small projects: french knit bows

I have been obsessed with making bows with this french knitter I bought in December. You might be familiar with this little doodad (this whosit, this whatsit). I've also seen them called knitting nancys (nancies?) and tricot knitters. The impression I've gotten is that it's kind of a child's activity?? Which makes sense, since it's a fairly simple activity once all the steps are learned. But you use the pegs on top to knit an icord. It's a super stretchy cord! I believe I have crocheted an icord before, but I hated doing it, so I thought buying one of these little things might help.

I have made so many bows now... more than pictured here!

I made a modest number of bows to attach to a couple of pairs of mitts I sold at the craft market I did last month, but I only had time to do a few bows. I was slower at the knitting process than I am now. I intend to use the majority of these bows on crocheted items: mitts, and maybe I'll do a scarf dotted in bows! Not sure yet, but it seems delightful. I might make barrettes or something too.

Right now I've been making a couple of bows every night before I retire, as if journaling or darning socks by firelight. It's been quite nice, and I've had to fight off a temptation to start collecting french knitters due to my affection for this one. There are so many shaped like MUSHROOMS, and oh my word, it's hard to resist those especially... I might have bought one already. The literal only thing stopping me from getting more is that I've already scratched and scraped this one so much, by knitting with a tapestry needle. I don't want to buy a bunch of knitters and then not use them, but I don't have the heart to scrape them all up.

(BTW, I love this blush colored yarn!)

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craft market year 2

As I recently mentioned in a blog post or two, I've been hardcore focused on prepping for a craft fair! It happened this weekend!

This was my second year manning my own table. Which is a big deal for me! As an intensely shy person/introvert, this is a whole freaking undertaking for me in a social battery sense, let alone in the sense that I've been making enough items to even warrant having my own table in the first place. A ton of work! Executing my plans has taken up a lot of time and energy for me in the last couple of months.

I also invested a little chunk of money ($50! Nothing drastic) into my display, since I felt like last year's wasn't the most effective for me. Let me show you what I had going on this year...

I blocked out the background a little because I feel like it's hard to see, up against this highly textured 70s brick wall with photos hanging on it. I'm in the same spot as I was last year, so the background's the exact same!

Some other things are the same, too: some of my offerings, plus my little craft paper bunting! But I feel like the wire shelf added considerable height and the ability to display more, and that was an upgrade. I also bought a bracelet display stand so I could better display the bracelets I've been throwing together since October.

I didn't take many pictures at all, but I did take a quick video, and I captured some screenshots for it to show you what's on the table...

I had a lot of crochet on offer: rainbow pillows (also a couple of mini rainbow pillows), fingerless mitts, and earbands. I also had some other wearables: bear-eared barrettes and beaded jewelry. The rings are ones I've been making as a hobby and the bracelets are inspired by Taylor Swift friendship bracelets, but with Christmas lyrics instead of TS lyrics. Actually, I had a whole mess of Swiftie bracelets too.

All the jewelry was a dollar. I just feel like that's fun and accessible for people who didn't come to the market prepared to spend 15, 20, 30+ dollars on an artisan piece. And for kids/teens, of course. Also, I was just working with plastic and cheap glass beads! Nothing that would encourage me to charge any more than a single dollar!

I drew all my signage in Procreate on my iPad, printed it, and put them all in secondhand frames. Some of the frames are one I've had for like a decade, and painted. Others were one my mom had on hand.

BTW, yes, the misspelling of "barrettes" drives me nuts, but I had no idea it was even misspelled till way too late!!! "Barettes" looks more correct to me, even if it's not...

Last year I sold far more in the way of beaded rings than anything else. I foolishly expected that again, but this year, it was the reverse! I sold only a few rings and bracelets, but sold 4/5ths of my crochet mitts and earbands -- plus a couple of rainbow pillows.

Pictured above: the bracelet display, which rotates (!!! my bestie told me it has a nice ASMR sound) and my favorite pair of mitts. I didn't manage to get any better photos of these mitts with the bows on them, but I was thinking of the coquette fashion trend when making them, and they sold really quickly, both to the same gal. I only have this screencap from the quick video I took of my table, so the quality's not good. But I love the bows; I made them with a little french knitter!

