2 crabs, 1 chameleon, and 3 zip pouches.

So, 21 more items mailed off to fluff.

As of this post, I have mailed off 41 items to Fluff for 2016.

Waiting to be mailed I have:  5 cats, 5 puppies, 5 ghosts, 4 mama/baby sets, 2 pigs

Still being sewn I have:  3 rabbits, 6 deer

So, if my math is correct, after I get everything in progress done, I'll have 71 items for Fluff (for 2016)

Fluff had to take a short back seat for some Christmas sewing I'm doing.  I'm about half done with that so I'll finish up Fluff sewing right after that.

The Mirabel total might be slightly smaller than that only because I pull 5 for Fluff first for each item I mass produce.  I try to make 10 of each item but sometimes I don't have fabrics that work to make 10 total.  That happened with the Ewoks (I pulled a few of those to give as a gift, so I ended up with less than 10) and the crabs.  Occasionally Mirabel will get more of an item than Fluff, too.  With the crabs, I think Mirabel got more because I was trying to round out the 3 pouches (so added 2 crabs to it to make 5 items, since I still think in "5/month" when it comes to making and didn't feel like making more pouches).

Man, I have to get those damn deer finished.  It's not that I don't want to make them, it's just that more interesting projects came along.  I still need to do faces on them, baste limbs, turn and baste ears/antlers, and then assemble (I might have to put tails on, too, but I think I got that done).  It's just so many steps with that pattern (not hard, just kind of boring).

I'll have all Fluff and Mirabel items mailed out by Mirabel's deadline.  Then I'm going to focus on making sure I get each month done during the actual month so I can have some time for sewing things just for me (I have some quilts I want to make!).

Swap Stuff: Patches and Stuffies and Bags, OH MY!

Time to show off two recently completed swaps.

WARNING:  SPOILERS AHEAD

(one of these hasn't been received by my partner yet but I have a few minutes to post this so I have to post while I can).

First up, a lone patch (this was already received):

The swap was a dictionary dip swap.  Just so happened, that was my idea for a swap, too (I don't host much, but I share ideas).  The dictionary dip is just like it sounds.  Randomly open the dictionary and put your finger down on the page.  The word you land on is the one you use as your prompt for your patch.

(I used to do dictionary dips all the time when I was deep into playing Sims 2.  I got some of the best names that way, including a Zweiback).

My dip word was "vacancy".  Ok, true confession, I did a best out of three.  I've always done dips that way (when I would dip for writing prompts, sometimes I'd do three and try to work them all into the writing).

This fabric scrap was PERFECT for that dip.  I just love having so much odd fabric in my stash.  Scrap packs for the win, y'all!

OK, next up is the swap that I just mailed out today.  I showed a few teaser pics of things on my instagram (@madameugly) but I'm showing it ALL here.

The swap was a Fandom in a Bag swap.  I like these but usually I wait to sign up to see what other folks have chosen as their fandom (the premise is, your partner tells you the fandom they like and you craft based on that).

For this swap you had to make a bag, two patches, a stuffie, and one additional item of your choice.

I got lucky.  My fandom was EASY (and something I also like!).  South Park!

For the bag you could just use the theme of the fandom.  (the example given was Harry Potter, and if you couldn't get Harry Potter fabric you could use "magic" themed fabric instead. . .or buy a bag in that theme. . .the bag didn't need to be hand made).

I was originally going to make a Terrence and Phillip bag (applique or some such) but I just wasn't in love with the idea.  While I was picking in my stash for fabric to make my original idea, I remembered I had t.v. fabric.  I knew I had to use it.  When I was looking for the lining fabric I discovered I still had enough of the punctuation fabric.

Punctuation = cartoon curses!

So the bag practically made itself (yup, used the Green Bag Lady pattern only a bit smaller).

Next up, the patches:

I LOVE THESE PATCHES.

They fucking rock.

(yes, I'm modest too!)

Mr. Mackey turned out JUST the way I wanted him to.  Sometimes you try to make your own version of some character and they really look like "fan art". You know what I mean, they're just a tiny bit "off".  Good and all that, but not quite there.  I think this Mr. Mackey is as spot on as possible.

(the only "flaw" is he should have stubble. . .the episode where he gets high and thinks his head is a giant balloon, he had stubble. . .I didn't realize that until I was completely done with the patch and was just looking at some South Park stuff online.  I thought it would bug me that I missed that detail but really, this patch turned out so well I'm ok with it.)

Ok, I know I should be such a braggart about it.  It really doesn't take a genius to trace a image from the internet and use it as a template to cut out felt and glue it down to some fabric.  Then add some embroidery.  It's really just advanced tracing.  But even if it is "easy" like tracing, you have to be careful and pay attention to detail.  I think I nailed the detail pretty well (ok, now I'm sounding obnoxious. . .I'll stop).

The second patch is so simple it's almost criminal.

Just some hand lettering with heat set fabric marker.  I almost felt like I was cheating with that one, but I brought it with everything else that I thought it was ok to be "weak" with the second patch.

Next up. . .I'm not use if this is the stuffie or the "other item".  Doesn't really matter.

It's Mr. Hat!

(bonus of Gene creeping him like a super creepy feline creeper, even giving the stink eye. . .nice).

