Haven't really wrote anything in a while.

Organizing things because I can not sew at the moment.  I thought I'd post a few pictures since I have neglected my blog.

I'm not sure where to start, random ones I guess.

What is this?

I frequently get the question "What is this?" "Is this a (fill in the blank)?"

But I must say the best one this year is from this hat. What is this...

Well I heard a few guesses. A bug. An alien. I even got someone asking me if it was one of the teletubbies. Which made me think what are the colors of teletubbies. Red and purple were the only colors I got correct before I started naming random colors. Also I for some reason thought there were 5 tubbies. So I was guessing blue, orange, yellow, pink...

If you really want to know there is a red one with a circle, the purple is the one with the triangle. I think the purple one got the most publicity. A yellow one with what looks like a miniature bayonet shaped thing. I had convinced myself there was no yellow at one point, since the sun that has the baby face is yellow, why would they have a repeat color. The last one is green with a single spike, antenna looking thing.

In the picture above is a fold style android. Which was requested in a custom order. The one I have on display at my booth was a no fold style.

There were a few people that didn't not know what an andriod was.

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.

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.

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.

Frog.

This customize created towel has a larger hood and uses the Dino towel's green. Currently I will just do larger hoods by request.

It was another year of interesting craft fairs. I am partially glad I did not sign up for more shows/ fairs. I have not really started on Holiday shopping and plans. Half the month has flown by again with out my realizing.

Flower

I'm not sure why I used pink and white when I made the original Flower hat. Especially since there are several combinations that would work. I got a request for a black hat with a white flower.

The thing with custom orders is, if I want to see a particular item in its completed form or if there it is something that requires making a new pattern or recalculating dimensions, I seem to forget for a moment that I have prioritized list of Things-to-do that I try to follow. The white flower on the black hat is quite striking.

"...Toothy..."*

Custom dragon and shark

I received photos in my email inbox! Thank you Kelani and Kehanu for these pictures and for becoming Little frog hat owners. Hope you had a great time paint balling.

When people mention paint balling to me, all I can think of is the time I went paint balling and got shot on the palm side of my wrist. I had on long sleeves, but the impact was strong enough to break my skin. Which left me bleeding and with a fairly sore wrist. So please be careful out there.

* This blogs title is taken from a comment by Winky(I have assigned him a new nickname, we will see how long it will last or if it is rejected.) He called these hats toothy... which they are. When I hear the word toothy it makes me smile. Thanks Winky!

Custom dragon.

Sketch of spikes

I have had requests for dragons before. People seem to just ended up with Dino hats. So when I was presented with a finalized order for a dragon... I just could not resist the challenge and spent the last few days finishing it. I managed to cram in pattern making, cutting and sewing. Luckily during the order process I was already working on the patterns.

Custom Dragon(side view)

And although it is not completely finished I took the final pictures of it. The final hand stitching is of the lining. That will happen tonight or tomorrow morning.

This hat has a lot going on. It has custom spikes that have detailing stitches to create a web look. Two rows of spikes that form a V pattern. And teeth on the earflaps. Even though I thought it would be too much on the hat, I went with what was requested. In the end I really like how it looks.

Custom Dragon(back view)

I'm so happy how it turned out that I really wanted to blog it today!

Dino request

Teeth... I am debating on making this a regular item. I still remember when creating the original Dino hat I was conflicted of what to put on it. I recall going with a simple spike design. Recently I had a request for teeth to be added.

Custom Dino with teeth

I really like how it came out. I wanted the teeth to be a little more chunky, but I wanted to get it done by a deadline and did not feel I had time to redo the teeth. The teeth did get replaced once and I was happy with how it looked on the second time attached. I do not mark any angles for the teeth so each tooth has a different shape. I start with a large rectangle of material and run it through the machine moving it based on what I feel will be the right angle. The earflaps were done a little longer by request.

Shark cap.

I sent a picture of my work to my brother to get his opinion. He told me that it looked scary. But doesn't a shark instill fear in people?

I like how the front turned out. I think if I were to make this again I would change the back a little and the lining would be different.

Adorable kittens.

I got some pictures sent to me tonight, and got the 'okay' to use them. Jordyn(2y 10m) and Jacie(~1 y-o) are so adorable wearing the Certain(one of my custom made hats.)

Jacie

I think out of the pictures I could choose from, this is my favorite picture.  Jacie is playing with her toy, but still posing for the camera.

Jacie

The hat was ordered for Jacie, but Jordyn is enjoying it also.

Jordyn

Jordyn

I hear there is a photo of Jordyn's and Jacie's dad in the hat.  Maybe he will send it in?  Thank you for the pictures and allowing me to use them.

