Renegade Chicago

If you're in Chicago this weekend come check us out! We'll be at booth 70 with tons of plush!!

Here is my entry for the Plush Team Halloween contest. Jesmin the ghost kitty in a ghost costume. She fits in the plush costume category of the contest. She thinks it's funny that she's a ghost pretending to be a ghost, so she giggles a lot. She also thinks the word "boo" is a little overused and prefers to tell knock knock jokes instead of frightening people.

Squids and a Pattern

The first pattern available is Frances the Heart Gremlin. He's at my etsy shop right now. I'm offering him for only $2. He's sort of a test pattern to make sure my language and technique are solid. I plan on making the pattern in the form of a comic book, but I want to get the kinks out. Frances is about an intermediate/advanced level of crochet. If you get a pattern now I'll send along the completed pattern design and name a creature after you!
This squid went to Sarah of Creative Sundries.

And this one went to Megan of Moogan Creations.

More squids are made, they just need to be photographed and shipped :)

Squid, Gremlin, Bag, & Yarn

The first Free Squid to go out goes to Chelsey! She requested a Narwhal colored squid in the fashion of the Narquin you may have seen in an earlier post. The squid will be on it's way to you tomorrow, Chelsey : )
Another mini heart gremlin. His name is Ringo and he's about 5.5 inches or 14 cm tall. This is the backside, he does have a face and a smile : )


Percella! In honor of having a sewing machine that works, I had to sew something. I was in need of a bag, so this is what I made. It's a comfortable over the shoulder messenger type thing. The important thing is that I can fit a sketch book, yarn and whatever I happen to be reading in it at the same time.


I finally spun some yarn. I was over at the Textile Center in Minneapolis and picked up some fiber from Sue's Luxury Yarn. It's a wool of some sort with some really great color combos.

Now, I need is some more squids to make! Who doesn't want a free squid?

Free Squids!

Help me celebrate fuzfrenzy's third Etsy anniversary with a free squid! All you need to do is leave a comment with an email address for me to contact you to get you your free squid. You only have until the end of September to request your free squid and I'll have to limit it to one per person. I'll be making them custom so have your color choices ready!Let the squidding begin!

the world of fuz

There are fuzlingz everywhere! The first three creatures, Wynn the gremlin, Renna the ballerina mouse, and Seph the cowboy bunny are in my Etsy shop. I finally made a tiny heart gremlin ! It's about 5 inches or 12.7 cm tall and her heart still comes out : ) The mouse and bunny are a tad larger and have removable clothing.




This masked gremlin with a book went to Abigail and the monkey with a car went to Scarlett.


Rolph here is living with Amanda and some other monsters. I hear he is doing well in his new home : )

Megan's Glovelets

Megan requested a pair of biker gloves with hole for the knuckles and here they are! They are made from Lion Brand Cotton Ease charcoal yarn. They should breathe and wear well. The buttons are from my antique stash. Enjoy Megan!

Since I am getting into the habit of writing down patterns I wrote this one down, too. I would say that these ended up being about a medium size, so I'll have to venture into making large and small sizes for the pattern, too. I am giving serious thought to making a pair for myself : )

Graham the Gremlin

Graham is the second pattern that I will offer in my shop. Here you can see that he was inspired by the fabulous Froderick. I went with a smaller version. He still isn't a quick bugger to make, but Graham is more manageable to replicate.And look! His pants and belt are removable. He's got to be interactive as well as charming. I am thinking that the patterns will look more like a comic bookish style with each creature alongside to give pointers to those that venture into the patterns.

Heart Gremlins

Well, now there are two! Ezekiel has a friend named Frances. I have decided to keep Ezekiel in my own personal collection. I made Frances for the pattern which will shortly be up in my Etsy shop. I played with the form a teensy bit, so Frances is a couple of rows shorter. I made a better heart and heart hole this time around.
I got a cute shot of Italics today while I was photographing the gremlins. He's checking to see how much sun is coming in by the window so that he can stretch out in the heat as soon as it moves across the floor.

Sneek Peek...what's to come...

What in the world? I don't think it's obvious what I've got pictured here, so I'll tell you.Ezekiel is being remade for the purpose of making a pattern. Yes, I said pattern. I am filling up my sketch book with scribblings of sc and st and tons of other senseless things that add up to a heart gremlin. The pattern will be available in my Etsy shop shortly as a PDF, so keep an eye out for it. In addition to the heart gremlin I will do 4 more patterns for the summer collection of Fuzfrenzy patterns.

I am so excited to share the fuz with everyone and I hope that you are excited to get an extra dose of it!

