R/C Mouse

So, if you didn't know yet we are doing CATS at the theater. I'm in it as Carbuckety (they call me Bucket). It's normally a man's role, but I'm awesome enough to play a male role feminine. I'm also Assistant Choreographer so I've been up to my eyeballs in dancing kitties for the last month or so - hence the lack of crafting and blogging.  But I can't escape my crafty-ass nature for too long, so this is a project from CATS.

In CATS, the end of intermission is "Kitty Playtime." Some of the cats come out and play with the audience, or some kitty toys onstage.  One of the toys is a wind-up mouse.

Last year when we did The Wizard of Oz ballet I made Toto (he was a big version of Pete the Sheep). There was a Toto that Dorothy carried in her basket, and a Toto that was built over a Remote control car so it could run across the stage at one point.  So taking my knowledge of softie making, and softie making with R/C cars I volunteered to make the wind-up mouse.

The first step was finding the car.  When I made Toto we had an R/C motocross guy that one of the boys in the show had, and it proved to be odd to work with.  I went to Walmart to find a car and got a lifted truck for about $10. I figured the lifted-ness of the truck would make it easy to hide. However, the $10 truck proved to be worth the cheap price. It didn't work. It'd go forward a couple inches and stop. Grrr.

So I went to Amazon to find something better and found this:

 

It's a Morphibian and it's recommended ages are 5-9 so I figured it would be nice and easy to use. I picked because it's meant to run in water and on different types of surfaces.  While obviously I don't intend to put it in the water, the stage is going to have an odd texture because of the dancing and sliding in the show.  Also, the colors aren't too bright so if some of it shows it won't be a problem.

Also, when I got it and read the instructions, it turns out that the top comes off to access the batteries.  Since there's an extra cover I can just leave the top off and it will make a nicer base for the mouse.

My softie pattern making skills aren't too fabulous so after failing at making a pattern I decided to scour the internet for something.  I found a pattern for a real cat toy and decided to enlarge it. A lot.

So here's the mouse body. It's about 4-5 times bigger than the pattern:

Next I added felt ears, button eyes and pipe-cleaner whiskers.

 

Isn't he a cutie? I will love him and squeeze him and call him George.

The tail is also made from pipe-cleaners, but I wrapped them around the little tube that's supposed to support the antenna for the car.  That way the antenna will be out of the way and not just shoved under the mouse.

Antenna tube and tail (doesn't he look kinda like a toaster from the back?)

Antenna tube and tail with antenna inserted

To attach him to the car I've sewed on an elastic band along his tummy.  He needs to be easily removable so that the batteries can be replaced.

And here he is, George the R/C Mouse:

Yay Kitty Playtime!!  Watch out George, we're coming for you.

Puppy Dog Stockings

When I was growing up my sister Annie and I had very similar stockings for Christmas.  They were knitted and mine had reindeer on them and her's had snowmen.  For some reason my parents could never remember this and every year, a couple presents in, we would have to switch stockings because they had filled the wrong ones.  The stockings being knitted also cause problems because the presents would always get tangled up in the threads.  And most importantly, the stockings never seemed to be big enough for our present haul.

So, a few years ago, Annie and I made stockings for my whole family.  We used stockings that my grandmother had made for her and my grandfather as a template. It cleared up all kinds of confusion and we've all enjoyed them ever since.

A year or two after my cousin saw them while visiting from Washington and asked if I might make her some for her family with a Hawaiian Print theme.  Last year there was a fire in her house right before she had her second child and they were making do living elsewhere while their house was repaired.  To send her some Hawaiian Christmas cheer I finally made the stockings she had asked for.

 

This year they took custody of her husband's nephew and to make him feel included she asked if I would make him one too.  While making his socking my mom asked for a stocking for her dog Ruby (she asked specifically for one where the name could be changed - depressing I know, but my mom is not one to waste things).  Here's Ruby's stocking:

 

When making it, I made the pattern freehand, and when I sewed the whole thing together I realized that the stocking was a little to narrow. I couldn't fit my hand into it.  So, when I decided to make some for a friends dogs I made the stocking wider and shorter.

For the stockings I made for my family I machine embroidered the letters on individually.  Since the puppy stockings were much smaller that wouldn't work so well. So I used my favorite Heat 'n Bond to make the name iron-on and used a blanket stitch to keep the edges down:

I made a lining for each stocking so that they were a little thicker and I embroidered the names through the top and the lining.  After sewing the front and back of the stockings together (with linings) I then measured the top so I could add the cuff.  I would take the circumference and add 1/2" for seams and then cut it about 5" high and sew it to the stocking with the ends sewn together and folded in half.  The loops for hanging are made from a rectangle about 2.5" by 8". Sew together the long way then turn right side out and fold in half and sew it to the heel side of the stocking:

I also added a jingle bell for merriness and some trim along the bottom of the cuff.