Skip to main content

Return of the Socksillies



 Socksillies return to the Simmons" household!
A couple of weeks ago, my daughter-in-law asked me to make a socksillie, one of my silly sock toys for her to give as a baby gift. I hadn't made any for awhile and I had forgotten how much fun they are to create. I made this one pictured as I watched a detective show on TV last night, so what an easy relaxed process it is. Socksillies are made by stuffing a sock, and creating a character with embroidered facial features or by adding accessories. This one is for a baby, so it has no bits which could find their way into mouths, noses or other orifices. Its two ears or long haripieces are made by cutting the centre of the top part of a sock, and sewing up the middle and curving the ends. By the way, the baby who will be the recipient of this socksillie is a girl, if that wasn't obvious. This socksillie is named Hettie, making her the eighth in the series - I can keep track of the number because I am going through the alphabet to name each one. The background of the photo may have already suggested that there are few more socksillies about to need names.

The dust storm has dominated conversations with friends and family during the last week. I was in Dubbo ( western NSW) with a friend doing Rotary club presentation when it hit there. The orange sky was eerie, and somehow beautiful, but the dust was not ... the photo shows what my friend's car looked like with a few drops of rain.

It apparently was no better here on the coast.  There have been some very witty comments made about the dust storm .... I liked "For all those who haven't seen the Nullarbor, look up, it's come to visit " ... Someone said they thought it was the "end of the world" , so whether funny or serious, everyone has had something to say about it. On the weekend, I attended  a Public Relations seminar and I think it must have been a tough week for anyone wanting media coverage this week - unless it had something to do with dust.  So here is a dust related promotion  - I belong to DUST , the Down Under Street Team which is a group of Australian artists, craftspeople and artisans who support Etsy and promote independent handcrafted  goods here in Australia and worldwide.

Comments

  1. I love the little sock characters - they look like fun to make.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love Hettie the sock sillies- she is gorgeous! you are very creative! 8-)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for reading my blog and please share your thoughts about my blog post by leaving a comment.Your comment won't appear immediately as comments are verified before publication in an effort to reduce the amount of spam appearing. Anonymous comments will not be published.

Popular posts from this blog

Bilby Infatuation

  Wrapped wire and fabric bilby sculpture : Wilma Simmons 2016  Over the years I have been fascinated with the plight of the bilby and it has inspired quite a few of my cloth creations... With long pinkish-coloured ears and silky, blue-grey fur, the Bilby has become Australia’s version of the Easter Bunny. Unlike the rabbit, bilby numbers are falling rapidly. There were originally two species but the Greater Bilby is now commonly referred to simply as ‘the Bilby’ as the Lesser Bilby (Macrotis leucura) is thought to have become extinct in the early 1950s... Bilbies are nocturnal, emerging after dark to forage for food. Using their long snouts, they dig out bulbs, tubers, spiders, termites, witchetty grubs and fungi. They use their tongues to lick up grass seeds. Bilbies have poor sight and rely on good hearing and a keen sense of smell. To minimise threats from predators they’ll mostly stay within 250m of their burrows, but sometimes roam further afield depending on the food...

"Temari Or Not Temari?" Tutorial

 Background Information:  Temari (literally translated “hand ball”) is a Japanese folk craft that is alleged to have originated in China and was introduced to Japan five or six hundred years ago. Traditionally, the balls were constructed from wrapped kimono fabric remnants and silk threads. They were made by mothers and grandmothers for children to play with. Nowadays, decorative embroidered temari represent a highly valued and cherished gift symbolizing friendship and loyalty. Recently I've wondered if your don't use traditional techniques whether you should call what you create "temari". That is an ongoing debate but today I share what I do to make a "non-traditional temari".... 1.I start  with a polystrene ball ( traditionally the balls were wound  silk scraps or other organic materials) and begin to wrap with approx 4 ply wool, turning the ball as I wrap.  2. I then wrap another layer of wool in a similar fashion , this time a 3 or 2 ...

Non-Committal Collage Anything Goes

Have you heard of non-committal collage?   I hadn't until one of the other participants of the 100 Day Project started doing this each day and showing the results....  Here are  Peggy's  rules :  1. S elect 9 scraps of paper from  collage  box/stash  2. Make three  different compositions using each scrap at least once.  (some pieces can be used more than once)  3. Do not alter the scraps of paper in any way.  4.Do not use glue.  5.Take photo, disassemble and return scraps to box.   I thought this would be a fun and quick exercise to do for Tag Tuesday's theme , Anything Goes... so here are my "non-committal collage" tags....  Did you spot the nine pieces? Would  you like to suggest some titles?   And I repeated the exercise before putting back the 9 scraps of paper, so these are different items.  Hope you will try this exercise -  it is lots of...