It is nice to see this hat on a smaller head.  I designed it without a model and it has been changed each time I make one.  I am still looking for a child sized mannequin head to work with.

A color change request.

I have not made the flower hat in any other color up to now, but I got a request for brown and pink.  

Flower brown/pink

It had been a while since I made a flower hat so it took me a while to get the flower to be the right size.  I have a basic pattern that I had drawn out from the first Flower I made,  but it is just a guide line for me.  I like the freedom to cut and alter a creation.  It also helps to be a little flexible since the fleece are of different textures.  I use whatever I find.  Some of the fleece have a soft feel, others have a rougher texture.  And then there are some that have a more polished smooth look to it.  I have also notice that the color varies too.  I guess dying is not really a consistent thing.

Small differences.

Slight changes to some designs....

Beyond cute!

I finally created a quick way to preview the different hats I have.  I placed a slideshow on this blog and at sanslittlefrog.com. 

Beyond cute!

I was happy to receive these pictures last night.  I think Mindy is so cute and adorable in her hat.  Julio took these pictures of her at what I am guessing is Ala Moana Beach Park.

The Coal Bunny with earflaps looks great on Mindy.  I think I only cropped one of the photos.  I really like Julio's picture compositions.  And although I only wanted to post two pictures, I just could not choose only one Bunny. There were a total of eight pictures and I managed to only eliminate two from the collection.

Thank you for the wonderful pictures!

A Certain white cat...

You know what I am talking about, or maybe once you see the picture you will know...

I have been asked more than once if I make a certain white cat.  I have said that I would be able to make one, but nobody has yet ordered one.  So here it is, I took it as a challenge to try to make one.

I studied some pictures, did some sketching and rolled out my brown paper.  I set some guide lines on the brown paper and drew in a pattern, hoping it would turn out okay.  In a last minute decision, I am not sure why, I removed an inch from the pattern.  I originally wanted it to have a circumference of 19 inches but in the end it became 16.5-17 inches.  Seems that I should have added an inch not taken it away.

Certain

I also added velcro so the straps could be secured under the chin.  I gave the bow two crease grooves on each side of the circle.  I might have to play with that and make it to have only one crease.  Some of the ear lines might have to be adjusted to be rounder.  I think it turned out quite well for a first try with out adjustments.

Leafy leaf

Hooray...

I will start this off by telling my story of mailing this particular beret.  

Black leaf beret

I was all ready to send off the hat on Monday.  I actually had it in the envelope the previous week all ready to go.  But I knew I would have time Monday morning to go to the bank and the post office.  

The morning of October 13 came along and it was raining.  I really did not feel in the mood for walking in the rain.  I decide to do my errands in the afternoon right before going to lunch with a friend.  My friend called and said he was running late.  I thought, "Great, more time for me to run my errands."

So, I headed off on my walk to the post office.  I used my normal route, but encountered a very large puddle.  I did not realize it rained so much that the path I usually walk was flooded.  I back-tracked and took a shortcut through a little community park. 

When I got to the post office, to my surprise the desk was not open. How disappointing.  Discovers Day... okay so it seems I do not pay attention to federal holidays.  Here in Hawaii it is not a state holiday.  I believe they replaced it with observing Martin Luther King Day.  The post office closed, the bank closed...  my day was not looking so great.

Lucky me there is an automated postal service.  I started to enter information into the machine.  My phone rings which distracted me and the screen timed out.  I had to start again... oh what a day.  Not to mention that they do not leave the AC on, which made it like a sauna in there.

Here is what the hooray is about.  I get another Duck.  The beret that created the adventure for me.

Mike the sprout

Mike showed interest in having a black leaf beret.  He insisted he had a Tarutaru sized head.  Being a little doubtful I made one with the estimated measurements I was given, these were not calculated with a ruler or any measuring device.  It really was an extra large beret.  I had to pin it so I could take a picture of it on my mannequin.  

I am wondering how Mike got it to sit on his head.  Duct tape?  Paper clip? Safety Pin?

Thank you for sending the picture.  

P.S.  I forgot to say less than three Vivian for sending the cap picture.

Little Sleepy Panda Cat.

Maybe my cat does not look too sleepy.  But here he is as I bother him yet again to wear one of my creations.  I caught him while he was napping on one of his current favorite spots..  If only I could teach him how to smile.

Panda Cat

After refusing to pose with a nicer expression, he decided to try and remove the hat.  I was hoping to get a ferocious picture with fangs, I unfortunately missed the shot.

Grumpy Panda Cat

Leaf

Leaf beret

There an online game call Final Fantasy XI that has a monster called a Mandragora.  This beret is modeled after it.  I only made two of these berets.  One for me and one for a friend.  Sort of my experiment in custom made hats.