I'm genuinely shocked at the way the mitts in particular flew off the shelf. I have been making them quite a lot over the past few weeks. But due to not selling much crochet last year, I expected the same this year. In fact, I said to my sister, "If I just sell one pair of mitts, I'll be happy!" But mitts were my first sale, my last sale, and people bought many more of them than any other item. One woman bought three pairs towards the end of the day. Another woman got on FaceTime with someone (a sister? mother? bestie?) and showed her all of my stuff. I heard the woman on the other end enthuse over the white and pale blue coquette mitts, with the bow. The woman bought the two similar pairs for herself and whoever to whom she was speaking. It was such a fun yet bewildering moment for me.

I mean, I think the mitts are cute, but I'm me. I have specific taste!

A fellow vendor at the fair bought a pair of flower-inspired mitts and they looked incredibly cute on her. She wore them the entire afternoon!!

I also saw a guy who had bought a rainbow pillow last year. He came up to my table, picked out some mitts for his wife, and said, "Last year I bought a rainbow pillow from you, and I love it!!" His enthusiasm struck me as so genuine -- rather than a nicety, know what I mean? -- that it makes me really happy just thinking about this interaction. It was so nice of him to say that!

Some awkward social moments aside (because, you know, Unfortunately, People) overall the market went super well for me. I didn't sell out of any particular item, but I came startlingly close with the mitts. Since I've been working adamantly on them, this is super rewarding.

Also, I made enough money outright to buy a Blythe and have some left over. So, fair warning, I absolutely bought a new Blythe!

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crochet pic dump part two/market prep

Haha, well! I have been crocheting so much that I've effed up my left wrist. I've done this before, and sensed in these past couple of weeks it would happen again unless I was careful. I have been trying to be careful... but I was still shocked Pikachu when yesterday my wrist seized up while playing the guitar. Who could have seen this coming??

Waaah. All I want to do is crochet, so. It's a bummer!!

If you read my last post, you might have seen that I learned how to do the tulip stitch. With that knowledge I made the above pictured little cream-colored fingerless mitts, with pale pink tulips and dark green "stems." I love these and have been wearing them everywhere. They already look super beat up because I've been wearing them on an almost daily basis.

I've been crocheting so much in large part because I'm prepping for a small craft market -- the same one I did last year. It's T-minus one week out! I have until the 15th to finish stuff up.

I honestly do not anticipate a ton of interest in my wares, but did my hyperfocus get activated nevertheless? Yes. Yes. A thousand times yes. I'll have beaded jewelry again, in addition to crochet pillows and these mitts and earbands. No pics of the jewelry just yet, but I did get this wire shelf off Amazon on Black Friday and think it'll make a better display than the one I had last year.

I've just been piling stuff up here as I've made it. I'll only figure out how exactly I am going to arrange everything the night before or day of, I believe. But look at these cute blue mitts with the daisies appliqued on! I think they're super cute. I have a coral/gold/brown pair of tulip mitts finished, and a pair with purple tulips in the works currently. (I can only hope I'll finish them in time; it depends on my wrist.)

I also have some plain mitts with zero froof or frills, but most of the mitts have scalloped trim crocheted on, and some of them have crocheted bows at the wrist!

I feel like my eyes are bigger than my plate, so to speak. If my wrist was in good working condition I would be crocheting some appliques for both the earbands and the mitts, and I'd be making up some more miniature rainbow pillows. And besides that, I meant to make some clay ornaments and never got around to it!

There's always next year, and it's never too early to begin prep. Or so I've learned.

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crochet pic dump

Crochet post! Been very hook-y lately, partially because I'm prepping some stuff for a craft fair, and partially because I've been trying to finish WIPs. First, I have lately finished this pastel rainbow ripple I've been making for ~2 years. Half of it is colorful stripes separated by a single white row, and the other half is white stripes separated by a single colored row. I made it with a bunch of leftover yarn from my rainbow pillow madness (still ongoing, but not pictured here).

I'm pretty whatever on it at this point, but I definitely enjoyed making it. I always love to make a ripple.

I have made a few pairs of these granny square mitts, and pictured is my fave pair. I don't really make wearables too much! At least, not human-sized wearables. And I'm not sure how I feel about acrylic yarn for these. They're super duper warm but feel bulky. And doing small ribbing can hurt my wrists easily, so I have to take breaks and do no more than about half a mitt a day. But it's always fun to come up with color combinations. I think I'll try another mitt pattern.

Lots and lots of ear warmers!!! Far more than pictured, in all kinds of colors and yarns. I want to have these on my table at the upcoming craft fair I'm doing.

