Homemade birthday presents

My niece is turning five this week, and I really wanted to have a handmade gift for her. After last week's success with Henrietta, I thought another stuffed animal was in order.

Unlike Henrietta, who is made entirely of minky fabric, this hippo is made from a mix of quilter's cotton and minky. As it turns out, it's a lot easier to sew accurate seams with cotton (no sliding layers!), but the cotton also highlights puckers and/or pleats. Overall, a lot more seam ripping was involved in this guy. Lesson learned: minky might be a pain, but it's a lot more forgiving.

For the body, I chose the signature fabric from Momo's Oh Deer! line in creamsicle. I've been hoarding a yard of this print in my stash, and I was so happy to  find the perfect project for it. Such a large print can be tricky to use in a quilt, but it was a perfect match for a stuffed animal!

I also picked up a SewLine Fabric Pencil for this project, and right now it's my favorite new tool. Using the pencil I was able to I fussy cut each pattern piece to showcase a different portion of the fabric. In addition to tracing the pattern pieces, I used the pencil to sketch in my seam lines. I think that made a huge difference in my accuracy (Oops, thought I had taken a photo of the marked pieces  but looks like I somehow missed it. Maybe next time!). I'm really happy with all the secondary designs hiding in this hippo, hopefully my niece will enjoy picking them out, too.

I have to say, I'm a little tempted to keep this guy here with us. Just look at how cute he and Henrietta are together! But, alas, BabyBee helped stuff him with hugs meant for her cousin (literally hugging the stuffing before she put it in), so his days here with us are few. I hope he is loved and played with for years to come!

As an aside... Pretty sure there are (more than ) a few softies in my future. My copy of Stuffed Animals from Concept to Construction arrived Friday and I.am.smitten. I haven't been able to put the book down, and I can't wait to start sewing through it. Until now I haven't  been able to find a good resource for softies, which is crazy to me given the availability of modern quilting books/blogs/magazines/craftsy classes.  Not only is the book filled with great projects, but it teaches you how to design your own patterns. Super excited to dive in!