Little frog on the Great wall

China was sooo cold. We even got to see some light snow. Walking on the wall was scary. Not only was it cold it was also windy. I was clinging to the rails in fear of being blown off the wall.

This is me at the start area the most famous part in the back ground. Even then I thought I would not walk the whole part.

Here I am debating on climbing to the tower(I think the 8th tower) in the back ground.

On the way back with less stops and more thoughts of actually taking pictures. I was very tired at the end. We had to wait for the next train to arrive so we went to a KFC! KFC is a very popular fast food place in China. Like many of the other ones I saw in China the one near the great wall had a second floor seating. I was just glad to sit down and have some hot milk tea.

At Aliiolani

Angry bear found a home and a short while after Lonely cat did also. Which makes Lonely cat the winner of who lasted the longest.

Lonely cat v.s. Angry bear

Lonely cat has been the last one standing for a while now. This is the first sock cat that I made. He has sadly sat alone as other socks found new homes. Not to worry though since Lonely cat has a companion now.

Angry Bear. I did angry bear's eyes first. They got pinned and rotated many times before I decided to place them on the way I did. A smile just didn't match so I used a short lined mouth. I like Angry bear, I hope some where out there, someone will also like Angry bear.

Brown cow.

As I was thinking if I had my portfolio updated, I realized there were pictures that I have not placed in it and things I've not blogged about it yet. I'm not a writer, so I do not know what I was thinking when I decided that I would do a blog. I should have known I would slowly find it to be more of a chore than some where I would just freely write my thoughts or stories.

Since it is late, or shall I say early morning... I will stop my rambles.

I think the reason I did not blog/ post this was because of the sign. I was debating on blurring the words.

Thanks Mark for ordering a brown cow, and for taking an interesting picture. I should wear a chicken hat and hold a sign saying eat more cow.

*grin*

I can not help but smile when I make these sock animals. The colors of these socks just screamed to me sock animals!

I used scrap pieces of fleece to make their scarves.

I wanted to give them a bit of variety so I started to make bow ties.

I didn't just want to make monkeys so I attempt a cat. I gave it pointed ears a nose and whiskers.

Second try at a cat. The faces came out a little sad looking.

I was trying to make a bunny but I think it sort of came out as a very long ear dog.

Fur

I got a request for an Alot. This link was sent to me.

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html

After reading the blog about the Alot, I wanted to try to include a few features. In my mind I was already seeing something with a shaggy fur, I did not find the faux fur I was looking for, but found something that I could work with. I also wanted to incorporate a snaggletooth.

snaggletooth

Horns were another thing. I was on the fence with the eyes, but felt it was necessary since I wanted to include the snaggletooth and the imaginary line I was drawing was low on the Alot head.

horns and eyes

I made it long in length. This was so it could fold up and have a mouth that frowned.

The last detail was the mouth which was in a frown. The frown was created with a seam.

Things I would change on it... making the horns wider, the eyes further apart. And maybe a different fur. I'm still not sure giving the eyes a bit of poof was the right thing or not.

Monster red, Monster blue...

I decided to do some monsters this year. Eyes were just for my frog towels, but I decided to try some other things with eyes. This is how my Monster red came out.

With Monster blue I was trying out a different style of eye. It will be left to the imagination of the user of this towel to decide what it is. I think piranha when I see it. I also started to think... hmmm maybe walrus. I got told it looks like a snake. What does your imagination think?

Additions to Little frog products.

I decided to do a little towel hood. These are smaller than my original hooded towels. They have some of my original hooded towel designs as well as some newer looks. I started with monkeys and pandas when I made them.(More to be posted soon)

One thing that has been stuck in my head this year, like one of those songs that you cannot stop humming, has been sock monkeys. The tall human sized Sock Monkey and friends that can be seen in a car commercial make me smile. I actually had not been a fan of sock monkeys but some how they have grown on me. One day I just could not help it, I took an old pair of socks and just started cutting and stitching.

My cat does not find this white sock monkey to be his friend. Of course white sock monkey does karate chops/ kicks and flying attacks on him. Which leads to a wrestling match of cat v.s. sock monkey.

I found some socks that had interesting colors and patterns. More pictures of sock animals to be posted.

I'll be at Neal Blaisdell this weekend!

Yes, yes, I know...

*sigh*

Once again the year has gone by without my realizing. My lack of web posting is just dreadful. I'll have to figure out which pictures need to be posted. As well as updating my dot com. Which is still in a remodeling phase on my computer.

I'll be the Season's Best craft fair again at the NBC. This year it is the weekend before the trick or treating.

The Snow Frog

It all started with a piano... but let me skip to the part where I was given three choices and one of the choices was I could have a snow-San made. The thought of having my image in snow made me grin. What would it possibly look like? My thoughts then went to the pictures of snow bunnies my sister sent to me. Which made me think Snow FROG!

I was lucky enough that Dwight was willing to attempt a snow frog. Dwight and Claudia also sent me more picture of themselves with their Little frog hats. Thank you! The snow frog even came with a story I found to be delightful.

This was a serious snow construction which started with the making of a blue print.

It also involved a little volunteer named Iris. It seems Iris was curious of what was being made and abandoned her parents(who were building a snowman near by) to help in the snow frog construction. All I can say is what a wise little girl! Who would not want to make a snow frog?

Iris was the creative decorator of the 'horns' on the frog. Which gives the frog its own personality.

I am thrilled to have a snow frog in my collection of picture. Thanks again for the snow Little frog.

Custom panda

I have velcro on the customized cat and bunny eared hats.(Which can be seen in previous blogs labeled velcro.) I also add velcro upon request to any of my ear flap hat designs.

Here are pictures of a custom made medium sized panda with ear flaps.

For velcro orders, I add some extra length to the ear flaps. I sew on the velcro after cutting out the ear flap pieces. Then sew the flap pieces together. This way most of the stitches are concealed.

A Froggy Day.

Have a Froggy day, be hoppy and make a large splash!

I haven't been in a blog writing mood. Just been spending my time sewing and sewing. I want to update my www.sanslittlefrog.com soon. Next upload will hopefully be a semi-large one.

I am asked every so often why I started Little frog ®. There are actually many reasons, I normally go with the simple one of it starting with a frog hat. Today while doing a check on my USPS tracking, I started to think about the boxes that would come in the mail when I was younger.

I had grandparents that lived on a different Island, so my grandma used to send things by mail. We would occasionally get a box filled with various things she had made or bought for us. Bags, coin purses, clothes, blankets, toys, cookies, candies, etc. And during the summer we would visit them and go to the Obon festival. My siblings and I would wear the Happi coats my grandma made for us.

The bags and purses that my grandma gave always came with a bell. A couple years ago my sister and I were cleaning out the things at my parents house, and I was getting rid of an old purse of mine. My sister stop me and took off a red bell and said "that's a grandma bell." That red bell on a purple string(from the purse I discarded) is what I sometimes carry with me, and with every jingle I think of my grandma. I still have a small collection of bells that came from my grandma.

Funny how a little thing like a jingle of a bell can make you smile and remember someone you wished was still around. This is one of the many reasons of why I created Little frog ®, it too reminds me of my grandparents and all the things my grandma made.