Weirdy Arrived and I've Been Busy!

Hello Readers!

No time to dilly dally, let's get on with it!

Weirdy survived his trip to California so I can show him off now.

I didn't make Weirdy Monster especially for this project. He's been languishing in a big plastic bag in the closet with a few of his kind. I made him back in 2012 I do believe. I don't rightly remember just when the monster phase started. This guy is one of the earlier ones though. I truly don't know how many monsters are in the closet. I''m guessing somewhere around 18 of them?

This fella looked like a good candidate for an adventure.

I sewed some clear plastic to him to house the cardstock I've written all the pertinent information on. 

Word is, he's headed to Arizona for an art party soon. Wish I was going with him on that trip!!

I think it is safe to show you all the Valentines now. They should all arrive quite soon, if they haven't already.

I don't have a picture showing all 15 of them I made. I forgot to take a picture of the whole pile. I remembered after they'd all gone postal. Not to worry though. They all pretty much looked something like these three. All of them were different, but all fit with this group.

This is the backside of the same ones in the first picture. I only hope they weren't too hard to get into. 

See? A whole herd of Valentine envelopes!

This is what was inside each one of those Valentine envelopes. I don't have a picture of the whole batch of little books. (That cloud of senility following me again.) I made 17 in white leather and 6 of them in brown leather. They're about an inch and a quarter tall and an inch wide. Somewhere around there... I don't have any of them left to measure one for you. I went to a Valentine's Sister's Party at my sister Elaine's house on Sunday and handed them out like candy. They were a huge hit! It was quite the sight really...a bunch of old ladies sitting around with a little book resting on their bosoms! I love my sisters and my mother and my aunt....It's called a sister's party because only sisters can come to it. No boys allowed!

It was a fun day! I sat in the back seat of Aunt Sherry's car, watching the scenery go by for 23 miles while she and Ma sat in the front. No worries at all! Then I ate cherry pie with real whipped cream and vanilla ice cream. Ma made the cherry pie. Or as she put it..."I threw it together." It was yummy! Then we all divvied up the goodies we'd brought along and sat around some more yakking at one another!  Sister's parties usually include an invite for all of my sisters but this was an impromptu affair and the other sisters live too far away for a short notice invite. My mother has seven daughters. Four of us were at the party on Sunday. And Aunt Sherry can come to a Sister's Party because she is Ma's sister. We always have fun at a Sister's Party but it's really a party when we all show up!

I told you all about a crochet rag rug in the works in the last post. I tore out all that I had done on that rug and started over. I have no visual proof of this.  

But the cloud cleared long enough for me to remember to show what I have done with some of the drapery yarn. This isn't a rug either. It's going to be a basket. I've torn out about three rows of this large disk and started crocheting the sides of the basket. It wasn't laying flat at all! One can't have a wonky rug! So a basket it will be! I have one row of the sides done. It's about 14 inches across. I'm guessing on that measurement. I haven't actually measured it. That crochet hook isn't quite big enough to comfortably crochet this linen fabric and my hands complain loudly after only a few stitches made. The going is slow at this point but eventually we will have a nice big, sturdy basket!

Here's a close up of the yarn and stitching. I like that it has a ragged edge. The basket will need some long threads snipped to tide it up a bit once it's done, but all in all, I like that shabby look it's taking on.

I started another fish picture. This one is number 14. Those purple and white crocheted strings made it on the picture.

I spent hours tearing and tying those things at the bottom of the canvas. I have no clue where this thing is headed. It hasn't spoken to me for a few days now. 

You'll see Fish Picture #14 again, once I figure out what the heck it wants to become!

I have a stack of bowls sitting on top of my toaster waiting for me to repair them. The little one in the middle is sitting on the kitchen table with a coat of red paint now. I really need to find the bag of shredded money to fix the other two in the picture. If you all have any clues on where that bag of shredded money might be, speak up, please. I've been hunting for it for some months now! These bowls were damaged from my packing them wrong. 

