First is that I'm working on hand quilting a throw sized quilt for a friend. It'll be gifted in April (if I finish in time, that is) so I'll share then. Its on my big frame in the sewing room and is VERY fun and relaxing to work on.
Second, I did a whirlwind batch of sewing to help out a local university's theatre department. They were a time crunch with too many costumes to sew in too little time so I did some of the putzy sewing for them. It was fun and I got paid, so that was a win-win.
For this post, though, here is a birthday gift for my little cat-obsessed five year old.
I got the idea from here (cute owl softie) and just turned it into a cat. I drew it mostly freehand. I had trouble with the eyes. They just looked wrong, and a bit creepy, until I realized I was drawing people-shaped eyes on a cat face. A quick google of 'cat eyes' helped me get the shape right and then it suddenly looked much much better.
It has a flat front and back with a gusset running all the way around it to make it puffy. I machine appliqued fleece for the ears, eyes, and nose. The mouth and whiskers are a bit of hand embroidery.
Overall, it probably only took a few hours to make. The hardest part was keeping it a secret from Grace and making sure not to leave pictures/drawings/parts of it laying out so she would find them and start asking questions. :)
Gracie loves it. It gets used both on her bed and dragged around the house as a snuggle pillow. Here's a (poor quality, washed out) picture of it on her bed so you can gauge the size. Its about the size of a regular bed pillow.
