squirrel momma

Happy Fruit

I had just finished up best friends Ida and Red...

..when my mom dropped off a bag of--I kid you not--Little Buddies.

I'm hoping for no worms in these, though.

Zombie Tomato

Franken Carrot has a new friend.  And I promise he doesn't bite.

At least not much.

Your Questions Answered

I know you've been wondering...

Yes, ghosts have belly buttons.

And booties, too!

(And should you wish to know if they'll be going into the shop this week, yes, they will!)

A Rebuttal to Yesterday's Post

Just in case you found Franken Carrot too horrifying...

Rainbows! Unicorns! Ponies! And Fish! Together at last.

I've Been Experimenting

Bwahahahaha!

Score!

The Plush Team Shop on Etsy is currently running a series of Tiny Tuesdays, during which members put up plush priced between $5 and $10.  As you can imagine, at prices like that things fly out the door, and quite often I'm not quick enough to snag something before it's gone.  But this time I got lucky!

 

A vampire pencil? How perfect is that for a girl who likes fangs! He's from the talented Casie of Boom Plush--check out her shop here for more fun stuff.

And for those of you wondering if I would ever actually finish a needle felted piece--with actual limbs, not just a decapitated head--the answer is yes! I did! 

 

 

Meet Dwight, who stands 4 inches tall including his antennae. You can probably guess by the excited expression on his face that he is one of the contenders to be a piece I send to Plush You Seattle. (Don't tell him--I don't want success to go to his head--but he's practically a shoe-in, being the only finished fellow so far.)

Poking Along

Right now I've got six--yup, six--different insect-alien thingies in various stages of completion. Such as another head that is sadly without a body.

 

For this guy I tried mixing a darker pink and white, with semi-okay results.  I can hardly wait to go to the West Micigan Fiber Festival this weekend and restock on felting supplies, as my compulsive need for every possible color of wool felt has now bled over into wool roving, too.

Until then I can play with the new tool I picked up at Field's Fabrics yesterday.

 

I had been felting with just the needle held in my bare hand, which is uncomfortable, to say the least.  Also, it lends itself to frequent finger stabbing. And much use of colorful vocabulary by my children's mother. So hopefully this baby will not only improve the quality of my alien insects, but cut down on the amount of blue smoke drifting out of my studio. Definitely a multi-tasker.
 
  

 

 

Curiouser and Curiouser

I seem to finally be getting the hang of needle felting (kind of), and during a marathon road trip to Washington, DC managed to get these little squidlings finished up...

 

I was feeling pretty cocky after those, what with finally being able to achieve some level of detail without stabbing myself too many times, so I thought I would attempt something a little more complex.

 

Hmmm. I was trying for an alien/insect sort of thing, but when polled 100% of voters in my household responded with the word "Grinch". And I'm still not quite sure what I'm going to do with an alien/grinch head. But c'mon folks, look at that detail! 

 

 

Plush Team Annual

I know I've mentioned the Plush Team book before, but as I just happened to be taking a picture of the dog tags my Ninja Bunnies won in the "Plush Warfare: Call of Duty" competition, and the book just happened to be in the background, I thought I'd give you all the stats!

 

The Plush Team is ecstatic to present to you our first ever Team Annual, containing 120 pages of plushy goodness!

What is in store for you upon opening this marvelous book:

• An opening by our team founder, Megan Green, describing how our team came to be.
• An insightful, informative, and all-around fascinating account of the history of plush craft by our team co-founder Christina Ward.
• 42 two-page, full color features of our Plush Team members. Each includes  photos of the artist's work, and text written by the artist explaining motivation, process, and inspiration.
• A time line of Plush Team activities through over the years.Profile pages providing a comprehensive list of Plush Team artists, including artist head shots and Etsy shop addresses.
• Photos of PT Stitchy, the team mascot, scattered throughout the book in his various incarnations as interpreted by our team members.

The book is full color, professionally printed, and soft cover. It measures 6.75"x6.75" (or 17 centimeters square). This is volume 1 of our Team Annual, featuring the artists from 2009. Our intent is to make this a yearly publication, updating it each year with our newest members and their incredible work.

Visit the Team Shop today for your copy! 

Another New Friend

I guess I'm doing a series of pincushions based on backyard pests, or at least backyard pests in my neighborhood. 

 

I  have to admit I was really, really tempted to make a tiny little garbage can for him to root around in. But I resisted, and put him in his "natural" habit instead (as opposed to hanging out by the dumpsters behind the grocery store). 

And although we occasionally have opossums wandering through our yard, I'm pretty sure I won't be recreating them in miniature. They just look like giant albino rats--giant angry pointed-toothed albino rats--to me. Not cute. Not cute at all. Major heebie-jeebies when one of those waddles through the yard. So I think Ricky* is the end of the new wildlife for now.

*but there must be a better name for a raccoon!