~:: December Making ::~

Sewing machine, organic bits of this and that, inorganic bits of this and that –

Here is a little deer.  I’ve been wanting to make one for a long time.  Last year, I finally did plenty of things I’d wanted to do for a long time.  This year, not so much, till I did this guy.  He (if he gets antlers) or she (if he doesn’t) is my prototype.  For once, the pattern worked right the first time.  I was surprised and down right pleased when I got him turned inside out and stuffed.  His legs are bits of the trimmed wildish Potawatomi plum trees from the back yard; the bark is smooth and dark and makes very nice legs.

Deer one and two together.  Two got a coat of paint and is definitely a doe.

I think she’s lovely.  The light in the room could have been better.

She’s good natured, too.

I decorated a couple of stools, too.  By this time, I was coming down with some odd cold (thank you, Jane, for the very effective garlic pills). I’d been planning to do a stool for Rachel all year, but G kept hinting – sadly, knowing I’d never remember him in all the rest of the stuff I was doing.

To get his done before Christmas I had to do this crazy wait-till-G-leaves-then-drag-all-my-paints-out, then keep an ear out for him to return, then HIDE EVERYTHING –  which was helped along by the fact that I was also doing Rachel, so some the mess was explained quite innocently.  It was actually good that I was too sniffly and coughy and worn out to go to church or family parties.  I magnanimously put up a brave I-don’t-need-nursing front (I really didn’t need it – I was just contagious) and sent him to these events without me, then spent the time feverishly coughing and snivelling and wood-burning and painting.  Even Leslie and Sterling were in on the subterfuge,  calling to warn me when they started home from the family party with G in tow.

Done for Rachel, to remind her of her chickens and her mountains and her horses and the sheep in the back field – and everything.

For G – it’s supposed to be a brown trout, but I sort of messed up the coloring.

The coyote among sheep here is a character I used to draw a lot when I was in grad school, and for several years of the first of our marriage.  The sheep are there because I find that I love doing sheep.

The dogs are silly – and there’s even a real dog hair forever preserved under the varnish.

For Scooter, I made an Apostle Peter suit. Took me most of a day to pull it off, but it ended up kinda cool.  It came complete with a fish , since – well, you know.

This little dress, I whipped up in a couple of hours – to my TREMENDOUS delight.  I used this tutorial. The result was very satisfying. I embellished the bodice with one of the little birds from the scraps.  I’d also made a fish for Andy – two more fishy presents.

There were a couple of other things I messed around with making during the month.  Mostly, it didn’t go beyond the mess part.  But one last thing worked out to be a lot of fun:  last year, I found this cool piece in the magazine Christmas Ideas about designer, Karin Lidbeck‘s wooden snowflakes. I’d bought a bunch of the wood bits from the craft stores over the year meaning to make some of these, and I finally sat down during December to mess with them. There will be better pictures of these later.