“Saw a squirrel”
“Lost down a rabbit hole”
I this case, the squirrel really was a squirrel. Well a pocket full of them.
Glancing at my tablet, while working through sewing tasks on a day packed full of sewing tasks, I saw this post from The Lady’s Magazine (1770-1819): Patterns of Perfection. An 1772 pocket full of squirrels. The little squirrels had the cutest faces and fluffiest tails.
My mind got rolling the images around. I saw one squirrel center stage. The two as a pair, showing off those tails. Tails in? Faces in? Hmmm….
Playing around with Paint and Publisher (yes, I am old school. No fancy new programs in my budget. I am still just on my second own laptop.) I enlarged the squirrel. Gave her a friend. Changed the shape of the pocket border a bit. The rest was done by hand. Changed the size of the sprig and flipped it around. Cut it in half to make it printable…. To make my version of the squirrel pocket:
I had been cutting out doll pockets earlier when I was supposed to be cutting out full size pockets. So, I knew I had materials for a linen pocket already cut out. It was like it was waiting for these squirrels.
I inked out the design on the linen. The border had to be swung into place around the rounder shaped pocket. The original has more of a rounded off trapezoid shape.
My precut pocket had more of a rounded shape and more height. This made room for an additional leave for each side of the border. It also has space for another sprig. It will be either the center bottom sprig from the original design or one of the smaller sprigs. I will decide when I get most or all of the embroidery in. The leaves of the border will each have veins and little dots as the original. I am not yet sure what those dots are though.
Looking in my sparcely filled floss box…. the squirrels will be a couple shades of brown, the leaves green, and the flowers likely a blue. The nuts the squirrels are eating may be cream.
If someone knows whether variegated floss was used in the 18th or early 19th centuries, please let me know. I found I like the variegated greens for vines and leaves.
Patreon Patrons will be receiving the pdf of the single page and double page versions.
If I Had My Own Blue Box: 
I’m glad I’m not the only one that gets sidetracked with projects. I think this will be adorable when you get it completed.