A Tale of a Pink Unicorn

Once upon a time, a young girl and her mother were engaged in discussion when suddenly the child blurted out rather randomly, as was her way:

“Mummy, I want a real pink unicorn.”
“And where would I find that, darling?” replied the bemused but doting mother.
“At the unicorn shop,” Miss Cleverpants replied.

Well of course. But after barely considering the thought fervently searching the lands for a unicorn shop, none were to be found. Alas, alack, the young maiden was heartbroken. All she wanted was a real pink unicorn and how cruel of her mother to deny her. She repeated this sentiment in the form of whinging in many creative, though monotonous ways. So the mother, riddled with mother guilt (particularly after making an epic LEGO Star Wars quilt for the firstborn heir of the family), decided to do the next best thing.



She drew up a paper pieced unicorn pattern. Lo, she did not stop there. She immediately set forth to work with fabric, paper and sewing machine to create a pink unicorn. Silly mother had the idea of adding some beautiful purple fabrics to the design to enhance its beauty. Alas, the young maiden believed her design eye to be better than her mother’s and insisted only on pink. She believed this so strongly, she carefully watched over her mother’s fabric choices to ensure no purple snuck in amongst the pink. And also reiterated more times than the mother cared to count that the unicorn must be “all pink – pink pink pink”. Darling child is darling, but also bloody repetitive.



Fortunately for the child, creating such a block was soothing sewing therapy for the mother and allowed the unicorn block to be made without banishing the pestering, demanding, darling child with a determined pink vision to the far ends of the earth.

The mother proudly presented her completed unicorn block (all pink) to the young miss. But no applause was forthcoming. Rather the child starkly announced “You didn’t do its eye. Where its eye?”.Muttering  Murmuring sweet nothings to the kid darling girl, the mother added features, including an eye to the unicorn (For what is a unicorn without sight?!) with a fabric marker magic writing implement.



Finally declaring it to be finished, and the closest possible thing to a real pink unicorn, the mother tossed the block carefully laid the block on the table in front of the child and was rewarded with the highest of all praises in the 3 year old’s vocabulary. “Good.”

Good. The mother could certainly think of far more words than simply “good” but feeling she had granted the darling child’s wish – to an extent- the mother returned to sewing projects of her own and decided one pink unicorn would suffice. And they all lived happily ever after for five minutes at least.



Should you find yourself in a position similar to the mother in this tale and wish to make a unicorn block (pink or not depending on your own darling child’s whims), you can find the pattern in ye olde Craftsy shop for a modest sum. After all, this mother needs to indulge in some fabric therapy after such a sewing adventure. Or if your darling child is more inclined to the digger type of block… that is also now available care of the magic of the interwebs.



Pray, friend, share your tales of despair and delight within the world of paper piecing. I promise to praise your efforts with words better than “good”.



Quick refresher on what the deal is with the Paper Piecing Party (full details here):
* It’s on every weekend here at Quiet Play, starting Friday.
* Link up something you’re working on that’s foundation paper pieced
* Link a blog post or flickr photo
* Visit at least two other links and leave a comment because that’s half the fun!
* I’ll pick one each week to win their choice of a free pattern from my Craftsy shop. Keep on paper piecing ;) Last week’s winner was Julie!

An InLinkz Link-up