stuff about artstuff.

Other Projects

An outing a couple months ago launched a few very different non-illustration creative projects I've been having fun with lately.

We wandered around salvage yards

and dug through scrap bins at a leather and hide seller.

The salvage pieces were to become display pieces to feature my friend Joe's hats for a few pop-up shops he would be having at our local Fluevog store.

For these I relearned how to do paper mache

and had a blast collaborating to build the pieces.

I think my favorite was my Medusa head, designed especially for the event that would coincide with a mythic-themed convention.

She looked pretty awesome showing off the snake hat, too.

Digging through the leather scrap bins started a-whole-nuther fun project:

I've been back making earrings again, and having a blast.

I realized that my older jewelry had sort of gotten lost in my main Etsy shop, so I've opened up a second shop: Artstuff Jewelry. I'm hoping that having a place of their own to showcase my earrings will help customers find them and ultimately, give me an excuse to make a lot more - because it's super fun for me.

These projects have gotten a different flavor of creative juices flowing which feels awesome, and there's actually more of these kinds of things on the back burners - can't wait to share the rest of it with you guys. In the meantime, I'm busy working with my awesome licensing partners on a few new collections and will keep you posted about that when I can, too.

Happy Spring to you all and thanks again for visiting!

xoBeth

Studio Weekend.

I don't often get to show you my works in progress - but that's because I'm often designing specific things for my licensing partners that can't really be shown until they're ready to launch the product in a retail setting.  So in the normal course of creating, my teeny tiny little studio and most of what comes from it is sort of shrouded in mystery.

But when I'm making stuff just for fun, I can show you everything - so that's what I'm doing here: 

This last weekend I stayed in the studio and played.  No plan, no ideas, no projects or assignments.  Just making stuff.

A couple weekends ago I finally got out the fun New Year's present Artstuff bought me: a shiny new set of water soluble oil paints.

Once upon a time long, long ago, oil paint was my #1 medium: the feel of it, the smell, the soul - it was what I loved the most in the whole world: to paint with oils on a big piece of wood.  But as my art became what I did for a living, more practical "immediate gratification" mediums eventually overtook slow-drying, messy, impractical oil paints.  I was curious when I saw that these water soluble oils existed, and decided to indulge myself, just for fun.  Call it an End of Year Bonus for a Job Well Done.  I thought I'd start small with this experiment and raided my brother-in-law's scrap bin for little pieces of wood.

I fell in love as soon as I opened the first tube: whatever molecular mojo they do to this stuff does not have any adverse affect on the amazing smell of the linseed oil.  A deep breath brought me back to a happy place I hadn't been in decades.

I started swishing it around and scrubbing it into the wood - it all started coming back to me.  I'm in love with these paints!  Wet, sticky, and workable for weeks - but I can clean my brushes (and my hands - and lips, and nose, and eyelids, under my nails, my hair...) with soap and water.  When I think of all the turpentine I must have ingested in my 20s . . . well, that may explain a lot.  Never mind.

The first layers on the first few boards were dry when I got them back out this weekend, and I started playing again.

Remember that scrap of screen I shared about on Facebook last week?  Part of it is now a wing.

I experimented more with some of the vintage and antique ephemera my dear friend Sue shared with my last month when I visited her studio

layering backgrounds

with bits of this and pieces of that.

The lumber stamp on this little piece of Douglas Fir became the inspiration for the tiny painting yet to come.

Others are still inventing themselves from the background up.

When I ran out of small scraps to paint on, or space on my desk (I'm not sure which happened first) I pulled out the Paperclay and played with it for the rest of the day.

Now it's time to set this all aside to dry in anticipation of some future weekend, as the Artstuff Studio returns to its normal, focused, more practical and businesslike self.  Except, of course, for that heavenly smell of oil paint that lingers as the first few layers of these little guys dry.  Aaaaaaahhh.

It's All Relative(s).

Well, here's something I haven't done in a long time.  Or technically, ever.

It's been a super long time since I did a holiday retail sale, like the annual Open House I threw for 17 years. Even longer since I sold stuff at a crafts fair of any kind.  And although many members of my family are crazy-talented (I said crazy-talented, not just crazy - get it right) we've never gotten together and showcased our handmade goodies together.

So, it's about time, don't you think?

We thought so.

After our vacation a couple months ago, when I made stuff pretty much every waking moment for 2 weeks, it hit me: dude, I love making stuff (duh).  I realized I need to make more stuff, because it's good for my soul.  Not just drawings and designs, but stuff.  Tactile, physical, made things.

