But this post has nothing to do with him. I have a couple of friends who have adopted “Just keep swimming” as a mantra, and that inspired me to make a small plush regal tang (also called a blue tang, but that name is used for multiple species) for a keychain.

After looking at Google Images for a while, and then through my fabric stash, I went to the store, made a couple of versions, and ended up with this:

An amalgam of craft techniques are represented. Although the felt is acrylic, I needle-felted the tail and fins onto the body, with some extra wool on top. The eyes are shank buttons pushed through a small slit in the body felt, with a second button on the inside of each to keep them from pulling out again. I had to hand-sew the region nearest the eye, but the rest of the perimeter was sewn by machine. After trimming my seam allowance –perhaps past the best point– I painted the navy blue details and dripped some Fray-Check on the stitching that wasn’t painted. I opened a small hole for the keyring with a large needle.

It’s pretty substantial for a keychain, but it could be hung up elsewhere too.

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This cat was originally labeled “Miff Miffer” but by popular demand (read: how everyone remembered it) it was changed to “Miff Miffler”. One of the movie night organizers later named his wireless network Miff Miffler, and now he even has a Facebook page.

I’ve been wanting to make a plush Miff Miffler ever since, and after scaling back to a much smaller and less-perfected version than originally planned I was able to make one for Matt for Christmas. Here he is licking the Christmas tree.

His legs are big and wonky and his face and head aren’t quite proportioned right, but for something I made with a limited number of drafts I’m pretty happy with him. He’s made of acrylic felt and fiberfill. Gussets in his upper back and lower belly help give him the potato shape of the original, and his eyes are made with a rounded, short-tailed fly stitch. Actually several of them, on top of each other. The layers of his ears are glued together as well as sewn into the head together.

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Before Christmas I had an Open Hours at the Sew-op about last minute gifts. No one showed, so I used one of the ideas provided by my Upper Valley Fiber Crafts co-blogger Jenn to make this guy:

He’s from Mix and Match Monsters from It’s Always Autumn. I left him at the Sew-op to be a sample for Jenn’s last minute gifts Open Hours a few days later, and in the hustle and bustle of Christmas forgot about him entirely until I was back at the Sew-op today (and didn’t realize how much he has in common with the monster of the same shape on the website until looking it up tonight).

Incidentally, that pink button was just lying around in the Sew-op, and I was amazed what it did for the character. Just see side by side:

Personality………………… ALL the personality.

He plays the rare 8-string bass. I asked my husband if he wanted him, and he said yes, “but I didn’t want to just ask if I could have him.”

One more shot with better light and camera. I only had my flip phone with me for the above.

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Instead, I typed a boldface pi in the largest font size LaTeX makes, blew it up to maximum magnification in the pdf viewer, screenshot it, used iPhoto to print it out as an 8×10, drew a half-inch margin around it and used that as a pattern. When I sewed I actually only used a 3/8″ seam allowance, and if I were to make more I would probably adjust the pattern so the pi is not so spindly. I would also leave the top as the opening for turning and stuffing, even though stitching it closed there would be more visible – the first one I made I left the inseam of the left leg open, and getting the stuffing into the right leg was very difficult. In the latter two I left the top of the inseams and the bit of crossbar connecting them open, and the closed-up corners are not as neat as they could be.

Pi in the Sky and Cherry Pi:

Lemon Meringue Pi and my original crochet pi:

The fabric was all from my stash, including the cheesecloth meringue puffs. Pumpkin, apple, and pizza pi are other obvious choices, and I’ve thought about finding a lime-printed fabric and extending the crossbar of the pi to the right with a trefoil-shaped end to make key lime pi. Moon pi would be adorable. There are apparently several kinds of velvet pi. I may be missing other easy ones, but it seems to get abstract fast – chicken pot pi? Mud pi? Mincemeat pi? Humble pi? Cow pi?

I’m just glad I didn’t got through with my original plan of crocheting pi from furry yarn.

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