Go out and do your magnificent things.

With the sentencing of Larry Nassar to up to 175 years in prison for sexually assaulting many, many young athletes, Judge Rosemarie Aquilina pronounced: "I've just signed your death warrant."

And I was really, really tempted to embroider that on a felt ornament. But alas. Instead I chose a slightly more uplifting quote; her statement to the victims: "Leave your pain here, and go out and do your magnificent things."

Shortened: "Go out and do your magnificent things."

I've been working on a book (yeah, of felt stuff! Feminist felt stuff, to be exact), so I haven't been doing much for myself--but I couldn't let that powerful quote slip by. So here is the honorable Rosemarie Aquilina herself, complete with burgundy highlights.

Sally Yates: "I said no."

Timeliness can be problematic. After Sally Yates eviscerated Ted Cruz and John Cornyn I had a friend pipe up: Hey, you should do a Sally Yates thing!

Which...yeah. I totally should. And fast. Because I doing these current event felt objects means that time is of the essence. 

So I designed and made a Sally Yates ornament:

With mistakes. 

First off, Sally doesn't really have many pithy (short) quotes to use. 

Secondly, it's really hard to accurately capture that head-looking-up regal pose without someone looking just plain crooked. So much of that chin definition in that pose relies on the natural shadows and 3D-ness of the human body. It's very difficult to subtly render anything in felt, and it requires subtlety. 

Because of this, the lettering looks crooked. Which bugs me a TON. 

I also got the layering on the pink shirt wrong. I guess I haven't done one of these in a while (I've been working on a Firefly Busy Book and some stitching samplers) and I'm out of practice. 

Oh well, you can't get them all right the first time. I might still use this example in a pattern, though, because I rarely love making the same thing twice.