And who knows, I could actually start to make a dent in all that weird junk I've been hoarding in my basement over the years insisting "I'm going to make something awesome with this someday!"  You know, when I have time.

So in the last few months, a lot of that weird junk has been migrating up from the dark corners of the basement to the slightly less dark corners of my desk, and I've been making time to make stuff with my hands, just for fun: jewelry, little painted objects, clay stuff . . . remember Sweatercats?  Yeah, that was fun.  They're back.

These guys are waiting for whiskers.  And a face.  And a few other parts.

And this time the Sweatercats brought friends.

I've been stitching weird and cute little buddies from ugly old clothes and can't stop.

My sisters and nieces make some pretty amazing stuff too, just wait until you see it all.  Seriously amazing.  I think this is going to be a blast.

So if you're in the area, we hope you stop by and say hi, and see what we've been up to.  It'll be an awesome way to kick off the holiday season: you can buy goodies for gifts, or just get inspired to make some stuff yourself - because making stuff is good for your soul.

And if you're nowhere near Washington State and are feeling left out, don't.  What doesn't sell this weekend (and what doesn't get finished in time for the bazaar!) is going into my Etsy shop in the next few weeks.  And looking at my basement, I can assure you: I'm not going to run out of weird old junk to make stuff with for a long, long time...

 

Snow Babies Giveaway: Winners Announced!

I started cutting bundles yesterday

just for this.

You already know how we do this here on the Artstuff blog: print & cut out comments,

gather appropriate hat,

(um, "tidy up desk first" was apparently not part of this contest, sorry . . . welcome to my cluttered, messy life)

stir up names inside hat and pull one out:

Tami Potter!

Didn't I mumble something under my breath last week about maybe picking 2 names?  If I was in a good mood, or something like that?  Well, I'm not in a bad mood, so what the heck, let's pull out another entry:

Dee Lane!

Then Husband Guy walks by the door of the studio and suddenly takes an interest in what's going on in here, and talks me into drawing a 3rd name.  Says "he'll go to the post office to drop off the winners' packages", among other things.

Alright, I can't argue with that:

Mary Ann Hurt!

Thanks to everyone who played along this time, you guys always make me smile with your comments . . . really, you make this fun for me.

Tami, Dee, and Mary Ann, could you please send me your mailing addresses by emailing me privately at: info@artstuffltd.com and I'll see that Husband Guy gets your packages off to you ASAP!

This contest was overseen by the Accountability Firm of

Crow,

Crow,

and Crow, LLC.

Oh, and . . . those grinning little bright orange guys in the background clutter on my desk?

In case you're wondering, they're Sockolanterns I made last week, and they're in my Etsy shop right now.

The Beach, September 2013

It felt like it would never come, this vacation.

But it did, and we spent a gloriously refreshing couple weeks at the cabin.

Making stuff 

and chilling.

Ted got the hang of it pretty quickly.

Constantly inspired by everything surrounding me there

I started playing with beads.

Inspired by the golden glow of the sunsets

or maybe it was just my beads...

...even my drawings coordinated with it all.

With so few distractions

"Hey guess what, let's go to the beach."

I started making earrings.

and more earrings.

Like, a ridiculous amount of earrings (more on these soon).  I couldn't stop.  It happened sort of on accident, I hadn't set out to make that many.  Really, I think it was the lack of distractions.

"Hey, I have an idea. Let's go to the beach."

Another thing that happened totally on accident: my finished necklaces caught my eye one afternoon

and a thought popped into my head

about all the super neato suncatchers and mobiles I keep seeing on Pinterest.

The challenge here was making it fit in the long window without distracting from the beach view.  I built it in several shorter sections and fastened them together, some while they were laid out flat and others after hanging it up.  For a mobile it's pretty heavy, and about as tall as me.

Glass, shells, rocks, even a small float are mixed together with the glass beads, jewelry wire, and some random rusty hardware from my Granddad's basement that I'd thrown in a bag to take with me, not knowing what I'd make with it.

It was good wire-wrapping practice.  Some are swirly and nice, others not so much.

But it's the beach.  The beach is supposed to be imperfect.

I made other stuff too and can't wait to share in more posts, but for now I'm just starting to settle back into home and studio, back to reality, where it is starting to feel like . . . fall.

Hope you are enjoying September so far yourself.

(Im)patiently Waiting for Spring.

