A trio of balls

My sister recently took up juggling, and she asked me to make her a set of juggling balls. It seemed like a reasonable request. She suggested I stuff them with split peas, but I decided to use pinto beans instead. I was more likely to eat the pinto beans than the peas, but I thought the peas might split further under the stress of juggling. I will pick up some more pinto beans tomorrow, and today I will eat garbanzo beans.

I had never made juggling balls or any other sort of balls, and I did not have a pattern for balls, but how difficult could they be? Armed with a ruler and a piece of chalk I sketched out a quick design. My plan was to learn what was wrong by sewing it, but to my great surprise it worked out well. I completed the set, although on the third ball I had to augment the pinto beans with some great northern beans.

I used a piece of fleece I found in my fabric collection to make the balls. I have owned that fleece for at least six months. I do not remember what I originally had planned for it, but it works quite well for juggling balls. Does this justify my habit of buying lots of fabric I do not need? This was the first project made entirely on my serger; it was used only for seam finishes before.

My pattern worked, but I think I can make better ones. I will experiment with a few other designs. All future balls will be made with matching color thread. I did not have cones of red thread; I will buy some tomorrow.