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.