Last month I got to spend an awesome day with my amazing artist friends Jane and Barb at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show.  The show is about my favorite thing every February, breaking up the cold, grey drudgery of winter and thinking about spring and summer gardening.

The smells - oh, man!  The smells!  I walk into that Display Garden area and just breathe as deeply as possible.  Smell that.

And that.

No, really, smell that.

The first thing I asked myself when I walked in was:
Why don't I have a hobbit house in my own backyard?

I mean, really.  It would just look like a little berm from the other side - and it wouldn't really take up any space with the rest of the yard just growing on top.
Right?

Oh, but wait - smell that.

While taking this picture I heard my favorite crowd/people-watching quote of the day, as a couple walked past the rest of these pinkalicious blooms:

"...yeah, but the deer would just eat those like lollipops in our yard."

Favorite, because I am now of course picturing cute deer enjoying pink lollipops, and will never look at a pink tulip quite the same again.  Sorry, all you gardeners who share their neighborhoods with ravenous, garden-munching deer.  I'm stuck this way now.

I'm not usually all about flowers the size and shape of my head, but just look at the adorable little pinks and greens in this hydrangea.

And this guy looks like he might be a relative of my little friend.

Too-cute sheds and greenhouses are always a favorite feature in the display gardens for me.
I think this one is a Bob Bowling Rustic - you might remember me going on about his uber-cool buildings last year.

And here's a lovely and clever fountain idea that adds height and structure, looks cool, has a small footprint, and might not lure the neighborhood raccoons away from their current favorite haunt: my neighbor's backyard pond.  I've always wanted a water feature and as much as I love me some raccoons, I love them much more in someone else's water!

And this, oh this.
This fence, this art-installment, this sculpture garden, this amazing field of orbs-on-a-stick.  I am in love.
I was somehow too spacy this year to keep track of the designers of the Display Gardens (my apologies!) and I can't tell you who is responsible for these beautiful balls of wonderfulness.  But I love them.  I really, really love them.

It's not just the fabulous Display Gardens that make the show, though - the Marketplace is always full of inspiration: stuff I need, stuff I covet . . . like gorgeous and solid hand-forged garden tools with warm, smooth wooden handles that felt like they were made especially for my own hands,  little rusty birds I want to fill my yard with,
and one-piece pitchforks made from esplaier-grown fruitwood.  How cool is that?!  I was actually tempted but was taking public transportation home and was afraid they might not let me on the bus.  "Oh look, dear, the angry mob is here."

More textures,

more colors...

...like these wild sculptures

and my favorite from last year, the most killer fountains on the planet

and how could I not get lost in this booth?

The biggest trend I noticed, throughout the Display Gardens and the Marketplace, was incorporating art made from junk - a personal favorite theme of mine.
My Granddad was just so way before his time...

Reuse, recycle, repurpose . . . down to every last rustilicous detail at Bob Bowling Rustics.

 Our favorite part of the Marketplace was the Funky Junk section: a little garden-themed flea market

overflowing with perfectly-chipped paint,

crackle,

and moss.

It was such a great day with friends, inspiration, hope for a new and warmer season coming soon (!) and I came home with a super fun bag full of irresistable (seriously, I could not walk away from these) goodies.
(Put a bird on it).

And, just like it does every year, it reminds me that spring is not that far away.

Octobery Gardeny Goodness

What a gorgeous Indian Summer we've been having here in the Northwest.  The days have been clear and blue, the mornings and evenings especially golden and pinkish, and the nights crisp and cool.  I'm not usually thinking about the garden this time of year, since pretty much the only thing that's happening is the last of the tomatoes and squash are ripening while the rest of the beds sit sort of neglected and dry, waiting patiently for someone to finally clean up spent blooms and do some pre-winter mulching.

I may not typically be thinking gardening in October, but for the past year my sister has been telling me about this amazing nursery over on the Kitsap Peninsula, and we've been saying we'll go.  It's closed during the winter and this month is our last chance for the year, so we finally scheduled a day and I hopped on a ferry to meet her there.
It couldn't have been a bluer morning out on Puget Sound.

Everyone was taking advantage of the warm October sunshine.
Gulls and cormorants at the ferry dock preened and sunned themselves.

As I pulled into the long driveway toward Dragonfly Farms Nursery for the first time, I knew it was going to be cool.  I parked my car under a fish in a tree
and started to soak in this late-season wonderfulness.
We wandered through the extensive paths and gardens before heading up to the retail area.

