The Lion Sleeps Tonight

In the jungle, the mighty jungle

the lion sleeps tonight...

Do you remember this?

The Lion Sleeps Tonight by The Tokens

I'm sure you have seen all the news reports about Cecil the lion... 

a magnificent animal

photo provided by the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit

 The song, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, has been on my mind for days and days so in a kind of homage to Cecil, and knowing that L was the next letter on AlphabeThursday, I decided to crochet a roly poly lion for my Etsy shop.

He's not as magnificent as Cecil, but decidedly cuter, and a whole lot of fun to make! What do you think?

Cute, and definitely not cowardly

He was happy to pose 

but grumbled quite a bit when I showed off his cutie patooty...

(I told him it was so we could see his glorious tail -- but I don't think he believed a word of it!)

Of course, this has opened the floodgates of my mind and I'm envisioning roly poly lions and tigers and bears, oh my!! Really, I've already started on a tiger but I haven't done enough for a picture yet. So far, it just looks like an orange circle! I know how I'll make the bear, and I think there might be a roly poly kitty in my future too.... and definitely a cow and a pig! 

Stay tuned :)

~ sharing on 

AlphabeThursday for the letter L

♥♥

Icy Penguins

A Tale of Three Penguins

Penguins are, without a doubt, some of the cutest animals on the planet!

They like to tumble with their friends....

and play follow the leader....

and sometimes play stack the penguin....

OK, maybe not!

In December a friend asked me to crochet three penguins for her.... well, they were actually for her brother -- he had three beanbag penguins that he loved to juggle and she thought it would be fun to get those penguins some cousins!

This little guy may look quite innocent but I can assure you that he is a little rascal in disguise! You see, I finished him -- eyes attached, feet on, beak and wings in place....

and then I realized that my tapestry needle was nowhere in sight.... 

uh-oh....

Now a tapestry needle is what you use to sew on the various pieces parts like the legs. It's not particularly sharp like a sewing needle, and much bigger, but still not all that blunt either. Can you see where this is leading??

I hunted high and low -- on the floor, under the couch pillows, in all those deep hiding places in the couch. No needle. OK, so it must have been eaten by that naughty penguin.... 

Hmmm, methinks, this is for a grown-up who surely would never put a penguin in his mouth.... maybe I could just let it stay. But, no, I'd have to fess up to my friend and I doubt she would be expecting that little piece of lagniappe! (Don't worry, Deb, I wouldn't really leave a needle in a penguin.... ha!)

So I squeeze and squash and pinch and prod -- good grief, it's like hunting for a needle in a penguin haystack! I squeeze and squeeze and.... OUCH! That needle got me -- even kinda blunt it still drew blood! Fortunately, Mr. Penguin escaped with no extra DNA on him, LOL! 

Now that I had a hold on the needle, the next problem was getting the darn thing out. It kept trying to slide right back inside that silly penguin! But I was the stronger of the two, and finally, finally, managed to surgically remove that needle! (I used a jar gripper thingy to pull it out!)

Moral of this story....

Never trust a penguin

sharing this trio of icy, needle-loving penguins....

~ AlphabeThursday where we are studying the letter I

~ Share Your Cup Thursday 

  ♥♥♥ Guess what, guess what!! My puffy hearts are featured on this week's Share Your Cup! Thank you so much, Jann!

♥♥

Nearly Time for School!

And it's definitely time for another BBArtisans challenge!! This month's challenge is all about getting ready for school, whether it's a teacher gift, a memory of your first day of school or what you're gonna do now that the kids are out of the house! This challenge was dreamed up by yours truly!

It's funny, I can remember all of my elementary school teachers, but only a few of my Junior High and High School teachers. Maybe that's typical since the teachers in the younger grades usually make a greater impression on you since it's such a new experience for a little kid.

So, here we are at Walnut Hills Elementary and it's the first day of school and I'm in the 6th grade. A list of the kids in each class was posted on the classroom doors. There were two teachers for each of the grades and I was hoping, praying, crossing my fingers for Mrs. Holly. NOT Coach Sauls. (Yup, we had a football team -- I don't remember the name of the team but our colors were green and white.)

Anyway, Coach Sauls had quite the reputation. He was said to be quick with a paddle and that the paddle was ELECTRIC and it had holes in it, the better to pop your bottom with. I looked at Mrs. Holly's door.... all my best buds were in there.... but not me! I cried that I was in Coach Sauls' class with not one good friend to protect me. I would only see them at recess.... unless I was getting licks from Coach.

Maybe I should bring him an apple to get in his good graces....

Well, you know what? Coach Sauls turned out to be a big teddy bear, and that electric paddle.... well it wasn't electric, had no holes and stayed in Coach's desk drawer. He showed it to us and it was some little old silly thing -- just one of the many pranks played on the younger kids by the sixth graders -- and I was one of them that year!!

I ran across this idea on Little Birdie Secrets blog -- the apple slice is from Lion Brand and I paired it up with my own wash/dish cloth pattern that I use when I crochet them for my Etsy shop.  I thought it would be a cute teacher gift, whether for Christmas or the end of school.... 

or to bribe them on the first day of school!!

