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| My webcam hiding frog... |
My new computer actually has a handy sliding cover that hides the lens, but my frog remains perched on top. I'd miss him if he wasn't there.
All of this is my way of saying that I have a certain fondness for frogs. From that mid-1950s singing cartoon frog (to which the title of this post is an homage) to the frog of frogs, Kermit, it's hard to resist those fast hopping critters.
So naturally, while browsing through some sewing patterns one afternoon a couple of weeks back, I stopped to take a closer look at a pattern for a soft toy frog. Two days later, Fritz the Frog was entertaining my husband and me with his various poses.
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| Fritz Frog freezing his butt on a snowbank... |
Come on, can you actually look at him and not smile?? My other half is not known for his use of the word "cute", but he used it on Fritz.
Recognize his "coat"? It's that fat quarter of Tim Holz fabric (called Bouquet) that I didn't think belonged to his Eclectic Elements collection.
The outside photo shoot was too cold for him (winter does not want to end this year), so I brought him inside for the remainder of his pics.
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| He's capable of a bit of "attitude"... |
The little dude is 7" (18cm) high when seated. Put him into a "Burt Reynolds pin-up pose" and he's 11.5" (29cm) long.
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| Fritz is naturally flexible... |
He's stuffed with fabric scraps. I was going to use some microbeads from a pillow that's bound for the trash bin, but decided against it due to the potential difficulty in handling. Just as well, as my scrap bin was getting a bit full and I managed to cull it of some fragments that'll likely never be used for anything better.
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| He knows how to relax... |
Fritz is a beginner friendly pattern and I can attest to the fact that he was quite straight-forward to put together. (I've never made a soft toy before, apart from my "not quite in the same league" sheep mascot.)
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| Returning to his snow bank pose... |
Made with only fabric (yes, one fat quarter and some felt) and thread, he's kid-friendly too. I interfaced the cotton with fusible fleece, which created some challenges for me, but they were not impossible to overcome and I like the feel of him with the extra softness.
His eyes are actually made out of fusible fleece also, while the green felt on his chest came from a small multi bundle that I purchased a while back from a dollar store.
The Fritz Frog pattern is from Angela Jardine of pcbangles in the UK. And here is the rather fun story of how I came to find this pattern.
In early March, super-blogger Daryl (I call her so because she and her blog recently celebrated a 10th anniversary) over at Patchouli Moon Studio posted about a $2 pattern sale on Makerist. When I inquired about what Makerist was, she suggested I sign up with them to try out their platform for my own pattern sales.
By the time I decided to check it out, the $2 sale was on its last hours, so I paused on the way to setting up an account to browse the patterns.
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| At his most charming... |
And that's when I found the Fritz Frog.
All in all, that's got to be the best $2 I've ever spent. So... many, many thanks to Daryl for mentioning Makerist, thanks to Makerist for having a $2 sale, and thanks to Angela for participating in said sale with such a sweet pattern (of which she has many more, by the way).
Oh, and were you waiting for the Burt Reynolds pose? Here it is...
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| Fritz can be sexy, too...! |
I think you can tell that this was a fun project!
Oh I love the poses! Such personality! And I learned something new about you, that you like frogs. I have had a fondness for Kermit since he was on The Muppets. How great you found a use for that one fabric too. Glad you browsed Makerist to see what they have. Thanks for the nice compliment of me being a super blogger, lol! Enjoy Fritz in his many poses.
ReplyDeleteI never thought about someone spying through my camera - yikes! I have a similar frog who usually hangs out in the bathroom with most of the rest of my frogs. He had fallen recently and I hadn't yet picked him up. He now has a job! And I will be able to see him more often.
ReplyDeleteI like Fritz, too, and am jealous of your find. Going to Mekerist next to check it out.
Thanks for both.
You're welcome and thank you so much for stopping by and sharing your thoughts. (Unfortunately, you're not set up so that I can answer you directly via email, so I do hope you come back to see these responses.) Nice to hear from another "frog fan" too!
DeleteFunny about the webcam thing. I read on AVG's site that it's been reported that even Mr. Zuckerberg and Mr. Comey (two names that are currently hard to avoid in the news, at least on this side of the world) put tape over their webcams!