After spending almost a week in the glorious city of New York celebrating my brother and his graduation from NYU (see, doesn't that make you tingle with excitement at hearing about the rest of the trip?! actually, probably not, considering that over 75% of my loyal readers actually went on the trip with me. btw, 75% of 4 people is just 3. we didn't take a busload of followers to NY.), we went to DC for four days to visit our college buddy and billy's college roomie Bradford. This DC visit also included a wonderful visit to my aunt Veronika and her family in Alexandria, VA (lovely place, if you haven't yet been).
We came over on Sunday afternoon to visit with her, her husband Phil, and their adorable children Jack (almost 3 years old!) and Brigid, who had turned 1 a few days earlier. Before leaving for the East Coast, I tested my "mad" sewing skills and used the opportunity to craft up some baby/child projects. At this point in my life, there are too many adorable child-related projects and not enough children.
So I decided to go with a stuffed animal for Jack and a blanket/stuffed animal combo for the birthday girl. And here's what I came up with!
For Jack, I used a Simplicity pattern I found at JoAnns during a 99-cent or $1.99 pattern sale. This little elephant buddy was finalized the night before we left. Actually, I sewed up the hole in his back (used for stuffing him) while we were in the East. Procrastinator? Yes.
But in my opinion, he turned out super cute.
Although I thought the little contrast patches on his paws would be tricky, they turned out okay. The trickiest part ended up being the tusks, which look okay in the photo above, but not so great in that top photo... oh well. Maybe we'll skip the tusks next time.
Then, for little Brigid, I sewed up an owl stuffed animal using a homemade pattern. I found an image of the owl fabric used below online, enlarged it, and singled out one owl shape. I then made a couple copies of the pattern, using one to cut out the outline and one to cut out the eyes, eyeballs, nose, tummy, feet, etc.
But in my opinion, he turned out super cute.
Although I thought the little contrast patches on his paws would be tricky, they turned out okay. The trickiest part ended up being the tusks, which look okay in the photo above, but not so great in that top photo... oh well. Maybe we'll skip the tusks next time.
Then, for little Brigid, I sewed up an owl stuffed animal using a homemade pattern. I found an image of the owl fabric used below online, enlarged it, and singled out one owl shape. I then made a couple copies of the pattern, using one to cut out the outline and one to cut out the eyes, eyeballs, nose, tummy, feet, etc.
The feet ended up to be too narrow to sew inside out and turn for a seamless look, so I just sewed two pieces together and used Fray Block on the edges. Flatter than I imagined, but not too horrid looking.
So here's the back. For the wings, I pulled out the pattern for the penguin wings I made awhile back. They worked pretty decently. I decided to two-tone them, but leave them flat (unstuffed).And the sweet "B" is for Brigid, of course! She can already start learning how to spell her name...
And a close-up of the B.
To attach the eyes, eyeballs, tummy, and B to the body pieces, I used this interfacing stuff that acts like glue. You iron it to the wrong side of one fabric, and then iron that onto your other fabric. Great for applique and stuff. However, for best performance, you should then "seal" the two pieces by topstiching them together. This is the step I forgot.
Once I started stuffing the owl, I noticed the applique-d pieces starting to pull away from the body fabric. No good. So I stuck some fabric glue under the gaps for a temporary solution, but brought along some thread and a needle with me to NY.
On the train ride from NY to DC, I sat there sewing the applique-d pieces to the body. In the photo above, you can probably see the small white stiches along the side of the tummy.
If you look carefully at the bottom of the eye, you can see the same stitches. I also did this around all edges of the "B" on the back, using pink thread (see above). This worked out fine, and I kinda like the look, but next time I'll just topstich them down.
Part 2 of Brigid's present was a baby quilt - baby because it's for a young person, and baby in its size. I used the same fabric as the stuffed owl, with a brown satin binding.
And another angle...
And the blanket folded another way...