This bowl got a coat of blue paint on the outside and sprinkling of glitter to jazz it up a bit. I painted the inside with a lovely shade of brown and sprinkling of glitter as well. This one's still a work in progress. We'll see just how well that brown paint plays with this glossy varnish over wall paint.

This bowl got a coat of midnight blue paint inside and out. It used to be a shade of royal blue. Now it's outside is sprinkled with glitter. The inside will get the same treatment. I'll show you all these paper mache bowls when I get them done. All of them were made back in 2013. I'm just giving them a new look because their old one's didn't work any longer.

Fred dog woke me around 2 a.m. on Friday morning to go out to do his business. I stayed up to wait for him to come back inside. By the time he decided his business outside was done, I was wide awake and making coffee. 

What else is there to do at 2 a.m. than put some books together?

This is a japanese stab bound book made from some matboard covered in holographic tape, about 20 coffee filters and some nylon string. 

Here it is open.

This is a great little book! Stout, strong! LITTLE. It's the size of an ATC. 3.5 x 2.5 inches. A tad larger than that actually. The paper is ATC size. It's black leather sewn with variegated purple embroidery thread.

It has 40 pages, 80 counting both sides.  The button is plastic and metal.

The pages came from a dumpster. They were forms from an auctioneering company. I cut off the parts with text on them, leaving just lines.

This entire book is made from castoffs. As I said the pages came from a dumpster. I got five or six of those pads of forms. The leather is from a skirt I bought at the thrift store for 75 cents, the button came a shirt and the embroidery thread came from a yard sale. 

A very tiny leather bound book with a button closure. Pay no attention to that ruler in the background. It doesn't represent how tiny this book is really. I did measure this one and it is just over 2 inches long and about an inch a quarter wide. It would fit in a matchbox if it were just a bit shorter on the long end.

It has twenty sheets of orange paper sewn in the pamphlet stitch with embroidery thread. The button is plastic.

This little leather book is the same size as the previous one but it fits in the matchbox sitting beside it.

It too has orange paper pages. If I am going to insist on putting snaps on books, I am going to have to invest a new hammer for the job. My weenie hammer isn't going to cut it! An eyelet setter would be even better! 

This little book is about 3.5 inches wide and 5 inches tall or so. It's really hard to tell accurately from the angle in the picture. I'm too lazy to get out of this chair, walk a dozen steps, measure it and come back to tell you. In reality, my feet are killing me!

The leather came from a coat my sister gave me. I sewed the closure on backwards the first time. I like the closure on this one. I wasn't sure how to make it work but I figured it out. That's a metal doohickey from the end of a string that was once in a hoodie hood. 

It's sewn with variegated pink embroidery thread. The braid for the closure, the same.

And it has those same form pages as the black book above.

Little books are so sinfully easy to make!

I thought I needed another pouch to carry my phone around in so I crocheted this thing out of some neon green organza that was once a skirt. It's bright! I'll give it that! And it does work well for carrying the phone around! 

Mission accomplished! 

I had a request for some paper balls made from maps. 

OK. I can do that! I showed you all the map circles I cut out a few weeks ago. I wondered what the heck I was going to do with a peanut can full of 3 inch circles. I'm still wondering what I will do with a peanut can full of 3 inch circles. I had to cut these 20 circles down to 2.5 circles before they'd be small enough to make into a paper ball that wasn't so huge. The request was for small balls! This one is still on the large size. 

I've remedied the problem of big balls by cutting 1 1/8 inch circles from another map. I probably should have chosen a different map than the one I did choose but it's too late now. I've spent most of the day cutting circles from the National Geographic map I did choose.  Lands of the Bible Today December 1967 vol. 132 no. 6. I've already cut enough circles for a few balls and have made two perfect size balls for the request. There wasn't a number of balls in the request, just that they needed 'some' map balls. I got map balls! And should have a few more before the week is out!

Thanks for hanging in there through this rambling ramble.

Remember...

Be good to one another!

It matters...

Peace

831

We're off and running into February!

Hello Readers!

