Bilby & Finch

I’ve always been at my happiest when making art in anyway I can. As a girl I would often fantasize of creating robots. I would make homes for my imaginary Gremlins with anything I could find. I would make potions in glass jars to see how it would separate or react with things I found in nature or products and food colouring. My Dad was always creating and making things without reading instructions… so I figured I could to and as it turns out, it was very enjoyable to get lost in a craft or project that involved creating. An idea, a plan and an outcome is exciting. Although I usually just dive in and hope for the best because my planning is very messy.

In the beginning of the Global Pandemic it was March 2020 where I live. I stopped working. I had a lot of time on my hands to say the least. I found not having to head to my demanding job day after day - I liked to stay busy. I found myself getting back into painting, writing, baking, cooking, creating. A thought came to me and I decided to go for it because why not!? I had no templates or patterns but I thought Easter was coming. I have two wonderful nieces I wanted to surprise with an easter basket delivery and that’s when the idea of making stuffed animals came to mind.

My dog has a tendency of digging at my bed in hopes to make it a perfect place to curl up. Conveniently he only manages to tear up all of the households fitted sheets. He thinks only flat sheets are deem fit in my house apparently. It worked out in my favour this time for the material to make a couple stuffed pets for my sweet nieces easter baskets! The bright yellow lemons and soft crisp white fabric made for a fun pattern. I got my scissors out and snipped what I thought could work as an outline. I used old clothing to cut strips for the arms and legs, cut out heart patches, wings and ears. I stuffed them with fluff from a spare pillow and began hand sewing them day after day after day.

It took me so very long to stitch them tight and to make them come to life. I don’t know if I will ever have the time to be that still, to create, to take my sweet ol time because that was my main goal to do. That creative energy saved me from feeling the weight of everything. It’s an incredible escape that keeps you at ease for a while. The cuts, the stuffs, the tucks, that all started from an idea, a plan and a creation.

I found myself lost in the moment making something out of nothing. It was well worth the pricks of the finger, the strained eyes and neck from hunching over while I clumsily hand sewed. I decided who would get Finch and who would get Bilby. I wrote up blurbs on Easter eggs I cut from craft paper to go along with the homemade treasures. I cut out Easter bunnies to decorate a box to fill for them.

I wondered how much easier it would be to use a template, to have a sewing machine. I could create countless stuffies from repurposed fabrics. Maybe even sell them for a fair price and donate to a great cause. Clearly it could bring a lot of children joy. I imagined getting even better with the designs and becoming more quick. It’s still a dream of mine to become an artist of some sorts. I have a vivid imagination and I’ve always been enthusiastic when it came to children. They are such little beacons of light with so many profound thoughts to offer the world. It would be an amusing career for me I thought. And so I dreamed.

While video chatting to my nieces and family whom I missed dearly. I introduced Bilby & Finch to my 2 yr old twin nieces. Obviously it’s hard to grasp why no one is visiting anymore to these beautiful little beings and it broke my heart. I explained to them that I made Bilby and Finch especially for them and I would be sending them on a scavenger hunt to find them among other goodies left from the Easter bunny. I wanted them to associate the characters I made with their auntie and when they wanted an auntie hug they could hug the stuffies I made for them.

They may not be the most perfect or beautiful stuffed Rabbit & Sandpiper but the joy it brought me to give a handmade gift made with so much love is incredibly incomparable. The day Finch & Bilby came to be I found my love to create again. I hope I can instill the wonder of art in my nieces like my dad did for me. I hope they find something to be passionate about and do it their own way, unapologetically.

-K