Sock puppet pigeons...

I find my job frustrating at times - mostly because I have very little time at home at the moment and seem to be bogged down in office politics and jobs that seem to take forever to complete.

However, this week I had a minor blessing in the fact that a pigeon needed to be made for a play... And it needed to look a bit kooky...

I got some inspiration for the pigeon from the sock monkey I made a few months back. And bought a cheap pair of knee high socks in grey and set to work.

I find the best place to start when trying to make a sock animal is to cut the foot part of the sock first and then add to it with the rest of the sock.

The toe top was manipulated into the head and then the bottom tail was then formed by some creative cutting and sewing.

The two wings were made with a few cuttings from the socks too...

I stuck on eyes, beak and pipe cleaner legs and secured them with silicone glue as they had a weeks worth of show to survive.

So this is Duncan... Long story but he was named by one of my work collegues...

Has anybody else out there made sock puppet pigeons?!

Monkeying around...

Now that my family have realised that I love sewing I get all kinds of mini projects as gifts which is great.

This Christmas I received a make your own sock monkey kit from my parents.

The kit comes complete with thread and needle and really simple pictorial instructions that were easy to follow.

It was a nice little project to do of an evening, in front of the tv when you need to keep your hands busy - I find that I need this a lot!

The project took me about a week to complete (my young daughter hampered some of my attempts to sew!)

Now the completed monkey is sat on my daughters room along with the copious numbers of other stuffed animals.

I want to make another one at some point using some different socks but using the same pattern. A fun project for a rainy day or a dull evening!