In October I expect to see dramatic grasses

interesting dried pods
and colorful foliage and berries

but I'm always surprised by what's actually blooming.  Around my neighborhood and in my own yard, the roses are all having a second (or third) go at it, but wait, there's more...

...and if these tall and fabulous blooms and giant showy leaves aren't enough, you could always plant flowers made of big rocks and rusty metal.  I am loving these and want a whole bed of them.

The beds at Dragonfly Farms are full of giant rusty machine parts turned garden sculptures; I can't get enough of that stuff.  I just love it.
And this one surprised me by being the coolest birdhouse ever.
There were a few of these great benches built into raised beds.
Note to self, find some gargantuan pipe sections and a giant slab of slate and make a bench out of it. Yeah, I'll get right on that...

More fun surprises that pop up this time of year: cute little baby perennials and spreading pansies that just show up at the edges or even right in the middle in the garden path
busy bees
bottle trees
and bottle borders.
I love bottle anything.  It's a hereditary thing for glass, my relatives and I can't help it - we just came this way.

I also love spheres in the garden.
Gazing balls, armillary sundials, giant sculptures, floats, old bowling balls, anything round just makes me happy when it's nestled into the landscape.  And there are plenty here.

Including
the mother of all garden spheres
and then that sphere's mother.
Yes, the mother of the mother of all garden spheres.  Really.  There are quite a few amazing sculptures by this local artist scattered throughout the grounds.
And if rusty metal isn't your thing, there's always mirror glass.

I am also a big fan of Seussian trees.  You know, ones that remind me of beloved characters from my childhood.
But I'm not sure I've ever seen a tree that reminded me so much of Snuffleupagus.
I sort of want one as a pet.
But this one lives here with his whole family, so I wouldn't want to break that up.

Everywhere you look around here there is personality
and more personality.

Just look at the shape of this planter.  I am afraid to build stuff because I think it will turn out this shape, but now that I see this, that wouldn't be so bad.  And see the broken pot behind it?  Placed as though that tree just busted out of it overnight.
There are hidden treasures everywhere,
many of them were once useful objects...

...hidden deep under this burst of growing goodies is a claw-foot bathtub used as a planter.

More paths wander through semi- to deeply-shaded areas

all filled with artisticly quirky treasures,
and growing ones.

Wandering through the subtle, dark, shady paths, you suddenly come across the most inviting doorway
to another little world, this one in technicolor.

An adorable old gingerbread-covered house peeked through the shrubs and trees telling us that we might have stumbled onto the owners' private space, so we headed back out through another path that meandered through more gardens and eventually brought us back to the nursery
filled with locally-sourced goodies
gorgeous fall color
and friendly and helpful planting advice.

I can't wait to go back in the spring and summer and enjoy a completely different kind of show of colors and textures.

After we had our fill of gardeny goodness, we enjoyed a delicious lunch outside on a deck overlooking the waterfront with a couple new friends who didn't seem to understand why we were both talking to them so nicely but not offering them food (it was way too good to share).

With my belly full of yummy food, my car full of new plants, and that warm nice feeling from spending a great day with someone I love
I headed home again across the amazingly blue Puget Sound.
What a great day!

If you are here in Western Washington and are into gardening, I suggest you head over to Dragonfly Farms Nursery between Kingston and Hansville and wander, discover, and stock up on great plants and unique garden art - you won't be sorry you did!  The owner is super nice and has cute dogs, it's a woman-owned small business supporting other local small businesses, and one of the neatest places around.

Made Stuff.

Our vacation this summer was as perfect as a couple weeks at the beach should be.

There were bright foggy mornings

and soft, pink sunsets;

bright blue mornings
that turned into golden afternoons

and fiery golden sunsets.

There were blue skies
and lazy afternoons;

and once my brain finally came around and fell into "lazy afternoon" mode, that's when it was turned off just enough to start making stuff.  For fun.  Not because I have to make a living.  But because I have to make.

I did sort of have a making-stuff agenda, a small one: there was a wedding gift I wanted to make, and I had something very specific in mind.  But the rest was completely random.

So what do you get when you pull out the Paperclay while you're munching on pistachios?
Hungry baby birds, of course.
Duh.
I actually giggled out loud while these took shape.  I can't really take credit for what they look like, I mean they sort of made themselves.
And they totally made me giggle, the whole time.  I couldn't help it.

There were still pistachio shells on my plate.  Why not, a sea monster with pistachio scales.  His head was pretty heavy while he was wet, so I propped it up with a little seashell until he dried.
Nerd alert: yes, that's the Millenium Falcon hovering over my freshly-made sea monster.  Yeah, so?  Doesn't everyone have that?

