The Stuffing Brothers

When Rosie gave me a sock monkey kit and book for Christmas, she bought one for herself too. (see my last monkey post).

We have both been busting to start our sock monkeys, but we are not allowed to work on them if we are not together. We finally got together for a few hours last week, and this is what we got up to. This is the first sock, we have drawn on sewing lines to make the legs and main body from one sock.

Sewn and cut out above.

Ta-da! Here is Peejay turned right side out...

Would you believe two Peejays?

The next sock is a little scary... first we cut out the tail...

then the mouth..

Both our mouths are different, we need to decide which way up the mouth will go - you can see in the book there are so many variations.

Arms have been made, so has the tail.. Okay, let's go and stuff.

I think Rosie found it hard to stop stuffing, the sock just kept stretching to fit in more stuff.

What a fat monkey!

Mine was splitting himself if I tried to stuff too much in (the sock was laddering).

We found that Rosie had too much stuffing in her Peejay, so we took some out, and put some into my monkey.

Rather like Blood Brothers, this makes them Stuffing Brothers.

I can't wait until we meet up at quilt group this week so we can do some more on our Peejays. Now that we don't need our machines for a while, we can work on them at quilt group.

So cute... I want to make more... I need more socks!!

Golden

5-golden-rings are on their way in this block for the Twelve Days of Christmas BOM.

Just a few more details to add...

I am really looking forward to seeing this quilt finished.

What's on my list of 5?

1. sock monkey (yes I started him, show and tell later)

2. Pieces of the Past (applique blocks)

3. QuiltAid 2010 blocks and finishing

4. Embroidery and stumpwork sampler

5. 12 Days of Christmas

And, I am excited about them all!! Ok, I'm back on track. It's amazing how making a list can re-focus what I am supposed to be doing.

Motivation: homework for the teacher?

I've finished all the regular embroidery on my sample and I only have a few days left before the last class. I need to finish stitching on the gold wire stems, then make one more stumpwork leaf and cut them out.

In the last class we are attaching the stumpwork and berries. Then it will be ready for framing! I am going to have mine framed. Who knows if I will ever do stumpwork again?

I really like the look of it, I have enjoyed doing it, but if I am not in class, I won't be inspired to do stumpwork again... Does that ever happen to you? Maybe I need homework to show the teacher. Besides that, I don't want to look bad in front of the rest of the class..

When is a PIG not a pig?

When it's a pair of socks!!

Folks from the U.S. may recognise these socks... but to us Aussies, I am speaking double-dutch!

During the Great Depression of the 1930s a lot of people wore these socks. They were your average work-socks.

People couldn't afford toys, so they made their own. But they couldn't afford to buy materials to make them either... so the sock monkey became really popular.

Rosie gave me this gift box containing Peejay for Christmas. I haven't been allowed to start it yet - Rosie bought one for herself too, and next week we are getting together to start making the little guy!! yay!!

Here are some other ways one might dress up their sock monkey. Rosie gave me an entire book full of pictures with ideas. I plan to combine the pictures with the line drawing instructions given to me by my good friend Jan...

I can't wait to turn this PIG into a monkey!!

NB. a PIG is a Project in Grocery Sack (you know, still in the bag you brought it home in..) This one has been sitting around for 2 months twiddling it's thumbs-to-be (or NOT thumbs actually, as this monkey will have none).

Doing it my way.

I am all over the place with these blocks...

Here are 2-turtle-doves finished!! Ta-da!

It used to be one of my least favourite blocks in the quilt, but I changed it a bit and I am much happier. I used clusters of french knots for the flowers....

and I used chain stitch for the cage hook, and for the tail feathers.

I also changed the colour of the cage from cream to a light green that would be visible.

I feel liberated!! What else can I do my way???

Oh, this is one of the blocks for the "Twelve Days Of Christmas" quilt designed by Viv's Creations. You will need to google the actual word twelve, not the number in order to find it... Have fun kiddos...

Still sidetracked?

It looks like I am really sidetracked from the Pieces of The Past quilt.... yes, I needed a break (still waiting on fabric) and I really needed to make this block. Might as well do it now...

It's 2-turtle-doves.


They look a little scared at the moment, their feathers are sticking up all over the place...

Plenty of stitchery to go on with...

8-maids-a-milking

This is one of my favourite blocks in the 12 Days of Christmas quilt.

8-maids-a-milking...

Can you see that one of the birds has spilt her bucket of milk and is standing in it. Typical chickens!!

I am really enjoying making this quilt. The colours are so soft, and it's the mixture of applique and stitchery that is so inviting.

It looks like I just whipped this up overnight, but I had done most of it before Christmas, it just needed a little bit of stitchery and an extra bucket appliqued.