I always imagined that these empty nest years would mean I’d have endless hours to dedicate to my favorite hobbies but the truth is, I am as busy as I’ve ever been! Between the garden, the critters and the insane amount of dust in this house (thanks to all the construction in the area), I have little time (or energy) left over for things like making bears.

I began to feel badly that each time I’d pass the craft room I was reminded that I’m still only half way through making sweet, little, terribly lonely and neglected Hope.

She’s just been laying there, all flat and faceless, so I made time today to make some progress and I’m pretty happy with how she’s coming along! First I had to give her a nose…

I am still not great at noses, but this one wasn’t too bad, if I say so myself.

Next was the easy part which is stuffing all her parts.

Next I had to sew on her ears and give her some eyes. I accidentally dropped one of the tiny glass eyeballs on the floor and had almost resigned to making her into a pirate with a patch on one eye when I found it. Whew!

Eyes and ears both are also a bit of a challenge for me because I’m still a novice at this. After all that I pinned her body parts together to get an idea of what she’ll look like when I add the joints and finally stitch it all together.

But that will have to wait until next time because after all this I have to give my eyeballs and fingers a rest! 🙂