Plush Hobbes
I was just updating my Crafts page and realised that I’d neglected to document the creation of Hobbes. This was my Christmas gift to my nephew Penn. He recently discovered Calvin & Hobbes books, so I thought he would love his very own Hobbes. I’d seen and bookmarked the Instructables tutorial a long time ago. The hardest part was finding the fleece! I was calling all over Sydney with no luck. Then Issy sent me a message that she’d found some in a remnant bag she’d just bought! She brought it over and TOTALLY SAVED CHRISTMAS. Anyhoo, I used the sewing machine for most of the basic tube construction. Then it was all hand sewing: assembling the tubes, sewing on the stripes, and sewing on his face. It took ages, and I had quite a blister on my finger! (I never did get the hang of using a thimble.) It was all worth it when Penn opened it on Christmas morning though. Within 24 hours I had to do emergency surgery on a split that had opened in his tail, but that’s what Aunts do, right? Tigers are meant to Have Adventures, not sit on a shelf. We should also have such a best friend!

Some construction photos:

My ELEVENTH annual Oscar Contest is now open! If you pick the most correct answers, you’ll win a set of FOUR super-powered Avenger Monkeys! You get Captain America (with shield), Iron Monkey, Thor (with Mjölnir), and the Incredible Hulk Monkey. No, I didn’t do any of the lame human characters. If you want a monkey with an eyepatch or a bow and arrow, you can make your own. 🙂

And remember, in the event of a tie, the person that entered earlier wins. So don’t wait too long! Read on for more photos, or go here to enter.Here’s a body shot of Captain America Monkey. As you can see, he comes with a really sweet shield (painted by Mr. Snook himself!).

A close-up of Cap’n’s face.

Here’s Iron Monkey. (If you’re handy with electronics, you could make his Arc Reactor light up!)

And here’s his face. Sorry, Robert Downey Jr. not included.

Here’s Norse god Thor himself. He’s got a long red cape, flowing blonde locks, and a mystical hammer. (But don’t squish it too hard because it was sculpted out of clay, again by Mr. Snook.)

And here’s Thor’s close-up.

And lastly – HULK MONKEY SMASH!

You can’t tell from the photos, but he really is bigger than the other 3. (Unfortunately socks don’t really allow for a lot of muscle definition, so I had to embroider his pecs on.)

What are you waiting for? Go enter the contest!