I just want to share with you one of the interesting stories behind our inspired friends collection. When our dear Loopy was born... at ten weeks early and weighing in at only three pounds... The Fan and I were horrified that she might not make it. In fact, she was not expected to make it through the night, even. They removed all of the machines that go "
bing" and we braced ourselves for the worst. The little rascal held on... she even tried to pull one of the tubes out of the top of her soft little head and they fashioned her a hat made of a paper cup to prevent her from rearranging her IV. Thus, her first chapeau.
Since that moment, hats have been an integral part of
Loopy's life. We had the tiniest hats knit for her to keep her little head worn and even as she grew, if she was fussy, the mere placement of a cap on her head calmed her down. She is still that way... a closet full of hats!
As she struggled along, she amazed and shocked all of the doctors and nurses in the
NICU. She was discharged home at a mere four pounds and began to thrive so nicely under our watchful eyes.
As time progressed, we noticed some things weren't quite as they should have been. Not supporting her head, not sitting up and rolling over at benchmark stages, The Fan and I both suspected something to be terribly wrong. Of course, premature babies develop a little slower than full term babes, but we were worried. She was diagnosed with all sorts of developmental delays... but basically we were told she would never walk, talk or thrive like other children.
This would simply not do. Being a wise and experienced mother, The Fan coached me along and we began our own methods of intense therapy to bring Loopy as far as we could... you should have seen it, dear friends.
First, we
tied her into her high chair with a scarf. This enabled her to sit upright. When sitting on the floor, we propped her with pillows and stuffed animals to encourage sitting on her own. Gradually... we took them away.
Then, when we decided it was time for her to crawl and then to pull herself up, well, we just put
styrofoam on every hard surface we could find and then we put everything -
and I mean everything - just slightly out of her reach... including her bottles. We wouldn't get them for her. You want a bottle? It's right over there on the coffee table. You'll get there when you are hungry enough. It sounds harsh, but it had to be done. Even if she wanted to be with one of us, she had to make the effort... we waited patiently with outstretched arms for her to make her way to our embrace.
After she mastered pulling herself up, we moved things even further away, so she would have to take steps. This was the hardest part. She was much older than other babies who were already running about. We stuck to it... she started getting mobile. Her toys started going up on shelves. Her bottles were kept in the kitchen, if she found her way to the kitchen, she got her bottle. She was pooped, and so were we.
But by two years old, she was sitting up, moving around and starting to walk. It was a long two years.
Time progressed. Still, Loopy was physically challenged. Her fine motor skills were lacking. The simple act of picking up cheerios was frustrating and daunting for her. We didn't let up. The food went on the tray, it was
up to her to poke it in if she could.
As she got older, her gross motor skills became almost normal (to the shock of her physicians!) but we still worried about her fine motor skills. Something had to be done. All of those kiddie games were boring her by the time she was in school and a girl can only string up so many plastic beads on a thread.
Thus, the hatpin was born. I went shopping for the fanciest of beads I could find... and I even raided my grandmother's stash of vintage jewelry from the 40's and 50's. I set out the matches of the beads in little piles and The Secret Weapon helped me prepare the proper
gauge wire for the pin. We didn't sharpen the pins at that point - for obvious reasons. I wrapped them with masking tape on one end and on the other end we enlisted little Loopy to poke those tiny vintage beads onto the wire. I helped with the special glue provided by The Secret Weapon and little Loopy sat there for days poking beads onto wire. It was excellent therapy for her. We made dozens of the most lovely hatpins together...
what was I to do with all those hatpins? I have a few vintage hats, but surely I didn't need
that many hatpins.
And so,
Loopy's therapy is your golden opportunity.
If you have even one vintage hat in your collection, you should have a hatpin on it. They are available for the rest of the week at
Inspire Company, sold in coordinating pairs so you don't have to make too difficult a choice!
Vintage love features one of my favourite beads - that giant drop bead is a classic hatpin style.
How Sweet features those retro beads snitched from my granny's necklace. Look at the hand-painted swirls on the red bead... how funky is that? Sometimes I wish I hadn't taken that necklace apart, but my loss is your
gain.
Be mine... a lovely little set perfect for a Valentine decoration... all of these hatpins make lovely extras on gift parcels, you can stick them on your
bulletin boards or inspiration boards, use them on
scrapbooking pages as embellishment or really, I could list off a thousand uses for them. I have poked them into floral arrangements, corsages at weddings and showers... we even embellished one of the initials we made in
Loopy's room with a coordinating hatpin. Skip on over to Amy's if you want to have a good look at the hatpins before they are gone.
Oh... many of the Thread Bears have been adopted. I must say, we are more than a little surprised that
Lena (named for our dear Mrs.
Staggs) is still in teddy orphanage... she, like her namesake is such a good listener. All of these items will be available for the remainder of the month of September.