Crochet pumpkins. Made these with bulky yarn left over from ear warmers. I think they're super cute. I free-handed the stems with tweedy yarn, so they're each a little different and a little wonky. But, as one of the ladies from my knitting club said, that adds realism. I have no use for these except as random autumnal decor, so I've had to cut myself off from making 45 of them.

Finally, some panels made with the tulip stitch. I followed this video tutorial for them and made a couple of panels. Not for anything in particular, but just to learn the technique. I might stitch them together into a little pouch or something. These work up ridiculously quickly and I loved the crocheting process, but weaving in the ends (of which there were manyyyy) took a lot of time. Ain't that just the way...

Not pictured: several rainbow bobble pillows, a miniature rainbow rug crocheted for my little dolly dressup sets, a Blythe beanie with a pompom on top!

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crochet strawberry bags

Hello! Happy 2023. Thus far this year I've been crocheting a lot! Really in the mood for it. Mostly I've been crocheting on a ripple throw, but I spent yesterday making these strawberry bags and wanted to post about 'em!

Firstly, I followed this pattern to make all of these! And I made the pink one in worsted weight yarn for me to see if I could even follow the pattern in the first place. (I'm not great at this, as you might know!)

I used a pastel rose pink and a minty pastel green, plus some pearly white beads and a couple of chunkier beads in peachy colors. I really like the way the colors all look together! The bag's about the size of my fist and it'd be great for the following: D&D DICE!!!! And, I guess, lip balms and smaller things that tend to knock around in one's purse. But mostly it'd be a great dice bag!

As I was making the bag, I kept thinking I'd like to see how it looked if I used fingering weight/super fine yarn and a tiny crochet hook. Might it end up... dare I say... Blythe sized??

Heck yeah, heck yeah, heck yeah it did!

I made one in classic red and green with tiny white seed beads, and while looking up strawberries for reference, I saw the cute five-petaled flowers of the plant, and decided to put some of my beaded ring techniques to the test with some beads. Lord knows I have enough of 'em! So I used some pearly white and gold beads to create the flowers, and sewed them on to the "leaves." So cute!!! If I do say so myself!!!

I decided to take another go at the whole make. I tend to make lots of a thing, when I like it, and also it behooves me to practice following patterns and figuring out what techniques and looks I prefer.

I decided I wanted an alternate color scheme: wine red and gold. An antique~ spin on it in more sophisticated colors. I beaded this one with gold seed beads and used more off-white pearl beads and warmer gold beads for the flowers. I didn't think a plain strap very appealing on this one, so I wove in some brown yarn on the strap of this one. I like it a lot! It's not as instantly recognizable as a strawberry, but whatevs.

I think it makes for a cute slightly oversized Blythe bag (here it is on Klara, whompssssstt modesty I tried to preserve via Procreate, as she's currently naked). It makes me want to find a slightly smaller strawberry amigurumi pattern to follow, to see if I can kinda smash the two patterns together and create an even smaller strawberry bag. I'm sure many patterns are out there, but it's always kind of an act of particular gumption for me to even attempt to follow a new pattern.

Oh, and also, I lined the bigger one -- clumsily. Not sure how to line stuff. But I was just winging/experimenting, as I didn't have a pattern for lining.

In all, very pleased, I had a very good time making smol strawbrees. I do think I'll fiddle around with making even smaller strawberries and maybe finding other things to use for straps. Crocheted/knitted bag straps tend to stretch, and I don't know if I really want to line the straps too!

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baby's first craft fair

 

This weekend, I tabled for the first time at a little craft fair.

I've mentioned this in a couple of blog posts in the past, but my mom's church has an annual holiday marketplace -- it's a craft fair and a rummage sale and there's a little restaurant aspect, too, where food and desserts are sold from the church's kitchen.

My mom's excessively crafty on top of being a fine artist. My youngest sister's also an artist. They table every year at this craft fair, and between the two of them, they always have a lot of wares. I often also send along a few things for them to sell: felt ornaments, crochet stuff.

This year I asked if I could just have my own table.

Kiiiind of a big deal for me, because this sort of scenario (a crowded room, social interaction, answering questions, dealing with transactions) is full of anxiety pitfalls. I ended up sharing a table with my little sister, and she handled the money aspect, and that worked great.

