Who is Dudley, you might ask. It’s not a name you hear much anymore. I don’t know if this is a common problem with crafters, but I tend to start projects and abandon them. Such is the case with Dudley Butterball.
One of the truly nice things about home renovation is that everything gets cleaned out. I hadn’t done a thorough cleaning of my sewing room in about six years. When we did new flooring upstairs, I took the opportunity to reorganize.
Here’s a picture of the new floors and island in the sewing room.
I even made specific bins with projects for holidays. When I opened the Thanksgiving box, there was Dudley, with his plastic pellets scattered throughout all his parts—body and clothing.
I used to sell my sewing at boutiques back in the day when crafters only displayed handmade goods. At the time, my husband Carl asserted I might only be shopping and spending money. I refused to believe that—since I was a stay-at-home mom, it was so empowering to come home with hundreds of dollars. I kept one Dudley because I liked him, but eventually, he was also sold and I started another to keep.
Recently, I designated an hour to finishing Dudley up. Three hours later, he was all in one piece, and that was with most of his parts already sewn. I could tell Carl he was right all those years ago. I spent a load of money on supplies and obviously wasn’t making much for all the time I put in. But I probably won’t confess.
Here he is—Dudley in all his Thanksgiving glory.
He is pretty wacky. I have two holiday decorating passions. Wacky and elegant. They do not go together. But I’ll find a spot for Dudley.
After seeing the copyright date on Dudley’s pattern—1993 (I promise, Dudley hasn’t been hanging out in my sewing room for that long), I searched the internet to see if I could find any trace of his pattern company (Needle in a Haystack) or his designer (Bonnie Hunter). I struck out. I did manage to find a few other “vintage” Needle in a Haystack patterns, including one published by Butterick that looked familiar.
Ah, fabric is so satisfying. Here’s a recent pile of fall fabrics I got at Hobby Lobby for Thanksgiving projects.
Both Dudley and I are ready for Thanksgiving. It feels like fall here in Southern California. We’ve had unusually cool weather and enough rain to diminish the fire danger. We do get some fall color. Here’s the view out my sewing room window.
I enjoy keeping an eye on the tree across the street—its bare limbs in winter, the first shoots of green in spring and the falling, colorful leaves in autumn. With our last wind event, all the leaves are gone.
Our friend Wendy shared some fabulous pictures of fall color in her new hood, South Carolina.
Pretty spectacular, isn’t it?
Here, we just put all the fall color on one tree!
So I’m curious. If you love a hobby or craft, do you put things aside and return to them months or years later? I’m simply trying to decide if Dudley’s history is unusual or completely normal—before I make any confessions, that is.