Reindeer or gerbil?

Brrrr! It's cold enough to want to stay indoors all day and drink endless cups of tea. Which is more or less what I did, and to fill part of my day I completed a few more pages of Lorna Scobie's book '365 Days of Creativity'. This page particularly appealed to me. There were splotches of colour, & you'd to turn those into animals. After completing this, I decided to make some splotches of my own in watercolour, using an old sketchbook -

- and turned those into weird creatures. Daft, but fun.

That daftness was followed by me sewing an equally daft reindeer in gingham trousers. As you do. You might've seen me mention an Instagram account under the name of Ievate. She makes quirky fabric animals, and I was very smitten with the reindeers she's made recently. So I had a go at making one.

I drew a simple outline, and sorted out a red & white gingham, plus a faux suede material for the body and ears. My sewing machine definitely didn't like the texture of the faux suede, & kept skipping stitches and acting up. But I persevered.

The twiggy arms - which are far too short - and the facial features are embroidered, and I managed to use embroidery thread to make a pair of wonky antlers. But my reindeer doesn't look very reindeer-like to me. He's less Rudolf and more ... gerbil. I think the brown fabric's wrong. The texture's fine, but the colour's too milk chocolatey and the suede effect is too much like teddy bear's fur. Which means I need to sift through my fabric stash to find something more suitable for a second attempt. Oh, and the ears aren't the right shape. They're too rounded. However, I do like those gingham trousers. And the bright red nose, of course. We'll all be getting one of those if this cold snap continues ...

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