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The customer had written and self-published a picture book for her soon-to-be grandson, based in part on a small stuffed monkey she had purchased. She wanted someone to make the monkey's parents - who were, obviously, a bear (mom) and a beaver (dad). Because storybook.
I met her at a coffee shop near my office. She brought the book and the monkey toy. I looked through the book, took photos of a few illustrations to get color ideas, and we shook on it.
These aren't the same as my usual animals, and they're probably never to be duplicated, because I didn't enjoy the process of making them that much, but I did enjoy the end result.
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There was no rush - she asked for them within 30 days because she was going to visit her daughter then - so I knew I had some time to puzzle it out.
Then, on a Thursday, about a week before they were due, when I was still looking at a monkey with no shorts, and some dark brown cashmere blend sweater fabric, I gave up and took a walk. It had been hot out for the better part of 10 days, and this was the first middling-hot day and I needed out.
I started walking west from the house, toward Clifton Heights. We've driven up that way but I don't know the area at all yet, so I thought I would just walk for a while and see what there was to be seen.
Soon I encountered a sign that said "Swedish Cabin," which turned out to be (possibly) the oldest building in Pennsylvania, built in the 1600s as a trading post. It was about a 1.5 mile walk from my house, but I got to sit on a rock and soak my feet in the icy-cold Darby Creek for a half hour, and then I walked home again.
When I went upstairs to my workroom, all of a sudden the project made sense. I started cutting up the fabric, and by the time Mario got home from work, I had completed the beaver (complete with suede tail), his turquoise suit, and was about half done the bear.
Sometimes you just need to get away from a project and get some fresh air and exercise, and everything falls into place.