(oh, he does have his mustache under the hat rim, the pic is just weak. . .empty puppets are hard to photograph)

This was trickier than I thought.  I totally had a "that's going to be sooo simple" attitude so you know that means I had to make some mistakes and re-do some stuff.

First, I made the body in the wrong color.  Yup, straight up made a green body.

Second, the body shape was all wrong.  I made a classic "little kid draws a ghost" hand puppet shape with the arms up.  Mr. Hat is not shaped like that.  His arms jut right out from his body at right angles.

Third, I didn't keep in mind that he has flesh tone hands and face.

So the first run at the body was just all wrong (it was still a good generic hand puppet all in green, but useless for what I needed).

Once I had the right colors, things went smoother.  No issues with making the body.  Even got the had going fairly well.  But (as you can see) I hit a tiny snag with the rim.  I just could not get that bastard to lay as flat as I wanted.  Looking back I see two things I could have done.

One, make it two parts (and put the seams at the sides).  I did it as one continuous circle with is what caused the waviness.  I thought about trying to fix it after the puppet was completely done but that would have lead to there being a fugly as hell seam right in the front of the rim which I think would be worse than the waviness.

I also could have made the rim on cardboard.  That would have forced me to make the darts (take up the slack, whatever it's called) as I sewed and pretty much guaranteed a really flat rim but I knew I was going to work with cardboard for the other stuffie based item (and working with cardboard gets annoying. . .and it makes thing harder to ship because you don't want to crush the cardboard).

So, Mr. Hat has one major flaw but he still looks pretty good.

Last but certainly not least. . .

HOWDY HO!!

Gee, Naomi, you smell so nice and flowery!   (Naomi is my partner for this swap. . .my sister said my partner was going to hankey their pants when they saw this. . .that's the ultimate compliment right there).

Mr. Hankey was pretty easy to make.  I just got out my favorite shit fabric (yes, I've used this fabric to make a turd before. . and pretzels. . .but not a turd pretzel. . .ewww!), drew up a pattern and that really was that.  He's a turd.  Turd are easy.

The only tricky part was making sure the glue held his face to the turd fabric.  It's kind of slick pile and I had to do some touch up gluing after the first round (to make sure the edges were really down so the whole face wouldn't peel up).

You can't see it in the photo (because I'm a lazy photographer) but he does have a black mouth with a red tongue.  The pic kind of makes it look like he only has big red kissy lips but that is NOT true.

I wish I had shorter pile pipe cleaners for the arms.  They do make less shaggy pipe cleaners but I couldn't find them (and you know I waited until the last minute to work on this project).  I had one low pile pipe cleaner in my stash but the damn thing was white.  NOT acceptable.

I just poked a small hole on each side of the turd and threaded the pipe cleaner through.  Bend the ends to make a small bulge (and fold down any jabby bits) and then sew the mittens around the bulge (I knew glue alone wouldn't do it, so I didn't bother with glue at all. . .glue never holds on pipe cleaners).

That there mug is why I wasn't keen to use cardboard on Mr. Hat.  I made Mr. Hat first and KNEW this mug was going to be cardboard-tacular (it's fully filled with cardboard, side, base, and handle).  So I was saving my annoyance to get through this mug since I knew the cardboard would make the mug so much better (than just doing double layer felt).  It made packing the swap a little more challenging but I had some bubble wrap to fill it with and then took some scraps of the t.v. and punctuation fabric and made a little wad to support the handle (so it wouldn't crush).  I also packed the box tightly so there won't be a lot of shifting.

I LOVED doing this swap.  Everything turned out so well and I'm so proud to give every item to my partner.  She always makes great swaps, so she's worth the effort (and, as I've already established, I seem to enjoy bragging about my mad craft-tacular skills, y'all!).

Next up?

A bag swap and fluff sewing.  I have chameleons and cats in progress and puppies cut (but nothing more done on them yet).   I need to get caught up on Fluff!

For a swap: Clowing Around

WARNING:  This post contains CLOWNS.

Twisty offered to give Orangina a little hair cut.  Orangina looks he's ready to escape on his tiny bike!

These were made for a swapbot swap.  It was circus themed art dolls.

I used the same clown pattern I used previously (from the book Sock it to Me).  But this time I added arms made from the toe pieces.  The pattern calls for cutting off the heel and toe for each shorty sock, so I had enough leftovers to ame arms, no problem.

This is Twisty.  It wasn't until I started calling him that (because of his pretzel shirt) that I remembered Twisty from American Horror Story: Freak Show.  My Twisty isn't evil.  Just a little devious (and lives dangerously, he runs with scissors!).

This is Orangina.  He's quite proud of his flowing orange locks, so Twisty's "offer" to take a bit off the top was just not well received.  He can, and will, escape on his tiny bike if necessary.  (and my sister reminded me of the Simpsons episode where Krusty the clown rides on that tiny bike. . .hadn't even thought of that but damn, that episode is so funny!)

Their hair is wool roving, which worked like a charm.

Of course, Feline Inspector Number One had to get all up in my face when I was taking the pictures.  Then he tried to eat their hair, the dirty little wool sucker that he is.

What's up next?  I have a two swaps to work on (one is short/easy, the other is multi-tiered and should be really fun to do).  I'm also still doing Fluff sewing.  Need to take a weekend and just churn out some stuff.