Bag for teacher's gift?

Need that special something for your teacher gift for your favorite teacher?  Check this out:

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My outside kitty cat, Zazzles

If you follow me, or my blog, you've probably guessed that I am obsessed with Big Bang Theory. So, when this adorable stray kitty showed up at my house, I had to keep her. Outside. Because hubby won't let me bring her inside. But, she's so stinking cute. So, we named her Zazzles. Obviously. Because that's what Sheldon would do.

Caldecott Honor Book "No, David" inspired amigurimi

My son asked me to make him a David ami from the Caldecott Honor Book "No, David" by David Shannon.   I didn't have a pattern, so I kinda followed an image I found online for shape, and then played around with creating him. This was my first no pattern at all ami I've made, and he loves it.  The picture I'm posting shows my ami next to the book for comparison.

I didn't have any flesh colored yarn in my stash, so I used two different colored white yarns, one acrylic the other cotton.  I know his teeth look really weird on my ami, but I think it turned out pretty good all things considered.

Thanks for looking.

Arm Chair Crochet Hook Holder

Last year, I found a tutorial a great tutorial for an arm chair pincushion which I used for a partner in a swap.  That tutorial only had pockets on one side.  After I made that one, I made myself an embroidered one with pockets on both sides.

Recently, I spent some much needed time with my best friend, and we spent the entire day crocheting. I was telling her about my arm  chair pincushion.  Since she doesn't sew (although she does embroider/x-stitch, so I guess I could have made it a pin cushion--I guess she could pull out some stitches and add some polyfilll if she decided it needed to be a pin cushion) I told her I could make her one for her crochet hooks without the pin cushion part.  

We met as middleschoolers in Alaska, and have both since moved far away, and both of us miss it terribly.  She married an Army man, and because of so, they have moved around. There most recent location, while much closer to me, is not  a great fit for her family and she is even more homesick for a better  place than I am.  I this Alaska girl attitude part was from a shirt my half sister had handed down to my daughter.  I had been saving it for a long time to make a hoop, but decided  she needed it more, so I heat n bonded it to the black fabric from my stash, and then played with the fun stitches on  my machine for the cute border.

The pink polka dot fabric for the pockets came from a dress my daughter outgrew, and was so cute I kept it in my stash for a project.  Nothing better than to use it for her "auntie."  The side above the Alaska girls was a bit wider, so I put more slots there, and decided to just do the one slot on the bottom so she can hold her current hook in that with larger slots for scissors/phone/remote, etc.

I had started the project on my machine, but had to leave to take my son to pre-school, and with no time to come home, I brought the  project with me to finish. I was excited, and I had another package for a swap to mail and wanted to make one trip.

I hadn't liked my previous edging to the pockets, so first  I pulled them out, and then hand sewed back on, and the best part. I hand sewed the whole back piece to the front.

 I happened to have this fabric in my stash too, which is perfect, because one of her 5 daughters had requested I used butterfly fabric for this project. I aim to please.

It was a labor of love, and I'm so happy to give this to her.  And, because I was in a hurry to mail it, I don't have pictures of it draped over a chair.

Boiling an opossum head....

What do you do when you have a 5 year old son who is very interested in skulls and fossils, and you happen to find some when you are out and about?  You collect them, build a shelf, and let him display them in his room.  Well, what do you do when you find a very recent opossum as roadkill just past your house?  Well, obviously your love your son so very much that you send your husband down to saw off the head and collect it, after going on line to see how you can speed up the process of decomp.

The results to that question I found on a great tutorial here: http://www.instructables.com/id/Taxidermy-Skull-Preparation/step3/De-Fleshing-with-boiling-or-soaking/

Well, we finally had some free time, so we decided to try it out.  Be prepared to possibly be grossed out.

The head...before bboiling...gross huh?

Next, we pull  out the grill, and get a pot of water boiling, then in he goes:

Ah, yes, there's that guy preparing to be a bones and no skin!

 

 

After checking on his off and on for several hours, we were pleasantly pleased to find the tutorial to be quite accurate and him to be mostly decomposed....just a few bits to clean up, and he'll be ready for display!

Pretty cool. We'll have to adhere the jaw to the skull, but that's science at work for you!

Ickbarr Bigelsteine Ami

I recently visited with my niece who I hadn't seen in three years and the first thing she asked  me was "Auntie Laura, can you make me an Ickbarr Bigelsteine ami?"  I was like, uhm, who in the heck is Ickbarr Bigelsteine? 

I posted more about how I came to make this creepy-cute guy on a Craftster post, which includes links to my inspiration, etc. You can find that here:
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=422351.0