Well, I've been home now for a week and one day. I've done a lot more than you'll see in this post today.

Somethings have to be kept secret for the time being. Weirdy is on his way to California and I can't unveil him until he arrives. And Valentines cannot be shown off until after Valentine's Day! It's OK!!! Really! I'm sure there will be other things to see until then.

I've turned my days and nights around since coming home from my son's house. Sleep all day, up all night! Nothing else to do but keep the hands busy. 

I wasn't quite done with baskets when I came home from my kidnapping a week ago. I made this one last Thursday.

It's about 7 inches across and 5 inches tall. Made out of plastic twisted ribbon. I didn't bother to untwist the ribbon so it's more like rope than ribbon. I sewed the basket together with synthetic raffia using a large eyed needle that the raffia would fit through.

And when I finished the previous basket I started on this one. It's made from the same twisted ribbon as the other one but it is sewn with purple/white cotton nubby yarn and green acrylic yarn.

The purple/white yarn was a bear to work with! Not sure what possessed me to think I could sew with it....I gave up on it after having snapped it in two more times than I care to remember! The first yarn I laid eyes on was a wad of this green yarn laying on the table beside my desk. This basket is about 4 inches across and 5 inches tall. I'm guessing, I didn't actually measure it.

This pair of drapes have been hanging on the side of this shelf in my livingroom for the lasts three months or so. I decided early this morning that they HAD TO GO! They hail from the 1960s. They are not pretty as drapes.

Not pretty.

I turned them into yarn to crochet a rag rug.

OK. I only turned one of the drapes into balls of yarn for now. The other is slated the same fate though. 

Bonus is that the drapes were lined too! 

I got two balls out the lining and two balls out of the front fabric. If that rug is to materialize, I may have to go rummaging through the closet and locate that other set of drapes in there. I'm not sure these two drapes will be enough yarn for a rag rug but I'm determined to find out!

By the time I go to bed tomorrow I should have four more balls of drapery yarn to add to the rug I've already started crocheting. Sorry no picture of that yet. I downloaded the pictures in this post from my phone and then remembered the beginnings of the rag rug. Next post you'll get to see the rag rug....who knows, it might even be a finished rug!

Bonus from tearing up the drapes were all these long tangled strings of cotton and linen that will become components on the fish picture I started yesterday.

No pictures of it yet either. Same thing as with the rag rug. I forgot about it until just now. 

I think that cloud of senility has been following me around today.

A couple of those fishes I showed you in the last post that were drawn on brown paper got painted. Only one of them is worth showing off.

This is the fish picture I left sitting on the work table in the kitchen while I was gone at my son's house. It's a terrible picture. I apologize for that! It was like 3 in the morning when I took this picture! I should have taken it off the wall and took it to the other room to take its picture. 

When I got home I finished the fish. He's drawn on cardstock, painted with purple fingernail polish and then covered with tiny glass beads on his body and glitter on his fins. The yellow and blue on his body is also fingernail polish.

This is fish picture #13. I have never made a black fish picture and it was imminent that I do that. When it invades your sleep, it's time to take action!

This is one of the fish from the last post. I painted it with liquid acrylics, a paint pen and some black and white fingernail polish in his eye.

I got to play with my new acrylic inks while working on this one. I painted the plastic beads and buttons with it for this picture. I also splashed some on the green fabric rosettes, along with black and silver also.

I really like this fish picture.

The new one is not really talking to me right now. It's laying on my washing machine, drying at the moment. After I get some sleep I'll revisit it and see what the muse thinks. 

I'm in hopes the muse will agree that these will make wonderful seaweed and such for the newest fish picture considering I sat through three episodes of Forensic Files this morning crocheting them!

I can't show you all of the little books I've made since the last post. Some of them are surprises. You'll get to see them soon. All of these little books are in a chocolate box that once held a grand total of four chocolates! They are tiny.

I made the jump rings by wrapping wire around one of my Bic markers. Each little book has roughly 20 pages and has a leather cover that will eventually get a jump ring fastened on with a bead. The little books are functional. You can write in them if you can write that small! 

