An Eye Monster Named Charles

 

Once upon a time, there was a bestie, who had a daughter (Ok, two, actually). Their family is definitely part of my family of the heart. I shared how I made the younger daughter an apple, because she is a teacher with a new teaching job. Now it is time to meet Charles.

Everyone, meet Charles

One of my Christmas presents was this book:

A very fun instruction manual

It has instructions for all kinds of monster parts, to let a crocheter build the monster of their dreams. It is not the first or only book I've gotten by Megan Lapp, and I have found their instructions reasonably easy to follow. So this would count as a recommendation.

Here's an example eye monster

This, then, is where we started. I didn't have much trouble with the eyeball itself. I did one with a crocheted iris, and then added a safety eye anyway. I used the biggest one I had, but wished I had a bigger one. Still it does give a shine. I didn't have trouble making the eyelid, but the yarn was bigger than what I had used for the eyeball, I think. Anyway it looked like this

Not the close fit I wanted.

Darn it! So I tried again with a little smaller yarn.

Better, right?

Still, I kept the green/blue eyelid, you never know what you'll need some day...

Then, came the arms and legs. I debated with myself whether I would even stuff them at all. Lapp does include instructions for putting wires in, in case that is something you want to do, but I left Charles soft and lightly stuffed.

In process with one arm

In process with feet and legs

I wasn't positive I had enough of the variegated yarn to make the whole monster, so I added a bit of grey for the eyelids, and at the elbows, heels and knees. I couldn't resist pinkie toes either. I mean!

I got him sewn together with the needle (Yep, I think that's a learning curve I navigated), and I'm pretty happy with how he sits.

So, this is not the only eye monster on my agenda. I think I have to make one for Ron, and maybe one that has spider legs. You know what else? They turn out the perfect size for a Christmas ornament! Would it freak you out to find your Christmas tree looking back at you?

What else will I find in this book of monsters???

Charitable Crafting and Community Quilt Building (update)

 

I'm a member (since it opened) of our local makerspace, Cruces Creatives. I get a lot of enjoyment from being a member there, and trying out arts and crafts without worrying about buying all the equipment and supplies related to that activity. This week, I took a friend to go try out the Art Room there, and we worked on embossing some blank greeting cards, with only limited success. Let me say, though, that the enjoyment of success of the project is really secondary to the enjoyment of the process and the doing, and the learning that takes place! We have some ideas to try next time, and we enjoyed ourselves!

Most of my time at Cruces Creatives is spent in the textile room. Sewing. I know, what a surprise. Sewing isn't the only activity that goes on there, though. There's a new crochet club, that I would really like to be active in, but I haven't made it there yet. YET. I am also very active in a group called Charitable Crafting. I think I've written about some of our various projects here. The group identifies a need for something and then makes and donates those items. We've made LOTS of bags, for different groups. We've made some comfort items for cancer patients. We've made kid's clothes so that kids who needed clothes for school could maybe even choose new ones, along with the gently used items that are often donated. 

Our latest project is a Community Quilt Building project. I'm super happy that the person that leads many of the children's programs at Cruces Creatives has adopted the project as well. I've helped the various groups she leads build quilt blocks, and I've volunteered at an elementary school so kids could work on quilt blocks in a safe and kid appropriate way. It was fun to see the various students so busy picking fabrics, and looking at colors, and feeling the various textures. We will be donating the quilts to a group that works on housing people who are struggling with homelessness and housing security, with the thought that a beautiful blanket will be a welcome addition to their new home.

Many of the people who regularly contribute their time and efforts with Charitable Crafting are quilters, and do projects for groups like Linus as well as Charitable Crafting. Many of the quilts they work on are kid sized quilts, not full sized. We wanted to do adult sized quilts for this project, though, since there would be the expectation of adults (or adult sized kids) would receive them. We decided on making twin sized quilts. We also decided that a quilt as you go project would be easier to complete, since it would already be quilted when the construction of putting the blocks together was done. We also wanted anyone who wanted to help to be able to do so, whether they were novice quilters, or even new to sewing. 

