Toy Society Drops

I'm ashamed to admit it's been nearly a year since I've done a drop for The Toy Society.  When several of the girls in my sewing group decided to participate in a Halloween weekend drop, it was the  perfect opportunity to get back in the swing of it. I managed to drop two handmade toys while Mark and I were at a local flea market. With so many people milling around, it was hard to be covert, but I managed.

The first drop was another of my robots, yes-I'm a tad obsessed.

 Funny, I was so worried about being spotted dropping this guy, but he hung around unnoticed for quite some time! We visited the building where I dropped him first thing and went back to that building(for vintage hankies)about four hours later and he was still there! We checked again after the hanky buying excursion and he was gone. Yay!

The next drop, was this guy. A mini version of Lars. He's OK, but I think I'll go back to making the larger ones the next time.

I don't know how long the mini-monster stuck around. It was probably an hour later when we walked back by the stone bench where I left him. He was gone.

 I hope they found a good home or at the very least, made someone smile!

Want to spread a little hand made love? Head on over to The Toy Society for more information about this fantastic project.

Lars

Went with my family to Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville on Monday. I did my third drop for The Toy Society while we were there.

I wasn't planning on dropping Lars after I first made him because I thought he was too ugly and strange for The Toy Society. Monday morning as I was getting ready to meet up w/the folks, Lars sorta called out to me from my sewing desk. Perhaps it had something to do with being so close to the children's hospital at Vandy...

"Please let me join the Toy Society!" he said
"I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!"

I couldn't argue w/that! SO.... my brother Shea and I meandered over to Children's Hospital while Dad was checking in. I left Lars at the koi pond in the garden area. I'm hoping that he will make a child very happy!

Check out the The Toy Society...and if you are the crafty type, please consider joining in the merriment and making a toy to drop!

Don't Toy With Me

In my excitement over joining The Toy Society, I decided I should probably try my hand at toymaking once again.

I call this little fellow Puppy-Pain-In-The-Butt. I didn't think it was all that difficult until I started stuffing him. The more I stuffed, the worse he looked! He is supposed to be standing, not squating and don't even get me started on the pipe cleaners that ended up all wadded in his ears! I would love to know if anyone else at there has tried(or is willing to try) this pattern and let me how it turned out. I don't know that I have the patience to try it again! Still there is something about him...Next, I went for something that I thought might be a bit easier. And it was...only two pattern pieces. This pattern is McCall's 6907. He's OK, but I think a fluffier, furrier fabric would have been more suited. I used a fuzzy felt(not wool felt, can't afford it)and it sheds like crazy, makes the weird crease in his forehead(that I can figure out the reason for) show up too much and again, it's not fluffy enough for a teddy bear! Still, he is kinda cute. Finally, I gave up on patterns completely and just made a monster. I drew him on the felt and started cutting. He's my favorite of this lot and the one that might be good enough for the Toy Society. I think the reason I'm happiest w/this one is there was no pattern to follow and nothing for me to judge myself against. So even if he's a tad on the wonky side I can say he's supposed to look like that! I'll call him Lars....I think he's got a bit of Scandinavian heritage in there somewhere. That's a pompadour on his head, not a bow...although a girlie monster might be kinda fun too!

My next toy project: Wee Wonderfuls Spaceboy & Robot.

Thanks for stopping by!

“You can't create a monster, then whine when it stomps on a few buildings” ...Lisa Simpson

After the success that was Ozzie Nelson, I was feeling pretty cocky and decided to try a second plush/softie monster from the book, Plush-O-Rama; Curious Creatures for Immature Adults. This time, my monster of choice was called a Woolie. Made from wool. Duh. Well I didn't have any wool on hand, but did have some nice soft s-t-r-e-t-c-h-y fleece. So, I decided to make a "fleece woolie".

Again, I looked at the book and sketched out the shape. Cut it out. Read the instructions, sorta followed them. Got most everything together and then at the last minute decided to add a cute little ribbon belt, like the ones in the book were wearing. This is where things went terribly, terribly wrong. Wool does'nt have a lot of stretch. Ribbon does not stretch. FLEECE...it has some stretch. D'Oh! Had I any brains about me I'd have thought this through. But NOooo, I want to hurry up and get it done even though I am a beginner and need to take it slow! Never even occurred to me that fabric choices would change the outcome that much. Lesson Learned.

Instead of a nice proportionate, cute little monster, I got this thing. A bipolar dog bone......a cross between stretch armstrong and one of those weird mushroom thingies rom the old Mario games...something so so weird I don't know how to describe it. I realize it's a monster and, well, it is supposed to be weird, but c'mon!! I 'm giving it to Shea for the dog to play with. Hopefully the Ripper will destroy this thing...and soon.

Now, after failing miserably, you'd think I'd give up. Nope. I knew I had it in me! This time, I did my own thing. Maybe I should do my own thing more often, 'cause I actually like this little guy. Loosely based on one of the photos in the book(no pattern, no instructions). It actually turned out much, much better than the belt wearing freak. Yeah, he's a tad lopsided, but somehow it works. Although he is, perhaps, a little cutesy for a monster, I like him. If you haven't yet, check out my Apron giveaway...details here.

One final thing...JACKIE AND SCOTT ARE HOME! YAY!!!!

This is what happens when I procrastinate

Sooo, yesterday afternoon I was thinking: "I have to finish up the cookbook or I'm going to have to pay another monthly fee to pay AND I have to start back to work next week so I'm going to need to be getting the house clean before I'm back full time...my closet is a mess and I might need to organize it before I have to locate and start wearing grown up clothes again, AND since Jackie and Scott are coming in next week and I'm going to want to spend time with them I better get it done now, NOT to mention I have NO lesson plans or activities for my students remotely ready and school starts in TWO WEEKS! But INSTEAD why don't I spend my time making some more aprons that I really don't need and Ooooh! I should try making a monster while I'm at it!"
And yes, all those thoughts came at once. Scary. Even scarier, the monster that I made. This is "Reg" from Plush-O-Rama, I'm new to this so I'm not sure if he's a plush, a softie or what the cool crafters are calling stuffed toys these days. Maybe someone will read this and enlighten me. In the meantime, I call him Ozzie Nelson. As far as monsters go and since I've never attempted anything like this, I guess this guy was pretty easy to make. There was no actual pattern in the book. So I looked at the photo, drew out the pattern pieces and followed the directions for putting him together. I had some trouble sewing on the outside arm and getting it look right but the hardest part was getting his eyes on. They are little felt circles which had to be zigzaged around. I felt like I was fighting my machine the whole time! But really, those eyes DO make Ozzie Nelson appear more monster-y, dontcha think! I can see why people get into creating these softies/plush things! Maybe I'll even get to the point where I can design my own creations! I must admit that once I turned him inside out and saw my "creation" pre-stuffing. I got all tingly and excited--Dr. Frankenstein must have felt the same way. "It's a-LIIIVE!"

This is what happens when I procrastinate! Now, I'm off to clean house and work on the cookbook. Seriously. No, seriously, I am!