Over the past month I've been challenged to stretch myself.  After using the pattern from Skunk Hollow for my little rabbit, I decided I needed to make smaller critters and make items that actually have 'form' instead of the simplicity that I have been making for so long.

I had discovered Ann Wood and her delightful small animal patterns.  I set forth using her squirrel pattern, but reforming it as a mouse.  The pattern involved two gussets and much maneuvering of fabric and thread.  Drawing the pattern, pinning, basting and then stitching these very small pieces together became a challenge.  I began with a series of nine, which quickly shrunk to six, then three.  As I started to assemble the last remaining members of this 'family' I realized that I was NOT pleased with them -- too many small errors which loomed large in my eyes.  

I have learned much about myself from this misadventure!  I give myself kudos for trying to make these little 3" mice.  It was a good experience.  However with my aging eyes and not-so-nimble fingers I've learned a valuable lesson.  At this point in my life, being true to myself is far more important than challenging myself. An interesting thing to learn.

 "Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties." - Erich Fromm

Sew Bunny

Someone has been borrowing my sewing implements.  A lost needle or pin, here or there is not a problem - happens all the time.  But to find my long held pin cushion gone, along with that pink thread that I just knew was somewhere -- well that's just too much.

Here's my little culprit -- ready and willing to confess -- but mostly because she needed some scissors!  What's a stitcher to do but share!  

And so that's where we are -- sitting here of a late Autumn afternoon stitching our little this and that's and having such a cozy time.  Hmm - looks like she has also been in my button collection.

"Buttons and patches and the cold wind blowing.

The days pass quickly when I am sewing". - Author Unknown

Changing My Ways

For quite awhile now, I have made dolls (and birds) using colored and or patterned fabric as the body.  Each one was made individually from start to finish.  And then rabbits came into my life.  Because each rabbit is made using the same coffee stained fabric for heads, bodies, legs and arms I found that I could make up a group (or is it troupe) and then add their 'decorations' later.  I can even make all of the faces at the same time, add whiskers and decorate their toes.

This probably seems like nothing to write about -- but its made a huge change in the way I prepare these little critters and I love it.  I work for a day or two and make up 5 or 6 blank rabbits at once.   They will then sit there waiting patiently for me to take one at a time from its perch.  That's the fun part, decorating, making up the stories, etc.
  

I love this new-to-me way of working and I'm looking forward to many hours ahead in the company of rabbits.

"If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." - Wayne Dyer
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The Hand Stitched Doll

May I tell you what it is like to sit here in my studio hand stitching a doll?  Music is quietly playing.  Outside it is windy and cold and pretty much miserable.  There is a heating vent at my feet.  There is fabric and needle and thread. 

If I turn off the music there is only the sound of the wind outside and the thread moving through the fabric.  The doll rests in one hand with my fingers pinching the areas to be stitched.  It is heaven, of the oldest and most valued kind.  I feel the connection of early sewers sitting in front of a fire place - perhaps only a lantern to light their way. 

Meanwhile stories float through my mind and heart making a place for this soon-to-be finished hand stitched doll. 

"A happy life must be to a great extent a quiet life, for it is only in an atmosphere of quiet that true joy dare live." - Bertrand Russell

Bits and Pieces - Doll-Wise

There are four different doll 'ideas' that I have -- names and themes that I have come up with.  Its time to put my imagination into motion.  The patterns have been created. The fabric has been chosen.  The fibers and some accessories have been stacked.

I'm ready to go.  Thanks for joining me on this fall into winter journey!

“Art is not about thinking something up. It is about the opposite – getting something down. The directions are important here.” - Julia Cameron