Category: sewing

Calculated or Coincidence

July 19, 2020

I used to believe that toys came to life when you weren’t watching them. All right I’ll be honest I still do. I have proof. I make dolls, maybe you’d call them creatures. For years when I got home from work I’d find them, frozen with guilt. Sometimes they’s meet me at the door, sometimes they’d stray outside, sometimes they would occupy my favorite chair. I’d even caught them mid climb out the window. Yes, caught in the act. Sometimes I’d find them pair off and cuddle up. Othertimes, they might be in inappropriate poses. Enough about that! What’s that story or movie where the toys come to life at night and get up to all sorts of hi-jinx? You’re right there were lots of them. My favorite was Pinocchio. Recently there’s been Toy Story, Fantasia, The Nutcracker and lots more to prove my point.

Rereading my last few posts, I finally put 1 and 1 together. I have a suspect for the degradation of my gum tree. He’s not a reindeer, he’s a rabbit in disguise… and he was hungry when he got here from the North Pole. What do you think?

COVID Christmas Creature

July 18, 2020

Just flew in form the North Pole

While I was sorting the fabric, I rediscovered lots of Christmas prints and wondered what Christmas,post COVID, might be like this year. Will we all be free of it? Will the virus be under control or will we still be on this awful roller coaster surfing the waves? I really wasn’t feeling optimistic enough to launch myself into a complex Christmas project. As I was pondering where to start, the little guys behind me suggested I make them another friend, after all it gets pretty lonely living up in an attic studio, the pattern is simple and another reindeer for Christmas might be useful.

So….I followed the usual process. Here comes Reindeer no 4.

I gathered the pattern pieces and… as I make a ‘doll’ it usually starts to take on its own characteristics. Rarely, do I slavishly follow the original pattern. This one though really had a mind of his own. He had just dodged the border controls and escaped from the North Pole. Apparently, Santa’s mob are very concerned about the virus too. Yes, even there. They have it too. There is a lot of dissent about working conditions in the next 6 months. He wasn’t looking forward to Christmas 2020, in fact, it was already taking its toll. He was exhausted. Between lock downs, there was a lot of travel and preparation. Sourcing the materials that they need for the workshops was becoming stressful. Santa was admitting to being more than a little anxious. The elves were all hoping that they’d stay in good health. Some of them were finding it difficult to think about spreading joy and presents. I mean, think about it. The risks involved in landing on all the roofs. Someone had to go down all those chimneys. Who knows what germs might be lurking below. Did they really have to go to every continent? Even…? This one just couldn’t take it anymore. He needed a break. (Don’t we all?), so he dropped in to stay with the other lads for a while. I must say he looked in bad shape.

He seems to be settling in well, enjoying the company of the others. Hopefully he’ll make a full recovery and disappear, with his new buddies, to help Santa with the Christmas rush.