sewing | Sammy thrashLife

“Case For Pillow.” 10/18/13. Needle, thread, fabric, and marker. 26×26″ (length x girth).

I just finished my most impressive work to date. (Our futon pillows don’t fit in regular pillow cases so… needle + thread + two pieces of fabric leftover from when I made “Gift Horse” + fabric marker = “Case For Pillow”).

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"Landfill." 10/17/13. Marker on envelope. 9x10". — “Landfill.” 10/17/13. Marker on envelope. 9×10″.

In between addressing it and sticking it in the mailbox, I scribbled some shit on the back of an envelope while smoking a cigarette. Seven months ago, I wrote a note in my phone that said, “I’ll get to that landfill one day.” I don’t remember what the fuck that means, but I remember that it was really funny at the time! Now… not so much. Eh.

Today is Heather’s birthday. I considered painting her something but… “Oh. A painting. How novel.” (She’d never be that mean, but that’d certainly be a reasonable reaction)!

Sometime last week she asked me if I was going to get her a pony. So I decided to use this as an opportunity to force myself to break out of my comfort zone and make something that I wouldn’t otherwise.

"Gift Horse." 9/1/13. Fabric, thread, pillow stuffing. 13x21" (height and length). — “Gift Horse.” 9/1/13. Fabric, thread, pillow stuffing. 13×21″ (height and length).

Each tooth took about 35 minutes. After I made the first four, I moved on to the head.

I took a break from the more complicated parts early in to make three of the four legs.

The hardest part was getting the shapes and angles of the head and neck.

I saved the mane and tail for last. They turned out way better than I ever sort of thought that they could.

"Gift Horse." 9/4/13. Fabric, thread, pillow stuffing. 13x21" (height and length).

“Gift Horse.” 9/4/13. Fabric, thread, pillow stuffing. 13×21″ (height and length).

I considered using a pattern, but decided it’d be better to just work from scratch.

The only guide/reference I used was a photograph of an actual horse.

I made it over the course of four days.

It’s entirely handsewn. The only tools I used were the needle and a little bit of glue (for the nostrils and pupils).

In all, it was just over fourteen hours of sewing.

I’m really happy that I followed through with this and I think she likes it, but – somewhere around the seven hour mark – I started to wonder if this was really just a sweet gesture or maybe an indication of serious emotional problems. Seven hours is a long time to spend on a birthday gift. And fourteen or fifteen hours is an even longer time. Or am I wrong? Is that a (relatively) normal undertaking?

And now it occurs to me that I’m suddenly concerned with what’s “normal.” And I’m worrying about whether or not I have serious emotional problems…

Which makes me smile. Of course I have serious emotional problems! And – as for normal – well…

Thursday was Angie’s birthday so – yesterday – we did a dual birthday trip to Alligator Farm in St. Augustine. (Check me out: goin’ out to do normal things like a normal person). There’s hope for me yet. Concerns resolved!