There was this float on the table outside with sticks jammed into it; I'd been thinking it reminded me of a bird's body, and, well, there were babies to feed, so...
Meet Flotsam the Crow.
Another float became the perfect sturdy little skull 0n which to build her clay beak.
In spite of her Western name, Flotsam is, apparently, a Japanese crow.
Her existing stick-tail seemed a little thin, so a few other flotsamy jetsomy pieces of rope and fishing net scraps filled it out a bit.
Since she was already outside for her first photo shoot, she joined us for Happy Hour.

Then on to the wedding present.  This was to be a specific bird that the recipients know personally, but I wanted her to have a piece of our beach incorporated somehow.  So she got a scallop-shell tail.

A couple days later they all got their first coats of paint.

And the sea monster got sparkles
and seashells and barnacles.

The hungry babies got a shell nest to live in.

I won't mention how bad Flossie was when she got mad that we were outside on the deck without her.  How she knocked the babies out of the nest and played with them on the floor, breaking one's beak off.  Oh wait, I did just mention that.  Not that I am usually in the habit of shaming my pets on the interwebs, it's just - well - she so did this out of spite, it was pretty obvious.  I only wish I'd have seen what fun she must have had while we were outside with our backs to the windows; those poor little birds were spread all over the place behind us.  And the beak was easily fixed . . . so all was forgiven.

Again with how these things make themselves: Flotsam turned herself into the happiest crow ever.
Maybe it's because she has such a cute family.
And they all get to live there at the beach cabin together forever and ever.
I guess that would make me smile like this, too.

I was pretty happy with her scraggly tail
but then my brother found a crow's feather while weed-eating the yard, and he was right: it was just what she needed.

And finally, this is White Wing - she is all ready to go to her new home.

 

Thanks for visiting; and if you haven't yet, go to the next post where I'm having a fabric giveaway! You have until Sunday morning to enter the drawing, good luck!

Sweater Season

I know, it's not really, around here at least.  Yet. 

As a child, that fact was my only gripe with September.  I had just celebrated a birthday, and I was back at school with shiny new school supplies and pretty new school clothes.  But new school clothes consisted mainly of sweaters, thick corduroys, wool skirts, hats, mittens, and the most exciting of all: a new heavy coat.  Stuff that will keep a kid warm and dry waiting at the bus stop or out at recess the rest of the school year.   Around here we tend to get awesomely gorgeous and warm Indian Summers that can last into October.  But real summer was over.  I was back to school; I wanted to wear my back to school clothes.  And I would.  And I would be hot.  Uncomfortably hot.  And itchy.  So non-sweater-weather, that was my September nemesis.

Fortunately, I guess...I no longer start September with a drawer full of that new-wool-smell (mmm, smell that...makes the itchiness worth it, kind of).  So I am loving the fact that although the nights are cooler, and it is dark earlier, I get to enjoy some more summery weather as the rest of the tomatoes ripen in the sun.

But there is still a sweatery theme around here right now.  A couple weeks ago I was thinking about nothing and sketching in my Moleskine, and these guys appeared.

I'm not expecting this to actually make sense to you, but it might make a little more sense if you realize that I draw and sketch from the bottom right corner out.  A habit I picked up early on to minimize the smudge-drag from my left hand.  I even draw that way on the Wacom...I realize smudging is not an issue drawing digitally but I can't not do it that way.

These guys have been kicking around in my brain...really wanting to be realized in their final form. 

No, really...I need to.   It says so, right here. 

So I started digging around through old rag piles downstairs.  Stocked up on some thinning colors in the thread box.  Found those pillows that the puppies chewed up 20 years ago.  Yes, I still have pillows that were destroyed 2 decades ago.

The first sweaters to go under the knife were both thrift shop finds from the 80s.  A lovely, heavy, hand-knitted fisherman's getup that never fit right and always looked weird on.  Didn't really have a front or back.  More like it had 2 backs.  But it was such a great sweater.  So it went into the paint-clothes drawer.  And it got paint on it.  And I tugged at the neck constantly every time I wore it.  The other was a tricky little bugger.  A pretty, sleeveless turtleneck.  It looks so soft, and when you touch it, seems so soft.  But it sneaks up on you.  Wear it for an hour and your neck will run screaming, leaving your head in danger of falling off onto the floor.  This one must be used sparingly.  It's a dangerous little sweater.

