During our stop in Mesa, we’d gotten word that the STT RV was fixed and ready to go, so the morning after the show we headed back, yet again, to Las Vegas to pick it up. We did the rodeo between rental RV and the STT RV, took care of some business (like all the Zoom meetings I could fit in one day) and headed south again for our show with Rena Dearden of Rustic Horseshoe in Cornville, Arizona. (An aside: that area of Arizona is one of my most very favorite places in the whole U.S. You can read about some of our adventures over on our Makers at Large blog.)
I made the Rustic Horseshoe Nutty Nag stuffed animal in 2020 for a Sew Together Tuesday and thought it would be super fun to come out, see her and talk about the process of making patterns for stuffed animals (seriously, what an interesting career!).
We got to talk all about her chubby little stuffiesride-on toys, wall-mount stuffed animal heads and her chubby little stuffies (which you can see in the pics), plus where she gets all the fun stuff like armature and paintable eyes to make them all come to life.
She shared a few of her coming-soon creations, including this fab flamingo floatie that Hawke thought should be a hat! This guy cracks me up with his willingness to just go along with anything and everything and have as much fun as possible doing it.
Rena gifted us this little Cuddle® Cactus, a project that will be a pincushion pattern later this year. I love it so much and it’s the perfect memento for our long week in Arizona, where the saguaro are king. Seriously, could it be any cuter?!
You can watch the episode with Rena on YouTube and make sure to check out her website at RusticHorseshoe.com. She has some wonderful patterns–both cute and really well-written–so if you’ve been interested in making a stuffed animal, here’s a great place to start. I want to make that Wall Art Lion when we’re off the road and have wall space again. 🙂
We’re heading south to Tucson next–new places, at last!
