Labor of Love

I love hand-made valentines! Each year we eagerly thumb through our February edition of Family Fun magazine and choose one of their Valentine cards to make. Sometimes we bite off more than we can chew and wind up bitter about the entire holiday. This year we chose just right..little labels to affix to pencils reading "You're All Write" for Julia's class and little labels saying "Bear Hugs!" from Mimi attached to baggies of Teddy Grahams and Gummy Bears.

Last year Mark and I were up till midnight making bumblebees out of pipe cleaner for the girls' valentines, the girls having gone to bed hours before having made about 2 cards apiece. That sucked. So last night I was feeling pretty smug about how we all worked together to create the cards and had a blast finishing them with time to spare. It's in those heady moments of self-satisfaction that the most hair-brained of my ideas present themselves, replacing any iota of common sense I might have otherwise possessed. That's when I decided I just had to create something for Julia and Mimi myself...not just a paltry card but something better...a grander reflection of my love...a cute keepsake...a project I had never undertaken...involving skills I entirely lack...I decided to sew for the second time in 20 years.

I had found this super cute pattern for sweet felt scottie dogs (click here for a link) and began my work at 9:0pm. At 1:00am I had finished both. I couldn't have been prouder. Tired, but definitely proud.

I don't often let little things get in my way. I wasn't sure I had all the supplies, hadn't the foggiest notion how long it would take to construct the dogs, didn't know if my girls would even like them. Yet I got right down to business. This is, for better and sometimes for worse, how I make stuff. It's a risky business--a bit of a crap shoot and the closest I ever come to gambling.

How'd it go? Well, I had to re-do more than a couple seems after making some idiotic rookie mistakes like piecing together the scrap of fabric between the ears backwards, but I think the sweetie in the pink collar turned out great. Her red collared twin, however, has some issues. Take a look at that hind end.

For reasons unknown to me and despite numerous stuffing rearrangements and felt reconfigurations, that back leg just won't go down. This one is clearly a boy.