Primitive Santa

Now that the Thanksgiving guests and their respective menageries have departed, and I've vacuumed up the pumpkin pie crumbs, cat hair, bunny hay and pellets...and the occasional bunny poop, I've moved on to craft fair preparations. Well, there was that one short interruption when I assisted Mr. Gadget in getting the boxes of Christmas decorations down from the garage storage area. It seems that our neighborhood (mostly the newbies on the block) have already begun decorating in earnest. Mr. G. assures me that he isn't going to start putting the outside lights up today. He's only getting them down so they'll be easy to get to when he feels like it. I'm guessing in an hour or so......

So in my effort to get organized for the big fair next weekend, I retrieved this prim Santa from the top shelf where he's been sitting since last year. I made him from my own pattern, but was never completely satisfied with him. His outfit is just slightly too long and since I put the hem in with my sewing machine, I haven't been in a big hurry to rip it out and re-do. Now I'm thinking maybe someone would be happy with him just as he is, long robe and all. The little tree is made from muslin that has been stuffed and painted. I did a running stitch with gold thread for the garland and put colored beads here and there.

I'm planning to do a few more Santas next year. This one was a good learning experience. I really enjoy needle sculpting the faces and I'd like to get better at it. It's really impossible to plan on a particular expression, so the character that emerges is always a surprise. Some of you may remember these.....faces I did for practice on potato rejects from my veggie-making phase.

As I remember, I named them (l - r) Ray with the bad toupee, Marian the librarian, and Lou who sells shoes. And speaking of Marian, doesn't she look like one of those old-fashioned librarian ladies who used to work in the library back in the day when libraries were actually quiet? Isn't that just another one of my pet peeves! Noisy libraries. And the librarians in my local library are the worst offenders. I didn't used to like those Marian types, but now I wish there were a few more of her kind around.

But I digress. I probably should stop writing and start sprucing up the other characters I want to take to the fair. First up is Mr. Sheep. He needs some new feet (not so pointy) and a new outfit (not so wrinkly) and a new scarf (not sewn....knitted, of course!) I know, I know. I should probably just start all over with Mr. Sheep! But he's got such a cute face and such a nice head of hair. He'd make a great companion for someone who loves to knit, and best of all, he'll need no vacuuming-up-after.