Here's a sneak peek at the Valentines. I made 15 of them, sent 12 of them off in the mail this morning.

I've been busy as usual! Keeps me out of trouble. Though sometimes I think a bit of trouble might do me some good! It's been quite some time since I've been bad.  The reason for that is because, even though some trouble would be welcome...little trouble, nothing major....I just don't have the energy it requires to escape the trouble!~ 

Guess I'll just keep busy and not try to find trouble!

Behave yourselves! And remember....

Be good to one another!

It matters!

Peace 

831

Back Home From My Kidnapping

Hello Readers!

Better get something warm to drink, maybe a smoke and settle in for a long post covering the last 23 days or so. There's a lot to show! 

My kidnapping was pure joy! I got to spend time with my grandkids, my son, his wife and other relatives and friends. It was a long time to be away from home, but not too long.
Five year old Annabel is a hoot~!  So many laughs, so many hugs! I let her borrow my big fat black Sharpie and that got me 'the best grandma EVER' award! And I had forgotten just how hilarious 12 year old boys can be. Brenton kept me laughing a lot as well. And when you get three 12 year old boys together at once, there is never a dull moment!
I needed this vacation from home! Glad to be back where all my art supplies reside though. I exhausted most of what I took along except for the wool roving, which I never even touched.
The cats had mixed feelings about not having seen me for three weeks. Lola still isn't wanting any petting to speak of. Tippy and Murray have made up for it though. Murray has made sure I know it is my job to fill the food bowl. She hasn't stopped meowing since I got home on Tuesday. And Tippy has made sure I know she is here and wants all the petting I'll give to her!
Those of you who read regularly will know my hands were not idle while I was away from home.

This basket is made with that yellow poly rope you all were getting tired of seeing some weeks back. I took a small hank of it with me with no idea what would happen with it. 

The dogs, Fred and the puppy, Half-Pint (or HP as I'll refer to him here) were getting on my nerves one evening. Fred sometimes did not tolerate the pup too well and they'd get to fussing and arguing. Fred had the dog rope and HP wanted it. Fred wasn't giving it up and a growling, yipping session commenced. I took out the poly rope and made the pup his own dog rope. No picture of it, sorry. They ceased their disagreements once HP had his own rope. So the rope got made into two things. I did not bring any unused rope home with me. 

I didn't bring the basket home with me either. It's sitting on a shelf in the gift shop at The Grassroots Art Center in Lucas. KS right now.

It is just a coiled basket sewn together with crewel embroidery yarn. 

The stop at Lucas on the way home was a very profitable detour. I have a medium sized wooden suitcase that I fill with handmade things every now and then and take to the folks at the Art Center. That suitcase was so full I could barely get it shut. When I came home, it had only 4 things left in it. They'll be getting a box of stuff they requested once I drag all those things out of the closet in the other room.

I made this teddy bear mug rug one afternoon when the kids were at school. This is the only mug rug I made while at my son's house. I left 19 mug rugs at the Art Center to go in the gift shop, including this one.

My son brought home some canned ice tea and I immediately snagged the aluminum cans to make some little birds. This one has a chain on it that I also made.

I didn't get around to making a chain for this one or it would have probably ended up with the other one in Lucas.

I also made a paper bird that I didn't take a picture of. It stayed with Annie at her house.

I had to go visit my sister at least once while I was in her neck of the woods. I spent the whole day with her last Saturday doing nothing but sitting at her dining room table doing arts and craps! 

My sister is obsessed with fish at the moment and she asked me to draw her some fish. She said these were fine fish but could I please draw her some fish without all the fancy lines? Her words. So I drew her about 20 fish without all the crosshatching. I'll color these fishes sometime in the future. I have no idea what will become of them! They're drawn in pencil, then in sharpie, on heavy brown paper that came out of the bottom of a box of six one gallon cans of mandarin oranges. Sister is the lunch lady at an elementary school. That brown paper is excellent drawing paper! I'll be making something out of the four or five sheets I brought home with me.