But I had a lot of crochet rainbow pillows left over from last year, and this year I got really into beading rings as a hobby and I had like, a couple hundred on hand that I wasn't doing anything with. I decided it'd be great to just sell them for a dollar. I thought kids might like them, if any kids wandered through the fair. I thought the price would be kid-friendly too.

In addition to the pillows and rings, I had some felt and crochet ornaments and made some bear ear barettes -- also an item I've blogged about! I made a few sets for me, my sisters, and a couple of friends ~ten years ago. But I still had/have a bunch of fleece and fur fabric on hand, so I cranked out some more pairs at the last minute.

I'm glad I decided to make some, because although I got some looks and comments from well-meaning but bemused people, a couple of young moms bought a pair instantly for their daughters. That made me happy. And selfishly, I enjoyed packaging up the ears and lettering little labels for the packages.

I did sell a few ornaments and pillows, but mostly sold a heck of a lot of rings! About 40, I think. My favorite customers were a couple of young girls (I'd guess they were about 17 or 18), who stopped and pored for several minutes over the rings, picking out ones for themselves and their entire friend group, and also their moms! I was happy I had a ton of rings to choose from so they could pick out colors they thought their friends would like. They were both super sweet and seemed legitimately thrilled. Honestly I will remember these two girls for a long time!

Tabling was a demanding and kind of surreal experience for me overall. Also educational. I don't mean this in a cruel or judgy way, but people are so weird!! Some, anyway. At least if I do this again next year, I'll know in advance to expect the occasional odd comments and stares. And as great as it was to share a table with my little sister, I think we both needed more room to spread our things out.

One of the most fun aspects of it to me was that I got to hear people ooh and ahh over my little sister's art and hand-painted ornaments. She's so talented!!

Today I have a total craft fair hangover, but lots of ideas for wares and presentation! I currently suspect I'll do it again next year.

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miniature books

A random project I have been working on lately is making some more miniature books to plop into my dolls' Huset bookshelf. These two album-sized books are ones I particularly like!

I'm sure there are several ways to go about a DIY like this. Different ways to do the pages, or ways to make the books look super realistic. But I'm just kinda doing my own thing using leftover scrapbooking card stock and notebook papers of various types. Oh, and also washi tape!

I have a lot of paper pads and so many of them come with these ugly sheets with "live, laugh, love" types of things written on them. I have no use for them. I also have a lot of small scraps of card stock from other projects. They've been perfect to use for tiny book covers!

Also useful: binder clips, these ancient stickers that go on the edges of corners (they might be for scrapbooking? Embellishing the edges of pages or pictures? Not sure), and this tray to keep it all together while I assemble things. The miniature notebook dedicated some of its pages.

I have also collected some mini books from Michael's. These have a sort of farmhouse/cottagecore theme, which is perfect. Petaline and Plummery will love them, and they'll help fill out my bookshelf.

I've been very interested in acquiring more miniatures!

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summer of '77, fall of '21

All righty, y'all. Ya girl's a month and a half in on a new med, and a month and a half in on crocheting rainbow bobble pillows. This is half hyperfixation and half the result of my brain chemistry being all over the place. Last time I was trying out a new med, I couldn't do anything but make miniature suitcases. I have to stay occupied lest I spiral, but often I stop being able to concentrate on TV and stuff like that. Right now the only thing that gives me any sense of enjoyment is making these. (The pattern is from PoppieJoeandCo.)

I made one, and my mom asked me to make more for a holiday craft fair she does every year. So I just churned a whole load of them out. Here are 18 of them, but I've made 3 more that aren't stuffed...

Sorry these photos are so dark. My room is very dark!

I've made many more than I know will actually sell at that craft fair, but I really did it for me. I hope I can give any of these to family/friends who may want one. I certainly don't need them sitting around.

But would I make more? Yes. Alas, I'm out of stuffing. Probably for the best.

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miniature suitcases

In my 2017 wrap-up post, I mentioned that I had gotten really into making miniature suitcases. I also said I wanted to blog about them. Better late than never!

Since it's been over three years since I constructed them, any immediate thoughts I may have had then are gone now. What I can say is that I made a lot of them. Perhaps thirty? More than pictured here, certainly!! So many that I sent several to Anne and have a whole shoebox left over. Pictured here are just ones that looked kind of nice together.

