The first story

We're building Spirit Play baskets two ways this summer: holding work parties to do some of the work together, and letting people choose stories to build in their own way with their own materials.

I chose the Blue Promise story of the Seven Blind Mice to create along with my mom, who's an avid, talented, and well-stocked sewer. 

We used this pattern for the toy mice, adding stand-up ears instead of embroidered ones. And the puzzle elephant is from RJA Woodworking, $13.50. The cards are freehand drawings on red cardstock. And the basket was previously a fruit basket owned by my sister.

The elephant story is about truth in its many guises, considering others' perspectives, and waiting for the whole picture to emerge in a seemingly complex--and maybe a unsettling--situation. All important concepts in church life!

The benefit of doing the whole story ourselves, between my mom and I, was that we had all the materials at the same place at the same time to be able to make adjustments. And focusing on building this particular basket was also a few days' focus on the story itself, which is about truth and perception, and about multiple perspectives all having value, but getting closest to reality when they're put together.