We wouldn't want that electric paddle to pop out of its drawer, now would we... Ha!

I  had this cute fabric on  hand and made up a little gift bag. 

Don't you love the fun fruit design?!!!

and this is something I dreamed up for the preschooler left at home! 

Fun colored pencils to play with...

no writing on the walls -- mom will love these!!

This was a free pattern from Crochet N Play Designs -- I've bought several of her patterns for my shop and for Noli gifts, and I just love them!

I'm going to offer them in my Etsy shop as pick-your-colors in a set of three. They are chubby little pencils, almost 5 inches long. 

I'm debating about doing a pen and pencil set -- a black pen and the typical yellow no. 2's we all know and love -- I've got the perfect golden orange color yarn. What do you think?

PS... The scrubbie set and the colored pencils will be in my Etsy shop sometime today and the apple is already there : )

~ sharing on AlphabeThursday where we are studying the letter N

~ if you have an Etsy shop and a blog, check out the Blogging Business Artisans team!

♥♥

Cheesie and His Mouse House

This month's challenge on the Blogging Business Artisans team was brought to us by Duni of Peri Dot by Duni who suggests that we create something using a color that we would rarely incorporate into our creations.

Well, for me, that would be grey. Not so much because I don't like grey, but because I prefer to use cotton yarn for much of the crochet in my shop. And there just wasn't any grey cotton yarn out there. So the day that I was strolling through JoAnn's and spotted some grey cotton, my heart just went into overdrive! I snatched up the only skein there was (fortunately a 14 ouncer)!

For the challenge, I decided to make a little grey mouse, and added a little blue and yellow blanket (knowing that Blue Monday at Smiling Sally's was coming up).

Then I decided that little Cheesie needed a house and what could be a better house for a mouse than a wedge of cheese!!

Cheesie, of course, has eaten all the insides of the cheese so he has plenty of room for running about and cuddling in his favorite mousie blankie.  :)

~ sharing Cheesie and his mouse house over at Smiling Sally's for Blue Monday
~ be sure to check out Duni's Etsy shop -- she has the prettiest lounge wear (a lovely gift for mom, by the way!)



♥♥

Swimming in the Ocean Blue

Oh, I love it when I'm asked to crochet something special for someone! When they find something I have in my shop, or that I've done before, and tweek it a bit for their own needs. When they want something but in a different color or size, or paired with something else. You know, something special just for them.

Well, that happened with some fish.... I had made a play set that had several sea creatures in it, including said fish, and I was contacted about making those fish for a crib mobile that the customer was making for her nursery. She sent me pictures of her nursery colors -- a wonderful ocean blue, a lighter blue, grey, and navy for good measure!

These are her fish, swimming in the ocean blue 

A school of fish, looking at you!

 Oh, fish poetry!!

After they were done, I asked if she would send me a photo so I could see how her mobile turned out... and she did and gave me permission to use them here.

Didn't it turn out cute?

I love the way she painted the bobbers to match!

and the midnight blue for the wall is perfect for a fish theme!

Click on the pic to make it bigger and check out that cute sign...

What a lucky baby to have such a talented mom!

~ sharing the blues in this cute fish mobile over at Smiling Sally's for Blue Monday

~ and sharing at Grandma's Briefs for Grand Social

♥♥

Play Plants for a Special Someone

The countdown is on! Spring is actually on its way, no matter what the weather says. We don't get a lot of winter weather here in Texas but we sure had a huge drop in temps recently.... 60 degrees in one night! Eighty degrees one day, and 20 and below the next!

Check out the cutie Spring Countdown up there.... there's hope for warmer weather!

But we have a ways to go before the flowers are blooming... so I have crocheted ones to look at right now! I've shared these potted flowers with you before -- it's a cute play set with flowers that "grow." You can plant a seed, grow a seedling and then the flower blooms!

A bit before Christmas I made a special order for a sweet little girl who asked Santa for some "play plants" and these potted growing flowers fit the bill!

Her special flower colors were purple and pink!

Here's her whole set with a cute swirly storage bag

And here she is!

Her mama sent me this picture and said that I could post it.

Isn't she adorable with her "play plant" : )

Then it turns out that her cousin came to play...

and this set was ordered for her!

Are you wondering about that green flower? Well, her favorite color is green, green and more green! So a green flower was a must, along with a green bag with those cutie swirls! Her birthday is sometime around St. Patrick's Day, so the green is super duper special! 

Proving of course that flowers come in all sorts of colors!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

sharing these cutie potted play plants over at Miss Jenny's for Alphabe-Thursday where we are studying the letter P

Oh, and you can find the play set in my shop!


♥♥

Lady Love Bugs

Did you catch ladybugs when you were a kid? How about love bugs? 

Ladybugs are the ones with red wings and black spots -- as in Ladybug, Ladybug, fly away home..... and love bugs are the ones that are *stuck together* if you know what I mean.

