quietdormouse

[quietdormouse]

Happy birthday trans people!!!!!! ✨💞🥰💙🫶🌟💕🦎🏳️‍⚧️💞the world is better with you in it ❤️

#trans #pride #lizard

[quietdormouse]

I've been sitting on this pattern and tutorial for a while now! so time to finally share it with you! I was lamenting that the jellycat pip and sugar mice were long retired and difficult to get your hands on unless you are willing to pay much more than they retailed for each mouse, so i decided to try and eyeball a pattern and make some myself! they're not exact as i only used constructed visual references but they're close! please note that this pattern set is intended for personal use only. Rough tutorial under the cut!

This pattern is for printing onto A4 but you can check your scale with the measurements I've provided or just play around with how big or small you want to try and make them! i didn't really get any wip photos of pip mouse but it's method is largely the same with the nose being the major change, which i will detail in text in the instructions below.

for sugar mouse i would recommend using polar fleece as it will act the right way for the ears to do their squishy marshmallow looking thing. but minky should also work or other similar fabrics! for pip mouse if you can find a similar curly looking fabric with a thin backing that'll be ideal but fleece will also work well, you just wont get the furry texture, you want a fabric with a little bit of stretch to it. i however would not recommend fabrics like felt or non stretch cotton for these guys as it's likely to not take shape the same as there's no give to the fabric.

once you have printed out the pattern and cut the pieces in your fabric, you'll want to sew the ears up and turn them inside out, then put them aside for later. just leave them as is for now but here you can see i was playing around with pinching the turned through ear into shape.

Then moving on, sew the back pieces together along the spine and front of face. you then want pull the bottom open ends apart gently and place the open sides flat up against the base piece so that they're aligned, it can be good to pin this in place so it doesn't shift.

then, get your tail rope, and tie a knot at either end, placing the base of it inbetween the seam at the butt so that it'll sit in the right place, then sew the seam up directly with the tail in place, make sure you sew through the rope to secure it and make sure it doesnt shift. Sew around the bases seam leaving a hole in one side so that you can then turn your mouse through.

once turned through you will want to stuff your mouse with polyfill quite a bit so it takes shape! i like to put weighted beans in mine for extra effect, you can use dried rice or wheat too, just sew a little circle pouch a bit smaller that the mouses base with scrap fabric and fill and seal! then insert into the turning hole while you stuff. once stuffing is done you can sew the hole up with a ladder stitch. the weight from the beads will allow your mouse to sit up quite well.

next you will want to get those ears you put aside, take each corner and bring the ends together in the middle. then sew them gently together at the ends with one or two stitches in about the same spot. you want them to look 3d so dont sew the ends to the back of the ear, just end to end so they meet in the center.

Then pin the ears in place on the head

then you need to ladder stitch the ears in place while they're pinned so they dont shift around, go all the way around the outside edge of each.

now you're almost done! next they just need a face! sugar mouse only needs embroidery by way of a french knot for both the eyes and nose (you can find good video tutorials on how to sew a french knot online), pip mouse will also need a french knot for the eyes but has a separate process for it's nose. (for the pip mouses nose you will need to leave the marked nose hole open and then stitch the nose fabric to the square nose backing in line with the dotted direction on the pattern, (it should look kind of baggy when it's unstuffed) sew it up completley with no hole, then cut a tiny slit in the backing and add polyfill there before closing with a basic stitch, then you ladder stitch the nose directly to the marked nose hole)

in order to hide the embroidery anchor knots i find the best way is to start by going down through the middle of the ears and then coming back up where you want the eye to be, and then going back down and up through the ear for the finishing knot, as it creates a very easy cover for them and looks nice and clean!

then you have yourself a little buddy!

haha they're great to squish! if you use this pattern i'd love to see your results!

#mouse #pattern

[quietdormouse]

REMINDER TO NOT TALK TO THE GUARDIAN ABOUT DIY HRT IF ASKED ❗️❗️❗️

Susanna Rustin is a huge TERF too, and a quick search of her name on The Guardian brings up repeated proof.

[quietdormouse]

these pics i took came out really good!! :0 pride flag dragon enamel pins on my etsy!

#dragon #pride #pins

[quietdormouse]

free resources to write a novel in 2024

hello hello! it's me, rach!

as the new year approaches, many of us set goals and resolutions - myself included. one of my goals for 2024 is to write a novel (I've been procrastinating on this for quite a long time now). i assume that some of you might have the same goal, that's why I'm writing this post today.

over 2023 i've been releasing some freebies for authors just like me, so I thought I could compile my favorites in this post. hope you find this useful :)

1) the writer's workbook

this workbook has over 60 exercises to help you develop characters, scenarios, etc. if you're ever stuck, I'm pretty sure this workbook will be your best friend.

2) author's corner (notion template)

this is the most downloaded freebie in my shop! it is a notion dashboard with everything you need to organize your writing and has some templates included (like scrivener)!!

3) another notion template

this one has two themes you can choose from: cottage-core and dark academia. they're very similar to the previous template, but this one is more recent and I added some new features. feel free to explore both and pick the one you like the most.

