Wednesday Worktable. Elephants.

This was my morning worktable. I had such high hopes to complete a few of these today. All the supplies ready and waiting.

Looked up how to do the blanket stitch on YouTube to make sure I'm doing it correctly.

Usually, the first time you make (or do) something is the hardest. Knowing that, the first elephant was cut out.

Eye placement marked. Safety eyes attached. Right sides pinned together.

The first problem reared its ugly head at the sewing machine. The eyes did not allow the fabric to move freely around the presser foot. Easily rectified by raising the needle and moving on. The area around the eyes was seamed by hand.

The second problem came when turning the cloth right-side-out. Thank goodness there were some bamboo kabob skewers in the cupboard.

Once it was right-side out, it was apparent that the eyes were too large for the toy.

Nonetheless, stuffing proceeded... and proceeded... and proceeded... It would have taken forever without that bamboo skewer!

The tail was attached. The last opening closed.

Ears pinned to the body. Crud. They're a bit large.

In for a penny, in for a pound.

This was the first effort. It took about an hour and a half - yes, ninety minutes! - to complete this little thing to this almost finished stage. Simply couldn't bring myself to do BOTH ears. What is most upsetting was that I had wasted this pretty fabric... it's almost gone!

Switched gears for a while and took the bonehead for a walk. Didn't even make a mile, but the simple act of walking cleared my head. The snowdrifts are bad enough (and the terrain uneven enough) that I had to concentrate on walking. Thankfully, that allowed me to focus on the beauty of the drifts and the blue sky. The wind was howling through the trees kicking up little 'snow devils' in the fields. No other tracks on the trail besides ours and the oil maintenance truck.

Birds have been at the feeders. I feel bad for the Robins; hard to feed with eight inches of snow on the ground.

Once back in the house the project was viewed with different eyes. It was such a pain to sew on the machine, that I decided to try hand-sewing.

Here's the result... Much better.

Yup. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

Y'all have a great evening, folks.

p.s. (Good news. There was just enough of that pretty fabric to make one more elephant. Shown below in progress. The smaller eyes work much better, eh?)