I brought along some stuff to work on while I spent the day at my sister's house. Here, her cat, Smudge is being nosey, sticking his head in my sack of bookmaking supplies. I put the bookmaking stuff in a cut down puppy food bag so Smudge really liked how it smelled. Sis says he eats the dog's food all the time. One of the little books you'll see later in this post was made while Sis was working on fish pictures built on flat advertising magnets. They turned out really good. I didn't take a picture of them though. 

In the last post I was going on and on about all those balls I took to my son's house. 23 of them.

I only got four of them done.

I got bored with sewing balls.

I brought only this ball home with me. I left the others at the Art Center.

My son's friend, Mike (who is my age) was taken aback by my goddess doll. Course my son telling him I made a "Booby Doll" for his father in law (who lives there) didn't help with the reaction he got out of Mike. You had to be there to get the full effect. Mike is so funny! The look he gave me was priceless! Son and Mike give me so much crap it isn't even funny. I just roll my eyes and shake my head at their shenanigans! I am amused with the pair of them!

I brought the goddess doll home with me cause she isn't quite done yet. She needs a hanger of some sort because she doesn't stand up on her own. She's made out of a couple of plastic bottle caps for her head, made the same was as embroidered balls are, only not quite that large. Her body is a wire armature covered with sweater scraps and then more scraps sewn over. Her outer shell is cashmere scraps. Her hair is black and silver eyelash yarn. I made her one day when both the grandkids were at school and I was on my own while the kids were at work.

My son's father in law does live there also. He and I pretty much ignore one another for the most part. We are civil to one another and we don't not get along. We just have nothing in common and we do not agree on much of anything. It's just easier to ignore him. Keeps the peace. He does his thing in one room and I do mine in another.  It works out well for us. He'd get the wrong idea if I had actually made that goddess doll for him. Not interested....not at all. He really doesn't seem to care one way or another in that department but I don't want to give him any ideas. Son thought it was hilarious to insinuate I was giving the old man ideas. If the boy didn't give me a load of crap every now and then, there would be something wrong with him. 

I played Dr. Grandma with a few patients on my visit.

This is grandson's monster you all saw in the last post. HP, the puppy, got ahold of the monster and put a few holes in him. I patched him up. Not a pretty patch up but Brenton was pleased nonetheless. He said it looks like monster has some serious scars! So I guess I have made a zombie monster of sorts. I just sewed the gaping holes in monster's hide with crewel embroidery yarn. My goal was to close the holes securely. Mission accomplished! 

Monster has no horns now either. A hornectomy was necessary. The felt I used for monster's horns was some very thin stuff and it didn't hold up to the kids using the horns for handles....they were perfect for hauling the monster around. Brenton said monster didn't really need horns so we did away with them all together.

Monster also got a wound on his backside.

I was at son's house from the 13th of January till the 3rd of February. That is 20 days. I didn't do arts and craps everyday I was there. I was elsewise occupied on a couple of days. Whenever I say I'm going to do some arts and craps, five year old Annie always says, "It's arts and CRAFTS, grandma!" I made little books on quite a few of those 20 days.

These two little accordion books are made out of part of a root beer box and clear tape. I'm going to add more to these two before I call them done. They're about an inch and half tall and an inch wide. Maybe a bit smaller...I didn't measure them. Never touched the ruler in the making of them.

This one is about 5x7 inches. It's made from a brownie mix box covered in holographic gold tape.

I brought most of the paper for the little books with me, already cut. I had to trim this paper down to fit this cover. It has (I'm guessing, cause I didn't write it down anywhere) it has 10 signatures of marker paper. Somewhere around 100 pages. Sewn with crochet cotton that I covered up along the spine with the tape.

This one stayed at the Art Center to be sold.

This one is made out of a brownie mix box also. It's covered in pink plaid packing tape. Sewn with crochet cotton string. My son has a sweet tooth and loves brownies! He baked both batches of brownies these two books came from.

It has computer paper pages, 10 signatures, somewhere around 100 pages. This one is at the Art Center.

