Monkey Business!

As I mentioned in my last post I made sock monkeys for Craft Hope's latest project.  A couple of friends came over with their socks and sewing equipment and we made monkeys!  My friend H was the go-to for instructions since she'd already started some (and is an expert sewess - is that a word?).   No pattern needed really and once you make one and find out how fun and easy they are you want to make a whole zoo.  Well, I only made two, but I had a tight deadline to meet!  Not surprisingly my 4 year old apprentice wanted the monkey to be a pirate, but brown monkey wasn't wearing the pirate gear too well.  So I picked up a pair of stripey socks and made Cap'n Monkey.

The extra fabric from the toe of the sock made a nice little kerchief.

He looks sea worthy, eh matey?

But what to do with brown monkey?  A girlie one perhaps?  When else am I going to use a piece of pink tulle after all?  A quick no-sew tutu and some felt flowers and brown monkey became ballerina monkey - and pirate monkey had a date!

They are now nestled snug in a box on a flight to Texas.  Bon voyage monkeys!  I hope whomever they go to live with has as much fun snuggling them as I had making them!

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Stocking Up

Somewhere along the line in my cruising of the interwebs I found Craft Hope, a site where crafters can share handmade crafts with those who need them.  I started with Project 9 making pillow cases for ConKerr Cancer, an organization that provides cheerful pillowcases to sick children in hospitals across the country.  I jumped back in this year with Project 14: Christmas in Dixie.  It is for an organization in Alabama collecting Christmas stockings and decorations to those who lost everything in tornadoes last fall.  In both cases I donated directly rather than as part of Craft Hope since they have their own collection deadlines (that I missed).  But whether you craft along with the Craft Hope timelines or refer to their charities list for ideas that suit your crafty talents, it's a great way to connect and contribute. 

Since I had a lot of green felt left over from a previous project, I just found a simple stocking shape pattern and decorated as I went.  I originally intended to sew the stocking seams on my machine but I ended up doing all the edges by hand.  I used both glue and sewing to attach the embellishments even though gluing makes me feel like I'm cheating somehow.  :-)

The next project (#15) is Sock Monkeys for Texas - they will go to children who lost their homes in Texas wildfires.  The deadline is November 24th so I need to get moving!  If you are interested in joining in, all the details are here.