Gecko

I made this gecko for a friend. It was to be a gift for a young lady who was heading off to college for the first time. Sadly, she would have to leave her real pet gecko at home because the dorm had rules about such things.

The first part of my "Making a Gecko" project involved Googling a gecko. Once I found a good picture, I drew one of my own. Then it was off to the fabric store to find something gecko-colored. This is actually my second gecko. On my first attempt I tried to make individual toes, but that ended up being much too difficult. I think the fan look to the feet gives a good enough rendition, and it was much easier to do. Before stuffing the legs, I added a few plastic pellets to provide a little weight. I'm happy with this gecko and almost hated to give him up. He looks pretty content on my watering can.

The gecko-making project brought back memories of a great trick my husband and I played on our son long ago. When he was about ten, he had a pet garter snake that he kept in a glass aquarium in his room. One Saturday, while he was out playing in the neighborhood, my husband found another garter snake while mowing the lawn. He quickly grabbed it and ran in to put it in the aquarium with the other one. Later, when son came home, we told him we couldn't figure out what had happened, but it seemed that his snake had somehow multiplied. Needless to say, when he saw the two snakes, he was totally baffled. This son is now almost 24, and I'm pretty sure that was the last time we ever put one over on him.