hop, hippety hop, hippety hop.

This little chap hopped into mind around 7pm one evening. I was to meet with friends the next day, one of whom had just announced to much excitement that she was expecting her first child. I wanted to make something small just to say “congratulations”, and so after the children were in bed, I sat down in front the tv, and sketched out a rough pattern. A big bag of scraps suddenly turned our charcoal carpet into a sea of riotous colour, and the eyes on the lounge started to take an interest. “Um. Whatcha makin’?” “A softy” “A what?” “A fabric teddy bear”. “Oh, like the chicken?” “Yes, like Cerise. Except it’s a bunny, not a chicken. And it’s not mischievous”. “And you are doing the whole thing tonight?” – complete with incredulous look as if he is doubting my sanity. Again. At which point I told him to quit bugging me and just watch the tv. I played with fabric layout, and started trimming the pieces for the front. The back I wanted a different patachwork, but being too lazy to walk all the way back to the studio for either a)more paper for a new pattern or b)stickytape to stick the old one back together, I just lay it together on the floor, and sketched out the new lines. Prompting more questions.

A quick 30 minutes at the machine and I had the while thing sewn up. I stuffed it with the “help” of Butterfly. Ever tried to use toy fill with a 1 year old? Yeah. Our kitchen bench wouldn’t have looked out of place on the lawn on one of the frosty mornings we’ve had lately. But it was stuffed and eyes were attached. And then. Then I hit the biggest issue of all. “MINE!!!!! Mine bun! Cuggle mine pease!”.

I see more softies in my future. My very very near future.