Making Time

Is that a porcupine?

Honestly, I didn’t do any research about what a porcupine ACTUALLY looks like. i think i combined a hedgehog kinda face, an echidna body shape and long (but fluffy) quills.

I really miss my camera… it was stolen, but I was also stupid. My brother’s Kodak is fixed-focus, hence no closeups. Alas.

Alas. His body is made in a nice bit of alpaca I had leftover. I made the ears and the feet out of picots - which makes adding these tiny details alot easier. The quills are looped into every-other row of single crochet.

Meanwhile… my nephew was learning to crochet alongside me. I was so impressed with his patience, and his stick-to-it-tiveness. I’ve taught adults who gave up quicker. He is quite pleased with his little “bed”, which is for his city.

bonvoyage

Originally uploaded by feather.

Just back from a vacation with my wonderful boyfriend. Quite pleased about having been away and looked forward to getting home. As opposed to the feelings before I left when I was clawing the walls.

I feel that good fresh-start feeling. And now resolve to write paper letters more, and send more gifts to family and friends. I need a real schedule, like Monday is corresspondence day; Tuesday is post-box day, etc. Recently, I missed one really important anniversary, and numerous birthdays. I feel like I’ve been being so self-centered and self-absorbed. Must snap out of it. So a new era of gift giving is upon me.

I haven’t collaged in ages… but the recent proposal of doing a paper swap has given me carte blanche to buy some great japanese papers. lovely screen printed ones… really nice. even the cheap-o ones are lovely up close. the pigments look rich.

Looking at the composition of this one, i think i could have done a sketch first… but i literally whacked it together so quickly.

okay, i know it’s spelled sherbet but it sounds like sherbert. anyway, this is one from my photo archives. just another one of those things of mine which are packed away in storage while i’m here in japan. another thing to miss, i suppose.

i made this before i had heard of the word ‘amigurumi’ and just thought ‘crocheted bunny rabbit’.

I made this out of some very light soft mohair that i rescued from my nana’s stash of yarn. i could not have kept it all and saved this only. and made this rabbit. i loved the way the light was glowing through the synthetic translucency of it all. Flickr tells me this photo was “Taken on October 4, 2004 ()” I guess I was back in Ireland then… and spending most of the time working with this yarn thinking about Nana knitting, and how precious this one skein of yarn was.

This is how I constructed the bottom. It’s weird… I left holes for the arms and legs. it did make it more awkward. I think I might have been trying to conserve yarn.

this is him before piecing

i used an egg shape on the frog, and also on this bird. i made her little chick as a pompom, and the egg shell for him to sit in.

i should have photographed my first attempt to do the egg shell using a picot stitch. it did not look right at all!

i ended up stitching down her kerchief. while i believe in removable clothes, it just was not sitting right, since it was so small. i used stitches to hold it open around her face. this improved her profile.

someone left a comment on my blog asking for more how-to photos.

i used to just go fully freestyle, and not make much of a plan. but when i attempted to do a frog it came out like this:

now, i like to start with sketches. i had a general idea that i needed an egg shape for the body. and cylinders for the forelegs. but i could not decide whether i would do the back legs long, or like big circles as if he was sitting.

so i started on the first part of the design and pinned him together. it was easier to get an idea of how he’d look then.

i decided in the end to keep them long, because then he was more floppy and moveable. voila!

i had such a hard time with their faces, and their ears. i’m not entirely pleased… and this has made them despair.
i tried doing the nose with felt: not good. so i redid them with pink wool yarn.

I liked the brown bear I made for the Coloriffic Swap-o-rama swap so much, that I made a new littly guy like him. A bit smaller! I tried to make him with longer arms like the early 20th century bears. They had long arms, because they were styled more closely to real bears and were meant to walk on all fours. Oh I should post the sketches!
The wool was leftover from yarn hair for a doll, it’s wool, and I used a 2.5mm hook- so the final fabric is nice and firm. I like doing psuedo-joints. It means he’s poseable, but it’s a lot less fuss.

I could not get plastic eyes small enough, so I made them out of small blue felt circles, and embroidered black dots into the middle, which also anchored them.

Both me and my swap partners have officially received our swap packages for PurplePinkandOrange softies swap. I can’t figure it out, I think we’re supposed to post the pix on either swapbot or the main website.
I was excited to my swap partner (to send to) was Kristin from Kleas, because I have been to her site before. So I wanted to give her something super special, and make a challenge for myself. I attempted quilt-making, and also made my first pincushion: a block of cheese. She really likes the wee mouse, and she calls him Itty! What a cute name. I’m very happy for little Itty.

Belinda Bunny arrives in Japan!

I received my PurplePinkandOrange softies swap too!. What a cutie. When we opened the package here, we did full belly laughs. She’s very funny! My boyfriend named her Belinda, which is very appropriate.

She is made by Janet Wilkinson, thank you Janet! (Thanks for the other doo-dads too!) You can see Janet’s work here at Flickr, and on her site. She is fully made of recycled materials. There is even fabric from Janet’s prom dress on Belinda. Very fancy!

Janet wrote me, having thought that the PPO Softies swap was one-to-one, and she’d be receiving a crocheted fella from me, not knowing it was random partners. So we’re actually planning on doing another swap after this. She’s going to make me a dress!! I’m so happy.

All in all, a very happy swap experience was had by all.

here’s a pic from my coloriffic swap-o-rama blue+brown swap.

but, i’m terrible! i was late in sending off my softies swap. thank goodness swap bot sends out a reminder email. i just wonder why it came into my inbox 5 days after the deadline. weird. anywho! glad for it anyway! i sent an apologetic email to my swap partner. i feel like a jerk! that deadline crept up on me. for some reason, i had it in my head it was due around the same time as the coloriffic swap-o-rama. alas, i sent it express, so i should be there very soonly, partner! i don’t think i can post a pic, so it is a surprise, but i will say it is a stuffed toy that i have posted pics of before; i made a little picnic blanket and a snack for the journey.

though the shipping was really high, i could not resist the brown and aqua swap, and i sent it out today. here’s the little brown bear that is bringing the package:

“i can’t do this swapping anymore. i just simply can’t. i should only be making gifts for family. and it’s so expensive. i just won’t do it anymore” i said. to which my boyfriend responded: “you’ve said that before”.
:)

monkey-family

Originally uploaded by feather.

Doing something more than once is good practice. the face is evolving too… the fella in the upper right has a broader forehead, and looks more bright. i have a couple more up my sleeve too. but i wanted to take this little pic and show them off.