I thought I had written about the other present I made for Christmas, until it was pointed out to me that I actually had not.  This set of gifts comes with a story.

My mother is a registered Dietary Nutritionist, and she’s constantly looking for ways to engage her clients and classes and demonstrate healthy eating.  When we were younger and the food pyramid had just come out, McDonald’s released little toys in the shape of fruits and vegetables, milk, cheese, bread, etc. to support the release of the food pyramid.  She had the whole neighborhood scouting out the toys so she could get the whole collection.  Over the years we’ve gotten her stuffed animals from Ikea in the shape of vegetables and fruit and other things.  However, lately her demo toys have become quite ragged, and some of them broken.  After a none-too-subtle hint that she’d like some new toy fruit to use, I took up the challenge to create my mother a super-awesome bowl of fruit and veggies.

What did I make her?  Well, I needed a good selection, and I wanted ones that were both iconic, and some that were harder to find (IE: don’t come in your typical plastic toy selection for children)  I made her: an apple, carrot, broccoli, pumpkin, cherries, pomegranate, peas in a pod, and a little set of cherries.  She was really excited.

I love giving things I make to my mother.  On Christmas day she was wearing one of the pairs of socks I made for her nearly two years ago.  She takes good care of the items I make for her, follows the washing directions, and knows how much time each of them takes me.  Like most mothers, she also treasures them the same way she treasures the holiday ornament made out of marshmallows when I was three – important and precious not only because they are lovely in themselves, but because her children made them.  Inspired by my mother, I’m hoping to make a cornucopia of fruits and vegetables this year – a series of patterns so that anyone can have cute vegetables where they need them.  I just got to do some more testing – some of the ones I made for my mother are great and could be written up and published within the month… others, I need to take some time to think about them.