I made so many because a) I was severely depressed; b) I was on a medication that wasn't working for me and also had some gnar side-effects, which translated directly into not being able to do most of my normal hobbies, so I had nothing to do; c) I had a lot of fun mixing and matching fabrics; and d) I enjoyed making them, ofc!! I developed a workflow and could make several in one sitting. Also this is a very cheap craft, in the scheme of crafts. It's mainly cardboard (brown cardboard boxes as well as cereal boxes), glue, and fabric.

They're about two inches tall and an inch deep, I think. Blythe-sized! Although too small to fit actual dresses. Maybe these are more akin to valises? Either way, I feel like they're better as photo props than anything functional.

Each suitcase opens and has an exterior fabric and an interior fabric. I enjoyed picking out fat quarters at craft stores and creating color combinations I liked.

I have to say there's something very satisfying about the feel of them opening and closing. They stay closed due to that little strip seated in the bottom.

The thing I don't like about them (and about making them) is the handles. They've been in a box for three years now, so the handles are smooshed, but they were never great in the first place. I had a tough time getting the little pegs that hold the handle on to sit right. And this leather was the only thing I could find to use for a handle, but it stretched out a bit. Which is fine, but made it hard to get them in a uniform size.

To make these, I followed a specific YouTube tutorial which is now no longer on YouTube, it seems! But this one seems similar!

I've seriously debated making a video where I open up each of these to show the fabric combinations.

All right! I've got a couple more posts coming, so till next time!

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I've had quarantine brain for years now.

Boo!

Did I scare you? Don't worry; it's just me.

I have to say, it's been so long that I don't remember how to blog. But I wanted to post, if only for the shock value.

It's also been a long time since I made a doll hat!  I made this one last night and even though it's also been literal years since I've taken a single dang picture of a Blythe, I really wanted to take a picture and post it. I am just kinda pleased with it.

I made it because I needle felted these mushrooms and my old sickness flared up. "I wanna put these on a pixie hat!"

It was already dusk out when I took these pictures, so Drew looks quite wan. (She also looks wan because her hair, previously denim blue, has faded quite a lot over the last year or two. Now it's a strange reddish-purple. But I have attained some Rit dye, so I will hopefully fix her up sometime soon. Also Drew is not generally dressed in a mori style -- or as they call it these days, "cottagecore" -- so she is a bit unrecognizable right now.) I didn't want to wait for better light in case I decided in the meantime that it wasn't exciting enough to take pics of.

Although these pics are a bit washed out, I like this little hat. The yarn is a pretty dark blue-green and it looks striking with the brown tone of the mushrooms. I also added three wooden beads on the opposite side to balance it out. I considered doing a lot more decorating but am a little rusty... Historically I have done large pom-pons on the end of hat ties, but I did these comparatively modest ones.

(Can I just say that it's been so long since I made a pixie hat that I DIDN'T EVEN REMEMBER THE PATTERN? That's wild, because I've made at least 200 hats in this pattern over the years. I had to sit down and figure out how to do it all over again.)

I might post again soon! Or I might not! Who can say where the road goes? Where the day flows? Only time.

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work in progress: emergency stress kit

Lately, my therapist gave me a homework assignment to make an "emergency stress kit."

Sorry, I will talk a little about anxiety in this post!

As you might imagine, the purpose of this box is to aid in coping with stress. The idea is that if I find myself overwhelmed with stress or anxiety (and I am overwhelmed with both a lot), I can go to this box, and the things inside will help me in some way.

While I was at a loss as to what I could possibly put in such a box, I knew I could at least make the box cute. If I'm gonna do this thing, I'm going to do it up Jane-style, you know?? And indeed, I covered an Amazon box with scrapbook paper and washi tape. I reinforced a lot of places with clear packing tape, too. Now the Amazon box is an anti-stress box.

I've been really into washi tape lately. I mean, I have a lot of it because I've always been into it, but I've been using it for things like this as of late. I did this honeycomb wall decal with washi tape not too long ago!

Ironically, I don't like pineapple. But this box is covered with pineapple scrapbook paper and even pineapple washi tape. Pineapple is so cute and summery, though!

Some of the washi tape I have came in a package of several tapes, and say stuff like "DREAM" or "OH HAPPY DAY" or "LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL," and I have found no occasion to use them before making this box. One tape says "I survived today," amongst other things, which I think goes along with the whole idea of the box.

As for the contents... I have precious little to put in this kit.

Because I have been in therapy for a long time now (10+ years, on and off), I have actually come a long way from where I started with my anxiety. I have developed coping mechanisms and self-soothing habits. Also, I know myself incredibly well. I know what works for me and what doesn't.

