the beastie!
At the end of September, I received a delightful email request from Collyn (pronounced Colleen) in Canada. She and her best friend came up with a small creature, nicknamed “The Beastie”. In her words, “this furry creature is a symbol of all the wonder and amazement over the small experiences in life that only children and kids could feel”. Since they attend separate universities now, they send letters back and forth to each other (because snail mail is awesome!) and they often doodle the little guy on notes and such.
For Christmas*, she decided a plush beastie would be the absolute perfect gift for her friend. Of course, I was absolutely flattered to be chosen for the challenge.
She sent me a few scanned doodles, along with his preferred color: gray with pink and yellow accents. I spent a few weeks hunting down the most perfectly soft fur I could find, and then it was sewing time.
From the tips of his stripey horns to the bottom of his soft belly, it sure was hard to let him go! I’d forgotten how much I absolutely love fleece applique, how fun it is to sew on little details and make sure everything is exactly perfect. I hadn’t done anything of the sort since Bloo, or the goomba before him. I’d forgotten that, even though I can’t draw, I can make anything as long as I’ve got some scissors. This was a great stretching project for me, a great creative exercise.
But of course, above all, it felt so good to be able to give these friends a real, soft, huggable beastie.
*side note… she asked me to start on a Christmas present in september! so awesome! it’s nice to know there are people in the world who know how long things can take :)
