Alfie's Story

What started as just a plan to make some needlefelted  mice to sell has metamorphosed into a whole world of mice and woodland creatures with Alfie the writer being the main character, though he does not want to admit it . And it has come to this , me being his publisher and representative in the human world as he feeds me chapters of his book to adapt to the human eye. These chapters tell of his arrival and life in the countryside town of Mistwood. Too shy to write in the first person he had originally put another name for the main character, but i could see that it was in fact his own story and believe he should be named directly.

It was a quiet Christmas Eve that Alfie was born. Though the idea had come before , this was when the carded wool slowly took shape as it wrapped itself around the wire frame. The minutes flew by as the needle crunched crunched through the wool sounding just like footsteps in the snow.

There was no snow that night but a Christmas snowy scene drew itself in my mind as the little figure took form like some sweet spell on such a magical night. As children we dream of Father Christmas coming with his gifts, we imagine reindeer pulling his sleigh, we imagine hearing bells ringing softly into the night. The air is a buzz with the excitement of all those children. Yet as we grow we lose that innocence and simple joy, some lose it completely, some feel it now and then still as adults  and some of us hold onto it as best we can and strive to weave that magical feeling into our everyday lives.

This is what creating means to me. Magic, joy, dreams and fantasy. Big beings, little beings coming to life through the art of creating. It matters not the material, paint, wool, clay,metal, glass,  wood, so many materials one can work with. So many talented hands keeping the wonder alive by holding onto an idea an image in one's mind and making it come true, for all to see , to hold.