This book is 6x6 inches with 14 signatures of construction paper sewn with crewel embroidery yarn in the long stitch. The cover is part of the rootbeer box the little accordian books were made out of.  I brought this one home with me. 

This one is 3x3 inches with 5 signatures of computer paper, somewhere around 50 pages. The cover is black leather from an old skirt and sewn with gray embroidery thread in the long stitch. This one stayed in Lucas.

This one is 3x3 inches with one signature of 10 pages of computer paper sewn in the pamphlet stitch. I brought this one home with me.

This one is 2.5x3 inches 5 signatures, sewn with regular sewing thread. It has about 50 pages. The green leather was once an old jacket. This one is in Lucas.

You saw the puppy food earlier in this post with a cat sticking its head inside. This gold foil paper covering on this book came from that puppy food bag. The inside of the bag is silver foil paper. I covered some 4x4 inch cardstock with the foil paper and glued 2 together for each cover, to give them more stiffness. This one has about 10 signatures of marker paper in it. That's about 50 pages. It is sewn in the coptic stitch with white crochet cotton thread. This one is in Lucas as well.

This one has 12 signatures of computer paper, sewn in the long stitch. Not sure that is the long stitch, maybe a variation of it. I hadn't made any leather books in this stitch till I made all the leather books in this post. I brought this paper with me, already cut to fit this cover. I think it is about 6x7 inches. I left this one in Lucas too. The cover is brown leather that was once part of a recliner chair. 

Another book made from the rootbeer box. I didn't cover up the graphics from the rootbeer box. I thought they were rather nice.

This is the same book as the one above. Construction paper pages. I cut the construction paper pages for all of these books at my son's house. Thankfully he owns a guillotine paper cutter! I like mine at home better though. Mine cuts better but his sufficed! 

This book stayed in Lucas at the Art Center.

Another green leather book, sewn with regular sewing thread in the long stitch. It has 8 signatures of computer paper pages, 5 x 7 inches or so. 

Another tiny leather book, 2.5 x 3 inches, sewn with gray embroidery thread, computer paper pages. Not a good picture of it for sure! It stayed in Lucas.

Fat little brown leather book with construction paper pages sewn with thin nylon cord. 3x3 inches. Leather from the recliner.It is in Lucas.

And yet another brown leather book sewn pretty much like all the others. It too stayed in Lucas.

This a 3 x 3 inch book made from a cardboard box, scraps from the rootbeer box covered in holographic tape and nylon cord to sew it all together in the coptic stitch. The pages are construction paper. I gave this book to Cody, Brenton's friend who really wanted to learn how to sew his own books but never stayed long enough in one spot to learn! He told me he wanted to be a writer when he grows up. He is 12. He was tickled pink to have his very own handmade book! 

I sewed the closure on with nylon cord so it would hold much longer than just taping it down.

Little books are so sinfully easy to make!!!!

I made 16 of them while I was away. And I have a whole box of them in the closet in the other room. I really thought the wooden suitcase was full of little books when I took it out of the closet to take on my kidnapping. It didn't have any little books it in. It was full of mug rugs, paper mache bowls and squished baskets! I will have some repairing to do on some of the bowls as they stuck together and when I pulled them apart, boo boos happened. Nothing that can't be rectified though. The Art Center got three little bowls that didn't get buggered up. One of those paper bowls sold, seconds after it came out of the suitcase! It still simply amazes me people are willing to give hard cold cash for things I make out of things those same folks throw away!

You all saw this basket in previous posts. Back then it was just the bottom of the basket/totebag and about three rounds up. I got it out one morning after the kids went to school and had it completely done by noon. It's a bit wonky but I like it. I didn't measure it but I'll take a guess at the measurements and say it is about 12 inches across the round bottom and about 16 inches tall to the last complete round  of crochet. I stuffed it full of all the things that came out of the wooden suitcase that I didn't want to present as a candidate for the gift shop in Lucas. It holds a LOT! I may keep this bag for toting stuff around.

