Adri's Palette

You may think that once you finish a project there is a palpable moment when you stop and enjoy the end result. Some time might pass when the brain will not be travelling at high speeds thinking about new ideas, new things to make. How should I put it, when the brain takes a momentary vacation. Well, I don’t know about you, but mine certainly doesn’t work like this. When I am approaching completion I am already miles away with new thoughts, new ideas.

When I was working on my e-reader cozy I kept thinking how much I was enjoy making the appliqué. How incredible it is to make a drawing on paper and then slowly, like a puzzle, put the pieces together. OK, this doesn’t have 10 thousand pieces, but it can still give me the same exhilaration when finished.

So kept thinking about the appliqué, then Crispy Bacon the mouse that I have made for my colleague, and a gift idea I was already thinking about for my nephew’s birthday. Mouse, mouse, mouse was all that kept creeping around in my thoughts. All of a sudden I saw the picture of a little mouse reading a book in my mind.

Once on paper the drawing kept me more and more interested. I decided to give in to the urge, and make the appliqué. I didn’t let it stop me that  I have no definite idea how I will use it in the end. I thought I’ll experiment a bit and I’ll see what comes of it.

I ended up using my favorite green colored felt for the background. I thought it would make the grey I decided to use for the mouse pop more. I glued the little pieces of appliqué to the green felt before going around the edges with some straight stitches. These same simple stitches make up the nails, the whiskers and the nose. I used chain stitches for the tail. A shiny bead is its eye.

I thought long and hard about the book. Whether to make it a bit of a tough and cheek and have it upside down. At the end I decided the respect the little mouse, give it a break and acknowledge its wisdom. OK, didn’t want to go too far though and give it War and Piece (for now that is). Everyone must begin somewhere and it is best if we take the first steps slowly and methodically. So the ABC-s are good for now. If it yearns for something more substantial, well… we can talk about it.