My tiny sketches were about as close as I got to a pattern.  I let the sweaters themselves dictate size and shape.  I cut pieces that sort of made sense and started sewing.

Meet Sweatercat.

Because he was sewn during family-time, the project ended up being stitched completely by hand.  Some details would have been much simpler and tidier had I gotten out the machine...but this time, it was more important to enjoy quiet, together time than to complete a project efficiently.  Once finished, though...I realized he needed something.

Meet Dickie, Sweatercat's little buddy.

Yeah, Dickie's arms are too high, or maybe his nose is too long.  Hard to tell.  That's what happens when you don't bother with patterns or plans of any kind.  But Sweatercat doesn't mind.

And Dickie isn't at all bothered by the fact that Sweatercat's lips are so dry that they're stuck to his teeth.

They're perfectly happy this way.

And the boxes they're posing on?  More about those in a bit.

After looking at them for a while, there was something familiar...and suddenly I remembered some silly little unfinished drawings that have been filed away in the "to do one of these days" folder for over a year now.

I think this could be Sweatercat's entire family.

OK...I can't stand it.  The boxes!  I can't wait to show you, but it's going to have to be another post.  Later.  Not now.

Oh alright (I can hardly contain myself) here's a little peek...

Bye for now.

A Few of my Friends...

I'd like to introduce you to a few of my closest buddies. 

I believe you've already met some of the crow family, not sure if these were the ones. Don't tell them I said this but I can't tell all of them apart.

Then there's Flossie's pal, Mr. Bones.  

He does own some extra teeth in a little box in a drawer, but as he doesn't do a lot of chewing he hasn't really bugged us about replacing them, so in the drawer they remain. 

He's hanging out these days by the fireplace with Owlie. He likes the candles on the mantle because they look like him. 
And he's wondering why these guys are still in the candy bowl. They're supposed to be on a string of lights (their heads pop over the bulbs and they light up) but haven't made it that far yet (this is the table-runner that goes with the Halloween pillows Windham Weavers made a few years back). 

I'll confess, the Logans are a little bit addicted to buying cute Halloween stuff. We just can't help ourselves. So our weird little posse of friends tends to grow each October. This cute guy is a fairly new arrival.

I have to admit I'm tempted at this point to make up a cute (and very believable) story...telling you that what I'm about to show you is a treasured relic of my childhood: something I made all by myself with teeny tiny little-girl-hands, and you could not help thinking that was adorable. "Oh look how sweet is that? A little child thought she could sew like a big girl. Isn't that cute?"

I know that it's not nearly as acceptable for a grown woman who makes her living creatively to do weird little stuff like this and not care that it's funky and sloppy. But, well...I guess blogging can be a little true-confessions-ish at times, so I'll tell you the real story instead.

The other night, curled up on the couch with the whole family watching TV, I got this weird little urge...I rummaged through the mending basket and pulled out some scraps of navy-blue velvet leftover from making my old Surtex chair-covers. I cut out a sloppy but vaguely cat-ish shape (freehand) and started madly hand-stitching it together. I dumped out the old button jar (these are OLD buttons in this jar and dumping it was a bit horrifying, as apparently some old button had disintegrated into crumbly dust and for mysterious reasons the whole jar kind of stunk...but we won't think about that right now) and managed to find 2 eyes and a nose (they don't stink, but as you can see one eye is a little crusty).

Meet Underpants the Halloween Kitty, posing here with one of my Halloween pillows. 
He actually stands up on his own because there are pipe-cleaners in his feet and tail.

He is permanently covered with little white cat fuzz, inside and out, because Flossie was in my lap the whole time I worked on him. Alright, so everything in my house is covered inside and out with little white cat fuzz, including Underpants the Halloween Kitty.
Why is his name Underpants?

Well...not having the necessary quilty craftsy supplies at hand for this kind of thing, I dug through the rag-basket for the softest things I could find to stuff him with. Then named him after them.

Yes of course they were clean. Don't be gross.

Yeah, he could probably use whiskers (among other things). But I like him better without. I could have taken the time to dig through my studio for that box of old pillow stuffing I rescued from puppy-chewed pillows decades ago vowing to "make something with this someday". I could have drawn a pattern and cut him out more evenly, or stitched more carefully. I could have done a lot of things.

But I didn't. And Underpants is perfectly at home here with the rest of the menagerie.

So...that's just a few of the friends who come out to play this time of year. Thanks for indulging me!