4) the author's journal

this is a cute printable with 20 pages that will help you stay on track and manage your social media accounts as a writer who shares their work online. you can also register what you're currently writing and your personal research and resources.

5) plan your book printable

this is a 6-page printable for you to fill out and plan your book easily and effectively.

6) excel sheet to organize tasks & word-count

this is a simple excel sheet, but it is very effective for keeping track of your tasks & word-count of your novels. also, it is 100% customizable to your liking!

that's all for now! feel free to explore my gumroad shop where I have plenty of freebies to grab! also, don't forget to subscribe so that you never miss any opportunity to get a goodie for free :)

hope this post was useful!

have a nice day,

rach

#writing #resource

[quietdormouse]

That time I got my gender assigned by an eagle

Based on true events

#trans #comic

[quietdormouse]

Why does basil smell so fucking amazing

#basil #fun fact

[quietdormouse]

there’s a website where you put in two musicians/artists and it makes a playlist that slowly transitions from one musician’s style of music to the other’s

it’s really fun

[quietdormouse]

[quietdormouse]

Wait, don't let Merlin escape from Morgana so soon! Let Arthur attach himself to that bloody scrap of Merlin's jacket. Let Arthur keep it in his pocket every day, then pull it out each night to hold it and whisper "I will find you. I promise." Let him lose hope and not be the same person again. Let him turn to magic.

#bbc merlin #writing prompt

[quietdormouse]

Oh, my rats!

/made to order/

#rat #art

[quietdormouse]

— written for @merlinmicrofic . Merlin (gen). Theme: Tower.

'When I'm gone, build a tower out of my bones.'

AO3 LINK

#bbc merlin #fic #poetry

[quietdormouse]

All rats are trans!

#trans #rat #art #pride

[quietdormouse]

Writing a novel when you imagine all you stories in film format is hard because there’s really no written equivalent of “lens flare” or “slow motion montage backed by Gregorian choir”

#writing ref

[quietdormouse]

Emperor penguins!! This is my favorite bird sketch I’ve done so far :,)

#penguin #art

[quietdormouse]

About the AO3 "No Guest Comments for a while" warning

If you're not following any of AO3's social media accounts you might be in the dark as to what kind of "spam comments" have engendered this banner at the top of the site:

These spam comments have been posted about a great deal on the AO3 subreddit for the past couple of days. Initially they comprised a bunch of guest (logged out users) bot comments that insulted authors by suggesting they were using AI and not writing their own fics. Some examples, from the subreddit:

But it then escalated to outright graphic porn images and gifs being posted in comments, again by logged out 'Guest' accounts. Obviously, I'm not going to give examples of those, but between these two bot infestations, AO3 has clearly decided to act and has temporarily closed the ability to post comments for users who are not logged in with an AO3 account.

Unfortunately, this means that genuine readers who don't have an AO3 account won't be able to leave comments on fics that they enjoy.

If you are a genuine reader who doesn't yet have an AO3 account, I strongly suggest getting yourself on the waiting list for one. More and more AO3 authors are now locking their fics down to registered users only - either due to these bot comments or concerns about AI scraping their work - which means you're probably missing out on a lot of great stuff.

Hopefully guest commenting will be enabled again at some point soon, but I suggest not waiting until then. Get yourself on that list.

Wait times are going to be longer than usual at the moment, due to the current Wattpad purge [info on Fanlore | Wattpad subreddit thread], but if you're in line, then your invite will come through eventually.

Update: There's now a Megathread about this on the AO3 subreddit.

[quietdormouse]

do you have any tips for making a character more interesting and for making a morally grey character?

How to write a morally grey character

@creativepromptsforwriting on IG | do not repost!

There are good guys and there are bad guys. But the world is not just black and white and neither are everyone's morals.

What makes someone morally grey?

You could also call it morally ambiguous. They are real people with their own ideas and motivations and the possibility to change their ways when there is enough incentive. They are neither pure good, nor pure evil.

Which just makes them human and to an extend that includes everyone. So in fiction, this is often a character that is unpredictable, the reader can't be sure on what side they are on. It could change.

How to create them

decide on a balance between good traits and bad traits

give them understandable motives

give them motivations that would make them work for the good cause and motivations that would make them work for the bad ones

give them a moral compass and a set of rules that they would usually follow

but also give them personal goals that interfer with that

show them having to make decisions that can lead to real consequences

Tips

don't make them overly mysterious, the reader should understand where they are coming from with their decisions

but you can create surprise by giving two good and believable options to choose and make the readers be on the edge of their seat to find out which one they choose

decide between the character making active choices or the character passively letting things happen that puts them in both the good and the bad box

Examples:

A character who sees the good that the hero is doing and wants to support them in saving the city, but doing that would interfer with their personal goal (saving their family for example) - the reader can't be sure which way they will choose

A character is generally doing good things, but when something bad happens, they tolerate it and don't stop it, passively being on the side of evil.

- Jana

#writing ref