30 December 2009

owlicious


A few months ago, the kids and I borrowed a book from the library that sparked a crafty idea. The book itself was not my favorite, but the main character made a small mention that her favorite stuffed animal was an owl, because it stayed awake at night to keep the monsters away.

I immediately knew that I had to find stuffed owls for all the kids on my holiday gift list. I went straight to Etsy, where I found a number of owls that were OK, but nothing just perfect. I bookmarked a few and set them aside for later. (This was September, I believe, and I was not ready to think about Christmas yet!)

In November, I went back and tried to order some of my favorite one. Except that it wasn't available anymore. I emailed the seller and she steered me toward the pattern she used. I found it on Ebay cheap and headed off to the fabric store.

This was my first ever pattern. I usually sew freestyle. I have to say that I didn't enjoy the pattern experience very much. I'm a go-with-the-flow kind of girl, and the whole pattern thing was just too stressful for me. But...I'm thrilled with the way the owls turned out. They are just so adorable.

I had intended to have photos of six owls here for you. I even cut enough fabric to make six owls. But procrastination got in the way so I only ended up making one owl for practice and one for my 2 yr old nephew, because I really wanted him to have his as a Christmas gift.

Here is the owl I gave my nephew. The owl's name is Woodward, which means guardian of the wood.

 
 
And here is a precious photo of my nephew holding Woody just after opening his gift. Aw. :)
 
H ended up liking the one I made for practice, so I gave her that one. Only she wanted lime green buttons for eyes instead of wool felt. I tried to talk her out of it, but believe me, when H knows what she wants, she won't have it any other way. Good thing I had some lime green buttons.

I named this one Owlivia, but H changed it to Tweetheart. I imagine she'll only get more opinionated as she gets older. :)