As happens every single time I go to Nickerson, I end up in Hutchinson at Hobby Lobby to spend some dough! 52 dollars this trip! We recently got a Hobby Lobby in Hays (40 miles south of home) but I make it to Hutchinson more often than I make it to Hays so I always go to HL when down south. I usually go with my sister but this time I went with my daughter in law. I got some good buys on the clearance shelves. People who live in a larger city are spoiled rotten having a nearby craft store. And some of you have more than one to choose from! In my neck of the woods, the closest craft department is 40 miles south.

This basket is the result of my trip to Hobby Lobby. I found this sparkly red rope ribbon on clearance for 90 cents. It was originally $9.00. It behooves me why anyone would pay $9.00 for them!  I bought four of them, not knowing exactly what would happen with them. I was seeing a basket when I found them on the shelf but wasn't sure just what they were made of. When I got them home and got one out of the package I found a plastic rope about 3/8 of an inch thick, with a wire running the length of it which made it flexible. It was covered in red glitter. I had a choice of red, gold or green on the clearance shelf. I chose only red. My son's wife will be vacuuming red glitter off the playroom floor for the next three months! It shed terribly while I sewed it together with the black nylon cord I bought at HL also. I still have two packages of the sparkly red rope and will make another basket, just like this one, but maybe with a different color of string to sew it together with. And then Ma will be vacuuming up glitter from my floor for eons.  I didn't even show this one off while at the Art Center. It will get a coat of clear varnish to tame that glitter before I offer it up. It is about three inches tall and about 7 inches across. A very sturdy basket! I used two ropes for this basket and that equaled out to 30 feet of the rope. I worked on this basket for a couple days. I also worked on more than one project everyday so it didn't take as long as it sounds like it did. Probably about 6 hours total time in making it.

This basket is about 7 inches long, 3 inches wide. It is rectangle shaped on the bottom and round at the opening. I crocheted it in single crochet with a size J hook. It's made out of thick nylon cord. The cord is about a quarter inch thick. This basket is wonky...seems all my baskets are a bit wonky this go around. I brought this one home with me.

This is a tiny coiled basket made from the brown cord in the above basket, sewn together with crewel embroidery yarn. I brought this basket home with me. It's a wonky little thing, not one of my favorites.

I got to my son's house on a Wednesday. By Friday morning 

this monster was almost done. By the time Annabel was ready to go to sleep on Friday night, she had a new snuggle buddy. (Mr. Cuggles will not like this!) I told her to sit there on the sofa beside the monster. She snuggled up close to him and put his arm around her shoulders. 

Mr. Cuggles is a pink bear who has been loved almost to death. Now that I think about it, Mr. Cuggles is quite healthy. He's never been booked an appointment with Dr. Grandma for any mending. He's been through the washing machine a hundred times or more and his fur is no longer shiny and smooth. His arms and legs sag from having been dragged around for three years by them. Annie sleeps with Mr. Cuggles every night. Mr. Cuggles has been to my house on numerous occasions for a sleepover. She put her monster on the foot of her bed when she went to bed shortly after the photoshoot. No need to upset Mr. Cuggles.

He is made from an acrylic sweater, felt for his facial features and horns, black and silver eyelash yarn for his hair and he's filled with polyester stuffing. I sewed his body, arms and legs on the sewing machine. 

I had to do surgery on this guy again. This is the very first monster I ever made! Way back in 2011. He's made out of a couple of different acrylic sweaters. I've patched him up many times! He has a place of honor on the bed too but he doesn't go visiting. His arms have both been patched. I put the striped heart there on this visit and another patch somewhere else, I don't remember where. The heart is a scrap from the other's monster's sweater. You can see other patches on his legs and you can see his both of his legs have been sewn back on more than once! His legs never totally fell off but they had issues!

And the dog needed some stitches on his belly. HP got ahold of him a few days earlier. 

I'm glad to be back home! 

Thanks for hanging in there through this very long post! 

Remember to be good to one another!

It matters!

Peace

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