Plush Team & Turkey

So, I joined the Etsy Plush Team and the first challenge is to make a turkey, so here is mine. Tom is the turkey in this turkey sandwich. He is wearing white bread and is about 8 inches tall when sitting.

Vacation and a Gremlin

Four days off starts tomorrow. I am pretty sure the last time I had 4 days off in a row was in January. Wow...I need a vacation. So Josh and I are going on a teensy trip and then relaxing for the rest of it at home.

I have a new gremlin here. His name is Froderick and he is almost done. I needs some detail work...mainly pockets and trinkets for the pockets and mittens for every appendage. Froderick is my biggest gremlin yet at about 1.5 feet in height and width. Very huggable!



I, sadly, have not been reading much lately, or writing much either. Hmmm...guess I need to catch up a bit on vacation, huh? Now just to decide what to read. I know what I am writing, I just need to do it.

My top five desired reads (please note that my list will probably change tomorrow) - Physik by Angie Sage, Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix, I am the Messenger by Marcus Zusak, Nixie's Song by Holly Black & Tony Diterlizzi, & books 6-8 of the Edge Chronicles by Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell.

Most of these books have been on my list for months, so if I don't get through them all this week I won't be disappointed.

my first ACEO

It all started with a patch of brown yarn, which needed a mushroom. The mushroom required some grass and then there was a rabbit. Rabbit was hungry so he got some carrots. And that is how I made this Artist Card.


Enjoy! I may even make some more...

Tickle Monster for November

My entry for the EtsyMN November challenge is the Tickle Monster. The theme is feathers, so I did what I do best and made the feather into a crocheted monster.

His name is Krump. He has three eyes, two horns and a belly button. His clothing is removable if your're into that sort of thing and he's washable if he needs a bath.

It's Dead!

Here is a preview of my gremlin cadaver project. It started when I made an anatomical heart for my husband's dad. I began to think of crocheting human bodies, but it reminded me too much of body worlds. So I thought back to the gremlins that I had been making and combined the ideas to come up with gremlin cadavers. Gremlins have so many possibilities in body shapes and sizes, but also organs and diseases.

My first patient is this albino gremlin. So far I have most of his head done, including a removable skull and brain. He'll be about two tall when I am done. I also plan on making a case file for him to take pictures of all his parts and documenting the findings.




Oh, this is so fun! Hopefully I'll end up finishing him this month. There's a lot to crochet!

the world of illustration and books

I've been drawing a bit more than usual, or at least some of my doodlings are becoming more than just for me. Here is a tomato as requested for kellybot. She was making a website for a class and needed a cute little drawing. I like how it turned out. Maybe I will expand on this veggie theme and make some note cards or recipe cards.Next we've got a few sketches for a technology themed poetry book and possibly the beginnings of a comic. So we shall see what becomes of it. It certainly is an exciting prospect!

In other thrilling book news I was asked to submit a picture of my crocheted animals for an amigurumi animal book that is being published by St. Martin's Press. I screamed like the not-so-little girl that I am and sent in some information.

In crochetland I am creating the most complex amigurumi I have ever endeavored to take on. I am taking my gremlins of old and making them interactive. You ask, how can they be more interactive? Well, what if you could get inside of them to see how they work...like a cadaver. Hmmm...now that's something! I am thinking that I shall make a book of them with patterns for all the little pieces.

I love to crochet

Happy Birthday Todd!! Here's what I made Todd. It's a Rock in a Todd Costume!! I went with my theme of the pebble masquerade and couldn't get it out of my head to make his present like this.
Next we have a one skein wonder in three parts: one neck warmer and two wrist warmers. I have been wanting to make some wrist warmers for a while. I am not sure if I'd wear them yet. Maybe when it gets a little colder. The yarn reminded me of the changing leaves as is dances through the different shades of the spectrum, while being firmly embedded in the green of life.


I really like the flower clasp because it becomes a vine that is interwoven with the neck warmer and presents itself on the other side as a loop ready to take the flower.

Another Rock in a Costume

Sebee and Phillipa together.

Sebee taking a break from his costume. Even rocks get hot.

Sebee cute as ever smiling for the camera.

Autumnal Bliss

I find it rather amusing, at least from this end of things, that as soon as you tell yourself that you need to spend more time blogging, and even hope for at least one post per week, you suddenly find that it is two MONTHS later.

Yeah, funny.

Well, lots has gone on in that two months. I did almost no creating or reading or writing and a lot of working. But working is what I needed to do because I got promoted. I enjoy my job, but I was also extremely thrilled to have these last three days off.

This morning I got a digital camera. This is a big deal because I have been waiting two years to get one. No kidding. I got a Sony Cybershot DSCW55. And so far I really like it. In fact here's two pictures of what I made today.


Meet Phillipa of the Pebble Masquerade. She is a pebble disguised as a black cat. I made her for the EtsyMN October Challenge. I think I shall make more pebbles, but I am not sure what other costumes to go with yet.

Writing Transformed By Crochet

Well, since I have been writing a bit more it tends to consume my thoughts. It invariably has an impact on what I make and something like this happens: When I should have been finishing this:
So, anyway the I finally finished the custom hula hoop. In the process I wrote the story about Adalide who makes a hoop and brings her neighborhood together. And then I needed to crochet her. I love her arms and legs because they are semi-posable.

The story of Adalide will be put into a miniature book after I finish the illustrations. This will be the first of many little books that I shall publish under Squeaky Daisy Press--just named this last week when I realized that I needed a publishing name. Daisy was one of our first pet rats. She was particularly fond of me, while Marge had her sights for Josh.

