Let us put by some hour of every day for holy things...

I will not doubt, though all my ships at sea
Come drifting home with broken masts and sails.
I will believe the Hand which never fails,
From seeming evil, worketh good for me.
And though I weep because those sails are tattered,
Still will I cry, while my best hopes lie shattered:
I trust in Thee.
--Ann Kimmel

Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labor of the olive shall fail and the fields shall yield no meat, the flock shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. Habakkuk 3:17-18

Monday, June 23, 2014

Frittering Away My Time As Usual


I've been somewhat under the weather for the past several days, having managed to catch some annoying summer cold or mild 'flu bug. While I was down for the count, I received a message from an Etsy customer who'd ordered a tiny felt zebra some weeks ago, but which has apparently gone lost in the mail somewhere. The post office says it's been delivered, but she's never seen it, and she was wondering if I possibly had another one.

Here's the one she bought that never arrived:

Little Plush Zebra 
I found him at a local antique store, in a basket of small, inexpensive items displayed on the counter and thought he was cute. I enjoyed having him for a while and then eventually I decided to list him in the shop. Here he is from the front--you can see he's a bit of a flatty, having only the two legs:
 

Since I didn't have the energy to do much else over the weekend, I decided I might as well play around with making a similar zebra. I had a bit of scrap felt and some black yarn and embroidery floss. I sketched a quick pattern for the head/body...


 
...and then decided to try making him more like a traditional stuffed toy with four legs by making an extra piece:
I stitched along the marked line so that it opened up like a little book. This is the underbelly and inner leg part. It was much easier sewing the whole together than I expected. I used blanket stitch and my handy needle, not bothering with the sewing machine. I used a bit of wool stuffing I had leftover from a project I made last summer, filling the legs as I sewed them, then the body, and finally the head. Along the way I added a yarn tail. The original zebra had black fringe trim for the mane, but I had to contrive with embroidery floss which is why my new fellow looks like he has a case of alopecia. Still, after slapping together some ears, gluing on googly eyes, embroidering on a nose, and drawing stripes with a permanent marker, I felt rather pleased with how he turned out:

 
He was fun to make. Easy-peasy! I may get inspired and see what else I can come up with...  And then again, I may not! I seem to have more ideas than follow-through these days. So be it.

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