Originally posted on my DA: www.deviantart.com/moggymawee/art/Fixed-up-my-Mardelia-89…

Wow! It’s been 4 years since I last published a deviation so it’s somewhat bittersweet to be posting again today. I’ve been mostly absent on DA and have probably ghosted a bunch of notifications and messages. Sorry , I just never log on here anymore.

Auckland is currently under full lockdown, so it gave me time to do some spring cleaning around the house. Actually, it’s more like me reorganizing my house and reorganizing my life.

So last week I stumbled across my pony shelf. This huge shelving unit housing solely the ponies I’ve plushed over 6 years ago. Ponies that I’d spent thousands of hours plushing. They had all been meticulously posed and perfectly placed, with nothing folded, pressed or squished against one another. However, they were also covered in a thick blanket of dust. Untouched. Unthought of. Almost ironically akin to my plushing hobby. A fleeting time in my life I once lived so passionately and vivaciously.

And so I started to tidy this shelf up. I dusted my ponies, dusted my shelf and consolidated my collection, all the while reflecting on that past. I decided to let most of my ponies go. Just last week Fleur was shipped off to her new home in Germany. And by chance, a French buyer who had previously adopted a Luna from me reached out to me, and we had a nice chat. To connect after so many years felt somewhat poignant.

I also decided to “fix up” my ponysona Mardelia, and amended a few things including her horn, snout, stuffing (she was very overstuffed) and how her head sat on her neck. This occupied a few hours of my night every night for a week.

While I sewed my thoughts often drifted to how through this hobby, I was able meet so many amazing and talented people (mostly bronies, you guys are awesome) all over the world. And it was even more heartwarming to know so many people had appreciated my work. As I often said at that time, before plushing ponies I could hardly sew a single button to a shirt!

Plushing ponies also lead me through a complicated journey of self discovery that was (and still is) at times confronting. Creating my ponysona played an integral part. Mardelia. If only I had created you now, with all that I’ve learned about myself, you would be drastically different. For one, you’d be covered in pastel colours!

So here I am, posting an “upgraded” version of Mardelia, who I hope I could redesign and replush in the future. With all that I know now. I’m overall extremely thrilled with how she turned out. Revisiting her, along with the rest of my ponies, has allowed me to revisit this part of my past, and the many “would’ves” and “could’ves”. I do believe deep inside that I will plush once again, and when I do, I hope I can be a part of a community just as great as this one.