Celebrate Snow Days with Sock Puppets!

Cure cabin fever by conversing with homemade sock puppets. 

The "polar vortex" has parked itself in my front yard and it's too cold to contemplate opening the front door, let alone leaving the house...

So, what's the best way avoid becoming a half-crazed shut in during this blast of arctic weather? The answer is obvious- make a sock puppet and become a fully-crazed shut in!

I used an old (and only slightly worn) sock and strips of an old t-shirt for the hair and inside of the mouth. Also inside the mouth is strips of cardboard. The eyes are embroidered on with black thread.

Sock Monkey Revisited

The cat didn't like this but she was too busy watching TV to move.

I enjoyed making the last sock monkey, so I decided to give it another try. This time I embroidered the eyes and mouth with black thread and I was happy with how that turned out.

The finished stuffed toad and Nikita (not stuffed).

After being inspired by a stuffed frog I saw on Pinterest, I  made this toad.

First I drew a frog shaped template and traced that onto scraps of fabric left from my cat-bat project. I cut out two frog shaped pieces out, sewed them together and filled with rice. Add some buttons for eyes and stitch on some warts from left over fleece and it's all done.

 And as you can see,  it's been given the cat seal of approval!

Sock Monkey

More homemade plush toy fun! This time I made a sock monkey from a pair of pair of neon leopard print socks and a pair of purple hair clips. It was a fun little project.

More Weird Stuffed Animals

After making my catbat, I decided to try my hand at making more weird stuffed animals. So after finding a fleece remnant for less than $5 at the fabric store, I made this handsome monster:

Ollie the Four-Eyed Monster. And Myself.

Now I'll have to figure out what to make with the other 3/4 yard of that fleece!

The Great Stuffed Animal Hacking Adventure.

I like stuffed animals and I would like to try my hand at making my own some day, but you gotta start somewhere, right?  That's why I decided to start out by putting my own touches to an existing stuffed animal.

I started with this cute little victim I picked up at the store:

Adorable, right? I believe he's supposed to be a cat, that's why I'm gonna stitch some bat wings on to him. I am using the shell of a worn out coat that I couldn't bear to see thrown away, and I plan on using the liner to make some other stuffed animal. Maybe a chupacabra or something.

Not having a sewing machine, I hand-stitched them on. This ended up taking most of the afternoon, much longer than I had expected.

The finished product, and a big improvement if you ask me.