Overall, my first experience "quilting" with cuddle fabric (that super soft stuff) was not good. As in, I definitely cried out of frustration at least twice. Lucky for Brigid, my good husband Billy spent almost an hour with the quilt top and my seam ripper fixing my mistakes while I curled up into a ball and cried, wailing about giving up sewing forever. She has a soft blanket now because of him. :)
Once I finally lined up the pieces in the right order and in the right place, the quilt generally came together. Technically, one side is crooked - the pink border gets bigger across the top, rather than being even all the way, but oh well.
Here it is, just about full-size... probably 1.5' x 3.5' total?
And a close-up of the B.
To attach the eyes, eyeballs, tummy, and B to the body pieces, I used this interfacing stuff that acts like glue. You iron it to the wrong side of one fabric, and then iron that onto your other fabric. Great for applique and stuff. However, for best performance, you should then "seal" the two pieces by topstiching them together. This is the step I forgot.
Once I started stuffing the owl, I noticed the applique-d pieces starting to pull away from the body fabric. No good. So I stuck some fabric glue under the gaps for a temporary solution, but brought along some thread and a needle with me to NY.
On the train ride from NY to DC, I sat there sewing the applique-d pieces to the body. In the photo above, you can probably see the small white stiches along the side of the tummy.If you look carefully at the bottom of the eye, you can see the same stitches. I also did this around all edges of the "B" on the back, using pink thread (see above). This worked out fine, and I kinda like the look, but next time I'll just topstich them down.
Part 2 of Brigid's present was a baby quilt - baby because it's for a young person, and baby in its size. I used the same fabric as the stuffed owl, with a brown satin binding.
And another angle...
And the blanket folded another way...
Overall, my first experience "quilting" with cuddle fabric (that super soft stuff) was not good. As in, I definitely cried out of frustration at least twice. Lucky for Brigid, my good husband Billy spent almost an hour with the quilt top and my seam ripper fixing my mistakes while I curled up into a ball and cried, wailing about giving up sewing forever. She has a soft blanket now because of him. :)
Once I finally lined up the pieces in the right order and in the right place, the quilt generally came together. Technically, one side is crooked - the pink border gets bigger across the top, rather than being even all the way, but oh well.
Here it is, just about full-size... probably 1.5' x 3.5' total?
And yes, I'm totally building a fence like this in a nicely grassy landscaped yard to display all my future quilts. Thank you, stranger in DC, whose nice fence I borrowed for this photo.
Here's Brigid and Jack's gifts all wrapped up (note the nice color-coordinated bags we cleverly found at CVS before heading over).
And the best pictures of all - my adorable cousins:
A big thanks to Billy for snapping these shots, and a bigger thanks to Jack & Brigid for "posing" so nicely and for being so cute.
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All in all, visiting Veronika, Phil, Jack & Brigid was a highlight of our entire East Coast trip. It made me want to set up camp in Alexandria and hang out with them all the time. I'd even babysit for free! We had a lovely time at the park, and Jack held my hand all the way back, pointing out the color of all the cars on the street (he even got colors like grey and gold!). Phil made a delicious dinner and we had a great time chatting with them into the evening. We were sad to say goodbye, especially since the kids will proably be at least a foot taller by the time we see them again. So thank you for the great visit, and I hope the soft toys will be loved for a long time!
A big thanks to Billy for snapping these shots, and a bigger thanks to Jack & Brigid for "posing" so nicely and for being so cute.
>
All in all, visiting Veronika, Phil, Jack & Brigid was a highlight of our entire East Coast trip. It made me want to set up camp in Alexandria and hang out with them all the time. I'd even babysit for free! We had a lovely time at the park, and Jack held my hand all the way back, pointing out the color of all the cars on the street (he even got colors like grey and gold!). Phil made a delicious dinner and we had a great time chatting with them into the evening. We were sad to say goodbye, especially since the kids will proably be at least a foot taller by the time we see them again. So thank you for the great visit, and I hope the soft toys will be loved for a long time!
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