a small pod...

made up of three different species, but they seem to make a happy group, ready to swim through the oceans together, or just sit and be admired.



A's mom is a great supporter of all the crafty things i do, and was the recipient of the first landscape piece i made. she was a big fan of the first humpback whales i made, so i was thrilled when A's dad commissioned me to make her a set of three for christmas. however, i had one suggestion which he readily agreed to.



while i like the three humpbacks together, i thought it might be more interesting to have three different whales if one was going to have a set. so i set about creating the three that you see here. at top is another humpback whale, in the middle just above is a little minke, and at the bottom is a grey whale. all three can be found in the coastal waters around here. the minke is a bit smaller than the other two, as he is in real life. minkes are rare to be spotted, slipping cleanly through the waters alone.



i enjoyed making the grey whale the most i think, although there was lots of stitching to do. greys are all over lighter in colour than humpbacks, with lots of scarring and barnacles covering their skin. they have much shorter flippers than most other whales, and their throat pleats are much less noticeable or numerous than the two above (in this case i skipped them altogether).

i'm planning to make some more of all three of these for the shop next month, as well as many other oceanic creatures. i think i may finally tackle an orca (which i think i have been avoiding simply because they are the most commonly spotted around here), as well as a white-sided dolphin or two (in honour of my friend Erin, the dolphin-studying graduate student). there should also be lots of littler creatures. i hope you'll check back to see what i've come up with.

today is my last day before back to work, and while i'd like to do some crafting, i imagine a fair bit of time will be spent cleaning and organizing the house. the sun seems to be peeking through a bit too, so i will make sure to get outside for a bit of fresh air as well. hope you do too!