I have always thought monkeys were such fun creatures, especially for kids, and I even convinced Austy's dad that we should take a gorgeous silky, stuffed one home from Singapore Zoo while we were there on our honeymoon, for our first baby. It's Austy's favourite bedtime toy along with Sleepy Pendoodle Puppy (named after the book of the same name), and Benji Bear. He simply MUST have Montgomery Monkey when he goes to bed, and we forgot him when we went to the snow. Luckily Aunty Debbie came to the rescue with a little pocket sized monkey designed to be flung at walls, and that screams when you hit him or drop him (okay, not REALLY suited to a toddler, but it saved the day and Austy is totally in love with him) If the little un-named monkey gets dropped and screams, Austy gets quite upset and runs to me crying out "Mummy cuddle monkey! Mummy cuddle monkey!" It's quite serious business you see, when a monkey screeches!
Anyway, with my discovery of quilting on the net, I came across the gorgeous Monkey'n' Round fabrics by Erin Michael, in pretty baby pastels. I simply HAD to buy a charm square pack and have been contemplating how to work them into a baby quilt ever since. I figured since Austy's baby quilt took me so long, and I didn't have another child to worry about at the time, I should start SOON for the next bub. That baby may not be for another few years yet though - I need to finish off my Masters and we need a bigger house (which almost seems IMPOSSIBLE!)
Then, in trying to understand these strange little creatures all over the fabric I googled sock monkey. And I FOUND them! Apparently they've been around for years and are a much loved child's toy. Where HAVE I been? Hmmm... Australia? LOL. SO of course, I jumped on ebay and had two pairs of original rockford red heal socks shipped over to me from America, complete with the sock monkey pattern on the front of the pack. Enough for a sock monkey to match the baby quilt, and one for Austy too. Perfect! How on earth did we grow up without them?!
And tonight I found THIS. Such an inspirational sock monkey site! So now I know I will have fun adorning these little guys with some handknits and stitched luxuries. They are all just too cute! If only I had more crafting time... the study commences again tomorrow (well Thurday our time as I'm studying through University of Michigan so won't get the lecture files till 1 day after) . So the quilting will have to be reserved for weekends and I shall get back into the knitting while I watch my lectures in the comfort of my loungeroom.
5 comments:
I love the sock monkey fabric, they actually have it at Riverlea Quilts on Unley rd...I have umm'd and ahh'd about it many times! Can't wait to see what you do with it!
The socks for the sock monkeys are very cute and what a great idea!
What are you studying that made you go to a US uni online?
Lily I am studying for GM, and GM pay for it. WIth GM mostly having North American companies, that tends to be where everything is based. The degree is a bit of a mouthful: It is a Masters in Global Automotive Manufacturing Engineering, which is the same level of study as an MBA here, but manufacturing management related. This term I am stufying "Global Manufacturing" which is all about building Global models, like our VE that can be built anywhere, and reconfigurable manufacturing so that the production system can be altered to suit new models etc, rather than making the model suit the manufacturing line. It is going to be a really challenging subject for me this time, as I am the only one in Australia studying it. In the past I have had three or four other Holden emplyees to work with, but this time I will have to have a global team for the project. Eeek! Much harder to have faith in the team when you can't see them face to face and with the time difference, all communication will probably be through email.
Woops sorry, I wrote more than I planned to - didn't mean to bore you with all that...
That website is very funny! Can't wait to see your finished monkeys.
You'll have sock monkeys eating you out of house and home soon! But they are super cute.
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