Vacations may not be such a good thing!

I'm thinking that taking a vacation from the blog was not necessarily a good idea. I can't seem to get back in the swing of things. I used to get up at 6 or 6:30 and blog before anyone else was up. That way, I didn't get caught up in life and forget to blog. Lately, I've been staying up way too late and sleeping in and then I run out of time to blog. This is not a good thing, because I like blogging! It helps keep me sane, giving me an outlet for my creative side, which doesn't get used as much as it used to. I need to craft and sew and make art. I mean, this is a physical NEED. If I let too much time go by in between projects, I go crazy. I get grumpy and crotchety and I bark and growl at everyone. No one likes me and frankly, I don't like myself when I get that way. So I WILL get my groove back so that I blog at least three time a week, if not more.

I've been working on a project for my new blog. I will have a little partner on that blog.....a duck named Crackers! She is a very fine duck (at least I hope she will be when I get her done) and I have spent a lot of time trying to get her just right. I wanted her to be cute and funny and NOT your run-of-the-mill duck, and I think I've got her just about right. Of course, she will probably evolve, too, just like a character in a book, and I've decided that's OK. She doesn't have to be the perfectly polished, suave duck right from the start. But she IS pretty cute, if I do say so myself. Here are some photos of her creation.

This is my first attempt. She is much too angular. I wanted her to be soft and cuddly looking, and this is NOT it. From the front, she is also way too triangle-y, too. So I scrapped that pattern and started over.

This is the new and improved version. I still had to make a few adjustments as I was sewing, but it fit together pretty well.

She has long, very un-duckly legs, and big feet like me. I put wire in her legs and her wings, so she can be posed for different things. The more I sewed on this last prototype, the more excited I got, because she was coming together just like I wanted her to. I had this picture in my mind and she was starting to match it. At last!!!

She is emerging! In order to turn her right-side out, I had to pull her wings and bill out first. I think it kind of looks like she's hatching. The legs had to be sewn in after she was turned right side out, because there wasn't room for them inside the body.

Here she is, sitting on her legs! They haven't been sewn in yet, but I needed a photo, so I fudged a little. You can see the tops of her leg-warmers, too. After all, long, skinny, little legs get cold, you know. I'll post another photo when she's all finished and ready for her debut. I have her sitting on the bookcase right now with her legs crossed and she looks like such a girl. I'm happy with this one. I took quite a few photos during construction because I may do a tutorial later.

Anyway, that's what I've been doing, along with doctor's appointments for my husband, lab work for me, a couple of projects with the kids.........you know.........life. I read this little saying on someone's blog once, and I'm sorry I can't remember which blog, but I thought it was cute and I wrote it down. It says, "Today I will be happier that a bird with a frunch fry," That's how I feel when I am creating, and I bet a lot of you do too. So keep it up. Create yourself silly, and the world will be a better place for all of us. Until next time,