Dino nuggets, eggs, and Chihuahuas

I usually try to take weekends off, but on Friday my brain wouldn’t let go of the fact that Shannon Minky Cuddle 3 Solid in Gold looks like chicken nugget breading. (Golden as well, if you prefer a slightly less-well-cooked nugget.) So on Saturday, I released my first October design.

[Dino Nugget Charms]

Ironically, that came about because I was brainstorming more variations on the upcoming dragon egg charm. These are the weird things my brain does when I turn it loose to come up with ideas, I guess. So I still just have the two versions, at least one of which will see freebie release this week (early access on Ko-Fi.

And then on Sunday, someone asked about making appliques with free programs, so I used one of the dinos and whipped up a quick little tutorial on applique designs in Ink/Stitch. Gotta grab a gold terry washcloth and a toddler shirt to make a demonstrator, though I have zero toddler relatives to bestow one on at the moment.

And speaking of free releases, the featured image on the applique is the face applique from the Kawaii Sunflower, which comes out of early access this week.

Since it was a rainy weekend, I kept on playing on the machine. I pulled out a design from 2019, back when I optimistically had a plan to drop ten patterns in the shop (oh you sweet summer child) all at once. I listed eight of them, of which I have released… one.

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    elephant (with variations for African, Asian, or mastodon) with flopsie body
    pug (with variations for solid color or mask/ears) with flopsie body
    French bulldog (with variations for solid, masked, or bicolor) with flopsie body
    chihuahua (with variations for solid or bicolor) with standing body
    fox with sitting body
    raccoon with sitting body
    cat (with variations for solid, points, or tuxedo) with standing body
    horse/unicorn/pegasus with standing body

The pug, of course, is out there, and the Frenchie is just waiting for me to wrap up a couple pictures.

The Chihuahua… is a lot, instruction-wise, and I’m really re-thinking the complexity of my designs when tiny things like the dino nuggets have a much better return. This makes me sad, because I love the challenge of “you can do that in an embroidery machine?” But I have the feeling a lot of people look at that and go “oh, I can’t do that.”

So today I’m working on another request: a manatee, on the order of the Sea Otter. Seems an appropriate thing to do with the remnants of Hurricane Ian soaking us; I’ll probably find a charity for Fiona/Ian recovery for the proceeds to go to.