Here's an example block - my latest finish

The back of the quilt is a variety of fabrics, the edge of this one sticks out beyond the pieced block. There is a layer of flannel in this block for the batting. The first quilt we did had batting that we cut that was a similar weight, even though it was cut from different pieces. We work from donated materials, and found that someone had donated a lot of flannel that had been cut into squares already. The quilts turn out kind of crazy quilt-ish, and they are beautiful! And now, I'm questioning why I haven't taken more pictures of them!

Here's a pillow that goes with the first of our quilts. Someone also sewed a bag to hold the quilt and pillow.

That first quilt had a lot of yellows and reds in it!

The quilt building has been very educational for me, in terms of making projects accessible to more people who would like to contribute, AND for my personal quilting knowledge as well! 

Edited to add:

 I've asked some people for some pictures of quilts from the project, and I've gotten some to show you!

One of the student made quilts. BEAUTIFUL!

I think these blocks were made by elementary school students. AMAZING!

I LOVE this project!

Apple for the Teacher

 My bestie's daughter is a teacher, and she is celebrating a new and hopefully fabulous job. She starts her new classes this week. She's so very psyched to be in this job! What could I do but crochet her a little something?

I have collected several books in the Zoomigarumi series, so here's the one I worked from:

These books are full of fun!

I have made several of the very cute amigurumi animals from this set of books, so when I looked on the back of this one, and found this:

The perfect little wormy apple!

I mean, isn't it the perfect apple for a teacher???

I started with a darker red, with a little color texture in it. The apple itself is fairly simple, not quite a ball. It does have a tunnel or tube for the worm, though that you crochet first and then insert as you build the apple. There is a little "blossom end" on the bottom when you're done that helps the apple stand up. That's pretty cool. I like it when my creations are ready to pose!

The worm is pretty easy, and I put safety eyes in the white cups for the eyes. I forgot the antenna though. I don't think it looses much without it. I didn't have any lime green thread with me, so I used a variegated pink with little green stripes for my squirmy wormy.

This apple is done!

This worm is your friend!

So, even if I that dragon is still waiting for his spines, I still got a finish in last week! I really have enjoyed the projects from the Zoomigurumi collection of instruction books!

Trying to Keep up with the Making and the Posting of the Making

 I've been doing several crochet projects recently, and it is time to catch up on them. Since the Sheep Ring Toy, I've worked from a few of my other crochet instruction books. This one was one of my Christmas presents.

Sounds like somethings I might like to make, right?

My cousin asked me about crocheting a dragon for one of her Eastern Star friends to have as a mascot. I had made her a green one (her favorite color) and this friend wanted one too. Since I have made several by that pattern, I though it was time to try something new.

I thought I would try out this fine fellow.

My cousin gave me yarn that matched her friend's favorite colors, and I got started. He is a bit bigger than the other dragon, but he has a lot of nice details. I think the eyes add a little character, and the ears and nostrils are adding some cute as well. He's got a nice tail. It was interesting that the legs were made in two pieces, the "haunch" and the foot. He's got some cute toe beans, too.

Mostly complete. Mostly.

Then there are the spikes down the dragon's back. Ugh. OK, they add something to the look of the dragon, but they aren't fun to make. It's a lot of little bits that then get sewn on in a (more or less) straight line. I got the head spikes done, but just haven't gotten to all of the back spikes yet. I will, but, sheesh! I'll get them though, so I can get the wings done too. When I finish, I'll update this post with a photo.

I do want to say that most of the time, when I'm crocheting a stuffed animal, I have just used the crochet hook to connect the pieces. I used a tapestry needle to close up the Sheep toy, and I've used it here to sew on the various pieces. I'm surprised to find that it looks a little cleaner, and that I actually get a little bit better placement accuracy. Sometimes I struggle with that, actually, so hmmm, learning curve activate!

While I really like the other dragons, I like this one as well. He's a little bigger, and a little rounder, and between the legs, and the tail, he sits up pretty well. And the toe beans ARE cute!