And last but not least, there were magnets and necklace pendants in various shapes made using leftover paint skins. This size of magnet was new for me, and the glue gave me trouble (you can see some air pockets & rippling of the paint skins in the photo). For the pendants, I simply ran out of time.

The last painting I considered donating was one I call "Phoenix." The reason I didn't submit this is the simplest of all - my husband loves it and wanted it for his office at work. 😄

Veering away from crochet, I had 3 other paintings I considered as auction possibilities, but I wasn't sure how well multiple paintings would do, so I stuck with one ("Catalyst").

Both of these paintings are fluid acrylic art inspired by a technique by Molly's Artistry that she calls "turbulence."

Surprise! There were supposed to be more Pride flag Buy It Now bees - specifically the nonbinary and ace flags. Unfortunately, I ran out of time to make as many as would've been necessary for BIN. (You might be sensing a theme if you've made it this far.😂)

Next up, a celestial dragon! This is the biggest plushie I've ever made (about 4' long) and so many pieces! My sewing improved by this time, but not to a point that felt good enough for the auction. Another project where, unfortunately, all I see are the mistakes. (Pattern by Red Mill's Crochet)

Feeling nostalgic after the Yip Yips, I tried out this reversible Cupcake Cutie that reminded me of a toy from when I was a kid. I'd thought to offer this as a custom auction item, but I wanted to show some options, and I ran out of time to make others. (Pattern by The Crochet Lady)

Doing a 180, I decided to make a grim reaper. However, I understuffed the body & overstuffed the head, making him kinda wobbly. I also struggled to get the hood to fall correctly. It got to the point where all I could see were the mistakes in him, so I set him aside. (Pattern by AlterEgoCrochet)

Sticking with the cute critter theme, I made a capybara next. I wasn't sure he was big enough to be an auction item, and he was too big to make enough for the Buy It Now option. (Pattern by PlushieCo)

I decided to venture into larger plushies next, starting with a guinea pig. I didn't love the feet in the original pattern and wanted to find an alternative, but never managed to come up with one I liked. So for now he's just kind of a tube without a nose 😂 (Original pattern by Sailor Bun)

My sister asked for a Yip Yip, which inspired that as a possible donation item. But my preferred yarn for them made them...much smaller than the original pattern, which isn't great for a bag. I also wasn't sure if it was too niche for anyone else to be interested. (Pattern by Carissa Browning)

Having figured out I had a lot to learn when it came to sewing pieces onto my plushies, I turned to another little no-sew pattern, this time a chonky little polar bear. I actually really liked this pattern and planned to make more, but I forgot amidst my other projects.

I tried a little elephant next, but I struggled to sew the ears and trunk on correctly. I might've gotten it eventually, but there were other patterns to try. (Pattern by Cute Crochet)

I turned to octos next. I tried a version where I put a stress ball in the body of the octopus, but it didn't work with the safety eyes. The decorative, desk style worked better, but I ended up turning my attention to other plushies. (Patten #1 by Sweet Softies, pattern #2 by CrochetByGenna)

Then I gave axolotls a go! Lots of crocheters consider these fast makes and good for markets, but I struggled to get into a good rhythm with them. (Pattern by CrocheyByGenna)

I tried an angry coffee mug next, but I couldn't get the coffee part to work correctly and had to modify it to something that wasn't really time efficient for making several of the same thing. (Original pattern by FalseBubbles)

Then I switched to amigurumi plushies. I started with dinos, but I couldn't get the spikes to be consistent on the stegos and the bronto kept falling over.

I tried a throw blanket next, but it took so long for some of the colors to come in and there were so many ends to weave in that I never managed to finish it. Those 2 remaining skeins will be part of the piece someday!

The very first thing I made was a blanket. It was the first one I'd ever made and the tension was a little wonky, so into storage it went.

My painting and plushies from the @romancingthevote.bsky.social auction are off on their adventures to their new homes! There was some Tetris-ing (the small box rows are 4 deep), but got 'em all in one post office trip!