It's time for a cool change

I mention in the little sidebar over there that I enjoy sewing for my children and for friends/ family.  I was first taught to sew by my grandmother on my mama's side.  This wonderfully patient woman would sit me on her lap and let me push the fabric under the machine foot, gently telling me how to move the pieces or place my fingers.  She let me dig through her scraps and pick out fabrics for teddy bear shirts, doll clothes, and all sorts of small accessories.  I would describe what I wanted the final product to look like and then I would listen to her talk her way through creating the brown paper bag pattern.  I didn't really learn to sew on my own until later, but the love of the craft, and the game of creating the pieces was ingrained during those long weekends spent in her care.  (It's also when I learned to love Pop Tarts, but I know better than to tell my Mama that!)

It was these memories that made me look at the early drawings of Jazz.  She started drawing bunnies (as she called them) by age three. A certain style emerged - the pointed W type ears, the round body, and the little ball feet.  Well, one day I embroidered that bunny drawing (a la Soulemama style) into a bookmark for her Nana (sadly, no picture to share), but I also sewed a bunny for her from the Betz White pattern.  Then another.  Uh, and a crochet one or two, as well.  Then Irish Jig came along and I was informed that she needed her own bunnies (guess who informed me...).  So more were made.  I also used the Longthread's bowling bunny pattern with success (just filled with stuffing).  And then I realized maybe there is such a thing as too. many. bunnies.  This picture isn't even the whole group.  I am sure there are a few under the bed or the couch.

So I decided to take a different route this past Christmas.  It was definitely time for a change.  I would try a new soft toy for Irish Jig's Mama gift.  I looked around for ideas, then decided on this:

It's Henny Penny and her chicks from Anna Maria Horner's Handmade Beginnings book.  It's adorable!  I used my favorite batik prints in soft pastel yellows for Penny, then used various pink, blue, purple, and green batiks for the chicks.  But, now that I look at her, I ask myself is she really that far removed from a bunny?  Should I expand my horizons and sew, maybe, a horse?  Or a dinosaur?  Maybe I need more inspiration.  Good thing there's Pinterest to get lost in for hours.