I remember catching love bugs but I was one of the nice kids who didn't pull them apart... yeah sure, you say -- but it's true! I had no idea why they were stuck together, just that they were! I wonder if I ever asked my mom why they were like that -- and even better, I wonder what she answered if I did!

Anyway, with Valentine's Day right around the corner, and those love bugs madly dashing about with their girlfriends or handsome beaus, I have made a little crochet buggie to remember the day.

She's actually a Ladybug, but because of her special heart spots, she's also a Love Bug!

Here she is waiting for her special love beau to come along...

She thinks the birdhouses on the chair will attract him : )

She has rather buggy (get it?) eyes, 

to keep the little ones safe when they play

She even has her own cute bag to sleep in!

Her own ladybug cousins and some butterfly friends are on the bag,

and it says "Girl Bugs" all over it!

Miss Lady Love Bug likes it very much!

 PS -- she resides in my Etsy shop and does hope that she will soon find a little friend to fly home to!


sharing Miss Lady Love Bug over at Miss Jenny's for Alphabe-Thursday where we are studying the letter L


♥♥

Cats Alike

Hewwo, Oliver here... Mommy's been doing that hooky, yarny thing with a cat kitty that looks just like me!

But LOOK WHAT SHE DID!!

Meowzer! It's in pieces parts! Do you think she'll do the same thing to me? But, since I'm the King Kitty and Boss around here, there's no way I'm letting her get me!

Oh wait a kitty minute here.... she must be practicing to be a kitty doctor 'case look what's happening to that yarny cat kitty.

I feel better now... that kitty has legs just like me. And a tail too. All attached! Whew! That was close -- I was scared for another kitty minute there.

A  long time ago Mommy made another cat kitty that looked like me, but she gave it away to that Noli girl for her birthday. She even got a purple carrier with it.

I thought maybe she'd make a purple carrier for me too, but no, she said she's not going to. I don't care anyway.... whenever I have to go the the kitty doctor I get to ride in mommy's lap, all wrapped up in a towel. It makes me feel safe so I don't want any old carrier anyhow. So the purple one can just be that other kitty's, I don't care. That Noli girl likes it. And she puts other stuff in it besides her kitty -- I saw her!

Don't you think this new kitty looks just like me? 

Of course, I'm more handsome! Hey, wait a minute...

I want a heart patch too!

I think mommy said it was going in her shop, wherever that is.... I hope it's not too far away 'cause I want to play with my look-alike yarny cat kitty sometime!

Sharing Oliver's look-alike yarny cat kitty over at Miss Jenny's for Alphabe-Thursday where we are studying the letter C.


♥♥

Do You Amigurumi?

Amigurumi -- the Japanese art of crocheting stuffed animals, dolls and anthropomorphic creatures. 

Kitty made for Noli's birthday a couple or so b'days ago.

Typically, an amigurumi stuffed animal or doll will have a big, round head and a small body, and something like a vegetable will have a face. The crochet will be in a single crochet stitch and will go round and round without joining, increasing and decreasing as necessary to form the piece. The arms and legs, noses and ears, tails if they've got 'em are created separately and sewn onto the body. Facial features are generally embroidered on.

This is Skateboarder Noli, made for Noli when she learned (sort of) to skate

Not all amigurumi food is made with a face -- but should be crocheted in the round and not back and forth in rows.   

Since I make crochet food that's intended for kids to play with I like to use cotton yarn and I don't put on any faces.  So these are not anthropomorphic but are perfect for playing in their pretend kitchen or for going grocery shopping!

Yummy fruits

Eat your veggies!

If you're not vegan or vegetarian, these are for you!!

Gotta love the Swiss cheese....

Ice cream! Always a yummy treat!

When we go to Braum's Noli tries to talk me into two scoops....

and I usually give in!

(I get the junior size -- shhh, don't tell her!)

Amigurimi flowers -- a face would be cute on these!

Miss Beachy Bear has been collecting sea shells by the seashore

and loves to sport her special duckie swim ring!

And last but not least.....  Mr. Earl N. Meyer Flask! 

A chemistry beaker (technically an Erlenmeyer flask) that I made for my brother! It's an example of an anthropomorphic amigurumi crochet. (Bet you can't say that three times real fast!!) 

Thus starts the alphabet again!

I really enjoyed posting bands and musicians in the last round, and so many commented that those posts brought back such good memories, that I can't give it up!!  So, even though this next round will be a bunch of craziness, I'm going to include one band at the end of each post. Hope you enjoy it!

ABBA

ABBA was a Swedish pop music group whose music spanned ten years from 1972 to 1982. Some of their songs became famous on the disco circuit, although the group itself wasn't considered disco. 

But those glittery silver outfits sure look disco to me! 

"Dancing Queen" was one of their disco-ish songs

Fun fact:  ABBA is an acronym of the first letters of the band members' names!!  News to me!

linking over at Miss Jenny's for Alphabe-Thursday where we are studying the letter A.

♥♥