In the mean time there will be more amigurumi characters that will come alive from my writings...as soon as Harry Potter is finished. By that I mean that I am spending quite a bit of time being Potter-focused while getting ready for the grand hallows ball book release at my store.

Zooming June zzzzzzzzz......

Good day! I confess that I don't have anything to add on the creative front with pictures of things I have created. I am working on a custom hula hoop and writing in between being over stretched from work.

I work in a bookstore and I am getting ready for Harry Potter, throwing other parties and doing tons of training. I vow to have the biggest & best Harry Potter Party ever! So, if you are in Minnesota it would be worth it to come to the Borders in Minnetonka.

I am so excited! We are throwing a Grand Hallows Ball and I am going to be a death eater. It will be fun for all, guaranteed.

I am also hoping to get Stephenie Meyer in for a Vampire Soiree in the beginning of August to celebrate the release of her book Eclipse.

Writings---I am working on a little picture book about a girl who decided to make a hula hoop and how she brings her neighborhood together through it. I wrote the story when I should have been crocheting. I hope to get it printed and hand bind it after I complete the illustrations. I will keep it small and post parts of the edition on my etsy shop.

I am also going back into a longer young adult novel that I started as a result of needing a short story to apply to grad school. Well, I got into grad school for writing, I just have to be sure its really what I should do right now. I plan on finishing this story by the end of 2007 and maybe I'll get someone to publish it...

Poem and a Quilt

Okay, so I know the image is a bit fuzzy, but I can't help that right now. I still wanted to post this latest completion. I actually wrote the poem and completed the quilt in the same day! I know that sounds ridiculous and it will probably never happen again, especially since I had other things I should have been working on.

Since you can't read the poem I'll type it out here:

A contemplative comparison of tree
and man would present similarities
of seasons and experiences hidden
in maturing girth.

But a tree cannot love
or know its young.
It lives for man,
not man for the tree.

Leaves, branches, and stump,
the tree brings joy to the man,
though he is glad that
he is not a tree.

Ketchup

The Long Awaited Return-- or so I'd like to think... but anyway here's a summary of what has been going on. I was at Craftstravaganza selling some fun stuff on April 28th. Here's the site if you're interested- www.craftstravaganza.com . I brought quite a few of the items that are listed in earlier entries here, but there were some cup cozies that never saw the flash of a camera. I sold out by 2pm that day...wow what a day. I was down to my last cup cozy-the bee cup cozy- when Vanessa from Etsy came around with a video camera. She interviewed me and then apologized for buying my last item.

What you'll see in this post is what I displayed for the art show I was in at AZ Gallery in St. Paul on the 26th of May.

The main piece was my Gigantic T-shirt Amigurumi Octopus named Henry! The t-shirts were collected at work from generous people who thought giving them to me to create an unknown thing would be okay. The yarn was cut in spiral through the body of the shirt and in strips through the arm/neck region. All sections were tied together and crocheted into the masterpiece you see here. I had to go searching for a large enough hook to complete the task. I am lucky that Lion Brand just came up with a size S hook or I would have had to make my own. I was procrastinating enough as it was!

The next bits are Tin Critters with drawings on handmade paper on the tins and a crocheted buddy to keep it all safe. They also function as a key chain for broader usefulness.





I am currently making a custom hula hoop for someone and as I was sitting in Caribou working on it one morning this week I decided that I needed to write a story about a girl who makes her own hoop using what she could find in her neighborhood. The hooping unites the neighborhood in unexpected ways. The book also serves as a tutorial so that if you wished to make a crochet covered hula hoop you would have all the information you would need to do so. I plan on having the mini picture books up in my shop in the next couple of weeks.

Hoop it up!

Yeah, I know it's awesome! A crochet covered hula hoop. I used random bits of yarn that I had around and went to Home Depot where I found a ten foot length of 3/4" tubing and a 1/2 " coupling to make it a hoop. I reinforced the seam with some duct tape. The crocheted tube is open where the ends meet and it will stay in place with use. If you are interested in hula hooping or making your own hoop there are so many great resources out there. Many of which I just found by googling "hula hoop."

Now, I just need to practice hooping now that I finally have a hoop : )

Greetings!

Here are my most recent creations and deviations. I took my shorter amigurumi and lengthened it as well as adding greater personality. Each of these crocheted friends have their own books telling you more about them. They are posted in my etsy shop- www.fuzfrenzy.etsy.com.

Drixa the Relephant is a mix between elephant and rat.

Beau is a battalo with parts bat and buffalo.

Gaius is a cametan, mostly camel with some orangutan.

Mingo is a walruog, part walrus and part prairie dog.

This was something I whipped up today on my day off. I have some round travel tea tins and I thought it would be cute to put a drawing on both sides of the tin. Then I had to make a cozy critter to tote it around in. The eyes are clasps as well and it has a keychain loop.

I haven't written about books in a while, but I still am excited about them. The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick is wonderful! It has superb illustrations and a top knotch story that any one will enjoy. Lady Friday by Garth Nix caught me off guard when I saw it yesterday. I wasn't supposed to come out until March and the email alerts still treat it like it is still 3 weeks away! It is in the Keys to the Kingdom series by Nix. I am re-reading all of the Harry Potter books in anticipation for the release of the 7th book on July 21st. We are doing discussion groups at my bookstore each month before the release and we're going to have the best Harry Potter Party ever!