Much like inspirational washi tape, I know I'm going to get nothing out of loading the box full of "reminders," or things that are meant to represent concepts. I may enjoy playing the guitar, but putting a guitar pick in this box won't help me if I am actually stressed or panicky. Actually, I can see myself getting really angry at a box full of useless junk in that situation. I know I am too practical -- and even too jaded -- to get anything out of inspirational quotes. I know I will want to actually be able to use the items in the box.

So, for me personally, the items in this box so far include:

• strawberry gum
• vegan lip balm

I know, right?? Not much! But I do have a couple of ideas for other things.

• scented candle
• index cards with breathing exercises on them
• a list of relaxing Bob Ross quotes (not inspirational~ ones, just soothing ones; watching The Joy of Painting is something I do when anxious)
• something quietly clicky that I can mess with... not sure what!

Hopefully I'll either update this post or make another post when I have more contents gathered.

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Just so typically me.

I made this little pink deer hat for a trade -- white/frost hats aside, I usually make these hats in variegated yarn, I think it looks better that way. But! I love pink, so I like how this looks. Not so much in pictures, but in person it looks soooo bubblegummy and nice. I'm making myself one out of the rest of the skein and I think I'm gonna froof it up ridiculously. Beading? Applique? Yes?!?!

Today I painted an embroidery hoop for that Lemongrab piece I did. I painted it gold, since the fabric has those gold triangles on it. This scrap of cardboard has been my palette for projects the past few years... I think you can tell that I like to paint things pink and gold.

Yep. "It me." I'm not saying that if I could start with a completely empty room like in The Sims and decorate it to my whims that it would look like that palette, but... it probably would. I'll let you know when I find a place for that Lemongrab piece. There's too much stuff on my walls already.

Here's one of the garlands (yes, plural) I made the other week hanging over my mirror -- this one doesn't have green, just pink, white, pink/white, and neutral goldish/white. It's highly unnecessary. Like, my room just plain does not need this.

(But doesn't my Enid Collins mouse box bag just ~go~ in my space? It's crazy. Also, those leis are left over from my birthday... not sure what to do with 'em. But they're not usually there. The bunny ears, however... yes. Always there.)

Oh, to close out this entry, I wanted to post about Mallow's dress. I never mentioned this dress in a haul or anything, but I snagged a House of Pinku dress last year (LAST YEAR!!!) and Mallow has been wearing it ever since. It's got this sweet heart beading on the bodice! It's presh to death. House of Pinku makes dresses I adore, but I never seem to catch them, and they are technically beyond my Blythe budget. I'm very good at sticking to that budget and am rarely tempted by things that bust it, but I don't mind going over it every now and again if it's for something I really love like this dress.

Underneath it is a MINI JIJO tutu skirt thing, and of course, Mallow was my helper model for the pink hat. With all this pink on, she looks like a blonde.

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"You made me!"

As I mentioned, I've been keen to embroider, although I've been waiting on some fabric from my sister to really let it rip. But I wanted to do something in the meantime.

It's sort of a given these days to do pop culture embroidery -- it makes what most people think of as an old-fashioned granny thing relevant and hip. So many 30 Rock and Arrested Development quotes on hoops out there. Not that there's anything wrong with that! I'm guilty of worse. Also, I like embroidering text. There's something satisfying about it. But I didn't really want to do something that was pithy that I wouldn't actually want to display somewhere after making it.

I decided to do this go-to phrase from Adventure Time. Adventure Time in general is a go-to for me and this isn't even the first creative project I've done this year with AT characters. I actually quite feel like the Earl of Lemongrab on a deep level. He struggles to relate and to know his purpose, and so do I. He's high-strung, ridiculous, and annoying, and so am I.

I didn't really plan out anything, as I just did the first thing that came to mind, but applique became part of the process almost immediately. I used to do tons of applique with felt, and now I rarely do (the last time was when I was stitching felt lollipops onto tulle for my Princess Lolly Halloween costume), but I knew I could do a better job actually constructing Lemongrab out of felt than I could embroidering him. So he's both embroidered and appliqued, with the exception of his nose, which is just glued on.

I just kicked back and worked on it while listening to Daft Punk, going from start to finish in a few hours.

But look, a little rainbow fell across him as I was taking pictures. Acceptable!!

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