Creatures

Some new things: Sylvia Blue is an irresistible little critter with a white panther costume. She is made with cotton yarn, which is a first for me. She feels great and is super cuddly. Just look at that smile!Another first is with Logan's Cthulhu. He is made with wool that I handspun. He took two skeins. Even though I spin I usually make creatures with acrylic yarns. I really enjoyed this venture into different materials, which I will explore some more.
Hansel and Gretel have been on the Plush Team site for a little bit now, so I thought they should be here, too. They have already been welcomed into their new home in New Jersey. These two were initially made for a plush team challenge involving favorite fairy tales and stories. My partner was Jenni from SLC Studio . She is creating a yummy pot of Stone Soup and I chose Hansel and Gretel from among her favorites. I could not create a normal duo, so I made them mutants : )

a good show : )

Ahh here is my wrinkled sign. I made it for last year's show and I have used it in 3 shows so far. The first z is backwards by accident, but it adds something to it, I think. And it's all hand stitched : )

For Craftstravaganza I brought 33 items and came home with 9. I am glad that so many things found good homes. It was cool to see so many people that I remembered from last year and a lot of people remembered me, too.
A special octopus ring : )
And a friendly face. This little bunny was a custom order that I neglected to get photographed before he found his home. So here he is for the world to see. And she's wearing the original octopus ring!

Craftstravaganza!

If you're in the neighborhood come check out Craftstravaganza this Saturday, April 26th at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds. I'll be in booth #24 in the far right corner. It's right next to the one I had last year and it served me well, so hopefully I'll have good results again.

I'm bringing the huge octopus I made from recycled t-shirts. Henry would be delighted to meet you if you are so inclined to attend the show. Keep in mind that when I say he is huge I mean that he'll take up the majority of the table and the floor surrounding it.

I haven't talked about what I'm reading in a long while, so I thought I'd update you. I have several books going so sporadically that I don't know everything that I'm in the middle of. What I do remember is George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones, Garth Nix's Sabriel, and James Owen's Search for the Red Dragon. All enjoyable and none of them finished yet...though mostly finished in all cases.

Monster Pie!!

Ahhh, pie! Here is the first of the monster pies. It is made with three fresh monsters and topped with a cherry. It was very fun to make I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Completed Monster

Here is Julian! When he was just a round pink puffball it was though that maybe he should just be a dragon egg, with all his jewel tones and texture. But I wanted to give him more life. As the face came together he needed feet, a tail, ears and a sorta spiky mane.

Julian incidentally loves to play the harmonica and eat crunchy things. He is a handful even though he can be very shy about his pretty pink appearance. He's kinda big at 10 inches high and 20 inches long. Just more of him to love!

Another Yarn-gram : )

Yay for yarn! Mom sent me more yarn. This one is a thick and thin Jo-Ann Sensations wool yarn. I am thinking that it is going to be a monster, but I am not quite sure how it'll evolve. The best part of it so far is that the thick sections of the yarn are spiraling and it looks awesome.Quinton is a Vulture-Elephant. He is going to be living in a baby's room. The story is that a mom joked about having vultures in her baby's room and the one who requested this magnificent beast got an idea to combine the vulture with the elephant/blue/green/white theme of the room. And viola!

Bunny & An Egg Cozy

I made a cute little bunny the other day. She's made with super soft fuzzy yarn which makes her really cuddly.And I also have an egg cozy here that ended up being an albino rat.
Happy Easter everyone! Hopefully I'll get to making a couple more Easter goodies : )

Vote for Plush Team St. Patty's Day Winner!

Hey! Here's a great opportunity to show the green for St. Patty's Day. Go to the Etsy Plush Team site to vote on your favorite creation. I made a leprechaun, but there are other fun plush, too.

Have fun & thanks!

Yarn...the beginning of something beautiful?

When I went out to my mailbox a little while ago I was met by this little box filled with yarn sent by my lovely mother-in-law. (Thanks Mom!)


So now that I have organized the yarn by color and tied all the ends together, I have three large skeins of yarn....but I am not yet sure of what it shall be. Any thoughts?

I've Been Tagged!

I've been tagged by the super fun Electric Daisy. So that means that I get to tell you all 7 things about myself.

1. I can make a "w" shape with my tongue. Yeah, it's genetic, but neither of my parents can do it and my sister sort of can .
2. I can't remember a time when I could choose a favorite color.
3. If I could only create one type of thing for the rest of my life I would die.
4. I rarely use patterns (or recipes). When I do I tweak them and make them my own. It's amusing when I go to write a pattern because I'm already thinking about how I'm going to adapt it for the next creature.
5. I haven't had a cup of coffee yet today. That doesn't happen very often.
6. Josh (my husband) and I are really and truly best friends, even after 7.5 years of marriage.
7. When I grow up I want to be a teacher, artist, author in the realm of children's literature. (This still changes as much as it did when I was kid.)

The Rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post the rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by posting their names as well as links to their blogs.

4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

In the wonderful rules of tag, these next 7 people are IT:

1. Creative Sundries
2. Cutesy But Not Cutesy
3. Phil Barbarto
4. Jelly Bat
5. Kellybot
6. Unblinking Eye
7. Danger Kitty Designs