Why I Couldn't Say No-Letting Off Some Steam

A few of my real-life friends already know about this, because I had to vent my frustration and get some creative input on this mad scheme.  I haven't pounded my virtual head against the proverbial wall on Facebook yet either because I've been so busy with guild things.  This will be a very brief description of a project I find myself in the beginnings of that I really, really don't want.  But I couldn't say no.

I took Serenity's Nursery to a Guild meeting on Monday to show her grandma, who just happens to be a fellow stitcher and someone I'm trying to bring over to the mini dark side.  Everyone loved it and many "oohs and ahhs" were crooned.  Until one particular lady saw it and burst into tears.  Her first grandchild (a girl) was born in December and has a rare condition (I don't know the name and will not share the details) that will give her two years or less to live.

In a wash of tears she asked if I would take a commission to build a mini nursery for her granddaughter.  She also spilled all the sad details about the baby's health, which I had already heard from other Guild members.  This woman is my friend.  She has a heart of gold bigger than Texas and life is being unfair.  I could not say no.  I was wishing I'd left the room at home though.

I figured, ok... I have lots more pink things around.  Another cradle is easy... I can make it a bit bigger than Serenity's...  I was figuring I could go home and get one done in about a week, then get back to my other projects.  You know... the ones with deadlines.

And then she dropped the other shoe.  Could I make it in greens and blues with panda bears?  Because that's what her room is done in.  A room she doesn't get to use and may never use.  Oh hell.  Right.  Yeah I can do that.  Whilst I'm rapidly thinking, yeah I can do that if given weeks and months, not days.  Hmmm....

So I thought fast and said if I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it right and that it may take time since panda-themed things are impossible to find.  She was find with that.  Then instead of working on Rose Cuttings while it was in my hands my mind was racing, coming up with ideas for this room.  All the details that I had put into Brenna's Nursery would be a must.  

That night any hope of making my own wallpaper borders were dashed when I could not find anything that would work online.  Then I started thinking about a mural on the walls instead.  I found a really cool example in a real life child's room.  But I am not 2-D artist.  Ok so I'll make a background and find rubber stamps of bamboo and pandas.  Then I can paint inside the outlines.  That how I painted the potato and onion bin.  

I ran that idea by a friend the next day (who is a 2-D artist) and she's offered to paint the mural herself.  Yay!  She is a mutual friend of this Guild member and hadn't heard the sad details yet.  Ok so that problem was solved.  Then we moved on to the room structure itself.  The three of us at the table all agreed that perhaps I should get an actual roombox instead of using a bag.  The bags are great but if she wants to move it around and even take it to her son's home in a different state it might not hold up too well. 

I think it dawned on all of us that I wasn't making this room for a dying infant.  I am making it for a grieving grandmother as a keepsake.  My head started buzzing with more ideas at that point.  I'll need to crochet a blanket....  I can resign the growth chart in Brenna's Nursery as pandas...  The teddy bear ornament Cathy taught me to make!  I can just do a head and turn it into a hobby horse type toy...  I'll need to dig out the polymer clay and start making pandas; maybe flock a larger one and make tiny ones for decorations on things.  I could put a tiny one on a lamp!  

So now while I should be finishing the Guild website, finishing Rose Cuttings, finishing FH's Black Bear cross stitch, working on my Porch, and doing a few small stitching projects for the upcoming Judged Show in April, I've got pandas and a sick baby on my mind.

Sorry for the rant.  I really needed to get that out.  That being said, if any of my mini friends around the world have ideas, suggestions, panda themed minis for sale... anything that will help.  Please let me know.